Harry's fingers ran up and down my spine in slow soothing motions while I laid on my side, my head resting on his black t-shirt covered chest. We had been laying here in silence for several minutes now, both of us tired after our on and off sexual activities during the last three hours. My eyes were closed and I was in that half awake, half asleep state as I listened to the sound of Harry softly humming the newest Ed Sheeran single. I could feel the vibrations of it against my cheek and I smiled tiredly, tightening my slung arm across him. I kept listening to the lowness of his voice, letting it soothe me further into sleep. I was on the verge of completely passing out when Harry stopped humming and I felt him shift beneath me.

"You brought it home with you?"

Opening my eyes, I looked up at Harry confusedly but then moved off of him when I saw him trying to sit up. Once I was off, he sat up and reached for one of the pictures I had hung up on the wall along with my polaroids. He pulled it from the clip it was attached to, then laid back on the bed, holding the picture in front of his face with a small grin on his lips. I leaned my head on his shoulder and took a peek at the picture he was holding to see it was the one of the sign language trip we took back in high school. The one where Harry was staring at me while I laughed like a hyena. Yet the way he looked at me in the picture was as if he adored me nonetheless.

"Yeah, I decided it'd look better in here." I told him, blushing when he turned his head to look at me with a smirk.

"Or maybe because you just like it." He said, leaning over to kiss my forehead. I rolled my eyes and ducked my head into his shoulder.

"That too."

I felt him sigh, one arm slinging around me before he rubbed my shoulder. His other hand still held the picture up, green eyes trained on it thoughtfully.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked him, plopping my chin on his chest as I stared at him. He bit his lip, eyes still on the picture as he shrugged.

"Just can't believe I'm with you now. After crushing on you for years." He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. Pressing my lips together, I felt my face heating up as I thought about the fact he still didn't know I had been crushing on him as well.

"Want to know a secret?" I asked him after a moment of silence. He tore his gaze away from the picture and arched his eyebrow at me, tilting his head down. The action gave him a double chin but it only made him so much more adorable.

"Course I do. Spill, baby."

I bit my lip, my cheeks growing red before I even tell him. "I had a huge crush on you too."

His eyes widened slightly and he reeled his head back more into the pillow, shifting to lean up on his elbow as the picture fell to the bed on his other side. His mouth was gaped open as he blinked at me repeatedly. "You're shitting me."

"I'm not."

He pursed his lips. "For how long?"

"Since Freshman year when I first saw you at orientation." I shrugged. "I was so embarrassed about falling in front of our whole class, everyone laughed at me but you were the only one not laughing."

He smiled at me and moved to lightly brush my cheek with his fingers, head tilting in adoration. "I didn't laugh because it looked like it hurt and I was genuinely concerned."

"It did." I whine and he laughs, cupping my cheek now while his thumb continued to brush my skin. "But even before that, I saw you walk in the gym and thought you were so cute. You were oblivious to all the girls staring at you too, which I liked."

"I wasn't oblivious," he told me and leaned forward until our noses were touching. "I saw you staring."

My cheeks burned. "I know, I remember. I was embarrassed you caught me."

"I could tell, you were so red. Just like you are now." He chuckled and I smacked his chest before he suddenly rolled over on top of me. His mouth caught mine and the vibrations from his chuckles could be felt against my lips. My lips pulled into a smile as we kissed and I moved my head back after a moment, cupping his face in my hands.

"Don't laugh at me. That was one of the worst days of my life." I said quietly, pouting when he merely smiled down at me. His hair stuck to the sides of his face and I subconsciously moved to brush it back.

"Wasn't mine. It was the first time I saw you, after all."

My stomach flipped at his words and I tried but failed to suppress a smile, eyes twinkling as I stared up at Harry. "You're smooth."

"No, I'm just being honest." He whispered and pressed another light kiss to my lips. He pulled back and rested his forehead on mine, sighing against my mouth. "I can't believe you liked me back and I had no idea. Do you realize this could have happened years ago?"

"Mm, maybe. But I think we would have been too young. I'm glad it happened now."

"Too young? How so?"

Because I'm positive I'm in love with you and you might be it for me. I pressed my lips together as the thought flitted in my head and the words sat on my tongue. My eyes searching Harry's, wondering if now was the time to confess how I really felt for him. Was it too soon? How long do people usually wait before they profess their love to one another? Harry and I had only been together now for a month, we hadn't even reached the two month mark. It was too soon, wasn't it?

