Us Against the World.

“I’m worried about Quinn,” I said as Harry and I were waiting for our order. We were currently in a nice little restaurant at the outskirt of town, having our lunch. We purposely sat at a table at the far corner of the room, quite hidden from wandering eyes as to avoid people noticing him.

Ever since Halloween, we somehow had grown closer. Of course they had to leave to complete their touring after the brief break but Harry made sure to call me at least once a day. It was quite a nice feeling if I were to be honest. And after they’re back a couple of days later, they’re busy at the studio for their upcoming new album. But we still talked occasionally and sometimes we’d meet up like this, going out for lunch or breakfast before I went to work. Quinn didn’t know about this, of course. I didn’t even know what to tell her. As for the kiss that night; neither of us ever said anything about it and I planned on keeping it that way. The kiss was nice to say the least. Oh, what the hell was I saying? It was beyond nice. It was amazing. It was brief but probably the best kiss I’d ever had.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning. I let out a sigh, remembering the way Quinn was acting last night. I shrugged, letting my eyes wander around the mostly empty restaurant. That’s the other reason why I chose this place. There’s usually not many people coming in at weekends. It’s probably because the place was surrounded by offices and it’s always packing a full house on weekdays during lunch break. I watched without interest as a teenage boy came in and almost fell tripping on his own feet.

“I don’t know. At first, she was excited to go out and meet Louis and talk about the offer to make an album and…”

“She’s got an offer to make album? That’s amazing, Mel!” Harry cut me off, looking excited. I rolled my eyes and leaned across the table to flick his forehead. He winced and shot me a questioning look. “Why did you do that for?”

“Let me finish, will you? And besides, didn’t Louis tell you about it? I was pretty sure she was going to tell him yesterday.”

“Louis wouldn’t talk at all. He’s just quiet all night last night.” And only then he had a worried look on his face.

“Louis being quiet is not a good sign,” I mused and the boy in front of me nodded earnestly. I rolled my eyes at him and fought of the smile that was threatening to break free on my face. “You only realize now?”

“Well, I was too busy thinking about you,” he responded with a cheeky grin before winking. I cleared my throat and tried so hard not to let him see me blushing at his words. He was so corny that it was so endearing. We stopped talking as the waiter came bearing our food. I ordered a serving of fish and chips while Harry had salmon with royal salad. We ate in silence for a moment before he broke it. “Do you reckon something happened between them?” he asked after swallowing his food. I made a thinking face for a while.

“Probably,” I replied quietly, taking a bite of my fish and thought some more.

“Excuse me.” I was startled as we turned to the side to face a girl who was smiling widely as she was staring right at Harry. She looked like she was going to faint at the sheer sight of the curly haired pop star in front of her. So he really did have this effect on his fans, I thought. “Oh, my God! It’s Harry Styles!” she exclaimed excitedly, her voice going high-pitched, making a few other patrons to shoot disapproving look in our direction.

“Hi, how are you?” Harry replied, smiling his usual charming smile. The girl quickly slid into the empty chair next to him and thrust a camera towards my direction. “Take our pictures,” she said without as much as looking at me. The nerves of today’s youth, I thought, shaking my head, a frown forming on my face. Harry spared a glance at me and smiled in amusement. I just bit my lower lip and pointedly ignored him.

“Ready?” I asked, not bothering to hide the bitterness in my voice. The girl leaned closer towards him as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders. “One, two, three,” I counted before snapping but right as I was about to press the shutter, the girl turned her face and pressed her lips on his cheek. The flash went on and I just stared as Harry smiled at her, shaking her hand, giving her a hug and she took her camera from my hand. They talked a bit after that. Him asking her how she’s doing and her telling him how much she loved him and the band. After a few minutes, she left, a big smile plastered on her face.

“Sweet girl, isn’t she?” Harry commented, looking at me. I just shrugged, not looking at him and poked the vegetable on my plate with more force than necessary. “You okay? You look upset.” Again, I just shrugged. I didn’t know why I was feeling annoyed. And my annoyance wasn’t directed to the girl. It was mostly directed toward a certain curly haired boy with a stupid cheeky smile. “Hey.” He reached across the table and took my hand into his which I quickly pulled away, earning a frown from him. “Mel? What’s the matter?”

“Why don’t you go hold that sweet girl’s hand, then?” I muttered, not really meaning to let the words out, my tone sharp. He blinked a few times and let my words to sink into his mind. As he finally understood, he let out a full belly laugh, so loud that it echoed throughout the restaurant. Once again, a few patrons were giving us irritated look. I felt my face grew hot as I was blushing rapidly.

“You’re jealous of that girl,” he stated as a matter of fact. I just pressed my lips tight, not denying nor conforming it. He laughed again, his voice lower this time as I turned my face away, not wanting to look at him with his stupid smile and the stupid way his eyes crinkled at the corner and those stupidly adorable dimples.

“I have no reason to be jealous,” I replied indignantly. He got up from his seat and sidled into the seat next to mine, leaning so close as if he didn’t care about personal boundary. Well, I knew he didn’t really have a sense of boundary.

“Hey,” he started, cupping my chin and forced me to face him. I tried so hard not to look at him but it was almost impossible not to stare into those beautiful green eyes. I wasn’t sure whether my heart had stopped beating or it was beating too fast that it lost its rhythm. “She’s just a fan,” he said, his face so close to mine and I just kind of stared at his lips.

“You said she’s sweet,” I replied, mostly just to say something. But then I realized that it’s probably better if I just stayed quiet. I had the tendency to put a foot in my mouth when I was nervous. But why was I nervous anyway? Harry chuckled, his voice low and he brought his face closer.

“But you’re sweeter,” he responded simply and just like that he pressed his lips softly against mine. This time, I didn’t bother to care about our surrounding and the fact that there were a bunch of teenagers suddenly flooding into the restaurant and they were staring at us right now. Through the corner of my eyes, I could barely see a couple of teenagers pulling out their phones and there were clicking sounds. Ignoring all of that, I tilted my head to the side and returned the kiss.