***

The next day, we’re all woken up at noon by the hotel room phone. It rings a few times, then Harry’s low, sleepy voice rumbles through the suite and Niall is groaning and cursing. I sit up in bed, completely naked again, because I know that sleep will be impossible now.

Glancing over to the bedside clock alerts me to the fact that its noon and that I’d been asleep for hours and hours. I shuffle out from underneath the covers I was previously huddled under, slightly confused as to why I’d slept so long, and then I remember everything the three of us had done when Harry and I had come back to the hotel.

Niall had already returned and was playing some video game when the two of us had come through the doorway. He’d challenged Harry, who, after a few minutes, had motioned for me to take a seat between him and Niall. Then, after I’d explained that I had no idea how to play any of those games, both funny accented boys had vehemently tried to teach me. I’d been switched back and forth between their teams, starting out on Nialls’ and finishing up on Harrys’. I was awful at it, but they both laughed and kept trying, not even caring that they would lose to the other boy when I was on their team.

Afterwards, once Niall had eaten too many Cheetos and gotten all the crumbs stuck in his controller, we’d gone on to play cards. Both boys came up with different games and then we played some that I mentioned, betting pieces of leftover candy that Harry and I hadn’t ate, lint, and a pieces of the leftover Cheetos bag. Movies of a variety were played on the big flat screen next, almost all of them full of dirty humor that made me laugh loudly and Harry shake his head and mumble something even dirtier to Niall, who would crow with chuckles and slap the curly headed boys hand.

I couldn’t remember what time it was, but new it was well in to the early morning hours when Harry had prodded me with one of his long fingers and, smiling, told me that I should probably go to bed. He’d helped me to my room and slowly loped away, heading to his own bed while I’d tried to remember if he’d actually put a kiss in to my hair or not. Niall had bunked on the couch, where I suspect he’d been woken by the loud ringing phone that I’d never spotted in the suite.

Now, as I struggle to find the robe to throw over my body so I can go in to the front room, my gaze is bleary, hair severely tangled, and lips very chapped. I have to do a search through my bag for a thing of almost-empty lip balm before I tie the white cotton coat-like piece the hotel had provided and open my door.

Harry is shirtless and standing just a few feet away from where Niall, who is also vacant of anything on his chest or arms or shoulders, is sprawled out and trying to untangle himself from a blanket. I laugh, slowly shuffling my way towards a single chair that rests near the arm of the couch Harrys’ Irish mate is grumbling on.

When I make it to the classy chair, Niall grunts and throws his hand out. “Help me out, Delly,” he whines.

I laugh again, but manage to help him get free and sitting upright. He smiles widely and happily in thanks, and I laugh again while falling down beside him, abandoning the idea of sitting in the too far away chair.

Harry is still talking to someone on the phone, murmuring low while pacing in a distance that the phone cord will allow him too. As I glance over at him, he winks, smiling as well, and then turns so his back to me and mumbles something to whoever had finally woken all of us.

“Is that a Cheeto in your hair?”

Turning away from Harry’s muscled back, I frown as I snap my head around to Niall. His eyebrows are furrowed and his fingertips are deep within the mess of my red hair.

“What?”

“It’s a chessy crisp,” he says, chuckling as he comes away from my head with the chip he was eating last night.

I make a face, shoving him because I know it was him who’d tossed it in to there. He only laughs and ruffles the strands of my hair some more. Then he simply chuckles some more, seeming to choose breakfast over making my hair even more tangled. He grabs a menu from the table that lines the back of the couch and leans over to me while asking that I help him choose something.

While we look through, deciding and murmuring together about what sounds good, Harry keeps talking. We manage to figure out that Niall prefers an omelet over scrambled eggs and that I’m just the opposite before Harry gets off the telephone and drops down next to me. He sighs heavily, resting against my shoulder while gazing down at the menu.

“What was that about,” Niall asks, chewing on his fingernail as he sinks back into the couch.

“Management,” Harry murmurs, licking his lips. “They want to skype with me later about something.”

Niall nods. “Gonna make us scram, then?”

I turn to look at Harry then, scanning over his tired looking eyes, bright red lips, and curly ends of his hair. He stares down at me too and winds his arm on to the back of the couch, brushing pieces of hair off my shoulder while one side of his mouth twitches.

“Just for a little while,” he quietly says, like he’s only talking to me.

But Niall cuts in and I have to sort of lean back in to Harry’s chest because the blonde is so smiley and suddenly energetic as he lurches forward.

“Good! I can show Delly some good food. How ‘bout the pier, darlin’?”

And then Harry’s laughing and I’m smiling because Niall’s orbs are so wide and happy. I nod to his question, though, and agree to go wherever he wants. Then he’s jumping up, a ball of energy and excited words said too fast in a too thick Irish accent for me to understand, and telling Harry he’s going to use his room to get ready in. He disappears shortly after, closing the door behind him after he lugged in the bag he’d brought with him yesterday.

Harry is still chuckling, his arm now wrapped around my shoulders as I keep myself propped up against his chest. But soon the light sound is cut off and his breath is cool in my hair, wafting over the skin of my neck.

“That alright with you, love,” he asks quietly. I nod, the way he’s sort of holding me rendering me unable to do nothing else. He smiles in to my hair. “You said you like Niall, didn’t you?”

“He shoved a Cheeto in my hair last night.”

I’m unsure why I say this, maybe because I can’t really remember what people are supposed to say during these times, but Harry laughs loudly, throwing his head back and gripping me tight.

“I found a couple in my hair, too. But you’ll be alright, won’t you? I mean… You’ll come back?”

