Burn

Harry said nothing to the girl in front of him. He rather watched her as she looked away from him, her face like stone. Though he hadn’t known her long, he knew her well enough to know that she was masking whatever she was feeling, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was.

Understanding the girl in front of him was very difficult. Though she interested him and made him want to do nice things for her and let no one else touch her, she also absolutely infuriated him. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would save her comments to spare hers or anyone else’s feelings; if you made her mad, she was going to do it right back.

Harry liked that about Rae. She had a spitfire personality that you don’t find often in girls, but it was difficult to deal with. He wanted to treat her like a doll, and yet she kept resisting being treated delicately, which drove him insane. Her stubbornness often set off every button in his system, which was a bad thing.

When they got off the Ferris wheel, Rae instantly began walking to the parking lot. Harry sighed, exhausted. He normally could careless what a girl thought of him, but she was different. He needed her to try and see through his anger.

Jogging to catch up with her, he caught her wrist, careful to hold it gently. She spun around to face him, eyes somewhat alarmed. He gave her a soft smile. “Let me win you a bear or something, yeah?”

Her brows furrowed together over her perfect green eyes. “What for?”

“Because,” he said, drawing her near and coaxing her towards the basketball hoop. “Girls are supposed to like stuffed things, and you’re not leaving our date with a frown on your face.”

“Oh, so this is a date?”

“For lack of a better word.”

It was hard for Harry to call it a date. He had been on countless dates, but they had all ended differently than this one would. He knew how this one would end: he would walk her to her door and say good night before turning around and leaving. He wouldn’t be allowed inside, where he could crawl to her bed and gain dominance. Rae wasn’t that kind of girl, which both delighted and annoyed him.

Ignoring her small smile of triumph, Harry paid the man a couple of bills at the free throw line. A series of balls for him to through into the hoop fell into a net so he could reach them. Grabbing one, the timer began and he immediately began throwing them, tossing each orange ball perfectly into the net.

Surprisingly, Rae cheered him on, smacking him when he missed and squealing when he didn’t. It gave him a sense of pride he wasn’t normally used to. Everything she did was unfamiliar to him, which is why he kept coming back around her.

When the timer went off, signaling he was done, he had thrown a total of 45 free throws. He was rather impressed with himself, and even happier when he picked out a stuffed Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Handing it to Rae, she smiled at him, hugging it close to her.

The pair finally made their way towards Harry’s car, the atmosphere completely changed from what it had been earlier. The sense of tension and anger had evaporated, and was replaced with a normal, comfortable feeling.

Arriving at her house, they both got out of the car, Rae thanking him for the stuff toy and joking that she didn’t know he could throw that well. He laughed, not sure how he did it either. He was no basketball pro.

At the door, Rae unlocked it and turned to him. Just as Harry opened his mouth to wish her a good night, she broke his train of thoughts. “Would you like to come inside?”

He blinked at her, shocked. A small smirk began to come to his lips. “Really?”
“Not like that,” she warned, giving him a look. Though he was a tad disappointed, he was also glad that she wasn’t going to prove him wrong about the type of person she was. “I’ve got really good tea from some place in bloody Asia and I’m trying to use it.”

“Sure.”

The inside of the house was the same as it had been earlier that day, but different from the first time he had been inside. He remembered the first time everything had been blurry through the haze of alcohol, and though he had been coherent, he had still been severely inebriated.

Following her into the kitchen, he sat down on a stool as she moved around. He got a serious appreciation for how small she was as she moved along the counter tops, standing on her tiptoes to get to the cabinets. It made him snicker, though he tried to muffle it with his sleeve.

“I’m vertically challenged,” she commented, laughing as she took out a glass jar filled with tealeaves. “I know. But at least I won’t hit my head on everything like you, Jolly Green Giant.”

He rolled his eyes. “That may be true, but you also have the risk of drowning in a puddle.”

Rae’s laughter was like silver, chiming in the kitchen as she shook her head. Their conversation drew in Trystan, who cast Harry a quizzical glance. Trystan was so different from Rae; she was more out there and wild. She was the kind of girl Harry would sleep with and never think about again.

“I hope you’re not leaving me out of tea,” she said lightly, swinging around the counter and grabbing an extra mug, setting it on the counter. This annoyed Harry, seeing as he wanted to be alone with the small brunette. “And don’t worry, I won’t intrude. I just want tea and I’m back in the living room.”

