She's a Rebel, She's a Saint

The black road was passing by us rapidly and my straight white teeth bit down harshly on my bottom lip as Harry quickly drove us closer and closer to his childhood home for his mother’s birthday.

“Harry, can you do me a favor and please slow down?” I asked, wanting to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

“Why do you want me to slow down? You never care how fast I’m driving unless I’m driving your car.”

“Please Harry?” I asked again, letting out a relieved sigh when he slowed down like I asked.

“I’m never going to keep up with traffic now.” he said with a whine, making me raise an eyebrow at his words since we were the only car on the road.

“Harry, there are no cars in front of us of behind us.” I said simply, stating the obvious.

“I know. That’s how late I am!” he whined, pressing his foot down on the gas pedal and speeding up the car significantly.

"Why are you so nervous, love?" he asked me with a chuckle in his voice after a moment of silence as he reached his hand over to hold onto mine and calm my nerves.

"Um, I'm meeting your parents. That's usually a good reason for people to be nervous." I said as I toyed with the hem of my shirt.

"I think it's cute that you're nervous."

"Are you a sadist now?"

"If you're nervous it means that you care." he said after rolling his eyes at my previous comment.

“You remembered her gift, right?” I asked him, referring to the rather expensive gift I helped him pick out a while ago online that had luckily arrived in the mail this morning.

“Yes, Ashley, I remembered the gift. Please stop worrying.” he said to me even though he knew me well enough to know that I would not stop worrying.

“Do you think it was too forward of me to get her something? Maybe you should take my name off of it.” I said anxiously as I twisted around in my seat to see if the package was still sitting in the backseat.

“First of all, I really don’t understand that comment because it’s from both of us. Well,” he began, “you picked it and I paid for it.”

"What if she hates me?" I whined when he pulled into the driveway of a nice house as I voiced my concerns once again for what seemed like the millionth time that day, watching as Harry merely rolled his pretty green eyes.

"Ashley," he began as he stopped the car and turned slightly to look at me, "You'll do fine."

"What am I going to do when she asks about us?" I asked him, watching his face change in a way that told me he had yet to think of that, "Are we going to tell her the same stuff we told my parents?"

"I guess that's what's best. You just need to remember how much you love me." he said.

I rolled my eyes as we got out of the car before meeting up by the trunk. He took out our suitcases and I opened the backseat to pull out the nicely wrapped gift for his mother that was sitting in a pretty light blue bag. I reached my hand toward my bag and watched as Harry’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

“Give me my bag.” I said to him simply, wiggling my fingers around and watching as he rolled his eyes before putting the strap of my bag over his shoulder and holding his bag in his hand.

“I’m the man in this relationship,” he said as his fingers slipped into mine easily, “At least let me carry the bags.”

“If you insist.”

“Just remember,” he began, “We’re madly in love and I’m the only person for you because you’re the only one for me.”

"Well, Mr. Styles," I began in a posh yet sarcastic tone that let him know I was just joking and didn't mean a word of what I was saying; "I do believe you've stolen my heart."

"I'll make it up to you." he said as he lifted his arm slightly and I span around as we danced our way to the front door in a mock waltz.

"Oh really," I began as he knocked on the door and I felt my heartbeat speed up, "How are you ever going to manage to do that?"

"I'll let you steal my last name." he said, making what was possibly his corniest joke ever.

"Was that a marriage proposal I just heard?" a voice said as the door opened to reveal who I knew due to the clear resemblance was Harry's mom.

"Mum!" Harry exclaimed happily as he wrapped his arms fighting around her, pulling her in for a huge bear hug that I knew from experience was probably melting her away, “Happy Birthday!”

"Thank you so much, I didn’t know you were coming over today. I hope you’re planning on spending the night, I missed you, honey." his mom said when they finally pulled away from each other and she placed a hand on either side of his face.

"I miss you too, mum," he began before moving away from her and grabbing onto my hand as he pulled me closer to the two of them and I felt my heartbeat continue to beat at an intense rate, "This is my girlfriend Ashley."

"Hi, Ashley," she began as she pulled me in for an unexpected hug, "You can call me Anne or momma, either one is okay. It's so nice to meet you. Harry, Gabriella and the boys always speak so highly of you."

"It's nice to meet you too," I said with a smile on my face as I watched her eyes widen slightly in surprise at the sound of the Spanish accent that was coating my words and I handed her the present that was in my hand, "Happy birthday.”

“Awe, thank you love. Is this from both of you?” she asked as she looked over at Harry.

He nodded his head happily with a bright smile etched on his face and dimples digging into his cheeks. She lead us to the living room and sat down on the couch as Harry put the bags down on one of the large armchairs. Harry placed an arm around my waist as we watched her open her gift. She opened the box that was hidden by the wrapping paper previously and gasped when she saw what was inside.

