The Deal
Chapter Twenty Two.
*Olivia Harper*
Harry left a few hours later, and I almost begged him to stay. It was hard for me to believe how much better he’d made me feel within the course of a few hours. The weight on my heart was still there, but it was considerably lighter. He promised he’d call later in the night, or I could call whenever I wanted to. Before leaving, he’d stroked my cheek softly and planted a kiss on my lips, and the gesture struck me as odd. We were never this loving or gentle with each other. But I wasn’t complaining. It was comforting, and I liked it. I liked Harry being gentle, because I hadn’t seen that side of him too often. But every time I did, I liked it.
I got texts from the boys asking me how I was feeling, and I figured Harry had told them. I smiled, quite touched by their concern, and assure them I was okay.
As anticipated, Linda and Dad hadn’t returned by dinner time. I ended up heating some left over pizza, too lazy to really cook anything—not that I could cook at all. I took my food up to my room and switched on the TV.
Halfway through my first slice, my phone rang. I checked who it was, and smile when I saw the name flashing on my screen. I picked up.
“Hello?”
“What,” Harry asked, “do you think about dinner with me tomorrow?”
“Er, let’s see,” I said carefully. “Do I have a choice?”
“No,” he joked.
I laughed. “I thought so,” I said. “Alright, sounds good to me.”
“Great,” he said happily. “I’ll pick you up at around seven, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Fine, see you then,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, and then added, “Oh and Harry?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
He chuckled. “You already said that about a hundred times today,” he ribbed.
“Uh, just two,” I argued.
He laughed. “It’s fine,” he told me. “I’ll always be there for you, okay?”
“Okay.” I said. “Bye, Harry. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, love.” He said, and hung up.
---
*Harry Styles*
“I knew it!” Louis cried, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I could picture his smug smile so easily in my head, and it was annoying. “I knew you were in love with her.”
“Love is a strong word,” I sighed into the phone.
“Oh, so you’re not in love with her?” he asked, and we both knew the answer to his question.
“I didn’t say that,” I mumbled, blushing.
He laughed. “That’s what I thought.” He said. “So…what now?”
“I don’t know, Louis.” I sighed. “I can’t tell her—”
“Why not?” he questioned.
“What do you mean ‘why not?’?” I asked. “Louis…we made a deal, remember?”
“Harry…” Louis groaned, and I pictured him rolling his eyes. “You’re so stupid. None of that matters anymore, okay? Your ‘deal’ or whatever…all of that’s out of the window. You should tell her.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. “I can’t…I can’t tell her.”
“Yes, you can.” He said firmly. “And you will. Harry, you can’t go on with this forever, okay? Tell me something. Can you have sex with her every day and act like it doesn’t mean anything anymore? I know you can’t, Harry. Sooner or later, it’ll get too much for you, and you’ll have to tell her. So do it now.”
“It isn’t that simple.” I countered. “I know how she is—you know how she is. She runs away from these sort of things, Lou. It’ll ruin everything.”
“Harry, you don’t know the future, okay?” he said. “You don’t know for sure what will happen, but I really think you should take a chance. Ask her out for dinner.”
“Really, Louis?” I rolled my eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “Take her out, make her feel good. She needs that anyway. And then…well, you can see you things turn out from there.”
“Louis, I don’t—”
“God fucking dammit, curly,” Louis said. “Don’t be a pussy.”
---
* Olivia Harper*
Harry arrived right on time to pick me up. He honked to let me know he was waiting, and I quickly took one last look at myself in the mirror, making sure I looked presentable. Then I headed out.
He stood waiting by the car, leaning against it with his arms crossed. He looked as good as usual, dressed in a blue shirt with a light jacket on top, and jeans. His hair was as messy yet perfect as usual, curls blowing lightly in the wind. He smiled his classic crooked smile as he saw me approaching him.
“Well, you look beautiful,” he commented, holding the car door open for me.
