I got back to the dorms just in time for Nova and Niall to ask me out for dinner with them at the pub down the street, and since I still had over an hour until I had to meet Harry at the studio, I decided to join them. No better time like the present to get to know the girl I'm going to be living with for the rest of the year, and her boyfriend who I'm assuming I'll be seeing a lot of. And it was perfect timing since I was in a particularly great mood since my scars were covered and my arms were free to feel the sunshine for the first time in way too long.

The lights were dimmed and the music was loud. The pub was packed with college students, drinking beers amongst friends or eating dinner for two. The atmosphere had a very laid back vibe to it, full of positive energy and it only added to the way I was feeling. I couldn't help the smile on my face that seemed to match everyone else's in the place, as we walked to a booth in the corner past pool tables and arcade games. On the opposite side of the pub was the bar. In front of it, a small dance floor with black and white tiles and beside it, a small stage with a dj station. It was obvious this was the place to be no matter what time of day it was.

"Hey, so it's Niall's birthday on Friday," Nova explains as I sit down across from them. "So you're definitely coming out with us!"

"You're not allowed to say no this time! Cuz it's my birthday and I say so!" Niall cheekily adds, pointing a finger at me.

Going out with them didn't mean I had to drink, but I was still hesitant to answer. I had to remind myself again that I wasn't where I used to be and I had nothing to be afraid of. "Where are we going?"

"Just here," Niall answers, looking around the place. "Last night was great! You should've come! We met tons of awesome people! I think this is my new favorite place and I plan to spend all my free time here!" I smile as I listen to them both laugh before agreeing to attend his birthday with them.

I can tell just by looking at the couple across from me that they're the type of people who have a lot of friends. They're so obviously happy-go-lucky, people would just gravitate towards them. It wouldn't surprise me if they already knew the whole student body of our school and every single one of them liked them. They seemed like the life of the party somehow.

After the waitress comes to take our order, Nova tells me about their first day of classes and says one day they're going to produce some of the most epic movies of our time. Their confidence doesn't surprise me and I'm once again realizing how much she likes to talk.

"Niall's actually writing a script already," she exclaims excitedly. I can tell by the way she says it and looks at the boy beside her, how proud she is to be with him. "It's about--"

"No way Nova!" He cut her off, putting his hand over her mouth. "No one is going to know what it is until it's done! So Shhhh!---" He then looks at me curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Have you ever thought about acting?"

Nova's mouth drops open. "Ohhh yeah, she would be perfect! Good choice, baby!"

I laugh. "No way in hell would I ever act!" I turn them down instantly, shaking my head frantically. "There's a reason I stay behind a camera! So don't even think about it!"

With this, they happily change the subject, asking about my first day of classes as our food gets placed in front of us. I decide not to tell them about the good looking, yet super annoying and cocky boy I got stuck with this morning, who for some reason followed me around. Instead, I lie, and say nothing special happened and tell them about how I changed my number and went shopping. We all happily exchange numbers, just as someone walks over to our table.

"Liam, man!" Niall stands up from the booth to give the guy a friendly handshake. "Nice to see you! Paisley, this guy right here is proof of how awesome the people are that we met last night!" I take this Liam character in, as he slides himself into the booth next to me with his beer and I shift slowly closer to the window next to me. I'm pretty sure he is proof that basically every single guy I've really looked at so far today, has been good looking. He wears a tight black t-shirt and a black and red snapback, and his smile meets his brown eyes with no effort as he looks back at me.

"Where's Louis at?" Niall asks, shoving a fry into his mouth. "I thought you guys were attached at the hip!" He laughs as if what he said was the funniest thing in the world, and I can't help but let out a giggle listening to the way his laugh carries throughout the room contagiously.

"He's coming later," Liam answers, not taking his eyes off of me. I don't look back at him, but I can see him in my peripheral vision and I try not to let his staring at me get to me, even if it makes me slightly uncomfortable.

"You gotta meet Louis, Paisley!" Nova says. "That guy can drink like a fish and he's so entertaining!"

I almost lose track of time, talking with the three of them, long after our meals were finished and they tried to get me to stay and have some drinks with them. After many times of trying to explain that I had to get to the studio to meet my subject for the week and not succeeding with being able to leave, Liam finally got out of the booth and let me through so I could go and do what I need to.

"I hope to see you again soon!" Liam says, smiling at me. He is definitely a charismatic guy and his smile is contagious, but I had to take a step back from him as he stood too close to me for comfort.

"Oh she'll be back! Don't you worry!" Nova tells him as she winks at me. I furrow my eyebrows at her knowing exactly what she's thinking. I was rendered speechless. Last night she wanted to hook me up with Niall's roommate. Now, she wants to hook me up with Liam? What do I look like? Ugh.