For a few seconds I’m stunned. I can’t fathom why he’d worry about that—why he’d even care, but then I remember that he’s holding me right now and that last night, our ‘date’, did happen. It’s odd to me, to have people care so much that they even bother to worry about me coming back to them, and I have to repress tears.

Swallowing, I smile, pressing myself farther in to him and hiding my face in his chest. I press my fingers in to the skin of his back, feeling as he winds one of his arms completely around me.

“I’m not going to run away, Harry.”

He lets out a happy hum. “Good.”

We remain that way, holding each other, until Niall stumbles out, putting on his shoes and asking us if we know were his hat is. Then I pull away from Harry with pink tinted cheeks and smile up at him before starting to slide up off the couch and towards my room.

“Maybe it’s in the Cheetos bag,” Harry says, to which I laugh as I shut my door behind me.

I dress quickly, opting for a dark red tank top, some jean shorts that are high waisted, and my beat up flat sneakers. I braid my hair to the side after coming it out as much as possible and dig out some mascara from my bag in order to apply a few coats.

By the time I emerge from my room, dressed and looking far more presentable than earlier, Niall has found his hat and Harry is still shirtless. Both are sitting around the coffee table, sipping from cups of something that had been delivered by room service and watching a program on TV.

I smile and sit in the empty space next to Niall.

He turns, grinning at me. “Ready?”

When I nod, he sits his cup down and smiles wider before exclaiming that he’s forgotten his wallet. He traipses back into Harry’s room in search of it while the emerald eyed Brit stands and follows me to the front of the suite. We pause near the door, where Harry presses his hands to my hips and pulls me in to him a little.

“See you when you get back?”

“See you when I get back,” I nod.

He smiles and sighs, leaning forward to rest his forehead against mine for only the second time in my entire stay with him. But then Niall is barreling in, making some dirty remark before telling me to come on or all the good ice cream flavors will be all gone. Harry laughs loudly and waves goodbye to us, leaning out of the doorway as the two of us head down to the elevator.



“Niall, how in the hell can you eat that?” I ask, nose wrinkled as I watch him devour an ice cream made up of strawberry, mint and orange.

He just grins over at me. “You’re missing out, Delly. This shit is the best, and more exciting than plain ol’ vanilla.”

Chuckling, I roll my eyes and take a lick out of the delicious cone I’m holding. We’re strolling back down the boulevard towards the hotel, the cab we’d taken back here having just dropped us off after we’d spent an uncountable amount of hours walking along the boardwalk, checking out little shops that had been set up, and eating whatever Niall wanted.

More than once we’d come across games that I’d warned him not to waste his money on, but he’d only laughed at me and started to dig ‘round in his pockets. He’d tried to win me a stuffed unicorn at a game where you shoot a basketball, but failed and had to get a frog from a game stand that you have to knock over coke bottles at. But it had been fun and I’d even won him a hippo that he’d named Delly and had proceeded to coo to all the way in to the lobby.

We’re carrying some other things that we’d collected on our walk, mainly stuffed animals, but there are some bracelets Niall had bought and exclaimed ‘put our friendship in stone’, our ice cream cones, and some indie CD’s that we’d both thought Harry might like.

By the time we’re walking up towards the room, Niall’s eaten his ice cream and I’ve given him the rest of mine. I’ve also realized that neither one of us have a key to get to in, so we’ll have to hope Harry hasn’t left, and when I knock on the suite door, I’m relieved to hear the knob turning.

“Hi,” he says, smiling widely at me while standing aside so the two of us can come in.

“Oi, mate, you missed one hell of a time.”

Harry laughs, lets the door close after Niall, and follows us into the room. “Did I?”

“Yea, man. Delly and I have cemented our friendship, and she won me a hippo.”

Niall flings up the small pink and grey hippo, making Harry laugh even more.

“What the hell do you mean ‘cemented’, mate?” he asks, eyebrows furrowing as he continues to smile and starts to make his way over to me.

He winds an arm loosely around my waist and pinches the frog Niall won me between his fingers, gripping as he examines it. Then he looks over at me, a content sigh rumbling out as he pulls me closer.

“Shut up, ya dirty fuck. We just got matching bracelets,” Niall says, smirking.

“And we got you CD’s,” I say, smiling while bringing them up from my other hand to show him.

He flashes me a surprised, happy grin and takes them while keeping a hold on my frog.

“Thanks,” he says excitedly.

Niall and I just laugh. While he looks them over, I take a seat next to the blonde I'd spent my afternoon with on the couch, Harry following with his fingertips ghosting on the small of my back. He settles in next to me and keeps reading the back of one of the CD’s we picked out for him.

For a little while it’s quiet, then Niall pipes up about showering and disappears in to the bathroom. When he’s gone, I move closer to Harry and he winds one of his arms around my shoulders.

“How’d the skype call go?”

He looks up, his face looking rather sad now. “It went alright. They know about you now.” My eyes widen and he rushes on. “But it’s fine. I explained it. They just wanted to know what was going on so they could figure out what to say to the press.”

I don’t know why, but this makes me nervous. Maybe it’s because I like the cocoon he’s created for me and the idea of other people knowing about whatever it is that we have makes me afraid of it being shredded and destroyed. And despite the short time I’ve been here with Harry, I don’t want to have to say goodbye to him because I was a whore and not exactly the type his team wanted him dating.

“Don’t be afraid,” he murmurs, leaning forward even more. “Nothing’s going to happen. Everything will be the same.”

“They’re not going to make you leave?”

He frowns and his eyebrows furrow. “I wouldn’t, even if they begged me too.”

And then I sink into him in relief, letting out a rush of a breath I’d been keeping in while he holds me tightly.