Waking up next to Harry is something I could gladly get used to, but as I lay here next to him watching him stir as the alarm clock rings on his side of the bed, I realize it's something I most certainly should not get used to.

He shuts his alarm clock off and turns back over to me with slightly open eyes. A small smile graces his lips before he closes them again, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into his body. "I don't want to get up," he groans. 

"We have to get ready for work," I tell him, turning to my side and wrapping my arm around his waist. My nails gently run along his back, the smile on his face grows slightly bigger with my touch. I don't want to get out of bed. I want to relish in this small moment for as long as possible. He looks so unbelievable with his messy hair and no shirt on. His skin is soft under my finger tips and falling asleep and waking up next to him, wrapped up in his arms feels almost dream-like.

"Fine," he groans again. "But how about you go take a shower first and then come and get me when you're done."

I giggle at his way of trying to get a few more minutes of sleep and despite the fact I don't want to leave the comfort of his arms, I lean over and kiss the tip of his nose before I slide myself out of his bed, knowing we don't have time to waste in bed since we have to open the store today. Priorities are straight.

Gathering up some clean clothes from my bag, I make my way down the stairs to the bathroom, hurrying into the shower so Harry has enough time to shower before breakfast.

As I lather the shampoo into my hair, I find myself thinking about how my life was so different before Harry came along and changed everything. He made these last few months of school tolerable. He made my life tolerable. He took me away from my damaged world and gave me something to love about it. As damaged as I know I still am in ways, I know that as each day passes I'm less and less broken as the day before. I'm not the same person I was just a few months ago, and that girl I used to be seems like someone I don't know anymore.

And maybe a lot of it has to do with his mom also. She has given me so much more than I bargained for when all I was meant to get out of this, was an escape from Harry. She gave me someone to trust and hold onto, someone to hold my hand when I found it hard to breathe. And allowing myself to open up to her, has lifted a weight off my shoulders that never should have been there. I will forever be grateful for her.

Rinsing conditioner through my hair, I hear the door of the bathroom open and close. I don't have to peek to know that it's Harry, my whole being fluttering from the inside. Running my head under the water, I feel his hands slowly glide around to my back, his touch is tender yet fervent and the second I open my eyes to look at him, his lips crash against mine.

He lets out a low groan as we connect, pressing my body back against the cold tile. My hands move down his wet chest, his muscles contracting under my palms. How did I ever get so lucky to have him pressed against me and do things to me I'd never allow anyone else to?

"Not sick of me yet?" I ask, as he presses his lips to my neck, realizing he chose me over sleep.

He stops his assault to my skin and looks me in the eyes. Water drips down his forehead, his eyes greener than I've ever seen them before. He looks serious and utterly delicious. "Remember in the beginning, when all of this started, I told you I was addicted to you?" he asks, placing his hands on either side of my face. I nod, thinking back to that moment we hid in the props closet behind the stage remembering him saying those words to me and I smile. "I am even more addicted to you now than I was then." He brushes his lips to mine gently before he takes my bottom lip between his teeth. "So no, Sweet Girl, I'm not sick of you."

He brings his hands down and intertwines them in mine, bringing them above our heads as his tongue plays with mine. His movements are slow and passionate and instantly ignite my insides.

"I still can't get enough of you," he continues.

"Harry?"

Anne's voice outside the bathroom door makes my eyes jolt open and both of us freeze as we stare at each other.

"Harry are you in there?"

"Yes, Mom," Harry calls back, annoyed. His expression makes me laugh under my breath. He had plans for this shower that have obviously been interrupted and he's not hiding how frustrated it makes him.

"I'd like to talk to you and Jayde before you go anywhere this morning," she calls through the door. "So, could you please hurry? Breakfast is waiting for you."

I make sure to go downstairs before Harry does. I'm sure she already knows something is going on with us, we aren't as discreet about it here as we are at school. But that doesn't mean I want her to know that Harry and I were just in her shower together. I could only imagine the things she'd have to say about that to us.

Breakfast is on the dining room table, and for a Sunday, I'm almost surprised to see only toast and options of peanut butter and jam in the center. I take my seat and not long after I've spread jam on my toast, Harry takes a seat next to me. Anne and Robin are sitting across the table from us, staring at us, making my heart start to pound.

