Forever In Love (Feat. Jimmy and Hailee) - Brighten 

HARRY 

I watch her look at me, only her eyes peeking over the raised menu. She runs her boot clad foot up my leg, "Are you sure?" She asks me. Her voice flirtatious. 

My earlier chuckles subside. "Not at all. I'll always pay for you, baby girl," I admit to her. 

I watch as her cheeks blush. She is quick to cover her face with her hand and look down at the now lowered menu. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be really quick." I tell her. She nods her head once, giving me a small smile. 

Walking away from the booth, the perky waitress stops me. "Hello Sir. I was about to come over and take your orders. Shall I wait a few more minutes?" 

"Yeah. That'd be great." She smiles up at me and turns around. I stop her quickly before she leaves, "Uh. Excuse me." She looks at me and smiles. "Where's the restrooms?"

"Down the hall and to your left." 

I mutter a quick thank you and walk down the long hallway towards the mens bathroom. Walking inside, I'm pleasantly surprised by it's cleanliness. I was half expecting to be hit with a wave of a nauseating urine odor. Instead, it smelt like a damn garden. 

I'm quick to do my business. Washing my hands as fast as I could, I walk back out the door. As I'm walking, I noticed a familiar head of blonde curls. She looks at me, her blue eyes shining. 

Hanna makes her way over to me, her tiny hips swaying back and forth as she walks. Her eyes blink a few times before she steps in front of me. "Hello Harry," she smiles at me. I look around quickly, hoping that Izzy cannot see us. The last thing I needed was for my girlfriend and an ex-fuck to have a fucking conversation. Without giving her warning, I grab her arm and pull her towards the exit. She follows behind me, her hand grasping hold of my forearm. 

"What do you want, Hanna." I ask her once I let go of her arm. She takes a step back, startled by my booming voice. 

She blinks a few times before shaking her head. "I miss you. You haven't called me in months." 

"So?" 

"I thought we had something special going on." She takes a step forward, her hand reaching out to grab a hold of me. I swat her hand away before she can touch me. Her face falls slightly, before she smiles. "Why are you ignoring me?" 

"Why are you being so fucking clingy all of the damn sudden? We fucked a few times. Get over it." I bark at her. 

Hanna's face falls. Her eyes glossing over. Damn it. 

"Oh," she mutters under her breath. "You're an ass, Harry." 

"Never said I wasn't." 

She looks at me for a few seconds too long. Hanna lets out a long sigh, her shoulders slumping. "I really liked you, you know that?" She bites her lip as a small tear rolls down her cheek. "Have a nice life, Harry." 

I stand back, watching her walk away. I felt guilty for not feeling any remorse for being rude to her. I should feel at least a bit bad for yelling and being a dick, but I honestly didn't give a fuck. She was only a distraction. A distraction from the feelings that I was having towards Isabella when she was still with that prick. Sure it was an ass move to use Hanna like that, but I thought I had made it damn clear to her that I didn't want anything more from her. 

Fucking women and their fucking emotions. 

I feel a buzzing in my pocket. I look down and answer it quickly. Erin. 

ISABELLA 

I sit at my booth in the restaurant, alone. Harry is yet to come back from his break in the bathroom. This has to be one of the longest wee's he's done yet. 

Minutes go by and I start to grow impatient. Granted, its only been eight minutes since he's left. My mind goes back to my brief, and rather awkward, encounter with Hanna. She had looked so certain that her and Harry were together. I couldn't help but wonder what happened between the two of them. I assumed that they slept with one another, most likely more than once. Harry gave off the vibe that he would fuck any girl that walked by him. That was before we got together. Maybe he still gave off that vibe and I'm too blind to see it. What was that old saying? Love is blind. 

As it nears the ten minute mark, I see Harry walk back from outside. I look at him, oddly, as he sits down. "Sorry babe," he looks over at me with a small smile on his lips. 

"I was beginning to think you fell into the toilet," I say to him while taking a sip from my iced water. 

"Oh. No, I didn't fall in," he says hesitantly while shaking his head. He takes a long sip from his coke. 

"Why were you outside?" I carefully ask him. Images of Hanna's smug face while telling me that Harry was her boyfriend begin to play in my mind. I shake them away as fast as they appeared. Harry looks up from his menu. Confusion written on his face before his eyes widen briefly. 