"I'll see you later Nova!" I wave at them as I start to walk away. "Bye guys!"

**

"You're late!" is the first thing I hear when I walk into studio two in the basement of the school. I don't see Harry when I walk in, but I know it's his voice. No one else I know has that deep raspy british accent. And I'm not going to lie, it makes him all that much more attractive.

When I finally walk in the room far enough, I find him fixing one of the lighting umbrellas to the height he wants it to be. The room is dark, other than the white back drop where the lights are facing and Harry already has his camera placed on the tripod.

It's the first time I've been in an actual studio, but for some reason, instead of taking a look around, I find myself only looking at the boy in front of the umbrella. The way the spot light is on him at this very moment and he has his bottom lip tucked into his teeth in concentration, I can't seem to take my eyes off of him. When he finally looks up at me, I realize I've been staring longer than I ever should have.

"It's two minutes past seven," I argue, looking down at my phone. "And besides it wasn't even my fault. You can't be mad!"

"Oh? Then who's fault is it then?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

"Some friends I went to dinner with," I tell him. "They wouldn't let me leave."

"Was it a guy?" Harry asks. I'm confused by why he would ask such a question. Why would it matter if who I was with was a male? "Maybe you're just blaming someone else and you just wanted to stay there with him and that's why you're late."

"Not the case at all," I answer, finally walking all the way into the room and taking in my surroundings. This studio sure is bland. I guess I really wasn't sure what I was expecting. It was just a backdrop and some lighting equipment and a couple metal stools. "Besides, I have no interest in guys. I came to school for school. Not guys."

"Lesbian?"

"Not even close!"

"Then why no interest in boys?"

"Why so many questions?"

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Answering a question with a question."

"Clearly no one has ever told you how annoying you are!"

He doesn't laugh at my insult this time, but a smirk plays on his pink lips as he takes in my annoyed state. I can't help but smile back at him even though he really does annoy me to no end. I somehow find our little banter amusing though and wonder how we even got to that again.

I find it odd that this morning feels like ages ago. Somehow in just one day of knowing him, he's made me go through a series of different feelings towards him. And although he made me feel utterly uncomfortable not even twelve hours ago, I seem to have changed my mind about him since then somehow. Despite the fact I have no idea how he perceives me, the comfort level between us has shifted again.

My phone starts playing it's usual Halsey song. I think it may be Nova calling, but to my surprise my Dad must have gotten the text I had sent him this afternoon with my new number and I smile when I see his name come up on the screen.

I see Harry roll his eyes at me before I answer. "Hey Dad!" I say into the phone happily.

"How was the first day kiddo?" Dad asks. "Is your roommate nice? I know you were worried about that!"

"Yeah, my roommate is great actually! The first day was okay. I'm actually just gonna do a photo shoot. I got paired with this really annoying guy!"

Harry shakes his head at me, but his dimpled smile is back.

"Annoying?" Dad asks.

"Yeah Dad, he's the absolute worst! I can't even believe that bad luck followed me here!" I laugh.

Harry walks over to me and keeps his eyes locked on mine, a smirk on his face. "I'm not that bad, I promise!" he says, as if he's saying it to my Dad.

My Dad laughs when he hears Harry through the phone. "He doesn't sound that bad Paisley!"

"Oh believe me, he really is that bad! Anyways Dad, how are you doing?" I ask. "I hope you're not too lonely now that I'm gone again." I was worried about my Dad before I left. I am really all that he has left in the world, other than his sister who lives back where we used to live, and despite the fact that I wasn't around all that much the whole two years we lived in Vancouver, he still did have me close. I may not have been the best daughter or company, but at least I was there when I could be. He had just gotten me back after I had enough courage to leave Ryan and the people we hung around, and he helped me through a rough time to get better and helped me figure out the next step in life. He got me back on my feet. If it weren't for him and therapy, I don't know what I would have done. He was my rock for the last few months and somehow I felt like I became his and we needed each other just like we did before we moved to Vancouver and everything changed.

"I'm fine, kiddo," Dad insists. "At least I know I don't have to worry about you anymore. I'm just happy you turned your life around. You deserve to be where you are! I miss you though!"

"I miss you too," I tell him. Harry looks at his tattooed wrist, tapping his finger against it a few times, silently telling me to hurry up. "I gotta go though Dad, this annoying guy is so unbelievably impatient!"

