Ignite.

It took us somewhere between two and three hours to get into the heart of New York City, where Harry apparently had a place. Because of course he had a place in New York City. We’d stopped quite a few times due to my minuscule bladder, but Harry didn’t mind and we used those opportunities to get more snacks that we certainly didn’t need, but that we would certainly eat. Harry had also brought this really nice camera with him, and he was obsessed with taking candid shots and just random cute, couple-y shots. Not that I was complaining though. Okay, maybe a little with the candid shots, but Harry always dismissed my whining with a kiss and a compliment. Such a sap, that one.

So finally we were pulling up to this gorgeous high rise, where Harry swiped a card that let us into the underground parking lot. And soon we were headed for the elevator, his large hand swallowing mine up.

“So you have a house here, too?” I asked, looking at up him as we leaned against the wall in the elevator.

“Well, it’s my mum’s place, but I stay here when I’m in the city. She’s not here, though. She went on holiday for the new year, so the place is ours.” He was grinning brightly at me, and for a second I wasn’t sure who was more excited for this trip. We arrived on some high up floor, just like in Philly and Harry quickly led me down the hall before unlocking the door and leading me into an expansive living space. This place may have just been nicer than his apartment in Philly, but a woman did live here, so I suppose she had spruced the place up. We had barely made it ten steps into the apartment when a voice called,

“Is someone there?” We both immediately froze, my eyes going wide as Harry shot me a brief glance.

“Mum?” he finally called into the seemingly dead air, and then we were met with the sound of hurried footsteps.

“Oh, Harry, what are you doing here, love?” A dark haired woman in a bathrobe cooed as she scuttled over to us and took Harry in her arms. He hugged her back tightly, asking her the same question. “Well I do live here, babe. Oh, you’ve brought a friend?” Her eyes turned to me as a large grin took over her face, and I felt a small blush creep onto my cheeks.

“Mum, I thought you were going away for a few days. We’re seeing a show in town tomorrow night, so I thought we could crash here,” Harry called, pulling his mother’s attention back to him.

“My plans fell through, but you two are more than welcome to stay. I’m Anne,” she chirped excitedly, sticking her hand out to me. My eyes met Harry’s for the briefest of seconds before I smiled back and shook her hand.

“I’m Jude-” A loud gasp came from her lips before I could even blink and soon she was pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

“Oh my god, you’re Jude! I’ve heard so much about you, Sweetie! You alright?” Her mouth was moving a mile a minute and I couldn’t fight the small chuckle that floated past my lips.

“I uhm, I’m good. How are you?” I asked as we pulled apart, but her hands quickly linked with mine as she stared at me excitedly.

“Well, not exactly the wake up call I was expecting, but I’ll take it! Oh, you’re so pretty. You know, Harry never stops talking about you-”

“Mum, don’t,” Harry groaned, his hand coming up to cover his face, and I quickly found myself blushing again.

“What? You know you don’t. Oh, it’s unbelievable, love. ‘Jude’s so lovely, Jude and I went to the park today, I showed Jude the store today, Jude’s so gorgeous, you’ll never believe it, I’m so lucky.’ He’s gone absolutely mental, this one! You are quite gorgeous though, look at you. Oh god, I’m probably frightening you-”

“Yeah,” Harry scoffed, grabbing my hand from his mother’s and pulling me into his side.

“Oh, hush, Harry. How did you expect me to react? I had no notice!”

“Well I wasn’t expecting you to be here-”

“You could have called, love.”

“I did call! Last week, when you said you weren’t going to be here.” I could tell he was getting a little huffy now, so I squeezed his hand, hoping it would ground him a little. His eyes fell to me, and I gave him a reassuring smile, promising him that I didn’t mind meeting his mother.

And I didn’t, really. Would I have liked a little notice? Absolutely. But she seemed like a really lovely woman, and I’d heard Harry talk about her loads of times. He really loved her and it seemed that they had a really great relationship, so I was more than excited to finally meet her. Though one in the morning wasn’t exactly my first choice.