The word struck me as odd, but made me blush nonetheless. “Thanks.” I told him. “Er, you look beautiful too.”
He laughed, shutting the door and then walked around the car to get in himself.
“You seem to be in a good mood.” I noticed.
He shrugged. “Nice weather.” He said simply.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Creep.”
“You’re a creep.” He shot back playfully.
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “Wanna ask my four nipples that? Oh wait.”
He laughed and stuck his tongue out at me. “Oh, fuck you.” He said.
I giggled. “Where are we going?” I asked him.
“You’ll see.” He said.
“Or you could just tell me…”
“No way.” He said. “Don’t worry, you’ll like where we’re going.”
“As long as it’s not a bird sanctuary…”
“Why would I take you to a bird sanctuary for dinner?” he asked me incredulously. “And even if I did, what’s
wrong with that?”
“You’re kidding right?” I asked. “Birds are weird, Harry.”
He laughed. “What?”
“Yeah, don’t you think so?” I asked him.
“I actually quite like birds,” he said.
I grimaced. “I hate them.”
“You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met.” He told me.
“Nipples,” I said simply, and he laughed.
I hadn’t even realized that Harry was taking me to the same amusement park we’d gone to a couple of months ago, because I was so busy talking to him. He was smart, keeping me busy in conversation so I wouldn’t notice where he was taking me.
I stared at him when I did realize where we were going. He grinned at my expression, followed by a chuckle.
“Told you you’d like it,” he said.
“What are we doing here?” I asked him, looking out of the window. It was even prettier during the night. I longed to hop out of the car and sprint to the rides, but I turned to Harry instead. “Harry?”
He smiled. “Just wait,” he said.
He parked the car and we got off. I was greeted by a gust of cold wind as I stepped out of the warm vehicle, and I shivered. I wrapped my arms around myself, mentally cursing myself for not bringing a jacket.
“Come on,” he said, taking my hand. I didn’t protest, but was again surprised by this gesture. Harry was being extra loving today, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was being more careful after yesterday, knowing what a mess I had been.
Harry led me to the giant wheel. He smiled at the lady at the ticket counter, who greeted him happily. He’d obviously spoken to her already. She left her counter to escort us to the wheel. There was no line today, and I realized the wheel was shut. Nonetheless, we walked. We got into one of the larger cells of the wheel, and that’s when I saw it.
I didn’t even bother stifling my gasp. The cell was illuminated by tiny but bright lights. A small table was situated in
the centre with food on top, along with two bottles of coke in an ice box. A single rose sat in a tiny white vase. There were two chairs on either side of the table. The setting was beautiful, and also slightly…romantic.
“I couldn’t get champagne because…well, we’re underage.” He chuckled. “Besides, I thought we’ll do this one sober. What do you think?”
“Harry…” I whispered, as the lady shut the door, leaving the two of us alone.
“You like it?” he asked.
“What—I—yeah,” I managed. “Shit, this is…I don’t even know what to say.”
“Just say you like it,” he said. “No seriously, it took a while for me to set the whole thing up. But it was also surprisingly quick. I had to be unusually charismatic, but I think it worked.
I giggled, shaking my head. “That’s a big word,” I joked.
“I’ve been studying.” He laughed. “Well, are you going to sit or what?”
I walked to the table, and Harry pulled the chair for me. I sat down, with Harry taking his place opposite me.
“This is really nice,” I told him. “God, how did you manage?”
“I made a few calls,” he said. “Took my mum’s help, and Lou’s. I’ll have you know, I tried really hard to get champagne, but they just won’t let up. I thought of sneaking some vodka, but then I thought it would slightly ruin the mood…”
“Yeah, especially if I hooked up with the ticket lady and puked all over your clothes.” I said.
He laughed. “Exactly.” He said. “Coke is safe.”
“Hmm.” I nodded. “Thank you, Harry. This is…this is really beautiful.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you like this.” He said.
“No one’s ever really done anything like this for me,” I told him.
