Ignite.

I woke up the next morning to two texts from Harold. One of which was him letting me know that he’d made it home safe and the second came about an hour later.

i’m guessing you fell asleep. sweet dreams, babe. i’ll see you tomorrow. xx

The second one left my stomach all aflutter as I got ready for school. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling this way about him though. Everyone was telling me to stay away, that he was bad news. And yes, I saw the scary side of him, but how could someone who treated me so properly be bad? It just didn’t add up.

Bri seemed off that morning in the car, but she just said she was tired. I supposed I could live with that, as I was rather tired myself. Thankfully my first set of classes went by quickly and I was able to get to lunch without wanting to rip my hair out. After getting my food, I threw myself into a chair next to Bri.

“You seem exhausted.” She meant for it to seem nonchalant, but there was a small bite in her tone.

“Uhm, yeah, I guess.”

“Do you feel better?” It took me a second to remember that I’d told her I didn’t feel well yesterday.

“Oh, yeah, definitely. Must’ve been something I ate. What did you do last night?” I was hoping that if I could take her mind off me, she’d mellow out.

“Alex took me out to dinner since you couldn’t hang. We went to this place in the city called Pod. Have you heard of it?” Her big blue eyes came up to meet mine and I just knew I looked guilty.

“Uhm, yeah, I think so. How was it?” God damnit. Of all the fucking restaurants in Philly, and they had to go to that one?

“It was pretty fun. Oh, you’ll never guess who we saw!”

“Heh, who?”

“Harry was there with some girl. Y’know, come to think of it...” Her eyes narrowed as I nervously took a sip of my Dr. Pepper. “She looked just like you. But I told Alex that there was no way you’d ever go on a date with Harry Styles.”

“Bri, please just let me explain,” I pleaded as my eyebrows knit together. She stared at me for a second before waving her hand and muttering a “yes, alright.” God, she reminded me of my mother sometimes. “Look, Harry showed up at my house on Monday night and he said if I let him take me to dinner and I hated it, he would never speak to me again. So obviously I had to go and-”

“So you’re done with him now? He’s going to leave you alone?”

“Well…” My gaze dropped to my hands, which were wringing themselves raw in my lap.

“No. No, no, no, no, no. Jude! How could you have enjoyed it?”

“Look, he’s actually a really nice guy! He was a total gentleman the entire night-”

“Yeah, because he wants to get in your pants. Don’t you get it?”

“It doesn’t feel like that, Bri. You don’t know him,” I muttered childishly as I glared at her.

“And neither do you! So what, you’ve hung out twice and now you get him? This is ridiculous, you’ve clearly lost your mind. You need to stop seeing him before you get hurt, Jude. Are you seeing him today?” Her arms had crossed over her chest as she slouched in her seat a bit.

“He said he was going to stop by after school-”

“Tell him not to.”

“Bri-”

“No! I am not going to have him ruin you like he’s ruined so many other girls. You’re better than this. So tell him not to bother.”

I nodded my head, but I didn’t plan on texting Harry. It wasn’t like I was trying to pick sides, I just wanted to give him a fair chance. Maybe he really was that misunderstood kid. I’d never know if I didn’t try. Now that that had been settled, Bri changed the subject to ask where I was spending winter break.

“I think here. My parents haven’t mentioned going away, so.”

“Well, I’m going to the Hamptons if you want to join?”

“When are you leaving?”

“The day after Midterms.”

“Mm, my parents wanted me around for Christmas, I know that. They’ve decided they’re actually going to try to be family oriented this year. Henry’s even coming home for more than a day.” I didn’t expect them to actually pull through, though. My parents had a way of bailing last second when it came to family. God forbid they back out of plans for work or with friends, but with family? No problem.

“Well, maybe you could come up after Christmas, you know? Spend New Year’s with us. Henry can come too, since Alex will be there.” Alex had also graduated with my brother and Harry, and Alex actually liked Henry. Last I checked, they still kept in touch.

“Yeah, I’ll definitely talk to him about it!” Bri nodded in approval before we finished out lunch in silence, which was only another five or so minutes. And then we were off for a few more hours of class. Kill me now, please.