Not wanting to risk ruining what we had by scaring him away, I shrug and run my fingers through his hair again. "Well, we might not have worked out. Most high school relationships don't last long, especially during freshman and sophomore years. You would have been curious about other girls and broken up with me eventually. So I'm glad you got to spread your wings a bit before we finally got together."

He frowned, moving to run his fingers through my own tangled hair. "I would not have dumped you for other girls."

"No?"

"No." He said firmly and leaned back down to kiss my cheek, green eyes flickering up to hold my gaze. "I would have liked you way too much."

My heart fluttered in my chest as I smiled at him just before he moved to kiss me again, gently and slowly. It was a sweet and innocent one that I could feel all the way in the tips of my toes. Sighing happily against him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him to me as he moved to circle his own arms around my waist. His hands slid beneath the white tank top I slipped on earlier, lightly rubbing circles into my back with his thumb.

The sound of a phone ringing interrupted us and Harry groaned against my mouth, pulling back only to kiss my neck. "Turn it off."

"It's not mine." I told him and he kissed me once more before pushing himself back onto his hands, eyes looking towards his phone that was in the pocket of his jeans. He sighed and rolled off of me, pulling the blanket off of us before he stood from the bed. I stared at his back as he bent over, his boxers tightening against his thighs as he picked up his jeans and plucked his phone out of the back pocket. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the screen before he swiped it and brought the phone to his ear.

"What do you want?" He asked rather rudely and I arched my eyebrow at him when he looked at me. Rolling his eyes and mouthing Cameron to me.

"I'm with Emmeline right now." He said, pausing for a moment as she answered him. "Can't it wait until tomorrow or something?"  Another long pause and he sighed tiredly, lifting his hand to run his fingers through his hair. "I have not been flaking, is it so bad I want to spend time with my girlfriend?" I grinned a little at the sound of him calling me his girlfriend, watching as he glanced at me again before his face contorted into annoyance. "Uh, no. I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." He said lowly, eyes holding mine as he rolled his eyes again. "Fuck, fine. I'll see if Em is cool with it. I'll text you after." He stopped and shook his head. "I'm not telling her that fuck off, you're so annoying. Yeah-, okay fine bye."

He hung up the phone and shook his head as he placed it on the nightstand before moving to sit at the edge of the bed. "What'd she want?"

"She wants me to meet her at the gym. Apparently I've been flaking on our boxing sessions too much." He mumbled and shrugged. "But if you want me to, I'll stay here with you and I can go another time."

"No," I shook my head and sat up, putting my hand to his back and lightly rubbing it when I saw him frown at me. "You have been ditching her a lot lately. Go hang out with her, you should make time with your friends too."

"But I don't want to leave you alone." He told me sadly and I shrugged.

"I like having alone time. I'll take a bath or read a book, I've been wanting to do that for awhile but haven't found the time. Besides, Lila mentioned she'll be sleeping here tonight so she should be here soon. And so will Caesar if he doesn't get lucky with that girl Sarah."

He was still frowning and staring at me unsurely, hand moving to grasp my thigh. "Are you sure? You'll be okay?"

"Yes. I'll be fine. Go spend time with your friend." I told him gently and leant forward to kiss his cheek. "You can't be with me twenty four seven. We need to spend some time apart as well."

"No we don't." He mumbled and when I gave him a deadpan look he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. But you'll be getting a call from me before I go to bed tonight. I don't care if you're asleep I'm waking your ass up to get a good night from you."

I laughed and shook my head. "Okay babe."

He smiled and pecked my lips before he stood up and slipped his jeans back on. I laid back on the bed as he moved around my room to grab his stuff, my eyes closing tiredly as he did. Hearing the sound of his keys jingling and then his feet padding against the floor, I felt the bed shift beside me. Opening my eyes in time I saw him lean down again to kiss my forehead, emerald eyes gazing down at me.

"I'll see you tomorrow baby."

