Isabelle's P.O.V

January 28th

Yesterday we’d gone over to see Kate. In fact, everyone had. She was still not used to hanging out with all of the members of the most favourite boy band out there, so I think she was a little bit shocked and overwhelmed when Louis and Niall rammed through her door, making her scream.

She’d learned about El’s pregnancy, to which she’d squealed and sworn not to tell a soul. The rest of the day, we girls chatted about childcare while the boys sat down and started playing Call of Duty on the Xbox, like the mature men that they were.

Only Harry stayed by my side, letting me snuggle up against him. I think it was because he felt bad, added that we hadn’t had any physical or verbal contact with each other in the past several days. But I had missed this too, so I wasn’t complaining one bit.

Dinner had passed at her place, what with Niall and Eleanor eating the most food, and at the end of the day, everyone had gone home. Louis and El were going to crash at Harry and Louis’ flat, so Kate suggested that Harry stay here, but I’d disagreed and sent him along with them. I stayed at mine and Kate’s house with my sister only, no boyfriends to disrupt.

“Why’d you do that?” Kate had asked, looking worried that Harry would be mad, even though I knew that he wasn’t and that he knew what I was trying to do.

“He’s not mad, don’t worry,” I answered simply, “And I wanted to spend some alone time with you. We haven’t been able to do that lately, and I want to.”

The rest of the night had been spent munching on popcorn, chocolate and candy, huddled up in a makeshift fort we’d made out of pillows and blankets, chatting and telling secrets, gossiping about random strangers we’d encountered at shops or malls, and bonding, just as we’d done when we were little kids. I loved it.

Today, now, I was still over at Kate’s, getting dressed after our slumber party. I pulled on a pair of black leggings, paired with a cream-knit sweater that hung past my bum and had long, overlarge sleeves. I brushed my hair, straightened it, and then tied it in a sleek ponytail, leaving my feet in white ankle socks, and then padded downstairs, where Kate was cooking breakfast.

“Hey Belle!” she chirped as I walked into the kitchen. The scent of sizzling bacon filled my nostrils, and as I looked down, I saw that I was right.

I pressed a kiss to her cheek, “Good morning.”

“Why are you in such a good mood?” she questioned, guffawing lightly. I just smiled. I was in a good mood, though I had no idea why.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I responded lightly, simply shrugging and giggling quietly.

I shot back, “Why are you in such a good mood?”

“That doesn’t count,” she scoffed, “I’m always in a good mood.”

I had to agree with her there. Kate was never angry, never annoyed. Even when she was sad, she always tried to play down her feelings and take care of other people. I loved being around her, because of that, and it made her the perfect older sister. But I felt as though she should have someone taking care of her too.

“Alex does,” she replied. I blinked once, and looked at her.

She smiled, laughing, “You had that thinking look. I just know.”

“You’re so weird,” I whispered dramatically, making us both laugh again.

She elbowed my arm and smiled at me, “Seriously. Don’t worry about me. Alex is amazing, and he takes great care of me. I love him.”

“I still have to meet him,” I murmured.

I didn’t intend for her to hear it, but she did, and she let out a tinkling laugh, pointing at me with a spatula, “I’ll be sure to introduce you soon. You know me: I’m a procrastinator.”

“So true,” I joked loudly, and she slapped my arm. I laughed and ran out of the kitchen before she could do any more damage

There was a sudden knock on the front door, followed by the doorbell, and I called out, “I’ve got it!”

I peeked through the peephole and smiled, proceeding to open the door. Without a moment’s hesitation, Harry rushed through, sweeping me up into his arms, while I laughed. When he put me back down, I noticed that he was alone.


“I was lonely last night without you,” he pouted dramatically. I laughed, but I also knew that a part of him was serious. I simply smiled and leaned up to peck his lips for a moment, “I know.”

“You know you’ll have to make it up to me tonight,” he said, smirking. I nodded, repeating, “I know.”

“As long as you know,” he sighed and held up his hands before grinning and proceeding to remove his boots.

Once he’d pulled off his jacket and hung it up, he turned back to me, and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face. I lazily wound my arms around his neck, looking up to litter his mouth with soft, short kisses. He returned them, our lips puckering together lightly, and he finally pulled back, resting his forehead up against mine, his cinnamon-smelling breath fanning my face.

“I’m still so sorry,” he whispered, frowning. I knew that he was referring to the bet. I frowned too; I didn’t want him beating himself up over it, it had passed, and that was all that mattered.

“Leave it,” I breathed, “It’s done, it’s in the past, and we’re fine. Don’t worry about a thing,” I leaned up to give him a long, meaningful kiss. After about six seconds, I pulled back, “I love you no matter what.”

He finally grinned after a moment of processing those words, “I love you no matter what,” he agreed, and I smiled.

Slowly, he reached back to grab the hands playing with the hairs on the nape of his neck and brought them in front of him, kissing the pad of each fingertip.

When he got to my ring finger, he smiled cheekily and tapped it, “My ring is going right here.”