--

“So apparently Jenny did hook up with Tyson over the weekend. I think she’s literally slept with the entire lacrosse team,” Bri scoffed as we headed toward the doors. I was finally ready to get out of here so I could go home and get changed. Although I did think I looked cute, school uniform was not my desired outfit for seeing Harry in.

“Oh my god, is Anna freaking out? This is the third time Tyson’s cheated on her.” Some girls we went to school with could just be so stupid. And slutty.

“No, I think she’s actually okay with it. Do you believe that? Apparently he said he was plastered and she gave him a free pass. I like Anna and everything, but she- Jude, what the fuck is this?” Bri snapped, causing my eyes to leap to hers in confusion.

“What’s what?” My head tilted slightly and my eyes narrowed as I stared up at her. But she raised her eyebrows and waved her hand toward the parking lot. I followed her line of vision and then- there he was. Smack dab in the middle of the parking lot, for everyone to see, Harry Styles was leaning up against his car, a large black peacoat covering his slender frame and pair of black Ray Bans perched on his nose. And he was staring right at me.

“I thought we talked about this.” Bri’s tone was clipped and my eyes quickly slid back to her.

“Bri, I had no idea he would do this. He never said-”

“Well you can’t go over there.” My lips twisted as I glanced back and forth between Bri and Harry, who had crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to watch me. He sort of nodded his head at me, beckoning me over.

“I- I don’t really think I have a choice. I can’t really- say no to him…” I trailed off, my eyes finding him again. He was standing up straighter now, no longer using his car to hold his weight and I could tell he was getting impatient.

“You can’t say no to him? This is how it starts! Jude-” I quickly silenced her as I brought my hands over hers, immediately causing her eyes to meet mine.

“I’m really sorry. You have to understand, Bri. Please don’t hate me.” Then I dropped her hands and started to the parking lot. I heard her yell a ‘Damnit, Jude!’ behind me, but I kept my eyes on Harry. A wide grin was forming on his face as he realized I was ignoring Bri. I could feel all the stares that were pointed in my direction as I got closer to him. People around here didn’t really appreciate people like Harry. As soon as I was in arm’s reach, his hands snagged my hips and pulled me into him.

“Good afternoon, Beautiful,” he purred just before his lips captured mine in a quick kiss. My cheeks were burning as he pulled away, only causing him to grin wickedly again.

“What are you doing here?” I asked quickly, daring a glance at the people around us. Typically, being the nosy people they were, nobody could help but stare and try to listen in on our conversation.

“Picking you up from school, of course.” Without missing a beat, he pulled me in once more for a kiss. I placed my hands on his chest in an attempt to stop him, but he just smirked and pulled my hands into his, lacing our fingers together.

“I thought you were working.”

“Got done early, thought I’d surprise you.” Now that he had my hands in his and I couldn’t pull away, he used them to pull me even closer and place another kiss on my lips. Damnit, he really had to stop that.

“Well, you definitely did,” I replied in an uneasy singsong voice as his eyes drifted over my shoulder.

“What’s up her ass?” He asked, referring to Bri, who was most definitely glaring at him.

“She’s just being concerned is all.” His intense stare returned to my eyes and I practically shuddered under his watch.

“I would never let anyone hurt you.” His eyebrows were furrowed, as if the idea was preposterous, but he technically already failed at that.

“I think she’s more worried about something happening with you…” His hands dropped from mine, but only so he could wrap his arms around my waist and pull me close, his face resting in the crook of my neck. My arms instinctively went around his neck, pulling him even closer.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Jude. I would never hurt you,” he murmured against my skin, his lips finding that spot where the mostly faded bruise sat. We were quiet then, just holding each other for a few minutes, but soon the winter weather got the best of me, and a large shiver wracked my body. Harry took this as his cue to pull away, his hands rubbing up and down my arms as he went. His hand found mine as he led me to the passenger side, helping me in as he always did.

“So what did you want to do?” I asked quietly as we left the parking lot, and I tried to ignore all of the incredulous stares that were being directed at us. I jumped slightly as Harry’s hand came to rest on my knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I was thinking we could go into the city. I want to show you where I work.” He spared me a quick glance, giving me a small smile.

“And where exactly is that?”

“It’s this record shop. Not many people know about it, but we still get good business.” I could tell he took quite a bit of pride in this record shop. My hand slid over his and I gave it a small squeeze, a smile of my own coming out.

