Ruled by Fate

Monday was certainly a weird day.

Harry was in a bit of a slump after his friends left the night before. They all had long goodbyes, not wanting to leave each other for a long time period again. But they knew they had lives outside their weekend get togethers. They just wanted those lives to be together.

But what was weird was that Nahla was back to ignoring Harry like the plague, and Harry wondered if he had done something to upset her. He tried asking, but she'd just turn away from him or even walk away. Harry couldn't believe it; she went from acting like his best friend, to acting like when they first met.

Then Harry realized something: The kiss. Of course! How could he forget about such a wonderful thing? It had been the most magical moment of his life, and he wondered why she wanted to close herself off from him when all he practically wanted to do was marry her.

But then Harry started getting angry. How could she get so upset over it that she'd stop talking to him? She didn't seem put off or disgusted when it happened. Frankly, she looked like she love it. And now she was upset over it. Maybe this girl was bipolar. Or two personalities. That seemed more like it. Harry was convinced by the end of the day.

----

It was Thursday when Harry confronted her. He was just so angry that she was acting like this.

He walked up to her locker, where she was standing. It was after school right now, so mostly everyone was gone, save for the few over/underachievers. He slammed her locker closed, and he didn't flinch when she turned towards him with a menacing glare.

"What the fuck's your problem?" she snapped, and yeah, Harry was prepared for this, but here in the flesh, about to yell at the girl he really, really liked, it was absolutely terrifying.

But Harry didn't back out this time, and he didn't stutter like a fool. He stood firm, back straight, and said, "Why have you been completely ignoring me?"

Nahla rolled her eyes then, clearly irritated that Harry wanted to talk about this. But Harry didn't care, he wanted to talk, and that's what they were going to do, even if he had to force her. "Harry, not now."

"No, we're talking now," he said back, almost a little desperately. But he couldn't help it; being away from this girl was practically killing him. He just wanted to be with her, even if it meant staying friends.

But Nahla didn't answer him, only stared at her shoes, and that made Harry even angrier. Here he was trying todos their friendship, or whatever they had, and she wasn't even looking at him. Some friend she's been. "You're such a bitch, Nahla."

She looked at him then, and Harry never saw so much hurt in he eyes until now. He hated seeing her like, hated being the cause of it. But it was time to start worrying about himself more than he worried about Nahla; he was hurting, too. "I don't know what's wrong with you. You've been oblivious of me since the day I first said hullo to you in class. You haven't realized that I'm absolutely mad for you."  

Her eyes widened at this, but Harry continued on, feeling more and more pressure lift off his shoulders. "That kiss we shared. It was the best one of my life. And I thought that since you kissed back, you must've liked it too. But I was obviously wrong. You seemed to like Zayn more than me."

"No, Harry-" she started, but Harry shook his head, and snapped, "Let me finish." She shut her mouth then, and Harry honestly wanted nothing more than to just go home right now. He was so tired of her games. "You're a coward because you don't want to see what's right in front of you. And I am done with it all. So it was nice knowing you." He turned on his heel then, stalking out the school and towards home.

It pained him to do so, to say all those words, but they needed to be said. And well, right now, he was only worried about not punching a wall and getting home.

------

It was Harry's turn to ignore Nahla this time. 

As much as it pained him to do so, two weeks went by where he hardly even acknowledged the girl.  He watched her from afar, watched how she acted just like the first few weeks when she transferred. She hardly talked in class anymore, and lunch? Alone. Harry refused to sit with her.

Christmas holiday rolled around then, and Harry was a bit glad he had until a few days after the New Year to be away from school and all its drama. Gemma came home from university and talked endorser about her adventures there and how Harry was going to love it there. Harry listened through it all, extremely happy to have his sister back. He missed her so much.

Louis, Liam, and Zayn all drove up on separate days to celebrate the holiday with their friend, unable to get a day together. But Harry appreciated the gesture and exchanged gifts with them happily. Niall couldn't fly over because he spent all his money on the last flight. He did, however, send Harry's gift through the mail (Harry did the same for him) and the two talked over video chat for a few hours. 

Christmas came and went, and it even snowed a few days. Harry loved the snow. There was something about the snowflakes and how each one was different that always fascinated him, and how he could honestly relate it to life.

It was the day after Christmas now. Harry was lounging around his room in his bed. He didn't exactly feel like getting up today, so he grabbed his brand new laptop, popped in a movie, and snuggled further in his warm nest.

He was currently fiddling with a wrapped gift in his hands. It had dark blue paper and silver, sparkly writing on it that said 'Merry Christmas' with sparkly nutcrackers all around it. It was Nahla's gift. He bought it for her a few weeks beforehand, before their fight, and didn't exactly know what to do with it now. He pondered the idea of using it, but what was he going to do with a professional art set? He was a terrible artist, and didn't plan on becoming a better one. Keeping it and letting it collect dust would be annoying because all he would be reminded of was her, and he didn't want that. Yeah, he could return it, but that meant getting out of bed, and well, he didn't want to do that. So maybe if he shoved it in the back of his closet he'll never see it and be reminded of her. That sounded like a good idea.

Harry told the person knocking at his door to come in, and quickly hid the gift under the covers next to him. Gemma appeared a few seconds later, a small smirk on her pink lips, and Harry saw her dimples. "There's an awfully pretty girl waiting for you downstairs, Haz."