Oh my God, they're going to give us a sex lecture. I can see it now. How embarrassing.

"So, I've been thinking," Anne starts. "Prom is coming up next week, isn't it?"

I feel my eyebrows rise at her topic of choice, relief flooding over me that it's not going in the direction I thought it was going to. I take a bite of my toast and look between Anne and Harry as Harry tells her that she's right.

"And last I heard, you were going together," she continues, her eyes flicking back back and forth between us. "Is that still the case?"

"Of course it is," Harry says, pouring orange juice into his glass. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I never know with you two," she scolds with a smile. "One day you're fine and dandy and the next you're mad at each other. I thought maybe there was a chance your prom date would change."

"Well, that wouldn't change," he tells her. "Even if she was mad at me that day, we'd still be going together, right Jayde?" He looks over at me as if he's questioning his own words.

"Yeah," I answer. "Probably."

"Well, good then," Anne replies. "Because I'm giving you two the day off."

Harry and I both look at her confused. "What?" we ask in unison.

"I'm going to work your shift today," she answers. "So, you can go and get a suit and a dress for prom."

"Oh, I'm—" I try to tell her that I was planning on just wearing a dress I had stored in my closet for nice occasions. Although I have money to buy a new dress, a new dress isn't something I had planned on spending it on. 

"You already went shopping for a prom dress?" she asks, interrupting me.

"Well, no," I answer. 

"Well, you must get a new prom dress," she exclaims. "There's a couple nice places on the downtown strip of Madrona. Harry knows the area well, since we lived there for a little while before we moved here."

"And that's what you want us to do today?" Harry asks. "You're going to work for us so we can drive an hour and get new clothes?"

"Exactly!" she smiles. "I want to make sure Jayde gets her dress before she goes home, so she doesn't leave it last minute. I'm giving you both money to get something nice." 

I try to argue how awfully nice her gesture is, but I don't need to get a new dress. My argument is a loss, as she is far too nice for her own good. I will pay her back, just like I said I would for everything else she's done for me. Man, this tab is getting to be a lot bigger than I had planned.

It isn't long before Harry and I are done getting ready for our small adventure out of town, agreeing to get something nice to wear to prom. I find it strange that Anne offered to work for both of us today and give us money to do this. It's exactly the kind of person she is, but I still find it strange. How can people be so nice? I'm baffled by her intense passion to do what she can for me and I don't think I will ever understand why she is this way towards me. It makes me love her even more. It makes me want to be just like her when I get older. To be the complete opposite of my parents is all I could ever strive to be, and while my parents take so much from me, Anne is always willing to give me more than I deserve.

"I didn't know you lived in Madrona before you moved here," I say after we pull out of the driveway.

"A friend of my mom lives there," he explains. "So, when we moved from England, we moved in with her for a few months until she bought the store."

Not that it's big information that he's just told me, but I find it comforting to know just a little bit more about him. There's still so much that I don't know, he's just as secretive as I am. I realize though that as time has passed throughout our relationship forming that facts about each other aren't what make you feel for someone.

Love is anything but facts. It's about sharing something no one else has, and in our case, what we have, is ours.

He tells me Madrona is an hour away and I get comfortable, turning on the radio, enjoying the sounds of Ed Sheeran coming through the speakers. It's been a long time since I went on a road trip. Grandma used to take me to Seattle all the time when I was younger, when she was here, and we'd go shopping or go somewhere fun. Driving along the highway makes me miss her and wish that she was still here.

I wish I could tell her about Harry. She would be delighted to hear about him. And I'm sure that if she knew of Anne, Grandma would be smiling and crying tears of joy, seeing someone take care of me. In a way, Anne reminds me of her. Maybe that's why I've been willing to trust her.

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asks halfway through our drive. "You're really quiet."

"Nothing," I tell him. "Just taking in the scenery. It's been a while since I've been out of town."

"We could go out of town some time," he suggests. "Get a hotel and have some fun somewhere else. Want to do that today? I'm still pissed I didn't get to please you this morning."

I laugh and shake my head at him. "Yeah, maybe some time. Just not today. That'd be fun though."