"Okay. Bye." I whispered and he pressed another short kiss to my mouth before pulling away and walking out of my room. I could hear his footsteps moving around the apartment before I heard the front door open then close, the silence of the place being extremely loud the moment he's gone. I stare at the ceiling for a long moment until I hear a creak in the hallway. I jolt up in bed, staring at my closed door for a few seconds. I was not about to lay here and make myself paranoid, so I got up from the bed and moved to my stereo. Turning it on, I plugged in my phone and put the music on shuffle before turning the volume up a little and sauntering my way into the bathroom, the hot bath sounding like exactly what I needed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sitting cross legged on my bed, I stared at the Polaroids in front of me, a smile on my face when I saw the one of Harry and I. Both of us smiling goofily while Harry had his arm wrapped around my neck. My heart warmed and I shuffled the pictures together, moving to place them on my nightstand when I heard one of the floorboards creak loudly. I froze, my eyes drifting to my closed door. It was dark outside my room, but nonetheless I saw feet moving in the gap at the bottom of my door and I sat up quickly. Blinking rapidly, I looked at the gap to see the feet were now gone as if I had been imagining it. Waiting a few long minutes, I didn't move an inch as I perked my ears for any sign of movement but it was dead silent.

"Hello? Lila? Is that you?"

No one responded and after hesitating, I moved across my room and ripped my door open with much bravery. My eyes quickly scanned the outside of it to see nothing except for our dark hallway. I gulped, my foot moving forward to walk out to the living room when a tall figure stepped in front of me abruptly. I gasped, reeling back but the person suddenly wrapped their hands around my throat and threw themselves at me.

My scream was cut short as their grip tightened and I fell back at the force, expecting to hit the hard ground of my bedroom floor. Except, I didn't. Instead, I was enveloped in water as I sunk to the bottom. The hand around my throat didn't loosen, but as the bubbles in front of my face cleared, the person's features became visible. My mouth opened on its own accord as I screamed at seeing the face of Zayn, water instantly rushing into my lungs. I thrashed in the water, trying desperately to kick him away from me but all he did was smile darkly at me through the water. He didn't seem fazed and it was like he didn't need oxygen to breathe under water, not like I did. He was relaxed and content as he continued to strangle me, not straining in the slightest as I struggled to rip myself free of him. My nails clawed at his wrist, but he didn't react nor did my scratches leave a mark. I couldn't breathe and I was choking, my lungs being abused a second time by the water and my airways getting blocked by the grip Zayn had around my neck. It didn't matter how much I kicked or fought him, my strength was nothing compared to his.

"Wake up." I saw Zayn's lips mouth and my thrashing momentarily slowed as I stared at him in confusion. My fingers still trying to pry his hands off of me.

"Wake up." He mouthed again, but this time I heard a voice. I stopped completely and blinked away the sudden tiredness I felt. I was going to pass out.

"Emmeline wake up!

I gasped as I shot up from my bed, my eyes darting around my room to find the source of the voice. There Lila stood at the edge of my bed with Caesar at her side, both their faces pale and frantic. Lila hurriedly clutched my shoulders as I fell back on my bed, my hands pressed to my chest as I tried to regulate my breathing. My lungs felt constricted and it felt as if a bulldozer was currently being driven over my chest repeatedly. My wide eyes darted to both my friends as the sound of my fast pants registered to my ears.

"Ems, breathe. Calm down." Lila said frantically, her hands moving around my head as if she didn't know what to do.

"What's wrong with her?" I heard Caesar say. Was his voice shaking?

"I-I don't k-know. This has never happened before-, at least I don't think it has." She says quickly and holds my face in her hands.

"Emmeline, breathe."

I'm trying! I wanted to say, but I couldn't talk. I couldn't even fucking breathe.

My hands pressed harder against my chest and I briefly looked down to see how quick it was moving. Heaving up down up down up down. I started to feel light headed and my eyes darted back to Lila's. I need air. Panic must of been written all over my face when I tried to gesture to my throat because Lila quickly tore herself away from me and flung herself at my phone.

"What are you doing?!" Caesar shouted.

"I'm going to get my inhaler!" She yelled and then quickly whipped her head around to look at Caesar before she thrusted my phone into his chest, then darted for the door. "You, Call Harry! Now!"

* * * * * * * * *

Hi, wanted to say a quick thank you for getting this book to almost 100k reads. Also thank you to everyone who has been nominating this story, 'his hostage', and 'the first lost boy' into the fanfiction awards! You guys are seriously the best. <3

Questions:

What's wrong with Em? ):

How's Harry going to react?

Vote + comment! Another update coming soon :) thanks for reading!