"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand." 

Song: Iris

Artist: Goo Goo Dolls

Harry's POV

You've gotta be fucking kidding.

Were they seriously here right now, about to bash down my door, when I had finally gotten Halle back? They were absolutely ruin what should have been a good morning with her, and I wanted nothing more than to run them over with my car. Another round of pounding made me groan out loud as I buried my face in Halle's neck.

"Better get dressed, babe," I muttered, kissing her shoulder automatically before pulling myself reluctantly from her tangled grasp. She didn't respond but followed my suggestion quickly, her fear at being caught naked evident as she scrambled to find her clothes. I had managed to pull on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt by the time she'd found her bottom articles of clothing and her bra. She pulled them on quickly before her eyes scanned the rest of the room, a sudden look of realization dawning on her as she looked at me with wide eyes.

"My shirt..." she muttered. I blinked. Could she not find it?

"It's out there by the table..." she explained, seeing that I wasn't following. Shit.

"Um, let me go get it," I offered. She nodded quickly, running a slightly frantic hand through her hair.

"I look awful," she grumbled seemingly to herself. I shook my head at her in disbelief. Like she could ever look awful.

"You look beautiful," I said casually, realizing this was probably the first sincere complement I'd given her. I shook my head, still trying to discover where this side of me had come from as I quickly left the room in search of her shirt. I scurried past the front door, hoping they wouldn't see my shadow through the tiny window as they continued to pound on the door and shout through it.

"Harry, you fucker, we know you're in there," the voice I recognized as Miles' called.

"For fuck's sake, hang on a minute," I finally called back, hoping they'd finally shut up and quit their incessant assault of my door. My eyes scanned the tiny dining room area, my brain already forgotten what shirt she'd even been wearing when I spotted a white bit of cloth hanging off one of the chairs by the table. I reached out to grab it, the soft fabric feeling familiar in my grip as I jogged lightly back to my room. I found Halle sitting on the bed, her knees bouncing up and down anxiously.

"Are you nervous?" I asked, surprised. She looked at me in shock.

"Very," she admitted.

"Don't be. You're way better than them so there's no need to worry," I said honestly.

"Harry, don't say that," she scolded distractedly as she pulled her shirt over her head and smoothed her hands down her front. She frowned as she looked down, her plain white v-neck and athletic shorts clearly not her ideal outfit to be meeting anyone in but it would have to do. Personally, I thought she looked incredibly sexy, which worried me because I knew my friends would, too. If they even looked at her...

"Harry! Let us in you idiot!"

"Um, how do you want to do this?" I asked her, ignoring their loud requests.

"Uh... I'll just... wait in the kitchen?" she said, her statement coming out as a question. It was a good of a plan as any, I supposed.

"Yeah, alright."

I stepped forward suddenly and gripped her chin between my fingers, my head ducking down so I could kiss her lips lightly.

"Just... don't listen to them," I begged, extremely wary of what they would have to say about this situation.

"Okay," she said, grinning good-naturedly. Again, I was in awe of her ability to roll with the obstacles that seemed to constantly be assaulting our relationship. I pecked her lips once more before releasing her and moving down the hallway. Her light footsteps told me she was following until she peeled off and went to the kitchen to do what, I didn't know. I took a deep breath as I reached the front door, telling myself not to punch them on sight for ruining my morning with Halle.

"What do you want?" I asked in annoyance as I pulled the door open.

"Good morning to you, too, bro," Miles said, a wide grin on his face as he held up a case of beer in each hand. "We bring you gifts and that's how you treat us?"

Jay stood next to him, cases of beer in each of his hands as well as he grinned at me.

"What are those for?" I questioned. My interest in beer right now was somewhere between rainbows and teddy bears- I just wanted them gone. If I could get them to leave before discovering Halle was here, even better.

"Dude you gotta get out of whatever the hell mood you've been in the last few days 'cause you're sucking the life out of everyone around you," Jay said. I think it was meant to be supportive but it just came out as insulting.

"Um, no, I'm alright," I said. They ignored me and pushed past me dropping their cases of beer on the ground as they bent to undo their shoes.