Another silence between us fills the car. Harry keeps looking over at me every few moments and I feel like he's wanting to say something but is fighting with himself over it. I try to ignore him, keeping my eyes out the window, seeing the sign that says Madrona is the next exit.

"Did you decide what college you're going to?" he finally asks, breaking the silence, making me look over at him.

"Oh, I'm not going this year," I answer. "What Maddy said about me not going to college, was true. I just applied to see if I could get in, and I did. Doesn't mean I'm going though. Did you?"

"Yeah, I'm going to Columbia," he tells me.

"New York," I smile. "Impressive."

"You should too."

"What?"

"You should go to Columbia, Jayde."

"Why?"

"So you can get the fuck out of Washington," he says. "Start over. New York would be a great place to do anything you dreamed of."

"I'm not going to school next year," I argue back. He's right, New York would be an incredible place to study and live and —be with him.

"But you will go to school?" he asks. "Eventually?"

"That's the plan."

"So, what's the plan for this year then?"

"I don't know yet," I shrug. I know I want to get the hell out of here. That's why traveling was always in the plan. But I don't want to tell him that right now. "Maybe I'll just work at the bookstore and get an apartment?"

"You're not serious!" he unbelievably blurts. "You're smarter than that. I don't want to leave you here, thinking all you're doing is working at my mother's bookstore."

"You just might have to," I say with a smile. "Because I'm not going to Columbia or any other school in September. I've already made up my mind."

"So stubborn," he says, shaking his head. "Really though, I understand taking a year off is ideal. School can be crap most of the time. But it's important and I think you should at least look into only taking half the year off and starting in the winter or something."

He pulls into a parking lot and shuts the car off. I'm happy to be done with this conversation for now, knowing that I've already made my decision. Sure, I don't know when I'm leaving, but knowing at some point I'll see more of my country, makes him leaving for college less painful.

I don't want to think about what's going to happen when he leaves. I've been so dependent on him the last few months, but I know the end of us is inevitable, and I always knew that no matter what kind of feelings I have for him.

I listen to Harry talk as we walk through the streets of the town of Madrona about how he would come down here on a daily basis and go to the arcade on the corner just to pass the time before he met anyone worth hanging out with. I try to imagine a fourteen year old Harry, curly hair and big green eyes and I smile at the thought of a smaller version of him walking the streets of this cute little town.

Side by side are a suit and dress store and we stand on the sidewalk looking at the two together. "Which should we do first?" he asks, looking at me.

I hate the thought of him waiting for me to try on dresses or find something I like. Sure, I've seen the movies of boys sitting outside dressing rooms and the girls come out wearing different dresses for their boyfriends, but as cute as that idea is, I'm not one to be cliche and can't see myself doing such a thing.

"How about you go in there and I'll go find a dress and we'll meet each other when we're done?" I ask.

"Okay."

"Okay, see you in a little while then." I take a few steps towards the door of the store, a bit intimidated by the beautiful dresses in the window. Never in my life did I think I'd be stepping into a store to buy a dress. A dress for prom at that. Who have I become?

"Jayde?" Harry calls.

I turn around to see he is walking towards me quite quickly and before I can say anything, his lips meet mine, his arms wrapping around my waist tightly. The world around us seems to dissipate, the realization of him kissing me in a public place where anyone can see us. And for the first time, knowing we don't know anyone in this town and we can do whatever we please out in the open, excites me.

His eyes meet mine when our lips part and he smiles. "Sorry, I had to," he laughs. "I'll see you in a little bit."

I watch as he walks away from me, the smile on my face not going away as he walks into the store. I let out a sigh of relief as if I had been waiting for something like this to happen. It seems like such a small thing to be happy about, but after being someone's secret, kissing in the sunshine feels magical somehow.

I allow for my hand to feel the dresses hanging side by side as I walk down an isle, unsure of what I'm really looking for. All these dresses are so fancy, it'll be a miracle if I find one that isn't too expensive and suits me.

When I get to the end of the isle, a girl with blonde hair is staring at me with wide eyes, making me stop in my tracks. Unsure of why she's staring at me the way she is makes me want to get out of here. I can't decipher the look on her face as I try to pass her.

When she puts her hand on my shoulder, I whip around to look at her.

"You're her, aren't you?" she asks.

A/N: Thanks so much for 65.2K Reads. ♥♥

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