Harry reached for a bottle and poured the contents into two champagne glasses. “I’ve never done anything like this for anyone either.” He told me. “Well, except mum.”
“Did you arrange for a romantic meal for two for your mum?” I asked. “That’s really weird, Harry.”
He narrowed his eyes. “No, you idiot.” He said. “I meant that I always did nice things for mum. Like, when she’d come back from work, tired and everything, I’d arrange a hot water bath for her and maybe cook dinner sometimes. You know, like that.”
“That’s really nice.” I said.
He smiled sincerely. “I still do it sometimes.” He said. “Gemma thinks it’s some sort of way for me to be mum’s favourite kid. But it’s not.”
“Because you’re already her favourite kid?”
“Bingo.” He winked and I laughed.
As we served ourselves food, I said, “You know what Dylan’s idea of ‘romantic’ was?”
“What?” he asked me.
“He’d ask me to order pizza,” I said, “and get beer from a store near his house. Then have sex.”
Harry laughed. “Sounds quite romantic to me.” He joked. “I’m surprised you don’t have a beer belly.”
“I work out.” I said, and then flexed me virtually non-existent muscles, holding my arm up. “See?”
He reached forward to wrap his hand around my upper arm, and nodded, pretending to be impressed. “Not bad, Harper.” He said.
“I can take on five guys single-handedly, don’t you think?” I asked him.
He laughed loudly. “Sure, you can,” he said.
“Your sarcasm is not appreciated, okay?” I shot at him. “Ass.”
He laughed again. “Yeah, yeah.” He said. “Oh, hey. Look down.”
I was so busy talking to him that I hadn’t even realized that we were right on top now, the view of the city below us
visible clearly. I could see far and wide, the tiny houses lit up, the streets busy. The park below us was lively as everyone walked about, talking, laughing and having fun, just like Harry and I were. Everything seemed noisy and loud, but no noise reached us from that height.
I got up and walked over to the large window, and looked down. “It’s so pretty.” I said softly.
I hadn’t realized that he too had stood up, and jumped slightly when I felt his front press against my back.
“Hmm, it is,” he murmured, his lips right next to my ear. His hands were on my waist, and the force of his front against my back was making me press to the glass window.
“I like this dress,” he mumbled, his fingers running over the soft material of the cloth on my stomach. He bent down and gently bit my ear lobe. “It suits you.”
“Th-thanks.” I stammered, my eyes falling shut.
I leaned back against him, my head falling onto his shoulder. Harry pushed back my hair and kissed my shoulder, his lips moving up to my neck. He continued to pepper kisses all over my skin as his fingers pulled down the collar of my dress just a bit to brush over the bruise he’d formed on my skin yesterday. He let his tongue flick across the shell of my ear, kissed a spot behind my ear and I sighed his name. His hands reached down to cup my breasts through my dress and squeeze them. Then they moved further down my dress to the hem, just above my knees. His hand slipped inside and reached my underwear, cupping me through it. I shivered, and turned my head to the side and looked up at him, and he kissed me. His tongue slipped inside and the intensity of the kiss increased suddenly.
He pulled away and spun me around, and my back collided with the glass window. He leaned down and kissed me again, and my hands fisted his hair as I pulled him closer to me.
“There’s something I want to tell you,” he breathed, pulling away briefly. I wanted to kiss him again so badly, as I looked at his swollen lips, messy hair and flushed cheeks. He rested his forehead against mine.
“What is it?” I asked him, my eyes on his lips.
“Olivia…” he seemed to hesitate, and then kissed me again. I kissed him back with enthusiasm, my hand slipping inside his shirt. I felt the wild beat if his hear under my palms, running my hands down his flat, hard chest and stomach. But he pulled away again, and I whimpered.
“I have to say something,” he told me, but I knew his urge to kiss me was as urgent as mine.
“What?” I asked him, inching towards his lips again. “What do you have to say?”
“I…I’m in love with you.” He said.
