When I woke in the morning, I immediately wished I had made some kind of plan with Harry. It hadn't even occurred to me last night to try and arrange something, but now it was glaringly obvious. I wanted to see him again, as soon as possible. Determined to make that happen today, for however long, I dragged myself out of bed to take a shower. I pondered while I showered what I could do to see him again, debating if I should text, call, or just walk over to his house.

Deciding just showing up at his house could be a bit aggressive, I settled on calling him, wanting to hear his voice. I was just psyching myself up about what to say as I walked out of my bathroom to discover my mother sitting on my bed. Seeing her there made me jump, not expecting her to be home.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked, grasping my towel closer to my body.

"Where were you last night?" she responded, the reason for her visit clear now.

"Um... " I started, not ready to share with her what was going on yet. "I was here," I tried, shuffling over to my dresser so I wouldn't have to look at her. Technically not a lie, I just wasn't here until shortly after 2:00 am.

"No, I got home from work around midnight and you were most definitely not here," she said sternly. I huffed out a sigh. Better to tell her the truth than to have her assume I was off at a party somewhere.

"I was hanging out with Harry," I admitted.

"Harry? That nice boy from dinner?" she asked. I didn't know what other Harry she could possibly mean.

"Yes."

"Why were you so late? He hardly seems the type to stay out until such a time," she insisted, probably not fully believing me.

"We were watching a movie and we fell asleep," I answered honestly, leaving out the other bits.

"Where at?" she pressed.

"His house! Mom what's with the third degree?" I asked exasperatedly. "I thought you liked him?"

"I do, I just don't know how I feel about you staying out so late," she said, insisting on being difficult.

"I've stayed out later than that before," I informed her. It was true- with my friends, with Colt, on all occasions doing far less respectable things than I had been doing last night.

My mother pursed her lips, thinking about this before saying, "Fine. As long as you're being good. I don't want to get a phone call someday saying you're in a ditch somewhere."

I rolled my eyes. "Good thing we're not being dramatic or anything." I clutched my clothes in my hand. "Now will you get out so I can get dressed?"

She stood up from my bed before shooting me one more reprimanding look. "Yeah, yeah. Want to go get lunch soon?" she asked, mood suddenly shifting now that she had gotten my scolding out of the way. I hesitated, wanting to try and see Harry. On the other hand, I had hardly seen my mom all week and didn't want to upset her and lose her fairly slack parenting rules.

"Yeah, sure," I replied. "Just let me get dressed quick then I'll come down."

"Okay," she replied happily, leaving the room.

***

Lunch consisted of my mother grilling me about Harry and me trying to answer her as vaguely as possible. Never satisfied with my answers, she pressed even further before I had to nearly shout that I hardly knew what was going on, much less able to explain it to her. Huffing disappointedly at me, she finally accepted my answers and started blabbering about work and the latest crisis she had had to deal with. Not surprised that she had turned the topic to work after she could no longer harass me about Harry, I happily listened, glad to no longer be the target of her interrogation.

After we finished our lunch, my mom announced that she had to errands to run, so I requested to be dropped back off at home. As soon as I walked through the door to my house, I started pacing, preparing to call Harry. Taking a few deep breaths, I held up my phone and stared at it, steeling myself. I nodded my head, encouraging myself as I hit his name to dial him.

Holding the phone to my ear, I brought my thumb up to my mouth to chew on the side of my nail, something I rarely did. Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I listened to it ring over and over, about to admit defeat and hang up when I heard his raspy voice on the other end.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi," I said, smiling, nail still caught between my teeth.

"Hi," he replied. "How are you?"

"Great, yourself?"

"I'm just fine," he said, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Well good," I said, feeling like an idiot for not coming up with anything to say beforehand, but still happy to just be talking to him.

"Yeah, um, did you need something, Joey?" his low voice replied, sounding even more amused now.

"Um... no, not really, just seeing what you were doing?" I said, finishing it like a question, slapping my hand to my forehead in embarrassment. He probably thought I was an idiot.

"I was just, um, doing some homework," he said. Of course he was.

