Maybe This Is Love, |✔️

Chapter 20

Authors note- please leave comments!!!! I LOVE to read them and it really makes my day. <3

The air was cold but still and the leaves that scattered the ground before him was layered with fresh frost.

"Winters finally here." He grimaced to himself as he huddled up in the warm, grey parka that his mother had always told him brought out the blue in his grey eyes.
He decided to go with a pair of old battered trainers that had good grip so he wouldn't slip in the ice and a huge tartan scarf that he made sure was wrapped tightly around his neck.
He didn't want to catch a cold on Christmas Day.

As soon as a quarter to twelve struck, he had practically flown out of the house after kissing his mamma goodnight. She had no idea what he had discovered the night before.

He had no idea what he was planning to do tonight but he knew he had to do something.

Parker was aware that it was Christmas Eve and that Harley would probably be spending time with her family but he prayed and prayed that just maybe she'd be there in their spot, waiting for him.

He had his present for her tucked neatly inside his coat, wrapped up in the finest wrapping paper he could find as he trudged through the snow. He had been working on this project since the day he met her. It was the biggest surprise and he couldn't wait to show it to her... that's if she even came tonight.
Which he wasn't sure she would.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted her white, woolly hat poking out of the top of the old sofa. Parker's heart rate quickened when he remembered that night they had laid here together. The night when they spoke about the things that they'd been so scared to tell each other. The things they had been too afraid to admit to themselves.

He remembered how soft her body felt on top of his as she slept. He remembered the fear in her eyes when she told him about her condition. He remembered the fear he felt when he told her how he felt about love and the effect his father's absence had on him. He remembered her acceptance and the way she made him feel like everything was going to be okay. Looking at her now made him wish things would just go back to the way they used to be.

He approaches her warily, still scared that she hated him because of that dumb kiss with Crescent. She had her head pointed down towards her lap, eyes fixated on the camera that she took everywhere. Her little nose was red and rubbed raw and her hands were covered in plush white gloves that matched her hat. He noticed how even though the jacket she was wearing wasn't any near warm enough she still didn't look cold as she also had a massive scarf wrapped around her tiny body.

"Hey." She says coolly, without looking up.

He stands in front of her, awkwardly. He didn't think it could be so hard to say a single word but in this very moment it was taking all of his strength.

"Hey." He finally says. He was quite taken aback, he didn't expect Harley to speak to him after all these months of no contact.

She doesn't say anything more as she goes back to tapping away at her camera. Usually, she'd show him all the new photos that she had taken and squeal about how excited she was to edit and frame them but this time she didn't offer.

Parker stuffs his hands back into his pockets and begins to rock nervously on his heels. What should he say? He had no idea what he expected to happen. For her to run into his arms again the moment she saw him? Yeah right. Not what after he did.

Her large brown eyes look almost the same as the time she spoke to him in the school toilets when they first became friends. She always looked so sad back then.

Her soft brown skin still seemed to glow even in this dull weather. You couldn't see her thick hair today due to the hat but Parker just knew it was still amazingly beautiful even concealed away.