Burn

“They seem like lovely chaps,” Rae commented sarcastically as they walked through the gate of her yard. Harry was still leading her by the hand, making her feel like a small child. She thought it was rather amusing. “Really, splendid fellows.”

Harry stopped short and whirled around, towering over Rae’s height. There was a seriousness to his eyes that she didn’t understand, and it made her stop short, wondering why his face looked so concerned. “Yes,” he hissed, letting go of Rae’s hand, leaving it feeling empty. “Lovely chaps. If you see them again, stay away from them, do you understand? They aren’t good people.”

Annoyance struck Rae. Harry was in absolutely no position to order her around. Of course she would never go near those two boys again, it was clear they weren’t the kind of people she needed to be around. But for him to tell her that, as if he had some sort of sway over her decisions made her angry. “Takes me out to breakfast and comes back ordering me around,” she snorted, walking away from him, taking out her keys. “Two quick steps to piss off a girl.”

“I’m serious, Rae,” Harry continued, following the girl up the path to her home. She ignored him, sticking the keys in her door and opening it. “They aren’t the kind of people you need to be around.”

“Oh and you would know?” she demanded, whirling around and raising her brows. “You, who knows little about me, know what I need? That sounds like a right load of rubbish, Styles. I’m not an idiot, I know a bad person when I see one.”

“Then why am I on your porch?” he asked, the serious tone beginning to leave his voice. Slowly amusement crept into his features, making Rae’s head spin. One moment he was serious, the next he was snarky and after that he was angry. He made no sense. “If you know a bad person when you see one?”

Rae licked her lips, thinking of an answer. “Because you seem like the kind of person who pretends to be bad, though I cannot imagine why.” Harry seemed absolutely taken aback by her answer, and it made her annoyance go away slightly. “Thank you for breakfast. Hopefully I’ve managed to show you how uninteresting I am.”

Harry’s lips curved in a sideways smile, making her heart skip a beat slightly. “Not in the slightest. You’ll be hearing from me.”

Rae watched as he turned around and walked away, shoving his hands in his pocket. She imagined he had a smirk on his face as he walked out of the gate, not looking back at her. “Oh goody.”

Closing the door, Rae let out a sigh, running a hand through her hair. It was difficult to fathom how she could possibly be finding herself tangled up with this boy now. She wasn’t sure if they were friends, or what in fact the relationship between them was.

The entire ordeal made no sense to her. Just a few days ago, she would never have thought she would be taking care of the idiot in her own home, or going out to breakfast with him. But for some reason she just couldn’t accept the previous idea she had of him- she had to know who he really was, otherwise it would drive her insane.

Footsteps sounded down the set of stairs, drawing Rae’s attention to her flat mate skipping down the steps, her blonde hair tied up in a bun and wearing sweats. Trystan had a curious gaze on her face, and Rae wondered if Trystan had seen the pair from the window; she often moved about her room with the windows open.

Rae’s suspicions were confirmed when Trystan leaned on the railing of the steps, crossing her arms and giving Rae a small smirk, as if to say she knew something Rae didn’t. “Good morning.”

“Hullo,” Rae replied, taking off her shoes and putting them in a basket. “You’re up rather early.”

“So are you… and you’re dressed.”

Rae knew she couldn’t prolong what she had been doing for long, but she still attempted, walking towards the kitchen. Trystan followed her. “Woke up this morning with this insane need to draw. I actually got halfway done with a mermaid- the one you’ve been nagging me to draw.”

“Really? I want to see it as soon as you’re done telling me where you were off too with bad-boy Styles. Really, I’m intrigued to hear this one.”

Both annoyed and somewhat amused, Rae began to relate the story to her. Trystan listened without interrupting or making faces, taking in every word and analyzing it in her own way. Rae was thankful for this, because it would have been a lot harder to explain with Trystan interrupting every five seconds.

After Rae recounted the story, she placed her palms on the counter and hopped up onto it, kicking her dangling feet back and forth. Trystan said nothing at first, leaning on the island in the kitchen, her chin set in her palm. Her fingers drummed on her jaw line, showing she was deep thinking.

For what seemed like an eternity, Rae waited for Trystan’s response. “You fancy him, in an odd way,” she said slowly, holding up her finger when she saw that Rae was starting to protest. “I don’t necessarily mean that you want to give him a proper shag, I mean that you are attracted to him, whether it be his mysteriousness, or the looks.”

Rae looked at the ground, not liking the feeling that Trystan was correct. “I don’t even know him.”

Trys smiled softly. “Well maybe that’s why you’re drawn to him. You’ve always been the person who wants to know everything, who doesn’t like realizing that what you’ve known is wrong. You’ve heard all these things about him, and despite your aversion to the bad boy types, you want to know if those things are true.”

Rae nodded. Her friend’s words made sense, though she wasn’t overly fond of the idea she thought Harry was attractive in more than just looks. “So, what should I do?”