Thankfully, Trystan kept true to her word and vanished beyond the door when a cup of hot tea was set in her hand. Rae herself joined Harry on the stool, shoving him playfully to make herself room. He chortled, giving her the space that she needed.

“So, where do you work?” she questioned, sipping her tea lightly. It seemed the scalding contents didn’t bother her at all, though he had already burnt his tongue. “If you work, that is.”

Her joke made him smile. “I just started out helping at a family friend’s bakery.”

“Ooh, so you’re like Peeta from the Hunger Games?”

“What? No.” He recoiled at the thought. He had in fact read the book, and he didn’t really want to be related to Peeta’s weaker character. He liked the bloke, but everyone knew that Katniss practically ruled over the lad. “Not at all.”

“I’m kidding.” She poked his arm. “You’re too tough to be Peeta, yeah?”

“Exactly.”

She scoffed. “I don’t really think you’re that scary.”

Harry thought she was lying about that, but he didn’t call her on it. He didn’t want her to be scared of him. But there was no way she wasn’t scared after his display of anger. He hoped she wasn’t. “Well maybe you should. Everyone else seems to think so.”

“And why does everyone else think so?”

Green eyes glanced at her. She was looking up at him, an almost reproachful look on her face. He suddenly felt like he was being mothered, like she was trying to teach him a lesson. He understood what she meant; people were scared of him because of his anger and his tendency for violent displays. And he was fine with that.

“I’m fine with how people see me, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

She shrugged, giving him a soft smile. “Then that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

The way she asked the question made him think that she didn’t think that was all that mattered. It made him think back to earlier, when he had accused her of being sad when she had drawn all the pictures he saw around the house. Everyone saw her as a normal, confident and classy girl, and that’s what should’ve mattered. But something told him it didn’t matter to her at all.

“Sometimes,” he answered, looking at his cup. “Sometimes.”

*

Rae licked her lips as she led Harry to the door. He had stayed at her house for over an hour, talking about random things that didn’t matter. They never went into personal life details, as it seemed they worked a bit better that way. She didn’t want to see the Harry from the carnival again; that one scared her to her core.

“Thanks for the tea,” He said, turning around on the porch, giving her a cheeky smile. “Felt like the mad hatters tea party.”

“Except a little less mad.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Harry leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek, smirking when she blushed slightly. She felt angry that she blushed, his amusement clearly coming from his effect on her. “Goodnight, Rae.”

Harry turned to walk away, but Rae skipped onto the porch, stopping him and standing on her tiptoes to brush a very light, very innocent kiss across his lips. She felt as if the whole world tilted underneath her at the contact, stepping away almost dizzily. “You’re new at this, so I’ll let it slide. But that’s how you end a date, Styles.”

Rae smirked when he seemed a bit daze, a smile rather than a smirk on his face. It was clear that she had startled him, so she gave him a coy smile and walked into the comfort of her house, waving her fingers as she shut the door.

Letting out a shaky breath of air, she smiled, closing her eyes and relishing the feeling in her gut for a moment. Rae wasn’t sure where she got it from, but she often surprised herself with acts of confidence, doing things she wouldn’t typically do if some unknown force weren’t driving her to act spontaneously.

The heat from Harry’s lips was still on hers, a flaming phantom that tingled and lingered in the most pleasant way. She lightly ran a finger along her bottom lip, making sure there was nothing there to set her mouth on fire; there wasn’t, it was just the heat of his lips against hers.

Practically floating, Rae placed herself on the couch in the living room, resting her head on Trystan’s shoulder and focusing on the movie that was playing in front of her. She smiled when she saw Peter Pan on the television, loving Disney movies more than anything.

“You fancy him,” Trystan said. It wasn’t a question, and it was not unkind. It was a teasing sort of tone, one that made Rae bite back a defensive remark. “I’ll admit I’m surprised.”

“He isn’t what I expected.”

“Or he is and he’s good at hiding it.”

Rae looked at her hands, not replying. Trystan had a very good point, and though Trystan wasn’t exactly an upstanding citizen or one to give relationship advice, she had a point. The anger in Harry’s eyes earlier that night flashed in the girl’s mind, reminding her that something about him was definitely off.

Watching the rest of the movie, Rae tried not to obsess over what could cause Harry to be so angry so easily, and what made his anger severe. In stead, she settled for enjoying a movie with her best mate in the entire world, and decided that she would question later and live for now.

But everyone knows that’s a dangerous way of living.