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“Shit!” he said as he frantically searched for his clothes, finding his jeans at the foot of his bed.  He didn’t bother with his boxers as he pulled them up, hastily doing the buttons before scanning the room for a shirt, which I had thrown who knows where. 

My shirt was nowhere to be found as I tore through the pillows on his bed near the vicinity I thought I had tossed it.  I could hear Anne outside now, talking on the phone apparently.  Thank god she had decided to end her call before coming inside or we would have been caught for sure.

“Shit shit shit,” he swore again as he struggled to pull a t-shirt over his head.  I was fairly certain it wasn’t the one he had been wearing earlier, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.  I let out a breath of relief when I finally freed my shirt from his bed and pulled it over my head.  Pants. Where were my pants? I turned around to look for them only to discover Harry standing behind me, sheepishly holding my jeans out to me.  I grinned at him as I grabbed them and pulled them onto my legs.

“Thanks,” I said, doing the zip and buttons on them.  I opened my mouth to ask what we should do when I heard the doorknob turn and the front door swing open at the bottom of the stairs.  We didn’t have enough time to leave his room.  His eyes widened as he nodded towards his bed, throwing himself on top of it casually and grabbing his remote at the same time, clicking on the TV. 

Following his lead, I flung myself on the bed next to him, careful not to sit too close, leaning against his headboard as he did.  Perfect.  It looked like we were just casually watching TV now, even if we were both breathing a little heavily.

Just in time, too, because nearly the second after we had positioned ourselves, Anne called out Harry’s name before starting up the stairs.  I tried my best to look innocent.

“Up here, mom,” he called back, shooting me an amused, guilty look before she appeared in the doorframe.   “How was your thing?”

She surveyed the two of us, innocently sitting atop his bed, presumably watching TV.  I wasn’t sure she was going to buy it; if I looked anything like Harry, we were pretty obvious.  His face was flushed and alive, plump lips a deep red from all the kissing and excitement, his hair thoroughly messed up.  I was sure we were caught until I saw her smile at us.  “It was great!  We raised more money than last year, so it was a success, I’d say.”

“That’s good,” he answered back, shooting her a close-lipped smile.  A puffy, red, close-lipped smile.

“Absolutely.  What have you two been up to all night?” she asked.  I tried not to blush. 

“We made dinner,” he said before turning to me and grinning.  “Well, I made dinner.  She tried.”

My mouth fell open in mock insult.  “Hey! I did my best!” I shot back, eyes connected with his as I playfully slapped his arm nearest me.  He grinned at me before turning back to his mother.

“Then we’ve just been watching movies and stuff,” he said, finishing his answer. 

She nodded, smiling at us.  “That sounds lovely, dears.”

“Hmmhmm,” Harry hummed back, looking innocently at her.

“Well I’m exhausted so I’m gonna get to bed.  Don’t stay up too late,” she said.  “It really was great to meet you, Joey,” she addressed me before saying goodnight and heading to her room.

As soon as she was gone we both breathed a sigh of relief, shooting each other looks with eyebrows raised and guilty smiles.

“That was close,” he whispered.

“Seriously,” I giggled.  “Pretty exciting though, I have to say.”

He chuckled before leaning across to kiss me quickly.  “It’s always exciting with you.”  He ran his fingertips up my forearm, making me shiver slightly. 

We spent the rest of the night cuddled together on his bed, watching TV and commenting on whatever we were watching, making each other laugh.  Kisses were shared every few minutes, and his fingers constantly trailed patterns on whatever part of my skin could reach, making it very difficult not to smile.  When it finally came time for me to leave, I thought I would never make it out the door.  Hugging me goodbye, he squeezed me tightly against him before pressing a kiss to my forehead and smiling down at me.

“I had an amazing night, Joey,” he told me, hands holding onto the sides of my face now.

“I’ll bet you did,” I said cheekily, winking at him before giggling.

He blushed and rolled his eyes. “Well, that definitely helped but even without that… tonight would have been just as amazing.”  His sincerity was so touching, so believable that I had no doubt he meant every word. 

“I had an amazing time with you, too, babe,” I answered.  He smiled even wider before I leaned up to kiss him one last time for the night.  It was a slow kiss, full of feeling and emotion.  When we finally pulled apart, neither of us could stop smiling.  “Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Joey,” he returned, running his thumb across my cheek before sliding his hands down my arms, gripping my hands as he walked me out the door.  He squeezed my hands before letting them go as I reluctantly turned to walk off the porch.  When I reached the end of the driveway, I turned and took one last look at him, still standing on the deck where I had left him, smile plastered to his beautiful face.  When my eyes met his, my grin spread even wider and I bit my lip. 