Seeing as Harry has already set up his camera in the tripod, I take a seat on the metal stool that has already been placed in front of the white backdrop. Now that I'm sitting here with the spot lights on me, I'm wishing I had done something a little better with my appearance. Redone my make up or at least brushed my hair. I'm wearing one of my new shirts; a loose white tank with a tight black one underneath it. I'm feeling more exposed than ever at the moment and my heart starts to pick up the pace when Harry steps behind his camera.

He stands there and stares at me for a few moments, not exchanging any words since my phone call with my Dad. I'm trying not to look uncomfortable as I fidget on the stool. I watch as he steps in front of the tripod and into the light.

"I don't want you to be uncomfortable," he says seriously. His voice is low and he doesn't take his eyes off of mine.

"I'm not," I lie, keeping my eyes locked on his.

He smiles as he shakes his head at me, well aware that I'm lying straight through my teeth. He pulls out his phone and a song starts to play not long after. Halsey. I stare at him, bewildered, as he places his phone on another stool and walks over to stand right in front of me. I'm so astonished that his phone is playing one of my favorite songs, that I don't realize how close he is to me. His eyes are flicking back and fourth between mine as he leans over to be face to face with me. "Do I make you nervous?" He whispers.

I swallow hard, unable to take my eyes off of his. "Yes," I whisper back, slightly nodding my head. With him being this close to me, I can't seem to lie. I'm more than certain he can see me trembling in my seat. His shoulders slump down in defeat and he breathes out heavily, apparently not liking my answer.

"I'm just---going to---" He doesn't finish his slowly spoken sentence, but carefully places his hands on my shoulders gently. "Is this okay?" He must remember our interaction from this morning and how I basically ran away from him when he touched me, because even though his touch this morning was as hesitant, he is being extra cautious right now, making sure to not take his eyes off of mine. "Trust me, Paisley."

I try not to think about how his hands are on me and focus on the way he is looking at me. His green eyes are dark in this light, but still as beautiful as the first time I had looked into them. I know that he isn't here to hurt me, and I can feel my nerves calming as his hands slide down my arms slowly and back up again.

'Trust.' I haven't trusted a single person for longer than I can remember, other than my Dad of course. I believed that people were just out to get me, to hurt me, no matter what the circumstances were. I wasn't sure I was able to let this go, but I knew that if I ever wanted to have any kind of friendships or relationships that I needed to change my thought process on people and believe that there were still good people in the world.

And so in this moment, I decide I needed to trust Harry, even if it's just a little bit. I need to let the walls down and allow myself to be comfortable around him completely. Just from today, with him sitting next to me in Editing, even after I rushed off after our awkward moment and him following me to lunch and to my car, I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting rid of him this year, or at least for a while anyways. We had already formed an unexplainable bond that I wasn't sure where it came from or how it happened. But it did.

I suck in a long breath through my nose. "I trust you," I finally say, just as the song ends and a new one starts.

He seems pleased by this and his whole face brightens up when he smiles and I find myself smiling back at him. I'm no longer fidgeting in my seat or trembling and my heart beat has slowed to it's regular pace.

It turned out that it was a good thing he had booked the studio for two hours, because we stayed the entire time. He had switched the music from Halsey to something a little more upbeat and we ended up taking random pictures of each other dancing to the tunes after we had gotten the actual shots we needed for class. He had told me I needed to lighten up and not be so tense around him and so he made me do what I would normally be embarrassed to do. At first I felt stupid so he danced along side me doing the most random moves making me feel comfortable enough to look as awkward as he did.

It was nice to just laugh. It had been a long time since I had laughed that hard. By the time two of our other classmates walked into the studio for their booked time, my cheeks hurt from smiling and was probably flushed from dancing around.

Astrid and the girl she had told me about, just stared at us with amusement. When we realize they're standing there, Harry quickly gets his phone and turns off the music.

"Oh," he laughs nervously as if he's just been caught doing something embarrassing, which I think is weird because he didn't care to make a fool of himself in front of me at all. "Hey, ugh we were just leaving."

"Damn," the girl next to Astrid says. She starts walking towards us confidently. Her eyes are shifting up and down Harry's body, clearly not even caring how obvious she is. "I wanted to talk to you earlier today, but you were too busy with---her." She looks over at me with her big brown eyes as she runs her hand through her long dark waves and raises her eyebrows at me in disgust before looking back at Harry. "Too bad we're not partners!" She bats her long lashes at him.

It's been a long time since I've encountered a girl with such confidence. I don't care much for people like her and watching her try to get Harry's attention like that, makes me want to throw up the salad I ate for dinner. There's no denying that she is quite pretty, with her perfect olive complexion and her appearance a hell of a lot more maintained than mine, but I now understand why Astrid said she didn't like her. I've been near her for a whole thirty seconds and that's even too long for my liking.