--

“I really wish you would’ve let me go home and change first,” I muttered as I took Harry’s hand and leapt from the car.

“Are you kidding? You in a school uniform is quite possibly the greatest thing ever.” His hand left mine so he could leave a good slap on my ass, earning a loud yelp from me. I quick spun to face him as he bit his lip to keep from grinning.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” I hissed, my face getting unnecessarily close to his. I should’ve known better. His hands were quickly on either side of my face as he pulled me in for a brief but definitely hot kiss. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as he pulled away, his arm slipping easily around my waist. Stupid bastard.

We walked to the small record store, a bell chiming as Harry pushed the door open.

“Styles, what’re you doing here? You got off an hour ago!” A voice called from the counter, and I soon recognized its owner as Noah, the boy who had dragged Harry away at the party.

“Just wanted to give Jude the grand tour,” he replied easily as his arm slipped from my waist and he grabbed my hand. But my fingers quickly slipped from his as I took in all the vinyl in front of me. Without even thinking, I took off down the first aisle to see what they had. Their voices faded as I made my way to the back of the store. Noah had asked something along the lines of where I’d gone and Harry had given some nonchalant reply, saying that I was probably trying to find some back exit. “Hey,” Harry whined as he tracked me down, his arms slipping around my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder. A small smirk touched my lips as my hand mindlessly came up to pat his cheek.

“Hello, Harold,” I murmured as I flipped through a row of records. It seemed that this place had everything, old and new. He seemed to fancy the name, nuzzling his head into my own. Well this was certainly a different Harry.

“What’re you looking for?”

“Mm, not sure yet. Just browsing. I need something new.”

“Do you even own a record player?” he asked incredulously, and I could just see his face scrunching up.

“Yes, I own a record player. And quite a bit of vinyl, too, thank you.” Deciding I didn’t want anything in the current row, I slid to my right to look at more, causing Harry to quickly mirror my actions so he could keep his arms around me. A small giggle escaped my lips at his actions. I honestly wasn’t sure what had gotten into him. “You’re awfully affectionate today, aren’t you?”

“Mm, just happy you’re giving me a chance,” he murmured against the skin of my neck before placing a gentle kiss there. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few butterflies doing their thing in my stomach at that point.

“Well, I think everybody deserves a chance. Now c’mon, help me pick something out.” I slipped from his grasp, prompting a small groan to escape his mouth as he followed after me.

“Well what have you already got?” He asked as he started sifting through the rack opposite me.

“Eh, I dunno, a ton of shit.”

“I’m sure I’ve got more.” My eyebrows crinkled as I spun to face him, a scoff leaving my lips.

“Doubt it.” At my challenging tone, he turned around as well, his eyes locking with mine as a playful grin found his face.

“You wanna bet?”

“I’d love to.” His grin had turned into a full blown smirk as some sort of fire lit in his eyes.

“What do you want if you win?” he asked, his eyebrows high on his forehead as he spun to keep looking through the records.

“I haven’t decided. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

“Well, when I win, I want to kiss you.”

“Harry, you’ve already-”

“Properly.” For some reason, at that simple word, a fire lit in my belly and my cheeks flushed. I guess I could say I’d never properly made out with someone. I chose not to answer, not quite trusting my voice at that moment. So we fell silent as we flipped through records. We spent close to a half hour in there, Harry showing me this and that and telling me what I absolutely needed to hear. I picked up a few things and soon we were walking back to his car.

“Where to now?” I asked once we had both settled into the car.

“I’ve got an idea.” And so I dropped it, knowing I wouldn’t get an answer anyway. We drove for only about five minutes before pulling up to one of the nicest apartment buildings in the city. And that’s when the knots started settling in my stomach. He was bringing me back to his place. Was I prepared for this? I mean this was only the third time we’d really hung out.

But he slipped from the car and collected me from the passenger seat before leading me into the beautiful lobby and over to the elevator. He lived on the seventeenth floor, and I had a feeling the spaces got bigger as the numbers went higher. Then he led me down a wide hallway, doors dotting each side here and there. Jesus, the places must have been huge. Finally we stopped at 17D and he pulled his keys from his belt loop. With a flick of the wrist the door was open, and he hurriedly ushered me inside.

