Burn

The moment Harry’s foot crossed the threshold of the door, Rae’s arms were around his abdomen, her face in his strong chest. His chuckle reverberated through his chest, shaking her and it made her smile. She loved the feel of it. His laughter meant happiness, and his happiness meant peace.

Scooping Rae up bridal style, he carried her into the living room like prince charming, making everyone in the room laugh as he sat down on the couch, cradling the girl like a child. She giggled lightly, leaning back into his chest as he settled in, unbuttoning the coat to his suite.

Harry then told the story, about what he said and how things had gone in full. Everyone was very quiet as he told the entire story, too interested in Leon’s fate to interrupt. There was also an unspoken relief flooding around the room that he had made it home safe.

Though the boys were free to leave, they stayed around for a while. It was different for Rae to see Harry in this sort of environment with the boys, joking and laughing the day away. It was refreshing. But she also noticed that the jokes appointed at Harry never went too far, especially if he got irritated.

“We should go out to dinner to celebrate,” Louis finally amended, leaning his head back and sighing. His blue eyes were lit with mischievousness. She raised her brows, listening to what Louis had to say. “Let’s go to a nice casual dinner, and then afterwards get totally car parked.”

Rae liked the idea of going out with friends and having a good time, but she also knew that Harry drinking just was not the answer too having a goodnight. As if reading her mind, Harry leaned forward, murmuring so only she could hear him, “I won’t be out of control. I promise, alright?”

She tilted her head to look at him, searching his face. When he gave her a reassuring smile, she turned around, clapping her hands together and giving Louis a happy smile. “That would be lovely.”

So with that, they all went their separate ways to change. Louis assured them they could dress casual, and Rae was glad. She wasn’t in the mood to look stunning or wonderful. She was also glad that it seemed Niall was quite taken with Sam, and he had invited her along.

A few hours later, dressed in a simple long t-shirt with Harry planting one of his snapbacks backwards on her head, they were all stuffing themselves inside of a cab, no one wanting to drive. It was a loud car ride over, mostly because Niall was Irish and Louis was… well, loud.

Sitting squished between Sam and Harry, Rae leaned her head back, remaining quiet, but her thoughts were quite loud in her head. Though Rae said nothing of it, she was quite nervous about going out drinking after dinner. She didn’t think it was smart to celebrate condemning someone. She was happy about Leon’s punishment, of course. But she didn’t believe in celebrating such things, not really.

There was also the glaring fact that the last time Rae had seen Harry drink, he had gotten into a fist fight. Something told her that she should stand up, that she should say something. She knew he had a drinking problem and yet… they were still on our way out, still going to do it.

Unable to decide if she was going along with this because she wanted to prove that Harry could have drinks without getting violent, or because she was trying to see if he was worth the riff with her dad, she remained silent until they got to a small place to eat, all wanting burgers.

Throughout dinner she remained in an out of conversation, eating her food easily. It was delicious, and she found herself smacking Harry’s hands away several times as he tried to steal her fries. He was the kind of person to steal a bite from everyone’s plates, and she just smiled it off.

After dinner, they headed out to a bar as opposed to a club. Sitting at a large booth that fit them all, they busied themselves talking and drinking. Rae was still nervous about the night, so she decided to drink the nerves off. And beer did take the edge off a bit, as well as the fact that Harry was taking it pretty slowly with the drinking.

In fact, Harry hardly had anything to do, and after a few hours he looked at her, his green eyes very dark in the dim light as she finished off another beer. Rae felt completely dizzy, and she knew instantly that she was pissed drunk. The worst part about it, was that she hadn’t even stood up yet.

“How about you quit on the beers, yeah?” Harry suggested, pulling the glass away from her. They were in their own little world as Louis loudly told a story to Niall. Rae’s hearing was fuzzy and she couldn’t quite understand what he was saying. “You’ve had quite a bit.”

“Because I’m thirsty,” she insisted, narrowing her eyes a bit and swaying in the seat. Her eyes were bleary and felt heavy and her smiles came often, but slowly. Leaning back in the seat, she sighed in content, poking Harry. “But if you say no, fine. I’ll listen.”

He seemed quite relieved at this and pressed a kiss to her head. Excited, she pressed a hard kiss to his lips, more aggressive than she usual was, which made Harry chuckle and shake his head when he pulled away. She pouted and thought about how much she wanted to kiss him. Or dance. She certainly wanted to dance.

Unfortunately for drunk Rae, this wasn’t the place to dance. And she was also smack dab in the middle of the booth with no way to slide out without making everyone get up. So she would have to remain sitting there, pouting away at her empty glass.

“You know,” she announced to Harry, louder than she had intended too, startling herself. “You looked absolutely fit in that suit this morning. Really. It.. suits you.”

Harry took a moment to laugh loudly at her pun, which made her giggle. Her cheeks were flushed with the effects of the beer on her, and she couldn’t help but roll into a fit of giggles at her own lame joke. “You’re quite the little comedian when you’ve been drinking, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not. I like this hat, by the way. Can I keep it forever?”

“Well I don’t know about forever.”

She frowned, waving him off with her hand. “Well it certainly looks more fetching atop my head than your own, I dare say.”

“That it does.”

A few moments later, Rae’s head felt too heavy for her to hold up, so she leaned on Harry, sighing deeply. He looked down at her and after a moments hesitation, wrapped an arm around her, cradling her into his chest. She knew she must have weighed a ton, because she certainly felt like she did.