"Want to take a break?" I ventured, hoping he would say yes.

"W-what did you have in mind?" he asked, curious nerves coming through in his voice.

"Wanna go for a walk? It's nice out," I suggested after thinking a moment.

"Sure," he agreed. "Meet on the sidewalk?"

"Sounds good," I said, smiling once more. Hanging up the phone, I let out a small giddy squeal. Quickly, I ran to the mirror only to be reminded I had absolutely no make-up on. Shit. Well, too late now. Hopefully Harry didn't mind. Grabbing a sweatshirt on my way out the door, I started to walk towards Harry's house. I had just rounded the corner of my driveway when I saw him coming down the street already towards me.

I waved at him, grinning. He smiled back, raising his head in a nod of acknowledgement. His eyes flicked around nervously, apparently feeling awkward looking at me for so long before we met. I giggled at the sight of him looking so beautifully flustered, immediately noticing he didn't have his glasses on today. His hair was different, too. It looked like it was in what I guessed was its natural state- pushed up in the front, sides curling slightly away from his head. He looked so amazing with his hair natural that I couldn't imagine why he went to the trouble to style it every morning.

"Hi," I said as soon as he was within hearing distance, coming to a stop a few feet in front of him.

"Hi back," he said, finally looking me in the eye for more than a split second.

"Shall we?" I asked, nodding my head towards the direction he had just come. He nodded before stuffing his hands in the front pockets of his jeans before swinging around and starting to walk next to me. "How's homework?" I asked him.

"Awesome," he said sarcastically.

"You would be doing your homework on this beautiful afternoon," I teased. It really was a gorgeous fall day.

"I don't enjoy doing it, you know," he said back, looking down at me quickly before darting his eyes back forward.

"Not that big of a dork, eh?" I joked.

"Erm, no... " he said, a small smile on his lips. He clearly thought of himself as a nerd.

"I don't think you're a dork, Harry," I clarified. "I think you're probably just quiet. And a little shy," I said, smiling at the thought. I loved that he was like that.

His smile grew a bit at my assessment. "I suppose that's fair," he agreed.

"What are you up to the rest of the day?" I asked as we turned a corner.

He just shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't have much planned."

"So what does Harry Styles usually do in his free time, then?" I probed, very curious what the answer would be. At first I pictured typical things, like studying, reading, maybe some strange online gaming community. Cutting myself off, I knew that I was being stereotypical, and probably very far off from the truth. He was too interesting to ever be stereotypical.

"Erm, I don't know," he answered, as if this thought had never really occurred to him before. "Play guitar some, I suppose, but you know that..."

"I did," I said. "You still need to play for me sometime, by the way."

"I will... sometime," he answered vaguely, clearly nervous at the thought. He had seemed much braver about it when I caught him off guard in the dark. I snuck a look at him, gauging his reaction. He twisted his fingers in front of him, toying with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I wish I could play," I told him.

"It's not that hard," he said modestly. His cheeks tinted pink before he offered, "I could try to teach you if you like."

"Yeah?" I asked, excited by the idea.

He nodded, looking down at me briefly as we turned another corner. "I might be shit at teaching though, just to warn you."

"I doubt that," I said honestly. He was very patient, a perfect quality for teaching me something. "My mom asked me where I was last night," I told him.

He looked startled before releasing his hands from in front of him. "What did you tell her?"

"The truth," I said simply. He thought about that for a second before apparently deciding that was a good thing. He nodded.

"And what did she say?" he asked.

"Nothing much, just told me to be good," I said, winking at him. He almost choked.

"Um, I-I see," was all he said, looking flustered. I giggled, finding his innocence adorable as always. Cautiously, I reached over to slide my fingers between his, linking our hands. He swallowed before looking down at our hands then glancing around us, as if to see if anyone had noticed. There was no one around to notice, however, not that I would have really cared if there had been. As we walked, an idea struck me.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

"Ahh, probably nothing, why?"

I squeezed his hand lightly before speaking. I highly doubted he would agree, but I had to ask. "Do you want to come to a party with me?"