I didn’t even remember deciding to do so, but suddenly my feet were carrying me towards him again, running back up the driveway.  When I reached him, I flung my arms around his neck, his arms automatically wrapping around my waist and holding me to him as I pressed my lips to his one last time.  He held me there for a few moments, smiling into our kiss before pulling his head back, still holding me close.  We were both grinning like crazy, arms wound around each other, faces only an inch apart. 

“Sorry,” I said, not meaning it at all.  He just continued to grin at me as he leaned forward to press one final kiss to my lips before setting me down.  “Okay, goodnight for real this time.”

He chuckled, squeezing his arms around me before saying, “Goodnight, babe.”

My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much but I didn’t care.  I detached myself from him, giving him a quick peck before retracing my steps down his driveway.  Just before I passed the oak tree, I turned and blew him a kiss to where he stood on the porch.  He raised his big hand to catch it before pressing his fingertips to his lips, accepting my kiss.  I grinned at him before finally cutting myself off from the sight of him and heading home, blissfully unaware from my incredible night with Harry. 

***

When I woke up Saturday morning, I immediately felt a smile pull across my lips.  With memories of last night rushing back, I was in an incredible mood, which was surprising considering it was still fairly early and I usually loved to sleep in.  Thoughts of Harry danced around in my brain, preventing any ideas of going back to sleep.  He was just about all I ever thought of these days; he had completely captivated me. 

While I had no plans with him for the day yet, that didn’t bother me; often we would have no plans but end up together anyway.  Whenever I wasn’t around him, I wanted to be.  Needed to be, almost.  Hoping he was awake, I decided to call him before even getting out of bed.  I reached across my bed to retrieve my phone from the bedside table, pulling up his number and hitting dial. 

His phone rang a few times and I was about to give up when his raspy voice croaked on the other end.

“Hello?” he said, clearly having just woken up and not even looking at the caller ID.

“Good morning,” I said, fingers tugging on my lower lip as I smiled at my ceiling. 

“Morrrrning,” he returned, voice deep and gravely in the early morning.  I shivered at the tone.

“Sorry I woke you.”

“No… no you didn’t, it’s fine,” he lied, unconvincingly.  He yawned.

“Liar,” I giggled.  “How did you sleep?”

“Like a rock,” he chuckled.  “You?”

“Very well, I’m wide awake now,” I chirped, giggling once more.

“I can hear that,” he said, letting out a breathy laugh at the end.  I could hear him rustling around in his blankets, the sound muffled through the phone.

“Well I’m just happy, I suppose,” I told him, unable to hold myself still in this blissful state, rolling around in my blankets and stretching out my leg muscles.

“Must be because of your amazing boyfriend,” he teased.

“Something like that,” I agreed, grinning into my phone. 

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked after chuckling softly.

“No plans, sir,” I said. “Have something in mind?”

“Maybe.”

“Do I get to know what it is?”

“No.”

I huffed in mock exasperation.  “Whyyyy?” I whined.

“It’s a surprise,” he said.  I could practically see his smug expression.

“You and your damn surprises,” I mumbled, grumpy he wouldn’t tell me.

“Oh pshh you love them,” he said.  He was right.

“Fine, fine.  Am I getting picked up in another mysterious vehicle again?” I asked.

“Nope.  Want to just meet at my house tonight?  ‘Round 7?” he clarified.

“I suppose I can do that,” I teased, smiling again.

“Okay, good, don’t wear anything too cold,” he said, giving me a small hint.

“So… are we going to be outside?” I pressed, trying to figure out what we’d be doing.

“I’m not telling you,” he said in a tone similar to one a six year old would use.

“Alright, alright,” I laughed.  “See you then, Harry.”

“Yes, babe,” he replied.  I could tell he was smiling.

“I’ll let you go back to sleep now,” I said guiltily.

“Well I’m up now thanks to some girl calling me so early,” he teased.

“Ah what a jerk,” I said dryly.

“Huge jerk,” he agreed.

“Bye, Harry,” I said, smiling to myself.

“Goodbye, Joey,” he returned before we ended the call. 

I kicked my legs giddily under my covers, excited to see what Harry had planned for us that night.  The only bad side to getting up so early was that I now had much longer to wait before I could see him again.  Usually, I was embarrassed for girls whose worlds seemed to revolve around their boyfriends, but I held a little more empathy for them now.  I could see why if you had someone so special to you that you’d want to spend as much time with them as possible. 

Harry had quickly become the person I most looked forward to seeing, the person I was most myself with, and the person I was always eager to be near, no matter what I was doing.  When I wasn’t with him, my heart ached to be returned to him with every passing second.  I should have been scared, but all I felt was exhilaration.  I felt alive.

Thoughts? If anyone has any ideas to help me get the word out about "Always," let me know! It'd be much appreciated :) Thanks so much again for reading xxx