Trystan shrugged, straightening. “You don’t have to do anything. For some reason unknown to me, that boy is interested in you. I just seriously hope that his interest doesn’t damage you… he seems like the selfish type that would rather fulfill his needs rather than your own.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Trystan’s gaze was worried. “What I mean, is that Harry seems sort of possessive and not the type to let others get in the way of what he wants.”

*
The sound of Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers was coming out the speakers of the small music shop. The walls were a clean blue color, and all of the racks were perfectly stacked, all albums in their proper place. That was the way Rae liked it when she was working, and she often hated when the other workers didn’t take care to put things in their place.

Stepping on a stool, Rae was dusting off a shelf that needed serious love. The wooden shelf was covered in a thick layer of dust, and seeing as her co-worker Dawn was with her, she decided she’d clean up the place a little, seeing as Dawn preferred helping customers over doing the cleaning.

Rae didn’t mind. She was good with people, but she would rather be doing her own thing, singing along quietly to whatever was playing. She was also thankful that her and Dawn had the same music preference; the other few coworkers listened to horrid pre-teen nonsense.

Humming along, Rae stepped down from the stool, spinning on her heel and squeaking in surprise when she almost stumbled into Harry, who was standing their looking extremely gorgeous in a tank top and jeans. Rae almost topped to the ground staring at his strong arms.

“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” she asked, a little breathless, trying to ignore how beautiful the muscles in his arms were. She hadn’t seen or heard from Harry in three days, which she had to admit, bothered her a bit. It was weird not having him around to test her patience. “Trying to give me a heart attack, I’m sure.”

He shrugged, giving her a cheeky grin. “I guess you could say I missed you’re cheeky presence.”

Rae snorted, moving around him, expecting him to follow her. He did. “If anyone is cheeky in this weird friendship we’ve got going, it’s you. And that doesn’t totally answer my question.”

He laughed, leaning against the counter as she moved around it. Dawn’s eyes instantly went to the very attractive boy, a slow smile spreading across her face. Rae tried to ignore the immediate change in the disposition to the girl next to her. “What, I can’t come to see you?”

“No you can, you’ve just got to have a good excuse for it.”

Harry’s green eyes rolled and he glanced at Dawn. “You’re staring.”

Dawn blinked in surprised, her face going red as she fumbled for a reply. Rae glared at Harry as Dawn stood up from behind the counter abruptly, mumbling that she was taking her break in the back before disappearing. “Why did you do that?” Rae demanded, crossing her arms over his chest as he chuckled at the result. “She’s an extremely nice girl and you’ve just embarrassed her.”

“What? She was staring!” he argued in defense, shrugging his shoulders and leaning on the counter. Rae was still annoyed, knowing he had done it on purpose; he liked intimidation. “I’m not the type of bloke she needs anyways.”

“Like you’re anyone’s type,” the girl muttered under her breath. The narrowing in the boys eyes signaled that he had heard it, and he stood straight, making her twinge with guilt. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“You did,” he disagreed, crossing his arms over his chest. “So I guess you probably wouldn’t agree to going to dinner with me? If I’m no ones type, that is.”

Rae bit her lip. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

He rolled his eyes. “Call it what you want, but I don’t really date.”

“Then no.”

His mouth fell open slightly, confused. It was clear the boy had come in there believing that she would say yes; she got the feeling he didn’t get a good and proper no often enough. “So are you saying if I called it a date, you would go?”

“It doesn’t matter what you call it,” she mimicked, mock niceness dripping in her tone. “I don’t really date.”

Rae walked from behind the counter, going to busy herself with reorganizing the shelves that she had already organized. She was a tad hurt, seeing that he didn’t actually want to take her on a date. She had to admit, seeing a different side to Harry was something that she wanted, and she would feel incredibly special if he really did mean to take her out for a nice evening.

Yet, moments ago he had made it blatantly obvious that he wasn’t the dating type, he was the type to take you out for dinner for a few drinks and take you home for a right well shag, only to have you leave the next morning. That wasn’t Rae’s style.

Harry trailed her like a puppy, obviously annoyed when she was studiously ignoring him. When she turned to walk away again, he snatched her wrist, spinning her to look at him. He had startled her, and Rae frowned, not liking how tight he was gripping her wrist.

“Easy on the wrist, King Kong.”

He didn’t drop his grip, but he lessened his grasp. “You’re going.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Girls don’t say no to me.”

“Well I just did!” she snapped, ripping her touch away. She was fuming now. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not just some slag you can take to dinner and crawl into bed with after. Go scrape someone else off of the street.”

Rae left him once again, only to hear him bark out a laugh, making her growl and turn to him, crossing her arms and demanding for him to explain himself. “You really are something.” He walked passed her, popping a kiss on her head as he did so, taking her by total surprise. "I'll pick you up at 7."