"I had a phone call," he tells me. No hesitation in his voice. "Erin wants me to bring the dog back to her tomorrow morning. They came home a day early." 

I nod slowly, "Okay." 

The waitress comes by later asking us for our orders. After telling her what we want, she walks away. I take the straw from my cup and bite on it. "I had an interesting visitor stop by while you were away." 

Harry coughs on his drink. His eyes widen at me slightly before he straightens up. "A visitor?" 

"Yeah. Hanna." 

I watch his face as I tell him. He doesn't say a word. His expressions not once wavering.  "What did she say to you?" 

"Well, apparently, you're her boyfriend." 

Harry's hands grow into fists. His brows furrowing in what looked like anger. "That's a fucking lie, Izzy. Don't fucking listen to her. I'm not with her, never was." 

I raise my hands up in surrender. "Woah, I wasn't accusing you of being with her or lying." 

Harry's tense shoulders relax slightly. He stretches his hands out. Taking another sip from his coke, he looks at me. "She meant nothing to me," he tells me. "All I care about is you. I don't want anything to fuck up what we have." His eyes making contact with mine. He looks at me with so much intensity. As if to tell me through his eyes how low he thought of her. 

"I honestly could care less what some ex-hook up has to say to me about you. I know that you were sleeping with girls before we were ever a thing. I had a boyfriend for crying out loud! I'm not mad at you or anything. I trust you, Harry. I trust you when you tell me that you like me and not her. Don't worry. She isn't going to change my mind about you with her petty remarks. She's clearly delusional though. You might want to consider getting a restraining order on her," I joke lightly. 

Harry visibly relaxes. His eyes softening as he watches me. "I like you so damn much, Izzy. I don't want you to forget that." 

"I wont." My words come out as a soft whisper. His fingers entangle with my own. He looks at me, his eyes getting lost in my own. His pools of green irises staring at me, getting lost in my soul. It felt like that, at least. Whenever Harry looked at me, I felt like he was looking at every depth of my soul. It held an almost overwhelming amount of intensity, but in the most fascinating way possible. 

I liked this man. I liked this man a bit too much. Every day, I felt myself falling more and more for Harry. I was falling into this whirlwind of emotion and was beginning to drown. I wasn't gasping for air or swimming back to shore. I didn't want to be saved; I didn't want to be taken away. Harry was my ocean and I am sinking into his abyss. It's fine though. I don't mind. I'll swim through any treacherous water if it meant being close to him; to his heart.

-

"H, can I ask you something?" We were laying on my bed. My hand was in his. He was rubbing my knuckles with his thumb. He brings my hand up to his lips, leaving a soft kiss on top of my knuckles- something that he has done many times before. 

"You can ask me anything, love." 

I turn my body over, leaning all of my weight onto my side. Harry was laying on his back, his free arm slung over my body, his other hand still laced with mine. He looked handsome in his oversized cream sweater and his long hair pushed back. "Have you ever been in love before?" I ask him softly. My eyes gaze over his face; his features hardening slightly. 

"Why do you ask," he doesn't look at me as he ask this. His eyes stay trained on our fingers. 

"You've never mentioned your past before. I'm curious." 

"It's none of your business, that's why." He lets go of my hands. I bite on my lip from letting it quiver. I keep my face blank, a complete opposite from the roller coaster of emotions that raged inside of me. 

"Harry. I'm your girlfriend. I want you to be open with me."  

"My past doesn't concern you, baby. Drop it, alright?"  His eyes plead me to to change the subject. My mouth has other plans. 

"There was a girl. Wasn't there." 

"Baby, drop it." He looks at me, warning in his eyes. I turn my body around, his arms wrapping around me. 

"Goodnight Harry." I say to him, not wanting for him to see the hurt in my eyes. Hurt that he wasn't willing to open up to me. That he didn't trust me as much as I trusted him. 

A week has gone by since my pointless encounter with Hanna. 

I can't seem to shake off her piercing blue eyes that held so much certainty; certainty that Harry and her were meant to be. That they were together. Being faced first hand with one of his past hook-ups had me wondering about all the other women Harry has been with in the past. 