I held my breath, waiting for his reply. His brow furrowed low and he let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know, Joey. Most people don't seem to... like me being around very much."

I felt like my heart took a nose dive. I figured he would say no, but his reasoning made me sad. How could anyone not want this amazing boy around? "I don't think that's true," I lied, knowing that sadly, that was the case.

He gave me a skeptical look. "You know it is."

I looked at him, slight frown on my face, accepting what he his soft rejection. "I wish you would, though."

"I know," was all he said. I squeezed his hand again, bringing my other up to wrap around his wrist. Running my thumb down the protruding bone in his wrist, I tried to express how I was feeling. "Maybe another time," he added, humoring me.

"I wish I didn't have to go," I said, wanting nothing more but to spend another night cooped up with Harry.

"You don't," he gently informed me.

"Well I don't have to, but I promised everyone I would. Plus I haven't exactly been on the best terms with everyone lately, so... I probably shouldn't ditch," I explained. He nodded, seeming to understand. "You're sure you don't want to come? I really think it would be fine."

"No, that's alright. Thanks, though," he added politely, indicating he wasn't going to change his mind.

"Maybe I'll text you," I said playfully, trying to lighten the suddenly somber mood. Still grasping his hand with both of mine, I leaned into his shoulder slightly to nudge him.

"If you would like to," he said, smiling shyly down at me.

"Would you like me to?" I asked. He was always saying things like that, never really giving me much of a clue as to how he really felt about anything.

"Yes," he answered simply. I felt myself smile at his answer.

"I feel like I should warn you, I'll probably be drinking," I informed him, grimacing slightly.

"That's fine," he replied.

A thought suddenly struck me. "Have you ever drank?" I highly doubted it.

"Yes," he answered, surprising me. "But only at like weddings at stuff, never at a party."

"Have you ever been to a party?" This time I was almost sure of the answer.

"No," he said sheepishly, once again looking embarrassed.

"Don't worry, they're not that great," I reassured him.

"Then why did you try so hard to get me to come to one tonight?" he asked jokingly.

"So I could hang out with you," I answered honestly. He blushed, not sure of what to say. He swallowed, as if steeling himself to ask me something.

"Why do you want to so bad?" he finally said. It was by far the boldest thing I'd ever heard him say. I paused for a second, wanting to get my words right.

"I like you," I said simply, wanting to elaborate but not wanting to scare him. "I've never met anyone like you."

He looked down at me, hands still intertwined as we slowed to a halt. He turned to face me. "I'm sure you have..." he said quietly, ignoring my first confession and only addressing the second half of my statement.

I shook my head instantly. "No, I haven't. No one."

He just looked at me intently, deciding if he believed me or not, eyebrows slightly furrowed, lips puckered. I returned his steady gaze, eyes focusing on his brilliantly green ones. Finally he said, "I've never met anyone like you."

Instead of saying anything, I inhaled sharply before leaning up and pressing my lips against his. My hand left his wrist to rest on his hip, and his free hand cautiously came up to my face, cupping my cheek. The kiss wasn't long, but it was perfect and sweet, just like him. Pulling away an inch or so, a grin tugged at my lips, spreading across my entire face.

The expression, I could see, was mirrored on his face as well. Letting out a tiny giggle, we separated except for our hands and continued our walk to discover we had almost made it back to our houses. We had made it all the way around the block and had paused right in front of my next-door neighbor's house.

"I should probably let you get back to your homework," I said reluctantly, not wanting to hold him up anymore.

"Gee thanks," he said lightly, smile playing on his lips. "Have fun at your party tonight," he added sincerely.

I rolled my eyes and grinned. "Yeah, I'll try."

"That's the spirit," he said. I leaned up one last time to place a small kiss on the front of his neck, just above his collarbone. His hand gripped my upper arm as I did so.

"See you, Harry."

"Bye, Jo," he said, giving me a small wave and smile before turning and walking back to his house.

Almost to 1k reads, oh my goshhh!! I never thought I'd even get to 100! Huge thanks to everyone who is reading and has been sharing, it means the world to me! Please feel free to pass the word on :) x You're the best!