"Bullshit, you need to get drunk and find a girl to fuck so you can get back to yourself again," Miles said as he straightened up. His eyes focused suddenly on my neck, and my hand automatically rose to touch where his gaze fell. I winced slightly, the bruise there hurting under the pressure of my fingers. Fuck.

"Or maybe you already have, judging by that hickey," he said smugly, eyes lingering on the spot Halle had undoubtedly caused before smirking at me.

"Who was it this time?" Jay questioned, joining in on the inspection of my neck. I pinched the bridge of my nose, already beyond annoyed by the both of them.

"You guys know it's a Monday morning, right? Who drinks on a Monday morning?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. This was not how I wanted to introduce Halle to them at all. They rolled their eyes, noting my obvious subject change.

"Whatever man, I'm just glad you finally fucked someone. I feel like it's been ages," Jay said, clapping his hand on my shoulder like a teammate who'd done well in a sports game.

"Yeah, like... since that hot blonde chick," Miles added and I instantly felt like slapping my hand over his mouth.

"The one I still haven't seen," Jay added. It was like they were trying to make it sound as bad as possible- like I had talked about how I'd bagged the hot blonde chick, who happened to be Halle, when in reality I hadn't spoken a word of her to either of them. For obvious reasons, now.

"Um... yeah."

"Well let's go, this beer isn't gonna drink itself!" Miles cheered. The fact that his reason for drinking gone now that he thought I'd slept with someone was clearly not going to stop him from drinking anyway. I watched in horror as they picked up their cases and started to move toward the living room where they would surely have a clear view of the girl they had just been discussing while she hid in the kitchen.

My feet acted before my brain could, thankfully, because I darted ahead of them quickly and turned the corner first. My eyes instantly locked on hers as she tried her best to appear casual as she leaned on the counter in my kitchen, a glass of watcher clasped in her hand as she took sips from it.

I'm sorry, I mouthed to her, hoping she hadn't heard what they'd been discussing but knowing she had. Her face was, for once, hard to read as they appeared around the corner, jerking my attention back to them.

"Woah, sorry," Jay said suddenly as his gaze fell on her. I hated the way they widened in shock and traveled quickly down her body before he realized I was glaring at him and quickly averted his eyes.

"Wait, isn't that-" Miles started, his eyes narrowing as he placed her easily.

"Don't," I warned. "Um, guys, this is Halle."

I was standing awkwardly in the middle of the two parties, so I stepped toward Halle and put my hand lightly on her back, hoping to show her that I wanted to be there for her. Also, I had to admit, to claim her as mine to my friends.

Miles just stared at her as if in shock to see me with the same girl more than once. Jay recovered faster, blinking only once before managing a friendly smile. He strolled forward before extending his hand to Halle, which she accepted instantly.

"Hey Halle, Jay," he introduced himself, nodding at her pleasantly. I noticed his gaze stayed firmly locked on her face, as if careful to not look anywhere else under my intense scrutiny.

"Nice to meet you, Jay," she responded, her voice strong and assured as she smiled back at him. God she looked so pretty when she smiled.

"And you are?" she asked Miles pointedly, raising her eyebrow challengingly as if she could sense he was the more difficult of the two. I restrained myself from high-fiving her.

"Um, Miles," he said, finally recovering from his absurd look of shock. Was it really so hard to believe I'd see someone more than once?

Yes.

I shook my head, ignoring the self-berating thoughts that tended to come up when I thought about how exactly I had arrived in this situation. An awkward silence fell over us as everyone took turns sneaking glances at each other.

"So, you two fucking or what?" Miles said suddenly. I groaned internally as I clenched my fist at my side.

"Dude-"

"Yeah, we are," Halle said, cutting me off and shocking me into silence. I gaped at her along with my friends, beyond surprised she had responded so boldly. Miles blinked at her as his jaw fell open, clearly just as surprised as me. Jay once again recovered first as a laugh belted out of his lungs, his grin widening as he observed Halle.

"Like this one, bro, keep her," he said, glancing at me. I grinned, pleased Jay seemed impressed by her even though she'd only really said one sentence. The ability to shock Miles, however, was rare and definitely something to be admired. I increased the pressure of my hand against her back.

"So you're just fucking?" Miles asked, recovering finally from his ridiculous shock.