I began to then wonder about Harry's past girlfriends. He's been so quiet about his past relationships. As I thought about our previous conversation, my pervious assumptions of Harry having an old girlfriend seemed more true. Whoever this girl was must have hurt him. That'd explain why he was the way that he was. Why he had always seen women as an object of some sort. He'd fuck and go; no girlfriends. 

I couldn't help but wonder: what made me so special for Harry to change his mind about committed relationships. What was so great about me that he decided to make me his? 

You're not that special. He'll drop you and go. A voice in the back of my mind is quick to taunt. I shake it of as quickly as it starts. Harry wasn't like that. He had made it clear that he cared about me. He had made it clear that this was what he wanted; that I was what he wanted. 

Yet I wondered, did Harry still love this girl? The anger that he seemingly has bottled up inside of him would suggest that to be true. 

I shake my head. I couldn't think like this. Harry chose me. For some reason, he chose me. He wants to be with me. I wasn't going to allow Hanna's taunts and mocking words change the fact that Harry cares about me. That I am his girlfriend and he was my boyfriend. 

The bell of the bookstore rings. Looking over, I see the familiar mop of long, messy brown curls. They were pushed back in a black beanie. "Hey stranger," I walk over to Harry. He smiles at me once his eyes meet mine. 

"Hello beautiful," he pulls me into a kiss. His lips smiling as he pulls away. "I've missed you." 

"You saw me last night," I laugh lightly. 

"You have me fucking whipped, Isabella Maxwell." He pulls me in for another kiss. His hands wrapped themselves around my small frame, pulling me up towards him. I reach up, my hands wrapping around his neck, pulling him in closer for a kiss. My toes reaching on it's tippy top, attempting to reach him fully. 

I pull away after a few more seconds. An enamored smile plastered on my lips. Harry pulls my hand towards are spot in the classic literature aisle. He sits down on the couch that is there, pulling me on his lap. "I have a question for you." 

"I have an answer," I smile against his lips, kissing him once more. 

"My mum is forcing me to go up to Manchester for Easter next weekend. I want you to come with me." 

Instantly, a grin spreads across my face. "Really? You want me to meet your parents?" 

Harry groans, "God when you say it that way, I change my mind." 

I swat him across his arm, laughing. "Oh shut up," I say. "You want me there." 

"I do," his lips meeting mine once again. Kissing me with so much longing and admiration. "Ben said he's going to be with Jaz this break. I'm going to fucking need you there." 

My eyes widen slightly. I had forgotten that Jaz was going to be going back home to be with her family. Since the passing of her gran, she has been a mess. I hadn't realized that her and her grandmother were so close. She was practically a second mother to her when her own mother was too busy going on business trips with her father. She had taken care of Jaz throughout her childhood. She was absolutely crushed by her passing. Ben has been over for the past week, staying over, cooking her meals and just being there. He's a great man. There's something special in those Styles genes. 

"Right. Well, I'll be there." I smile at Harry. His eyes wrinkling in the corners from his smirk. 

"Thanks baby," he mutters under his breath before kissing me once more. His hand rests on my hip, my fingers tangling with his hair. 

Reluctantly, I pull away from his lips. "I have to go back to work. I close up in about," I look at my watch, "Thirty-five minutes." 

"M'thats fine, babe. There's a book here I've been wanting to read." He sits up, slipping me off of his lap. He walks towards the fictional aisle, pulling out a book. 

"You do realize this isn't a library, yeah?" 

"Meh. Close enough." He smirks once again before sitting back on his designated couch, book and hand. "Now go back to work. Someone has to bring home the bacon. Metaphorically. Since I always bring you back fucking truckloads of bacon from Breirn's." 

"Oh hush up. It's damn good bacon," I say, defending my ridiculous obsession with the breakfast meat. 

Harry doesn't say anything else, only nodding his head, before turning back to his book, a ghost of a smile on his lips. I take a moment to look at him. His green eyes focused on the pages of his novel. His strong hand holding the edge of the book, while the his free hand holds the bottom of his lip with pointer finger and thumb. His brows are scrunched as he focuses on the words on the page. 

This was one of my top sights when it came to Harry. He looked in his element with a book in hand. I turn around, a smile on my face, as I walk back to my station at the front of the store. My mind focused on the curly haired man that sat only meters away.