Harry left a few hours later, and I almost begged him to stay. It was hard for me to believe how much better he’d made me feel within the course of a few hours. The weight on my heart was still there, but it was considerably lighter. He promised he’d call later in the night, or I could call whenever I wanted to. Before leaving, he’d stroked my cheek softly and planted a kiss on my lips, and the gesture struck me as odd. We were never this loving or gentle with each other. But I wasn’t complaining. It was comforting, and I liked it. I liked Harry being gentle, because I hadn’t seen that side of him too often. But every time I did, I liked it.
I got texts from the boys asking me how I was feeling, and I figured Harry had told them. I smiled, quite touched by their concern, and assure them I was okay.
As anticipated, Linda and Dad hadn’t returned by dinner time. I ended up heating some left over pizza, too lazy to really cook anything—not that I could cook at all. I took my food up to my room and switched on the TV.
Halfway through my first slice, my phone rang. I checked who it was, and smile when I saw the name flashing on my screen. I picked up.
“Hello?”
“What,” Harry asked, “do you think about dinner with me tomorrow?”
“Er, let’s see,” I said carefully. “Do I have a choice?”
“No,” he joked.
I laughed. “I thought so,” I said. “Alright, sounds good to me.”
“Great,” he said happily. “I’ll pick you up at around seven, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Fine, see you then,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, and then added, “Oh and Harry?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
He chuckled. “You already said that about a hundred times today,” he ribbed.
“Uh, just two,” I argued.
He laughed. “It’s fine,” he told me. “I’ll always be there for you, okay?”
“Okay.” I said. “Bye, Harry. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, love.” He said, and hung up.
---
*Harry Styles*
“I knew it!” Louis cried, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I could picture his smug smile so easily in my head, and it was annoying. “I knew you were in love with her.”
“Love is a strong word,” I sighed into the phone.
“Oh, so you’re not in love with her?” he asked, and we both knew the answer to his question.
“I didn’t say that,” I mumbled, blushing.
He laughed. “That’s what I thought.” He said. “So…what now?”
“I don’t know, Louis.” I sighed. “I can’t tell her—”
“Why not?” he questioned.
“What do you mean ‘why not?’?” I asked. “Louis…we made a deal, remember?”
“Harry…” Louis groaned, and I pictured him rolling his eyes. “You’re so stupid. None of that matters anymore, okay? Your ‘deal’ or whatever…all of that’s out of the window. You should tell her.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. “I can’t…I can’t tell her.”
“Yes, you can.” He said firmly. “And you will. Harry, you can’t go on with this forever, okay? Tell me something. Can you have sex with her every day and act like it doesn’t mean anything anymore? I know you can’t, Harry. Sooner or later, it’ll get too much for you, and you’ll have to tell her. So do it now.”
“It isn’t that simple.” I countered. “I know how she is—you know how she is. She runs away from these sort of things, Lou. It’ll ruin everything.”
“Harry, you don’t know the future, okay?” he said. “You don’t know for sure what will happen, but I really think you should take a chance. Ask her out for dinner.”
“Really, Louis?” I rolled my eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “Take her out, make her feel good. She needs that anyway. And then…well, you can see you things turn out from there.”
“Louis, I don’t—”
“God fucking dammit, curly,” Louis said. “Don’t be a pussy.”
---
* Olivia Harper*
Harry arrived right on time to pick me up. He honked to let me know he was waiting, and I quickly took one last look at myself in the mirror, making sure I looked presentable. Then I headed out.
He stood waiting by the car, leaning against it with his arms crossed. He looked as good as usual, dressed in a blue shirt with a light jacket on top, and jeans. His hair was as messy yet perfect as usual, curls blowing lightly in the wind. He smiled his classic crooked smile as he saw me approaching him.
“Well, you look beautiful,” he commented, holding the car door open for me.
The word struck me as odd, but made me blush nonetheless. “Thanks.” I told him. “Er, you look beautiful too.”