Harry frowned. It couldn't be her, could it? Nah, she was probably to angry at him to even think about it. Maybe it was that girl from his Physics class. But that was stretching it a little too far.

He was downstairs a few minutes later, clad in an old wool sweater that had seen much better days and sweatpants that had his school's name down the leg.

Nahla was waiting in the front room, cheeks and nose pink from the cold, and Harry could see clumps of snow melting in her hair. A box with shiny red paper was under her arm, her hands in the pockets of a rather large military jacket. She smiled at Harry when he finally showed, but Harry merely nodded at her and asked her what she was doing at his home.  He was still angry about everything, and he wasn't going to let a simple smile mess everything up. 

Nahla sighed then, asked if they could talk somewhere private, and Harry took her out back to the swing they first kissed at. It wasn't covered by the snow because of the roof hanging over, so they sat down on opposite ends, both watching in silence the flakes falling from the gray sky.

"My brother came home yesterday," she said finally, and Harry looked at her with shock. He didn't think her brother would get enough time off to visit home.

He smiled at her, genuinely happy she got to see her sibling. He knew how much she missed him. "That's fantastic, Nahla."

"He gave me his old jacket, obviously." She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. "And a few new sweaters. And he met Rian finally."

Harry chewed on his lip then. He had almost forgotten about that. How had her brother taken it? 

"They both liked each other, so that was good. Oliver comes home next February."

"That's really great, Nahla. Really." He didn't get why she was telling him all this. It was so random. Wasn't she mad at him for ignoring her? Or did she not notice? Or maybe she liked it? Harry didn't know; he was so confused. He just wanted straight answers, no mind games. And Nahla was the queen at mind games. "Nahla-"

"I'm sorry I ignored you after our kiss." And whoa, nope, didn't expect that. Had Nahla ever apologized to him? Harry doesn't think so. But he wanted to know why. She could just be saying this to make him happy. 

She continued, her voice shaking a little, but she didn't look at him. Just stared at the snow. "You were right, Harry. I was acting like a coward, and I shouldn't have. I was just scared everything was going to plummet like my parents did, and I'm sorry." She bit her lip. "I liked. I liked our kiss, Harry. A lot. You wanna know a secret?"

He only nodded, a little anxious as to what Nahla was still hiding. He thought it'd be something dark, like the rest of them, but this one made her blush a deep red, a small smile forming on her face.

"You. You were my first ever kiss, Harry." She started laughing. "God, I sound so lame."

Harry stared at her, a little shocked. First kiss? He didn't know that. But if he had, would he have done anything differently? Would he have asked her first? Why didn't she tell him? God, he couldn't believe it. How could she never have kissed someone before? He thought guys would have been all over her in the States.

"You wanna know another secret?" Harry nodded again, not knowing if he could take it. What else did she have up her sleeve? First contact with a boy? But this time she looked at him, her smile gone and her dark eyes wide, and Harry stopped worrying about all that. He only worried about the girl in front of him. "I want you to be the only one I kiss."

Harry was smiling from ear to ear, dimples deep and his eyes crinkled. She liked him! And she wanted to be with him! God, Harry was on Cloud Nine again. But then Harry's smile slipped, and he remembered the night she and his friends were together, and how she and Zayn were flirting endlessly. "But what about Zayn?"

Her face twisted in confusion then. "You keep saying that and I don't know why. I mean, yeah, Zayn's gorgeous, but I can't be with a gay guy, can I?"

"Wha- Oh my God." Harry was near on the ground rolling, his sides hurting from laughing so much. She thought Zayn was gay. Fuck, he couldn't wait to tell all his friends that. 

Nahla asked what he was going on about, and Harry controlled himself a little to be able to answer her. "Z-Zayn. He's. H-He's not gay! He's completely straight!" Harry laughed even harder, ready to whip out his phone and call the man of the hour up. He couldn't stop laughing. It had been the funniest thing he'd heard in a while.

When he finally was done, though was still giggling about it, he scooped the girl up and they ran out to the backyard, their feet getting soaked, and the snow falling on them. But Harry didn't care. He merely grinned down at the girl, both hands on the sides of her face, and leaned down to touch their lips. 

She was a kind of bad at moving their lips together, but Harry knew he was definitely going to help her through it over time. Their foreheads touched, and they were a little out of breath, but Harry couldn't stop smiling, and neither could she. "Nahla Sparrow, if I promise never to turn gay, will you be my girlfriend?"

She nodded, and took the initiative to stand on her tip toes and touch their lips again. "Well, if you put it that way."

Harry laughed loudly, kissed her again, and pulled her in the house so they could get warm. His arms were around her, not wanting to let go. He finally had her. It had taken such a long time. But since the day Nahla Sparrow stalked in the room, tattooed up and a scowl on her face, he knew she was the one.

"So none of your friends are gay?"

Harry laughed loudly then, shaking his head. "No, love. Liam and Louis both have girlfriends."

"That doesn't mean anything. My dad had two kids and a wife for twenty-two years, and look how he turned out." Harry looked at Nahla then, surprised she was joking about it. But she looked just the same. And she smiled widely. 

It was the first baby step, but she was finally going to get over it all.