“Someone needs to take a picture of this,” Liam laughed, gesturing at the pair. Harry raised his brows and Rae grinned as if he really were taking a picture, which made them all laugh in unison. “Harry with his arm lovingly around a girl. What a sight.”

Harry’s muscles tensed for a second. Rae could feel them, even though she was drunk, and in the back of her mind, very distantly, she wondered why he had done such. “Well, she can’t seem to hold her own head up.”

Liam shrugged, still smiling. He looked rather proudly at Harry, though the girl in Harry’s side wasn’t totally aware as to why. Liam was drinking too, so maybe that was just the expression he wore when intoxicated. “I think you’d hold her like that regardless.” The rest nodded and Harry glanced around at everyone, a mask going over his face. “It’s alright, mate. You fancy her loads, we’re glad.”

“Not that it’s your business,” Harry muttered, only loud enough that Rae could hear him. She tried to lean upwards and away from him, seeing that it was causing him some form of distress, but his arm was like steel around her, unbending. “Why does it matter that I have my arm around her, Liam? I don’t see a girl at your side.”

Liam gave Harry an odd look before looking at the others, as if questioning what he had done to make Harry’s tone go sour. Rae was curious too, but she was still pressed into Harry’s side. “I wasn’t saying it mattered, I was just stating a fact. Don’t be so sensitive about it, mate.”

“I wasn’t being sensitive.”

“You sort of were,” Rae blurted, not even realizing she had said it. The entire table went quiet and Harry went rigid under hear touch. She already sensed the storm that was brewing in his eyes, and she bit her lip, trying to prepare for it. “I’m sorry I didn’t-"

“Move, Louis.” Harry’s voice was like ice as he glared at Louis. Louis quickly moved out of the seat and Harry let go of Rae, getting out of the booth and storming off. She sat there, wavering a bit and her mouth open, not sure what to say.

“I’m so sorry,” Liam said quickly, his brown eyes pleading with Rae to be forgiven. She could tell that he meant the apology, and he genuinely felt bad for the whole ordeal. “I shouldn’t have said anything at all. It’s just, Harry dating someone steadily is new too us, and I was happy…”

“It’s okay,” she said softly, looking down at the table and giving a rueful smile. She tapped Louis and gestured for him to move again as she haphazardly slid from the table. “I’ll be right back.”

“I really think you should let him go,” Zayn said, making her pause. He gave her a serious express and lifted a single shoulder in a shrug. It was obvious the others agreed with him. But Rae wasn’t the listening type. “He’s going to cool off in a bit.”

“No,” she slurred, walking after him and shaking her head. “I’m not letting him storm off like that.”

It took some effort, but Rae made it outside scanning the sidewalk through narrowed eyes before she saw Harry some ways down, leaning on the wall, head tilted towards the sky. She walked over to him, bowing her head a bit, scared to approach him rapidly.

When she was only a foot or so away, she paused, letting silence wrap around them. He said nothing, but she saw by a tiny glance at him that he was glaring at the night sky, jaw working in frustration. It had seemed like a good idea to come out here at first, but now she really saw how mad he was.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” she murmured, bowing her head again. A curtain of dark hair fell in her face before she took a breath, brushing it behind her ear and lifting her head to look at him full on. Confidence is what Harry responded to, usually. “It was out of place for me to say that, alright? It’s just, you were acting sort of sensitive and-"

“I wasn’t being fucking sensitive!” He bellowed, throwing his hands up in frustration. She hadn’t even known she did it until it had already happened, but she flinched backwards, fear making her face blanche. He glared at her through narrowed eyes, unsure of why she had flinched so wildly. “It wasn’t Liam’s business to talk about who I put my fucking arm around. And you didn’t need to agree with him and make me look like a fucking idiot.”

Rae’s eyes flashed in hurt as she heard his words. The way he said them were meant to mean one thing, but how they sounded to her ears was totally different. She took a step away, looking at the floor, frowning. “You feel like having your arm around me makes you look stupid?”

“Yes,” he spat, running his hands through his hair and hitting the wall. It wasn’t a hard punch, but she wasn’t paying attention to it. Tears stung her eyes and she bit her lip, taking in what he had just said. She looked up at him and realization dawned on his face suddenly, like the sun breaching the horizon. “Wait, Rae I did not mean it like that-“

“How did you mean it?” she demanded, voice steady but thick with emotion that she was unable to contain. Her emotions were all over the place, and she was struggling to sort through them. “You don’t like how I make you look? You think I make you look weak? What is it?”

“No,” he protested, reaching towards her but she swatted his hands away, making him blink in shock. It wasn’t like she was striking him, but she certainly had never made a move that had a hint of aggression. “Rae, don’t be like that. I didn’t mean you make me look stupid. I just don’t like that they think I’m weak because I’m with you- fuck no, that’s not it either. Look I don’t know what I’m fucking saying.”

A tear streaked down her face and she shook her head, holding a hand out to him to stop him. “I make you look weak. Good to fucking know. So glad I make your life harder.”

Rae turned and started walking away from him but he quickly grabbed her wrist. She yelled out at him but he spun her, grabbing her tight as she began to cry. She hit him in the chest, more out of anger at the thought that he thought she made him weak than at anger towards him. She felt stupid and she felt embarrassed. “Rae, stop.”

“Just let me go.”

“Don’t tell me to do that.”

“Why, since I make you look weak?”

His answer was very quiet, and very low. She almost didn’t catch it. “Because you’re the only thing that makes me the exact opposite.”