He laughed, shutting the door and then walked around the car to get in himself.
“You seem to be in a good mood.” I noticed.
He shrugged. “Nice weather.” He said simply.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Creep.”
“You’re a creep.” He shot back playfully.
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “Wanna ask my four nipples that? Oh wait.”
He laughed and stuck his tongue out at me. “Oh, fuck you.” He said.
I giggled. “Where are we going?” I asked him.
“You’ll see.” He said.
“Or you could just tell me…”
“No way.” He said. “Don’t worry, you’ll like where we’re going.”
“As long as it’s not a bird sanctuary…”
“Why would I take you to a bird sanctuary for dinner?” he asked me incredulously. “And even if I did, what’s
wrong with that?”
“You’re kidding right?” I asked. “Birds are weird, Harry.”
He laughed. “What?”
“Yeah, don’t you think so?” I asked him.
“I actually quite like birds,” he said.
I grimaced. “I hate them.”
“You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met.” He told me.
“Nipples,” I said simply, and he laughed.
I hadn’t even realized that Harry was taking me to the same amusement park we’d gone to a couple of months ago, because I was so busy talking to him. He was smart, keeping me busy in conversation so I wouldn’t notice where he was taking me.
I stared at him when I did realize where we were going. He grinned at my expression, followed by a chuckle.
“Told you you’d like it,” he said.
“What are we doing here?” I asked him, looking out of the window. It was even prettier during the night. I longed to hop out of the car and sprint to the rides, but I turned to Harry instead. “Harry?”
He smiled. “Just wait,” he said.
He parked the car and we got off. I was greeted by a gust of cold wind as I stepped out of the warm vehicle, and I shivered. I wrapped my arms around myself, mentally cursing myself for not bringing a jacket.
“Come on,” he said, taking my hand. I didn’t protest, but was again surprised by this gesture. Harry was being extra loving today, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was being more careful after yesterday, knowing what a mess I had been.
Harry led me to the giant wheel. He smiled at the lady at the ticket counter, who greeted him happily. He’d obviously spoken to her already. She left her counter to escort us to the wheel. There was no line today, and I realized the wheel was shut. Nonetheless, we walked. We got into one of the larger cells of the wheel, and that’s when I saw it.
I didn’t even bother stifling my gasp. The cell was illuminated by tiny but bright lights. A small table was situated in
the centre with food on top, along with two bottles of coke in an ice box. A single rose sat in a tiny white vase. There were two chairs on either side of the table. The setting was beautiful, and also slightly…romantic.
“I couldn’t get champagne because…well, we’re underage.” He chuckled. “Besides, I thought we’ll do this one sober. What do you think?”
“Harry…” I whispered, as the lady shut the door, leaving the two of us alone.
“You like it?” he asked.
“What—I—yeah,” I managed. “Shit, this is…I don’t even know what to say.”
“Just say you like it,” he said. “No seriously, it took a while for me to set the whole thing up. But it was also surprisingly quick. I had to be unusually charismatic, but I think it worked.
I giggled, shaking my head. “That’s a big word,” I joked.
“I’ve been studying.” He laughed. “Well, are you going to sit or what?”
I walked to the table, and Harry pulled the chair for me. I sat down, with Harry taking his place opposite me.
“This is really nice,” I told him. “God, how did you manage?”
“I made a few calls,” he said. “Took my mum’s help, and Lou’s. I’ll have you know, I tried really hard to get champagne, but they just won’t let up. I thought of sneaking some vodka, but then I thought it would slightly ruin the mood…”
“Yeah, especially if I hooked up with the ticket lady and puked all over your clothes.” I said.
He laughed. “Exactly.” He said. “Coke is safe.”
“Hmm.” I nodded. “Thank you, Harry. This is…this is really beautiful.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you like this.” He said.
“No one’s ever really done anything like this for me,” I told him.
Harry reached for a bottle and poured the contents into two champagne glasses. “I’ve never done anything like this for anyone either.” He told me. “Well, except mum.”