“Did you two want some tea or something? I can go put the kettle on-”

“No, Mum, it’s late. We’re just going to get some sleep, alright?” She frowned slightly at his decline, but nodded her head anyway.

“Alright, but I’m making breakfast tomorrow and we’re catching up, yeah?” Harry held her gaze for a few moments before letting out a small sigh and nodding.

“Yeah, okay, Mum. G’night.” He placed a quick kiss to her cheek before practically dragging me down the hall to his room, leaving me to call a quick ‘goodnight!’ to Anne, which she happily returned. Harry’s room here was similar to the one in Philadelphia, though it lacked all the records. Besides that, though, it was almost identical. “I’m sorry about that,” he muttered, flopping onto the bed and tossing his hands up over his face. I quickly crossed the room and crawled up to him, pulling his hands away and tangling my fingers with his.

“Don’t apologize,” I let out with a small chuckle. “She seems lovely. You didn’t need to be so short with her.” He let out a groan of protest, but I just shook my head a little. “It’s fine.” I leaned down then, placing a soft kiss to his lips before hopping up from the bed and rifling through my bag for pajamas. Once I had what I needed I headed off for the bathroom.

“You can get changed in here, you know,” Harry called, sitting up to look at me.

“I can get changed in the bathroom, too,” I quipped, sending him a small wink. He rolled his eyes a bit and let out another groan.

“But what if I want you to get changed in here?” My back was to him, which I was kind of thankful for, given that he couldn’t see the small blush that was once again on my cheeks. There just was something so sexy about how he groaned out sentences like that. His voice always got deeper and huskier and I could literally feel my stomach tightening. So what did I do? I let Ballsy Jude take over. I quickly spun on my heel to face him, a small smirk on my lips.

“Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint you, would I?” Harry’s eyes snapped up to mine as my sweater dropped from my shoulders and hit the floor. Then ever so slowly, I pulled the tank top from my body, revealing the barely there lace bra that I’d thrown on earlier. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes trained on my face, even though the bra was rather see through. I shimmied out of my jeans then, watching as his tongue darted out to coat his lips before he bit at the lower one. And there I stood, in just my skimpy bra and a lacy thong, hands on my hips as we stared each other down. I had never been too self conscious about my figure, thank god, so I was only freaking out a little as I stood in front of him.

“Could you just sleep in that?” I had hardly heard him, as his voice had gone all breathy while his eyes darted all over my body. And then I couldn’t hold it together anymore. A giggle escaped my lips as I rolled my eyes and reached for my pajamas once more, slipping them onto my body. He let out another one of those famous groans as I moved to take off my jewelry, and soon I was crawling back over to him.

“You’re cute, Harry,” I whispered, just before pecking his lips lightly and sitting back on my heels, a cheeky grin plastered to my face. He stared at me for a few long moments, almost in a state of shock before suddenly-

“I’ll show you cute,” he growled, lunging at me and tackling me to the mattress, pinning my body down with his. More giggles left my mouth as his nimble fingers mercilessly attacked my sides, and I’d almost forgotten that his mother was just in the other room.

“Harry, stop!” I laughed, but that just egged him on more. Soon his head was buried in my neck, kisses and small bites being left here and there by that wondrous mouth of his, but then he was pulling up for air, resting his weight on his arms on either side of me.

“Still cute?” he huffed out, his breathing a little ragged.

“Oh, no, you’re my big, strong, manly man!” I cried, my fingers curling into his biceps. He rolled his eyes with a small smirk and shake of his head.

“I hate you,” he muttered, lifting his body off of mine and rolling away from me.

“No, you love me!” My hands were left pawing for him as he hopped up from the bed and stopped to look at me. Something in his eyes changed at my last statement, but I chose to ignore it. And so did he, apparently, as he shook his head once more and headed for the bathroom. He was gone for much longer than a wee, and I could only imagine what he was doing. Though it would seem I didn’t need to imagine as he let out one accidentally loud gasp and soon the sink was running. Well. That was a confidence booster.

By the time he was strolling back into the room, I had already nestled myself deep in his blankets and I whined a little as he pulled them back, letting all the cold air in. But soon his body was wrapped around mine, my hands settling on top of his, which were resting on my waist.

