~Cassidy~

“Finally,” I sighed, tying my hair in a high ponytail and shrugging on my outfit. I picked out a gray shirt with a white cardigan and knee-high jean shorts. A small black bag was slung over my torso—my purse, just in case I needed anything important.

I sauntered over to the photo frame that was on full display—sitting on my nightstand—and picked it up, sighing, “Matt’s coming back today,” I told the anonymous parents, and I pressed a kiss to each scratched out face before giggling excitedly, whipping around and slipping out of my room.

I skipped down the steps two-by-two, running over to the front entrance and pulling out my black Converse, hurriedly slipping them on and tying the laces messily.

I was just about to open the door when the doorbell rang, and I shrugged, grateful that for once, I was actually going to be leaving the house, so I didn’t have to get up from a comfortable position to go answer it.

“Fuck,” I said when I swung it open, only to reveal Harry. He wore black skinny jeans—as per fucking usual—a white muscle tank that proudly showed off his tattoos, and a pair of black ankle boots. His hair bore no bandanna, yet it was pushed up away from his face, swept into a messy quiff. He looked good.

No he doesn’t.

Yes, yes he does.

“Hey,” he said breathlessly, like he’d sprinted here, yet he lived right next door. I crossed my arms over my chest, fiddling with the black strap of my purse, “Hi.”

“I was going to pick up Matt,” he told me, his eyes boring into mine, “And I was wondering if you wanted a ride.”

I bit my lip, unsure of what to do. I hadn’t seen him since our little encounter two days ago, making sure to avoid him at all costs. So far, I’d been successful, but it was a whole new challenge when he actually shows up on my doorstep and offers me a ride.

“Sure,” I said, looking at him skeptically, trying to figure out if he was bullshitting me or not.

He simply smiled a small smile and I stepped outside, turning around to lock my door. I tried to prolong the simple action, but eventually I had to face him again.

“You look nice,” he told me, his gaze raking down my body. I narrowed my eyes at him,

“Let’s just go, please,” I said, and I pushed past him, purposely shoving at his shoulder, and walked down my steps, crossing the lawn at a brisk pace to stand in front of his car. I reached for the handle on the passenger door and opened it, sliding in swiftly and crossing my arms, staring out the window.

A few moments later, the driver’s door opened and he got in as well. He sighed, and when I felt the car being still, I turned to him, “Are you going to drive or not?” I snapped, already regretting my decision. It was resulting in mixed feelings on my part, not knowing whether to be nice to him or treat him as I usually did.

“Right,” he smirked at me and stuck the key into the ignition. I turned back around, exhaling sharply as the Range Rover rumbled to life.

Harry pulled out of his driveway and started cruising down the street. He pulled onto a busier street, filled with traffic lights and many more cars, and I simply rolled my eyes, hoping that the situation wasn’t as awkward as I felt.

“So…” he trailed off, tapping his fingers on the black steering wheel, making pattering sounds, “You excited to see Matt?”

“Yup,” I popped the ‘p’ in a bored way, still not looking at him. Things were weird; I knew that he could feel it too. I couldn’t wait to spend time with Matt, actually. It would be a nice change, since lately all I’d been seeing was Harry.

Frankly, I was tired of him.

Am I really?

Yes.

Right. Of course I’m tired of him. He’d been all I’d been seeing for the past two weeks, and it really annoyed me. Fuck, I needed some friends, ones that weren’t on the other side of the country.

“Same,” Harry exhaled slowly, the conversation running dry. From the corner of my eye, I watched as his right hand came up to turn a dial on the console of the vehicle, and music immediately began to play, so I could only guess that he’d upped the volume of the radio.

Love me do by the Beatles was playing, and Harry tapped his fingers on the steering wheel again, but this time it was in tune to the song. He opened his mouth and began singing lowly. I think he momentarily forgot that I was in the car, so caught up in the song, but I wasn’t complaining—he was a good singer, and I liked listening.

No you don’t.

I do, actually.

I was cut away from my thoughts as Harry began chanting the words softly, “Love, love me do. You know I love you.”

His voice seemed to sound even better than it had the last time. I caught small lines from the verses and choruses here and there. Finally, he remembered I was in the car.

“Sorry,” he apologized, smiling sheepishly at him.

I shook my head, “By all means, continue. You’re good.”

His eyes got a bit wider, and I’m not afraid to admit that mine did too. I had complimented him? I had complimented him. What the hell was going on with me? I had gone soft; I wanted back the old Cassidy, the fiery, stubborn one that didn’t care about what people thought about her, that didn’t squirm away from awkward conversations.

“Thanks,” he muttered, turning back to the road and gripping the wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. For the rest of the ride, we drove in silence, and I couldn’t help but to wish that I wasn’t so different all of a sudden.

It had been slow, but it was there. I was morphing into someone completely different. I had gone soft, and I hated it. This month alone I’d already cried more times than in the past ten years. I was telling Matt that I fucking loved him much more often than usual, and I was complimenting Harry now?