"Dude, what the fuck?" I asked, irritated he insisted on pressing the subject. It was actually none of their business at all, and he didn't deserve the answer to the first inappropriate question he'd asked.

"What?" he asked, shooting me a hard look before looking back at Halle. I could feel my annoyance turning to anger as he watched her closely, waiting for her response. I didn't like him looking at her for so long, especially waiting for an answer to something that should have been between us and us alone.

"Oh big boy, I bet you would like to know," she finally answered him, the sarcastic tone matching the sarcastic look on her face as she leaned into me casually.

"So yes then," he attempted to conclude, raising an eyebrow challengingly at her.

"No, actually," I said before I knew what I was doing. I didn't want him thinking of her as just another girl in a long history of girls. More specifically, I didn't want him thinking he had even a sliver of a shot at her once I was done with her.

"No, what?" he asked, eyes turning to me. Good.

"We're not just fucking, not that it's any of your business," I spit, suddenly extremely defensive and protective of my relationship with Halle. Her cool behavior impressed me, and it made me want to protect her even more.

"What, you're like dating?" he asked skeptically. I noticed Jay chuckle lightly as he pressed his hand over his mouth, leaning back as if he were enjoying a show.

"Basically," I said vaguely. Technically we were 'dating' as in going on dates, but nothing was official. I felt her arm snake loosely around my waist as I spoke.

"Wow," Jay commented like a sideline reporter. His tone didn't hold the same annoyance or skepticism that Miles' did- he just sounded innocently surprised. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Me neither," Miles agreed, a stony undertone to his voice. What the fuck was his problem? My body had tensed during the progression of this conversation, a fact I had only become aware of when Halle's hand gently pressed into my side, easing the tight muscles there.

"So, about that beer..." Halle said suddenly, once again surprising everyone as we all turned to stare at her. I blinked.

"Yeah, definitely like her," Jay said in amusement as he grinned. She grinned back at him, clearly pleased he approved of her. "Come on, dude, let's bring it over there."

He nodded toward the living room, indicating to Miles to stop staring harshly at Halle and grab his beer to carry to the coffee table. He blinked as if finally realizing he'd been staring before following Jay's lead. As they busied themselves with the beer, I turned into Halle and ducked my head low towards hers.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, my eyes searching hers for some explanation.

"Making friends," she answered simply, shrugging. Her casual gesture was contradicted, however, by the glint of something else lurking in her eyes. I stared at her skeptically.

"Don't you have class today?" I asked, grasping at straws to stop this from happening. I don't know why, but it put me on edge thinking about drinking with just the four of us. During the day, on a Monday, no less.

"Just the one, I can skip," she said, shrugging again. I frowned at her.

"You don't have to prove anything to them," I said, guessing what she was trying to do.

"I know," she said. "But I want them to like me if I'm gonna be your first... whatever."

"Was that okay? What I said?" I asked, suddenly wishing I'd spoken to her about it first.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, that sounded about right."

I reached my hand up to tug my thumb across her lower lip. The soft skin drug along with my thumb lightly before rebounding. "Just... don't listen to them, like I said. And don't worry about impressing them because I know you already have."

She smiled softly, her fingers squeezing lightly over what they covered of my hip. "Okay."

I was about to duck down to kiss her again when she dodged out of my grasp, strolling leisurely over to where my friends had already set up camp. I shoved my hands through my hair as a bad feeling settled in my stomach. This couldn't possibly end well with the way Miles was behaving, but I tried to keep an open mind. Maybe he'd loosen up a bit once he had a few beers in him.

My hand ran distractedly across my brows before leaving the kitchen to join everyone in the living room. Halle had gotten there before me, and I watched as she sat down across from where the two guys had settled. She pushed her hands down her thighs as she grinned at them, clearly enjoying their expressions of shock and awe.

"So, who's ready to drink?" she asked brightly. Jay cheered while Miles gave her a weak smile. I sat down next to her, my body tense as my arm automatically threw itself protectively around behind her back. I watched as she reached forward to take the beer Jay offered her before cracking it open and taking a sip.

This was going to be interesting.  

"When everything's meant to be broken, I just want you to know who I am."

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