Be Your Everything

“She said yes?” Liam gaped at Harry, who simply rolled his eyes.
“No need to sound so surprised.”
“That’s not what I meant, idiot. I just meant that she doesn’t seem like the type to date.”
“I don’t think she’s any kind of type, she’s just been through a lot.”
Liam nodded. “Fair enough. Be careful with her, yeah? She’s sweet.”
“Of course I will. I’ve gone to all this trouble already, haven’t I?”
“And I commend you on it,” Liam agreed swiftly with a smile. “I seriously can’t believe you’ve gone this far just to make her feel better.”
“It’s weird…” Harry frowned a little. “I’ve never felt the need to protect someone as much as I do her.”
Liam gave him a knowing look but didn’t reply and left Harry to his own thoughts.

Alice was walking aimlessly again. It seemed she was always in the streets by herself. It was mostly her doing, she knew that – she pushed people away; it’s the way she was. Afraid of getting hurt. She didn’t want friends… well, that’s what she told herself.
It was the day after she had last seen Harry, and the night of their date. She didn’t know if she was getting sick or if the nerves were finally getting to her. She was willing to bet on the latter.
Two hours.
She had to get home and start getting ready. Oh yeah, she needed every second of that time. She walked home as fast as she could, snuck through the front door (she didn’t want Rick pestering her), tiptoed into her room and closed the door quietly.
She opened her wardrobe doors and bit her lip, combing through each item of clothing until she found the perfect one. Taking the opportunity to pretty herself up a bit she picked out some makeup and decided to curl her hair.
As she looked at herself in the mirror an hour and a half later she thought she looked quite good - a little beautiful even. She touched the necklace around her neck absently, admiring the way it shone in the dim light. Her father had given it to her when she was younger. The front was engraved with one word. Hope. It had kept her going over the years. If she was feeling like she couldn’t go on anymore she would look at the golden necklace and smile – her father had made sure she would always have hope.
Half an hour.
She had to occupy herself or she would go insane. TV? No, Rick hogged that. Laptop? No, that had no Internet. A good book? Perfect. She picked one of her favourites, The Queen of New Beginnings, from the bookshelf above her bed. A romance probably wasn’t the best idea at the time but she adored the book.
The time went by very quickly once she started reading and before she knew it she was 5 minutes late. “Shit,” she cursed, slipping her shoes on and sneaking out the front door. Her mum would never expect her to sneak out; she’d never once done it in her whole life.
She had told Harry to meet her there– and hadn’t even had to lie about why. She was afraid of Rick losing his shit if he saw Harry. She liked this new ‘telling the truth’ thing.
She made it to the restaurant only a few minutes later than she would have liked and saw Harry sitting by himself near the back. She could only see a little of him and suspected that he was doing his best to hide from the public, even though nobody knew he was here. She was grateful for his caution.
Making her way over to the table for two she plastered a smile to her face. It was a little fake at first, but when he looked up at her it became real.
“You look beautiful,” he commented with a grin as he stood up. A real gentleman, he stayed on his feet until she had sat down.
“Thank you,” Alice could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and she ducked her head.
“Hey, look at me?”
She raised her eyes and looked at him through her lashes. “Yes?”
He smiled, his dimples showing, but didn’t actually say anything.
“What?” Alice pouted dramatically, crossing her arms.
He laughed loudly and shook his head. “You’re adorable, stop it!”
“Stop it? Would you rather me turn into a chav (definition)?”
“A chav?” he grimaced. “Absolutely not, no way, adorable is fine!”
Alice giggled picked the menu up. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant. “Thanks for not going all out.”
Harry shrugged. “Besides the fact that there actually aren’t any swanky restaurants around here, I know you’re not a fancy-loving girl.”
“’Fancy-loving girl’?” she gave him a confused look.
“Yeah, y’know, like… a girl who doesn’t or does like fancy things…”
Alice laughed. “I know what you meant, you shit.”
“Did you actually just call me a shit?”
“I don’t know if that’s a thing… that happened…”
“Oh, of course, we’re denying it now.”