"I'm Ruby," I hear her say, as I put my camera back in my camera bag and walk over to where Astrid stands in the dark. I know that I am not welcome in their upcoming conversation, which I couldn't really care less about.

"This is going to be the longest hour of my life," Astrid says, rolling her eyes, watching her interact with Harry. When I turn back around to look at them, she is standing close to him and playfully pushes his shoulder as they laugh at whatever was just said. "We could've been done already if she wasn't so ditzy. She said I wasn't allowed to take her picture this morning because she didn't look good enough. So, here we are. I'd much rather be in my dorm room watching Netflix to be honest." Astrid rolls her eyes again and I can't help but laugh.

After laughing a bit about how Ruby must think she's here to be a model instead of a photographer, we make plans to hang out in our pj's and have a netflix marathon together. I can't help but be happy to have maybe made a friend who likes the simple things. It makes me feel like somehow I will be able to balance my life out a little with my party goer roommate and my netflix watcher classmate, and I start to realize that college really is exactly what I needed all along. As long as it works out the way I think it will anyways.

When Harry finally takes his attention away from the pretty girl in front of him to look over at me, I tell him I'm heading out and that I'll see him tomorrow. But he takes that as his cue to say goodbye to her and gathers his things.

"Good luck with her," I say to Astrid, patting her on the back. "It's not even an hour now since she's just wasted at least fifteen minutes with him!"

"Ready?" Harry asks, swinging his camera bag over his shoulder and smiling at me.

We don't say anything to each other as we walk along the quiet corridors of the school, listening to our footsteps echoing through the halls. It feels weird going from laughing with him and being incredibly stupid together, to this awkward silence hanging between us and I'm not sure how to take it. I know I'm thinking too much into it and I need to stop myself. Luckily for me, Harry starts talking as soon as we reach the front doors of the school.

"Do you wanna come to the pub with me?" He asks, holding the door open for me. "I told my roommate I'd meet him there after I was done here."

"No, it's not really my scene, but thanks for the offer," I tell him. I just want to crawl into bed and get this long day over with. Plus with the amount of time we've been together today, I can't imagine him wanting to hang out still.

"Oh come on," he pleads. "Just one beer!" He looks at me, cupping his hands together as he starts to walk backwards in front of me. "It's on me!"

I laugh at how pathetic, yet so very cute he looks right now and I almost want to go along with him just because I feel like I could look at his gorgeous face forever and never get sick of it. But I decide against it. "How about a rain check?"

"Aww, you're no fun!"

"Why don't you just wait for Ruby?" I ask, knowing she'd be willing to go with him for sure.

"Who's Ruby?" he asks as his eyebrows are pulled together, clearly confused.

I laugh again and shake my head at the fact he had just spent fifteen minutes with the girl and he couldn't even remember her name already.

"Oh, her?" he asks, pointing back to the doors of the school, which are now pretty far away from us. "Yeah, no. I didn't get a very good vibe from her."

"Didn't look that way," I state the obvious, remembering the smile on his face while talking to her.

He stops walking when we get to the steps that go up to the front doors of my dorm and looks at me like he's studying my face. By now, I don't think I could even count the amount of times he's looked at me like this today.

"She's the kind of girl I'd just have one night with," he admits after a long silence. I'm shocked by his honesty, but after letting it register for a few moments, it really doesn't surprise me. "And tonight is just not one of those nights. Maybe another night though."

I watch him carefully as he smiles at what he just said. I try not to change my previous facial expression so that he can't tell how I'm taking his confession. I swallow hard and look up to the door. While people seem to think it's easy to talk about random hook ups or sex in general, it's the very last thing I want to think about and I'm feeling slightly uncomfortable again and hoping Harry can't tell.

When I look back at him, I can tell he's noticed something because he isn't smiling anymore. I'm about to tell him goodnight, when he starts walking closer to me and I instinctively start walking up the stairs backwards keeping a distance from him.

"Besides, I'd much rather hang out with you than her any day," he tells me, honestly. "She's all fake and flirty and probably only good for one thing, while you're--well, I don't know yet. I'm still trying to figure that out."

A/N: The gif at the top is one of the many funny dance moves Harry was doing with Paisley in the studio! (And it's also from the concert I went to in Toronto during WWA!!)

I hope you guys are enjoying this so far! I hope that Paisley's character is being portrayed the way I want her to be. She's tying to trust and have an open mind, but having issues with doing so and so it goes back and forth quite quickly.

Anyways, please vote! It would mean the world to me!

Hey if you want, you can follow me on Twitter

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