“Those hands better be clean, mister,” I finally whispered and I could just see him rolling his eyes as he muttered a low ‘shut up’, prompting another giggle from me before his lips touched down on my neck once again.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Judith,” he murmured, his breathing finally falling even. “The death of me.”

--

For the first time ever, I had woken up before Harry. It was only because I really had to pee, but hey, I still beat him. It was only as I was stumbling back to bed that I heard the TV in the living room. Anne was up, and it seemed that there was no time like the present for me to formally introduce myself. So I grabbed one of Harry’s sweaters from a drawer and padded out of the room. Anne’s eyes spotted me quickly and a large grin broke out on her face.

“Good morning, love,” she called softly, standing and opening her arms to me. Well, I wasn’t expecting that one, but it was nice. I hugged her back and she left a quick kiss on my cheek before asking if I wanted some tea. I accepted, and we soon were in the kitchen and she was putting the kettle on the stove. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, it was good. How are you this morning?” I gave her the brightest smile I could muster, but inside I was ready to cry. I mean this was Harry’s mother and I needed to make a good impression, and she was just so nice.

“I’m fine, thank you. It’s nice having Harry in the house. I’m so glad he brought you, as well! I was serious last night when I said he never stops talking about you. He’s rather fond, you know.” She turned her back to me then, going to grab the kettle, and I was extremely thankful, as a rather deep blush had settled on my cheeks. “Oh, you’re so cute, Jude,” she cooed as she placed a mug in front of me at the island. Welp. She had caught me then. I smiled bashfully, ducking my head to fix my tea. “So tell me about you, then? Harry says you’re still in high school.”

“Uhm, yeah! I’m a senior at the same school that Harry went to-”

“Oh, how lovely! Where do you think you’ll be going for uni?” Ah, the dreaded question. My eyes were glued to my mug as I mulled over what I wanted to say. Good impressions, good impressions.

“Well, my parents really want me to go to med school, so…” Solid work, Judith.

“But what do you want to do, honey?” Her eyebrows had crinkled as she looked at me across the island, that motherly glint in her eye.

“I’m really into fashion. Something in fashion merchandizing would be fun.”

“Ooh, that does sound like it would be fun! Listen, sweetie. Every parent is different, but I personally think that you should do what makes you happy. That’s how I was with Harry and his sister. I mean, I was a little concerned when he said he didn’t want to go to uni at all, but he seems to be doing very well for himself and he’s happy. So what more can I really ask for, yeah?” I nodded thoughtfully as I took that all in. God, she was just so brilliant. Why couldn’t Anne be my mother? Well, I mean, if Harry and I ever… No. I was eighteen. I was not thinking about marrying Harry. Jesus Christ.

Anne changed the subject then, noticing my discomfort in college talk, and she began telling me stories of Harry when he was little. It seemed he had always been the flirt, chatting up older women even when he was five. The stories continued for about forty-five minutes and about halfway through was when Anne had pulled out the photo albums. We were both standing at that point, leaning against the counter as she pointed to different pictures and shared the stories that went along with them.

“Oh, this was when he was seven. Left him alone for just five minutes and I come back and he’s covered in my makeup, the little tosser. Took ages to get that-”

“What are you doing?” Anne and I exchanged mock terrified looks before we slowly spun to face Harry, who was standing in the doorway.

“Anne was just showing me some old photos of you. You were awfully cute, Harry.” A crease formed between his eyebrows as he let out a groan, crossing the room and slamming the book shut.

“Why would you do that?” he practically barked at Anne, his narrowed eyes turning to her. A look that normally would have had me slightly terrified didn’t seem to faze Anne at all as she rolled her eyes back at him.

“Oh, hush, Harry. We were just having a laugh.”

“Whatever. Can we have breakfast now?”

“Of course, love. Jude, could you go put these back in the other room while I start breakfast?”

“Yeah, no problem!” I chirped, collecting the albums and turning to leave. But Harry’s hands came down on the other end of the pile as he stopped me.