“Oh, this is so gorgeous.” she said happily as she took the shiny white gold, heart shaped locket out of the box and opened it to see the small picture of her and Harry from when Harry was just five years old.

“Do you like it?” Harry began in his normal deep voice, “Ashley had to help me pick it out. I wasn’t sure what to get.”

“It’s perfect, thank you both so much. Can you put it on for me, Ashley?” she asked me, making my eyes widen slightly in surprise when she turned away from us and lifted up her hair.

Harry nudged me slightly to shake me from my minor state of shock and I stepped forward to clasp the locket around her neck.

“I can’t believe you both came all the way out here to see me, especially with such a lovely gift.” she said as she stood up to give Harry and I a large hug.

“Harry's a real mama's boy, you know." she said to me.

“Oh, I know.” I replied, knowing that it our innocent teasing and playful banter would get under his skin slightly.

"Awe come on, no I'm not." Harry said with a whine, his mother and I both rolling our eyes at his words since we knew for a fact that it was true.

"Robin went to go pick up Gemma and Liam," she began, referring to Harry’s step father, sister, and his sister’s boyfriend, "They should be back in less than twenty minutes though. He’s been gone for quite some time already."

"That sounds great; I've really missed them all." Harry said with a smile on his face as his eyes grazed the familiar walls of his childhood home.

"I know you have, love. Would you like some tea?"

“Yes please.” Harry said.

Anne turned her attention towards me with a smile that reminded me of the one I often saw on Harry’s flawless face.

“Would you like some tea as well, honey?” she asked me, making me nod my head happily.

She led Harry and I to the spacious kitchen and I sat down on one of the tall stools in the island in the kitchen. I pulled my hair out of the ponytail I had it in to cover the tattoo right behind one of my small ears and to hide one of the hickies that Harry left on my skin yesterday even though I was sure that she wouldn't care about either one due to the close relationship she shared with Harry which reminded me of the relationship I had with my own parents.

"So, Ashley," his mother began in a curious tone as she handed me a cup of tea, placing a second cup in front of the spot next to me for Harry before grabbing a third mug for herself, "Why don’t you tell me something about yourself that I don’t know yet? Harry has told me a lot about you though, you’re one of his favorite things to talk about."

“Awe, come on, mum.” Harry whined as he took a small sip from his cup of tea.

"Well, I'm a model. I'm eighteen. I was born in Spain but moved here with my family when I was fifteen. I have two little sisters." I said, trailing off slightly as I thought of what else I could tell her that was unknown.

"And she's also madly in love with me." Harry said, wrapping his arms around me from behind and placing his chin on my shoulder after putting a small kiss on my neck.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulder to let him know to get off of me, hearing a small chuckle erupt from him a moment later.

"Well, I know it may be a bit too soon despite the proposal I heard just before I opened the door," she began before she took her first sip of tea, "But do I by any chance have any grandchildren on the way?"

"You know what's funny," I began in a serious tone that I rarely used, "My mother actually asked us the exact same thing when she met Harry last week."

The front door opened with a small creak and a moment later the noise of three separate pairs of footsteps made their way into the main entryway of the household. I watched as Harry's face noticeably brightened, his mother’s face doing the same.

"Harry!" a girl’s voice exclaimed before arms were wrapped around Harry's neck as his sister pulled him in for a warm bear hug, something that seemed to either run in the family or be extremely contagious.

"Gem!" he said in the same happy tone that his older sister just used as his muscular arms wrapped around her body tightly, almost lifting her off of the floor.

Once they managed to pull away from each other, he gave Gemma’s boyfriend Liam a small hug also before pulling his stepfather in for a brief hug as well.

"Guys, this is my girlfriend." he said in a proud tone as he intertwined his fingers with mine and pulled me closer to the three people I had yet to meet.

I watched their eyes all widen in surprise slightly when they saw me and I could tell that Harry rarely brought girls home to meet his family, something that made me feel special.

"Hi, I'm Ashley." I said in a happy tone, watching as the looks on their faces changed to one of pleasant surprise at the same time once they heard the Spanish accent that Harry had grown accustomed to over the last few days.

"Wow we've heard so much about you we were beginning to think Harry was making you up." his stepfather said sweetly as he gave me a small hug.

"I've heard a lot about all of you guys too." I said, watching as a smile found its way to Gemma’s face while Robin went over to Anne.

"It was all good, I hope." she said as she looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"It would have been if I had something good to tell her." he said, making Gemma roll his eyes.

"Well, Liam and I are going to help mom make dinner." she said before grabbing onto her boyfriend’s hand and turning in the opposite direction.

I looked up at Harry to see that he was staring down that me, mossy green melting with sky blue.

"So," he began as he slowly inched closer towards me, "Are you still nervous?”

“Well, now I know they’re not going to use me as the sacrificial lamb.” I said in a joking tone, Harry bursting out in loud laughter that caught the attention of the four people in the kitchen.