I wanted my old fire back; I wanted to go back to the girl who could fight for a cause without backing down so quickly, I wanted to be my old stubborn, hot-tempered self. I didn’t like change, and this was falling right under that category, making me on edge. I didn’t know what to expect, what was going to happen, and that scared me.

Simply being in this car alone with Harry scared me.

And as I briefly wondered why it scared me, I was scared of the fact that it scared me. It was a vicious, never-ending cycle, and I could never figure out a loophole to jump out of this situation, which—yes, you guessed it—scared me.

We pulled into the half-hour airport parking space, and Harry slid out, closing his door. Not wanting to but doing so anyways, I followed him, and he locked the Range Rover mindlessly, pressing the button of the keys over his shoulder.

He strutted into the airport with confidence, me following behind him, not wanting to get too close.

As we passed, I could see females gawking at him shamelessly and I snorted unattractively, amazed at how stupid they were.

He stopped walking, looking over his shoulder at me, evidently hearing my little sound of amusement, “What?” he asked, his accent ringing out, and I swear, I thought the girls would have fainted right there and then.

“Nothing,” I smirked, looking down at the ground, and he just smiled lightly, reaching his arm out and winding it around my waist, tugging me to him. I looked up at him with wide eyes, my jaw hanging, before he just leaned down, whispering in my ear, “They’re staring. Just play along.”

Huh. So he didn’t like all of the attention? Well, that was a first.

I wanted to shrug him off, but my brain wouldn’t allow my body to function properly. Instead, as we commenced walking again, I let my eyes flick back around the airport, noticing how girls were giving me odd looks, and I couldn’t help but to feel slightly smug.

His fingers were splayed out against my left hip, causing my skin to burn as they skimmed over a small, exposed piece of flesh above the waistband of my jean shorts. Thank God, his digits moved away from there, and I sucked in a sharp breath, hoping that he would let go soon. This was making me feel weird and uncomfortable.

We turned the corner, standing in front of a pair of escalators; one going up, the other going down.I cleared my throat awkwardly, predicting that he’d remove his arm from my waist, but he did no such thing.

“We need to talk,” he mumbled to me, and I looked up at him, our faces in such a close proximity that I could feel small airy breaths being puffed out through his lips, smelling of spearmint.

I looked away quickly.

“For the last time,” I sounded out clearly but quietly, “I don’t want to talk about anything. Can we just pretend it never happened?”

“No,” he scoffed, and shook his head, frowning.

I looked back up at him, my eyes blazing, “Well, you wouldn’t explain anything to me, so excuse me if I don’t want to talk to you.”

He sighed, using his right hand to rake his hair back. “Cassidy, don’t be difficult. You practically threw me out. I need to talk to you in private; I’ll explain everything then.”

I gritted my teeth, looking down at the ground, my fingers coming up to fiddle with the side-slung strap of my purse, shuffling my feet nervously, “Whatever.”

“Thank you,” he exhaled a relieved sound, and I looked back up at him, my mouth open to say something, when there was a booming noise from behind me, “Kane!”

Finally.

I spun around quicker than I would’ve thought possible, only to find Matt rushing towards us, his suitcase trailing mindlessly after him. I shrieked in delight, throwing Harry’s arm off of me and rushing to him, jumping onto him and hugging him tightly.

Surprised, he let go of his baggage, laughing and lifted me up briefly before setting me back down. I was giggling along with him.

“I missed you so, so much,” I whispered, pulling him in for another embrace and burying my face into his shoulder.

He chuckled, “I was only gone for two weeks, Cass.”

“And I was dying without you!” I exclaimed, pulling back and laughing. He snorted at my exaggeration and I grinned widely, shooting a glance over my shoulder to find Harry walking towards us, a sheepish smile curving his full lips.

“Mate,” he said, and I stepped aside, crossing my arms and sighing, reluctantly letting them hug and pat each other on the back.

“Good to see you again, Haz,” Matt winked at him, “So…” he sucked in a breath, “How have the lessons been going?”

“Fine,” I replied immediately while Harry just stared down at the ground. Matt looked at me and quirked an eyebrow, but I just rolled my eyes tiredly, shrugging, telling him with my body that it was nothing special, no big deal. He looked worried for a moment before just brushing it off, evidently figuring that now wasn’t the best time to pry.

“Let’s go,” I gushed, grabbing his forearm and tugging him along, so excited to have him back, “We’re going to go to my place and stuff our faces with fatty snacks, alright?”

Matt laughed, finding a grip on his suitcase and pulling it along. Harry clasped his hands behind his back and followed, looking slightly amused at how excited I was to have my best friend back. Well yeah, I’ve been stuck with only him for two weeks. I think I deserve to feel a little bit of excitement.

“Come on, come on,” I said quickly, hardly managing to contain my grin.

Notes

I took forever to update, I'm sorry! The first week of school was H-E-C-T-I-C!!! Ugh, I'm so not glad to be back -.-

Anywho, VOTE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, and all that shit! I love you guys so much! Could we get this story to 50 votes? It would be so amazing if we could!

Thank you for all the comments! They honestly just made my heart melt! Shout-out to @bellajayne for being plain awesome! I love each and every one of you!

Random fact: "Canada" is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".

~Love you~