“I can do it.”

“It’s fine, go sit down.” I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before slipping past him and into the living room.

“I can’t believe you did this,” I heard him groan as I knelt down to place the books back on the shelf.

“Oh, would you stop? She was loving it.”

“Well I don’t want to scare her away!” he protested, and even I rolled my eyes a little at that. They were baby pictures, why would that scare me away?

“The only thing that’s going to scare her away is that temper of yours. How’s that going?” Anne huffed, her tone getting rather annoyed.

“I’m trying, Mum. I really am. And it- it’s easier when I’m with her. I guess because I know I don’t want to mess this up. I can’t mess this up,” Harry sighed, and I could just see him running his hands through his sloppy bed head.

“Then don’t. Because I like her.” I felt a little bad for eavesdropping, so I chose to make my entrance.

“So! What’s for breakfast?” I called as I entered the room, crossing to the island and taking a seat next to Harry.

“I hope pancakes are alright. Can’t mess those up.”

“Sounds great!” I chirped brightly in reply, feeling Harry’s hand coming to rest on my thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. My hand fell on top of his and I laced our fingers together as conversation picked up again.

--

“So where do you want to go today?” Harry asked me as we entered his bedroom to get changed. He said that we could go anywhere I wanted before the show and I only had one place in mind.

“Could we just stroll down Fifth Avenue and look at all the shops?”

“If you’d like, yeah. My cousin actually works at Tiffany, if you’d want to go there. He’s a higher up, so he could give us a tour and everything.” My jaw actually fell slack.

“Are you serious?” I gasped out as I turned to him. His lips quirked in a smile as he stared down at me before nodding gently.

“Yeah, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” Before I could stop myself, I leaned up and captured his lips with my own before skipping away to get ready. I could hear Harry let out a low chuckle before he followed suit, rummaging through the small bag he’d packed.

Soon I was pulling my sweater on and then we were out the door. I was so excited for this. Fifth Avenue and the surrounding blocks was always my favorite place to be when my family came to New York City. What could I say? Fashion was my calling. It seemed we stopped everywhere that day, hitting all the big stores, like Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and of course, Tiffany & Co. Harry’s cousin, Michael, was incredibly sweet, and he showed us all around the store, including a special space that was only available upon appointment. The place was designed to look like a gorgeous Fifth Avenue loft space, and it housed some of the most expensive pieces in the store. Michael had me trying on jewelry that was priced in the millions. If only I could drop that kind of cash on jewelry. On anything, really. But then Michael had to get to a meeting, and as Harry and I reached the first floor again, he turned to me, those big green eyes of his sparkling.

“So, see anything you liked?”

“Harry, don’t even start. You are not buying me anything.”

“But I am, so I hope you can find something,” he quipped with a smirk, causing me to hit lightly at his chest.

“Harry, seriously-”

“Pick something pretty,” he cut me off in a singsong voice before gently shoving me off to look at things. He followed right behind me though, his hand coming down to link with mine.

“Babe, you really don’t have to do this,” I tried to reason with him, sending him my best puppy dog eyes. I literally felt horrible every time he paid for something. This weekend was expensive on its own without any spur of the moment purchases.

“But I really want to. I know how much you love this store, and I saw how you were looking at those earrings on the gold floor. Shall we?” Before I could reply, he’d ushered us back into the elevator and soon we were arriving on the floor with all the gold jewelry. Once again I made my way to the case which held a gorgeous little pair of knotted earrings that I was kind of in love with. “So would you like these ones then?” Harry murmured into my hair, his hand squeezing mine just a little bit. I nodded wordlessly, still not even believing that he was willing to do this. He quickly called someone over to get them out of the case and then his credit card was being handed over and soon the small bag was being placed in my hands and I was placing my lips to Harry’s.

“Thank you so much,” I finally whispered, giving him another peck, which he happily returned.

“Anything for you,” came his near silent response.

I felt like it hadn’t been the first time I’d heard those words with Harry. And I wasn’t sure how much that terrified me. Because what were we? Would he do anything for me? And if so, how long were these words going to last? How long were we going to last?