Burn

In a tangle of arms and legs, Rae and Harry lay on the ground, a shaft of golden light falling on them. Rae’s green eyes were looking into the air, watching dust motes fly in the light shining through the window. Reaching her hand up slowly, she moved as if to touch them, smiling when it flew away from her.

Harry smiled too, raising his hand and brushing his long fingers over her skin, feeling how soft it was. They lay there like that brushing their fingers together in the golden stream. Rae thought it would be something very beautiful to draw, their delicate hands like that.

Dropping hands, Harry moved to tracing lines on her naked hip. It made her squirm a bit, her hips ticklish there. He smiled as she nuzzled his neck. He never allowed her to lay like this with him, so she took full advantage of it, pressing the softest kiss imaginable to his neck.

“You know,” he said quietly, voice still rough and low, making her breathe in delight. “I’ve never done that before, like that.”

“What?” she answered back just as softly, eyes glancing at the pattern he was making with his fingers on her skin. She followed his digits, realizing he was tracing an infinity sign. “Gone slow?”

“No I’ve done that,” he assured, shaking his head. He was still looking at his motions. “I’ve never made eye contact.”

Rae sat up, pulling Harry’s t-shirt that was near her head on. He sat up too, watching as she flexed her arms to pull it over her head. The shirt dwarfed her naked body, but she looked right in it, somehow. “I haven’t either.”

His brows shot up in surprise. He stretched to pull his boxers on, taking those few moments to come up with an answer. Rae waited patiently, watching the way his muscles moved under his skin when he pulled them on. He really was beautiful. “I would have pinned you for the sort.”

Rae shrugged a single shoulder, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Harry sat back down across from her, folding his legs Indian style. They sat very close, just watching one another. “I don’t know. I just felt like it was too intimate for all the times that I’ve had sex, you know? But I trust you.”

A grin lit his face and he stretched his hand out, holding her chin delicately with his fingers. Her eyes were a shade of blue and yellow, something new to him. Rae’s eyes changed in color to often for one to remember how may shades exactly they had conquered. “That’s all I ever wanted.”

Licking her lips, Rae leaned forward quickly, catching him off guard as she placed a kiss at the corner of his mouth, giving him a large smile before standing up, offering him a hand. He placed his own in her smaller one and got to his feet. “I’m hungry,” she stated, leading him to the door and downstairs. “Want breakfast?”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon, babe.”

She grinned even wider. “I know.”

So that’s what they did. Harry busied himself with making biscuts and French toast, since he assured her several times that his baking was superior to her own. Rolling her eyes, Rae let him as she worked on bacon and eggs, which seemed far less wonderful when Harry was making the entire kitchen smell like heaven’s own sweet shop.

It was then that Trystan decided to strut into the room, stopping in the door way. They both turned to stop what they were doing, Harry in just boxers and Rae in his t-shirt, giving Trystan a nervous grin and waved. Trys’ eyes trailed from one to the other before she scrunched her nose in amusement. “Smells like heaven, looks like sex. Ironic.”

“Want some breakfast?” Harry offered, holding a plate of French toast he had just finished. He moved it in a circular motion, as if trying to tempt her. “I made loads.”

Trystan contemplated before dropping her stuff at the door and going to sit on a stool at the bar. “Fill me up. But not like- that way.”

Rae burst out into hysterics, covering her mouth with a hand as her giggles leaked through her fingers, while Harry stood motionless, sort of horrified at the idea of shagging Trystan. Trystan grinned evilly. “Trys, leave him alone.”

“Of course.”

The three of them ate together, Trystan not batting an eyelash at the fact that Rae was naked under a t-shirt and that Harry was in just boxers. They only had a few bites in when the door opened and closed, Louis letting himself into the kitchen and giving them all a once over.

Rae couldn’t help but smirk into a bite of a biscut when Harry did not even react in annoyance at Louis just walking into her home. Before, he had hated when the older boy let himself into the house she shared with Trys, whether because it was jealousy he was no longer the only boy to do so, or because he was possessive, she wasn’t sure.

Pulling up a stool, Louis sat down next to Trystan and fixed himself a plate. A long time ago, Rae would have thought this was totally strange. But now, it seemed normal; more comfortable, even, than normal.

“I like that style you’re wearing today,” Louis commented, gesturing with a fork full of French toast at Rae and Harry. “I’ve just had passionate sex is really in. You should see it on the runway, quite lovely.”

“What a lovely shade of sarcasm you seem to be wearing,” Harry commented, raising a brow at Louis.

Rae patted Harry on the shoulder comfortingly. “Isn’t it? It’s from the 50 shades of bitch collection.”

Blue eyes looked between the two of them, narrowing as the couple laughed, high-fiving one another at their joined attempt at poking fun at Louis. Louis set his fork down, looking at Trystan with a wild expression. “I don’t like this, they’ve joined forces.”

The blonde snorted, taking a sip of her orange juice. “The last time I checked, you were quite fond of them together.”

“Spoke to soon.”

“Not the only thing you do too soon.”

Rae’s eyes went wide and she coughed over a laugh. Harry on the other hand was barking with laughter, his hand flying to his chest with it as Louis stared at Trystan, who was grinning at her empty plate. “Excuse me, Harold, Rareold,” Louis informed, standing and grabbing Trystan. She squealed, flailing her limbs as he through her over his shoulder. “I’ve got to shag the brains out of your friend. I’ll be back when she can’t walk.”

Harry and Rae exchanged glances, shrugging simultaneously before forking more food, smiling at one another as they finished eating. Rae had never imagined a better day in her life. Ever.

*

The ringing of Harry’s cell phone startled Rae, making her shoot up in bed. Harry grumbled, removing his arm from her waist to search the nightstand for the ringing device. Rae yawned, falling back down on the mattress, still tired from their afternoon nap.

Cursing once, Harry untangled himself from the sheets of Rae’s bed, answering the phone roughly and walking out of her room, closing the door halfway behind him as he stood in the hallway. Though she could not hear what he was saying, Rae could hear his tone through the door, colored with agitation.

Scratching her head, she watched from her spot in bed, not able to see him. It was clear he was displeased with whoever he was on the phone with, which made her stir with uneasiness. Sticking his head back in, she saw that his face was sketched with agitation and doubt. “What is it?” She asked, sitting up and creasing her forehead in puzzlement. She hugged herself slightly, cold in her room. “Are you alright?”

“My parents….” He struggled for words, spitting them between clenched teeth. “Have discovered I’m dating you. They want to meet you.”

The girl’s blue-green eyes widened in shock. Now she understood why his tone clenched and why the veins in his neck were jumping with his clenched jaw. Harry hated the thought of his parents sticking their nose in his business, especially if it had to do with her. She could only imagine how many ways he was thinking of keeping her away from them.

But as much as she didn’t like the way they treated him, as much as she thought they were awful, she wanted to see who it was that had given him life and then ignored him. She wanted to prove to them that their son was worth something, that they were wrong for ignoring him all these years.

“When do they want to have dinner?” she asked, her tone laced with determination. Her mouth was set in a firm line and there was fire in her eyes. Harry studied her nervously. “I’m free on Friday.”

“Rae-"

“I want to meet them,” she cut him off, nodding her head firmly. Softening for a moment, she encouraged him with a smile. “I’m not scared of them. They should be scared of me.”

Smiling a bit, he backed out of the door, asking if Friday was good for them. Taking a deep breath, Rae fell backwards onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Deep, deep in her heart, she knew that this was not going to go as she wished it to go. Because if there was one thing that she knew, nothing she wanted ever happened. Ever.

Rae was doomed to fail.