Alice opened her mouth to speak, but upon realizing she had nothing to say, closed it again.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“I’m hungry,” she changed the subject and pointed to something on the menu. “This looks good.” She looked up to Harry smirking at her with raised eyebrows. “What?”
He blinked and, chuckling to himself, leaned forward and glanced at the thing Alice was pointing at. “Wedges?”
She opened her mouth to speak but, yet again, she could think of nothing. She had pointed at something, without looking, to change the subject and it had come back to bite her. “Oh.”
“Oh,” Harry mimicked her with a grin. “I’m afraid I won’t be getting wedges. I’m getting a burger.”
“How fancy!” Alice giggled. “Well I am getting the wedges!”
“Are you sure? Like, totally sure? You’re not just picking them so you don’t look silly?”
“Silly? Why would I look silly?”
“Well, because you didn’t mean to point at them in the first place.”
“Don’t be stupid, of course I meant to…”
Harry laughed and shook his head. “You’re ridiculous!”
“I know!” she threw her hands up in the air and sighed dramatically. “It’s like an illness, really. I can’t help being ridiculous all the time!”
“Alright, but really, I’m gonna go order for us. You’re sure you want wedges?” Harry interrupted her thoughts.
“Yes!” she told him with a smile. “I’m totally sure. But make sure you ask for sour cream too.”
He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, m’lady.”
And with that, she was left alone. Alice was surprised at how relaxed she was. She didn’t mind showing him her true self – the side of her that she hadn’t shown to anybody in almost 2 years - her happy side. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face!
It didn’t take Harry very long to order but while Alice was sitting on her own she had time to get nervous again. His presence seemed to calm her and the longer he was away from the table the more she worried about if he really liked her at all.
“Are you alright?” his husky voice made her look up. Just the sight of his curls made her smile.
“Yeah, I’m great,” she reassured him.
Great. She never used that word. It was usually fine. Fine was a universal word that everyone accepted, whether you meant it or not.
“You just looked a little spaced out.”
“I was!”
“Oh yeah, obviously,” he laughed and sat down opposite her again. “They said it’d take 10 minutes. I like these small places, they don’t take as long with your order.”
“Yeah, perks of being in a small town. I can’t say I enjoy it much though. There isn’t much to do, even when I did have friends.”
She didn’t mean to say it so blatantly but it had really just slipped out.
“Oh, come on, you have to have at least a few friends!”
She shrugged awkwardly. “No, I don’t.”
She felt his warm hand cover hers and looked up into his kind face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like a dick.”
“It’s fine. I was a bit weird about it…”
The rest of their dinner went as smoothly as it could have gone with endless laughter and good food (though it wasn’t as healthy as it could have been).
“I’ve asked you once and I’ll ask you again – how the hell do you stay so skinny? You eat like Niall’s dad and don’t even exercise!” Harry exclaimed loudly. They were walking around in the crisp night air, gathering their coats around themselves to keep the freezing wind from biting at their skin.
“I don’t know! I think I got it from my dad. He ate like a pig but always looked like a stick. And who’s Niall?”
“A stick? That’s pretty small. Niall’s my band-mate.”
“Ah, you know what I mean!” Alice bumped into his side playfully.
He bumped her back and she would have fallen over if he hadn’t reached out and grabbed her by her jacket, holding her off the ground. He pulled her upright again and brought her in close. “You look cold,” he commented, observing that her lips looked a little pale, his eyes glancing at every inch of her face he could.
Now, Alice had never been an up-front person, but sometimes (okay, quite often) things would just seem to run out of her mouth before she had time to think about it. This was such an occasion. “You could always help me warm up?”
Harry gave her a slightly shocked look, but then he smiled. He then started rubbing her arms hard, causing friction and warmth.
Alice had to laugh at the way he had handled the situation. “Thank you.”
He didn’t reply, only slowly leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. This kiss was different than the last – it had more feeling. She felt his arms snaking around her waist, pulling her closer. It didn’t matter that they were standing in the middle of the road, or that it had started to drizzle. All that mattered was the two of them, tangled together in a passionate embrace.