It was sort of exactly what I’d expected from Harry’s place. The furniture and styling was all very crisp and modern, but there were certain things that left the place feeling comfortable and homey and well, lived in. Things like the small ashtray on the coffee table full of guitar picks that he’d no doubt picked up at the myriad of shows he’d been to, or the stupid old fashioned clock on the wall that was shaped like a cat, or perhaps the tall bookshelf that was lined with books that I was dying to get my nose in, or maybe even the identical bookshelf that was filled to the brim with records. And suddenly I had a feeling I was losing this bet.

“That’s an awful lot of records,” I mumbled as I played with my hands nervously. He turned to me then, a small smirk on his lips as he reached for my hand.

“You have no idea.” So with my fingers laced with his, he led me farther into the apartment and down a hall to a large bedroom. “So this is it,” he drawled as my eyes danced over the room. It was pretty spacious, and styled the same as the living room, crisp and modern. A huge window sat on the far side of the room, giving quite a grand view of the city. An acoustic guitar and a large chair sat in one corner, and in another there was a large desk with many different sized papers scattered along with a MacBook. His bed was pushed up against a brick accent wall and tons of posters and banners and even a few pictures were tacked up about the room. A few articles of clothing littered the floor, though there was a laundry basket full of seemingly clean clothes sitting by the closet. And finally, pushed up against the wall right by the door to his en suite bathroom, was another large bookcase similar to the one in the other room, filled with records. And I had officially lost.

Without even thinking, I threw myself face first onto his bed, letting out a groan in defeat. Damnit all. And the worst part was that I wasn’t even sure if I was truly upset about losing.

“What’s wrong, babe? Bit off more than you can chew?” he teased from his doorway. I rolled over only to give him a scowl and I was met with a grinning Harry, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I officially hate you,” I muttered darkly, throwing my head back onto his pillow dramatically. He barked out a laugh before crossing the room and collapsing on the bed next to me. I rolled onto my side to face him and he mirrored my actions, his eyes piercing mine.

“Hello,” he all but whispered, his hand coming up to tuck some hair behind my ear.

“Hi.” My voice came out in a squeak and I was just about ready to jump out his window. A small smile touched his lips at my nerves as he moved his face closer to mine.

“A bet’s a bet. I’m afraid you’ll have to pay up.” A lump had settled in my throat, preventing me from answering him, though I’m not too sure what I would’ve said anyway. But all thoughts went out the window as Harry’s lips met mine, heated and fervent. I tried to recall the few times I’d actually kissed boys as I forced my lips to start working with his. His hand was holding my face then as he deepened the kiss, his thumb gently stroking my cheek. Okay, it seemed I was doing alright. But the second his tongue slid across my bottom lip, I was at a loss and praying that instinct would help me out. We kissed for what felt like ages before his hand left my face and slid down my side. Still in a haze, I didn’t register his hand sliding under my skirt at first. It wasn’t until his hand brushed the inside of my thigh that I was jolted back to reality and pulled away from him.

“Harry, no,” I pleaded, my hand pushing his away as I sat up and away from him. His eyes shut briefly as he tried to collect himself.

“Sorry, sorry. Force of habit, I guess. I mean, this is where the magic happens,” he sighed as he leaned back and placed his hands atop his toned stomach. The look on my face clearly tipped him off that I was disgusted and he let out another sigh, his face dropping. “That was a joke, Jude. I’ve never brought a girl in here before.” My eyes narrowed as my head quickly whipped back to him.

“Piss off,” I scoffed, moving to get up from the bed, but his hand was quickly on my wrist and pulling me back down to him.

“I’m serious! I’ve never brought a girl back here.” We rolled to face each other again and his fingers laced with mine as he stared hard at me.

“We both know that’s a lie. I’m sure plenty of girls have passed through this apartment.” His eyes left mine briefly as if he were ashamed, but he quickly caught himself and his eyes flickered back up.

“Sure, just not in this room.” A grimace took over my face as I thought of all the other surfaces he could’ve fucked girls on in that apartment.

“Well remind me to never sit on your couch.” A loud laugh escaped his lips at that and he shook his head lightly, a few curls bouncing to and fro.

“I’ve got more class than that, thanks. I do have a guest room, you know.” I searched for any sort of lie in his eyes, but I came up empty handed.