“Did you arrange for a romantic meal for two for your mum?” I asked. “That’s really weird, Harry.”
He narrowed his eyes. “No, you idiot.” He said. “I meant that I always did nice things for mum. Like, when she’d come back from work, tired and everything, I’d arrange a hot water bath for her and maybe cook dinner sometimes. You know, like that.”
“That’s really nice.” I said.
He smiled sincerely. “I still do it sometimes.” He said. “Gemma thinks it’s some sort of way for me to be mum’s favourite kid. But it’s not.”
“Because you’re already her favourite kid?”
“Bingo.” He winked and I laughed.
As we served ourselves food, I said, “You know what Dylan’s idea of ‘romantic’ was?”
“What?” he asked me.
“He’d ask me to order pizza,” I said, “and get beer from a store near his house. Then have sex.”
Harry laughed. “Sounds quite romantic to me.” He joked. “I’m surprised you don’t have a beer belly.”
“I work out.” I said, and then flexed me virtually non-existent muscles, holding my arm up. “See?”
He reached forward to wrap his hand around my upper arm, and nodded, pretending to be impressed. “Not bad, Harper.” He said.
“I can take on five guys single-handedly, don’t you think?” I asked him.
He laughed loudly. “Sure, you can,” he said.
“Your sarcasm is not appreciated, okay?” I shot at him. “Ass.”
He laughed again. “Yeah, yeah.” He said. “Oh, hey. Look down.”
I was so busy talking to him that I hadn’t even realized that we were right on top now, the view of the city below us
visible clearly. I could see far and wide, the tiny houses lit up, the streets busy. The park below us was lively as everyone walked about, talking, laughing and having fun, just like Harry and I were. Everything seemed noisy and loud, but no noise reached us from that height.
I got up and walked over to the large window, and looked down. “It’s so pretty.” I said softly.
I hadn’t realized that he too had stood up, and jumped slightly when I felt his front press against my back.
“Hmm, it is,” he murmured, his lips right next to my ear. His hands were on my waist, and the force of his front against my back was making me press to the glass window.
“I like this dress,” he mumbled, his fingers running over the soft material of the cloth on my stomach. He bent down and gently bit my ear lobe. “It suits you.”
“Th-thanks.” I stammered, my eyes falling shut.
I leaned back against him, my head falling onto his shoulder. Harry pushed back my hair and kissed my shoulder, his lips moving up to my neck. He continued to pepper kisses all over my skin as his fingers pulled down the collar of my dress just a bit to brush over the bruise he’d formed on my skin yesterday. He let his tongue flick across the shell of my ear, kissed a spot behind my ear and I sighed his name. His hands reached down to cup my breasts through my dress and squeeze them. Then they moved further down my dress to the hem, just above my knees. His hand slipped inside and reached my underwear, cupping me through it. I shivered, and turned my head to the side and looked up at him, and he kissed me. His tongue slipped inside and the intensity of the kiss increased suddenly.
He pulled away and spun me around, and my back collided with the glass window. He leaned down and kissed me again, and my hands fisted his hair as I pulled him closer to me.
“There’s something I want to tell you,” he breathed, pulling away briefly. I wanted to kiss him again so badly, as I looked at his swollen lips, messy hair and flushed cheeks. He rested his forehead against mine.
“What is it?” I asked him, my eyes on his lips.
“Olivia…” he seemed to hesitate, and then kissed me again. I kissed him back with enthusiasm, my hand slipping inside his shirt. I felt the wild beat if his hear under my palms, running my hands down his flat, hard chest and stomach. But he pulled away again, and I whimpered.
“I have to say something,” he told me, but I knew his urge to kiss me was as urgent as mine.
“What?” I asked him, inching towards his lips again. “What do you have to say?”
“I…I’m in love with you.” He said.
fuckin shit! i feel like lexi is going to turn her back on her.
6/3/16