I couldn’t help but to allow my breathing to escalate. Usually, it would have worried me that he was moving so quickly, but I already knew that we weren’t able to slow down, and I was beginning to feel comfortable with the pace we were moving at.

“Definitely,” I whispered, making him look back up at me. His eyes widened slightly, his smile falling from his lips; I guess he didn’t actually expect me to agree. I smiled at his flabbergasted expression and laughed, reaching for his hand and pulling him down the hall, along with me, so that we could have breakfast with Kate.

“Kate,” I sang, “Look who’s joining us for breakfast.”

Kate turned from her position at the stove, her hair in a messy ponytail, wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans, along with black socks.

She honestly didn’t look that bad, but when she turned and saw Harry, she shrieked and tried to cover herself up, “What the hell? I look terrible! Harry, look away!”

Harry simply laughed, walking over to her and hugging her, “Nice to see you too, Kate.”

She blushed deeply, shot me a death glare, and then turned back to the bacon that was sizzling in the pan. I just smiled and gestured for Harry to sit down, “Kate’s almost done with breakfast anyway. Do you want some juice?”

“Um, sure?” Harry said quizzically, “Do you have any orange juice?”

“Duh,” I scoffed, turning away to open the fridge and rifle through it, finally pulling out the carton of orange juice.

I grabbed a cup from the pantry and poured it, and then slid it over to him. He thanked me just as Kate began loading up three plates with bacon and eggs.

“Mm,” I peered over her shoulder, “That looks great.”

“Thanks babe,” she smiled proudly at me, and I grabbed two plates, one each for Harry and I. I brought it to the table and set it down in front of my boyfriend, who hummed appreciatively at me and the sight of the food that looked positively delectable.

I sat down beside him while Kate walked over to the table, holding her own plate. She smiled at us while she sat down, and I poured myself and glass of orange juice and brought the cup to my lips, taking a sip, while Harry took a bite of his bacon.

“So,” Kate chirped, “You guys finally had sex, yeah?”

I spit out my orange juice back into the cup and Harry nearly choked on his bacon. When he swallowed it, he shot me a panicked look, one that I returned, not knowing how the fuck to respond. Really Kate? Now, of all times, she has to ask this question. Had it slipped her mind, last night, when we were alone and it wouldn’t’ve been totally awkward for me to answer that question?

“Um,” Harry said slowly, turning back to my sister—who was smiling naturally, as if this was a normal breakfast topic—and bit his lip lightly, “Excuse me?”

“I asked,” Kate sounded out, “If you guys finally had sex.” She looked at me, “You have, haven’t you Belle?”

I put my head down, blushing madly, suddenly finding the bacon and eggs to be extremely interesting and intriguing. What the hell was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to deny it, or be honest with her and tell her? This was such a horrible subject to talk about—given the circumstances—and right now I was cursing at Kate with every fibre of my being.

Finally, I realised that I’d been staring down way too long, swirling the contents of my breakfast around my plate, so I cleared my throat and looked up, and not meeting Harry or Kate’s eyes.

“Um,” I swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in my throat, making it hard for me to speak, “Yeah.”

Harry looked down, clearly embarrassed. I think this was the first time I’d ever seen him not look comfortable whilst talking about sex. I—more than anyone else—knew that he had one of the foulest mouths on the planet, so I wondered what was so different this time. I really didn’t want him to look nervous, because that told me that I should be nervous too.

Kate, on the other hand, was smiling knowingly. I widened my eyes at her, shooting her a glare, but she just rolled hers, continuing to smile. Dammit, she was being insufferable right now. ‘Stop’, I mouthed, but she just giggled quietly, acting like the tiny schoolgirl that she was.

“Cool,” she said, taking a bite of her eggs like this was all normal. Harry glanced at me from the corner of his eye and smirked, but I could see the pink on his cheeks. I couldn’t help it; I smiled back at him. He made me want to smile every single time I looked at him.

“Okay,” I said, clearing my throat and itching to change the subject, “Harry, how was El last night?”

“She was fine,” he said, looking relieved to be on a different subject. He smirked, seeming to change into a completely different person, and said, “I woke up a few times because I heard her in the kitchen, no doubt looking for a snack. We’re going to become flat broke, what with paying for all of the food.”

I smiled, looking down.

“Yeah, well,” I teased, “You’d better get used to it, because it’ll only get worse from here, trust me.”

Harry chuckled, and Kate just watched us, a small smirk playing on her lips. I glanced at her and blushed, trying to hide my face with my hands, but it wouldn’t work.

The rest of breakfast was pretty awkward, but I was happy; so, so happy.

Little did I know that the next day would be the best and worst of my life.

Notes

So my internet was giving me problems and it was so fucking annoying. I don't have time to repost the teaser, I'm sorry, please don't hate me. This first week of school has been so busy, I'm already tearing my hair out!

Hopefully I'll be able to update in less than a week. Once again, I'm sorry.

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