“So why haven’t you brought them in here?” I asked quietly, my fingers deciding to play with his. He shook his head again, a small shrug passing his shoulders.

“I didn’t want them in here.”

“But you want me in here?”

“You’re different.”

And that terrified me.

He placed a small kiss to my lips then, this one much less urgent than the one a few minutes ago.

“So did you decide what you would’ve wanted had you won?” My lips screwed up as I mulled it over again. I mean, it seemed pointless anyway, given that I’d already lost. My eyes scanned the room as I thought, and then I saw it. A dark gray and white Queen baseball tee sat atop the laundry basket, and I was smitten.

“I mean, I do quite like that Queen shirt,” I mumbled distractedly, my eyes still glued to it.

“Take it.” His hand gave mine a light squeeze, bringing my wide eyes back over to his.

“What? No, I couldn’t!”

“Sure you could. You don’t need to win a bet to wear my clothes, babe. I’m sure it would look better on you anyway.” I shook my head at that, a small blush settling onto my cheeks. “You blush a lot, don’t you?” And of course, that just caused the color to darken. Another small laugh left his lips before he quickly pressed them to mine again. God, I would never get used to him just kissing me whenever he felt like it. Soon his lips were on mine again. And again. And then we were back to making out. That is until my phone began loudly ringing from my bag. I quietly apologized as I slipped from his arms and snagged the noisy device, seeing that it was my mother.

“Hello?” I asked somewhat hesitantly. It normally was never good if she was actually calling me instead of Margot.

“Judith, darling, where are you?” My eyes shifted nervously to Harry, who had propped himself up on his elbow and placed his head into his large hand, his eyes never leaving me.

“I, uhm, ran into the city with Bri after school to grab a few things.” My teeth sunk into my bottom lip as I waited for her reply, praying that she would accept my answer.

“Oh, well your father has just informed me that we’ll be having dinner with the Andrews’ tonight. We have reservations for six thirty, so you should come home and get dressed. Lucas will be there, and I really think you two could be good together.” I watched as Harry’s eyes darkened with jealousy and I knew he had heard my mother. Great. Just what I needed.

“Mom, really, I don’t need to be set up.”

“Oh, nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with having a man on your arm. And Lucas is an absolute catch. Oh, he does rowing and baseball and he’s in the top ten of his class. I think your father said he was going to Harvard next year. He’s divine, Judith, you’ll love him!” Fuck. This was exactly the kind of conversation I didn’t need to be having in front of Harry. He refused to meet my eyes then and I knew he was trying to control himself.

“Yeah, okay, Mom,” I muttered distractedly, much too concerned with Harry at the moment. “I’ll be home in half an hour.” I ended the call and quickly placed myself next to Harry again, my hand reaching for his. But he snatched it away and leapt up from the bed, muttering something about getting me home. “Harry, please, it’s not-”

“It’s fine, let’s go.” He crossed the room quickly, scooping up the Queen shit and tossing it onto his shoulder before leaving the room. I let out a long sigh before pulling myself off the bed and following him back to the living room.

“Harry-” I tried again as he reached for the door.

“Jude, come on, you told her a half hour.”

“Stop!” I cried, my hand latching onto his. His shoulders hunched as he heaved a great sigh before spinning to face me.

“What?” His eyes were still dark and his tone was hard, and I felt myself becoming fearful again. I didn’t like this Harry.

“I just- don’t be mad at me, please.”

“I’m not mad at you. Now let’s go.” He pulled his hand from mine before ushering me out of the apartment and locking up behind us. He didn’t hold my hand on the way back to his car and he didn’t help me in, simply unlocking the doors and moving to his side. The Queen shirt was dropped into my lap before he started the ignition, and the car remained silent the entire drive back to my house. He knew not to pull into the driveway in case my parents saw, so he stopped at the end of it and quickly hopped out to open my door. There was no goodbye kiss, but he did force the baseball tee into my hands that I had left on the front seat. “I told you to take it.” I nodded silently as I slipped it into the bag with my records. Realizing that this wasn’t going to go anywhere else, I slipped past him. But his hand was on my wrist as he spun me to face him again. And then we just sort of stared at each other for far too many moments before he let out a quiet sigh. “Call me when you get home tonight.”

And then it what felt like a flash, he was gone.