In And Out Of Love

"I'll see you guys in school then! Can't believe this holiday went so fast. I could have used a few more days off." Liam said as everyone was about to leave and go home.

"I know, me too man." Niall nodded.

"At least I get to drive my own car to school! Besides, it's only good to have some routines in your life. School ain't that bad." I said encouragingly.

"But you are one big nerd, Gracie." Liam said with a serious face and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"So, let's go Grace, I'll take you home." Niall said and started to walk towards his car. I nodded and followed him.

"Actually Niall, I'm going to give her a ride home." Harry said, looked first at Niall and then me. My eyes grew wide, I had thought that he would have forgotten about this already.

"Yeah, sure man. I just live closer to her but..." Niall started.

"I know, I know. I just have to pick up something I left there at her birthday party last week." Harry said with the most convincing voice. He was using the same excuse I had used to get his number more innocently from Liam!

"Oh, right! Sorry, I forgot about that. I'll come with you." I decided to say and save him from the awkward situation. Liam kind of looked like he had an idea of what was going on but he didn't say a word. Niall just went along with everything, like the carefree person that he was.

I opened the passenger door of Harry's car and sat inside. He started the engine, put his seatbelt on and drove slowly off the driveway. The tension between us was palpable and I felt my hands getting sweatier. This was everything I had dreamed about in my fantasies about him, but could I actually do something with him? Besides, what happened to the old me preaching about true feelings and not having sex with strangers and all that. I was basically doing quite the opposite, in my head anyways.

"Thanks for helping me back there. You could have easily just said that I didn't leave anything at your house." Harry suddenly said and gave a quick look towards me.

"No problem... I didn't want you to look like an idiot there. But what we did today in the kitchen, or almost did, it was..." I started but Harry cut me off by pulling to the side of the road and turning the engine off. Oh my god...

"Sshh, Gracie." He said with the lowest voice and placed his index finger on my lips. It was the tiniest touch ever but made me feel like a thousand hands were touching me in all the right places.

The next thing that happened, I really didn't think with my brain anymore. I parted my lips a bit and the tip of my tongue touched his finger, kind of asking for his permission to go further. He took a deep breath, obviously liking my little teasing. I grabbed his finger in between my teeth and sucked it once before letting it go. I had no idea where all this confidence came all of a sudden, but I loved every single bit of it.
I stared at his eyes and saw how his breathing came quicker and he was fighting against the urge to just rip my clothes off. His eyes were basically screening through my body and I loved the way he looked at me. I had never experienced anything like that in my life. I had no idea you could even want someone as much as I wanted him.

"You drive me crazy... I want to take you out, on a proper date. Please say yes." Harry said. My heart jumped as I realized what he had asked.

"Harry, we can't date. Trust me, if there wouldn't have been anything between you and Naomi, I would have said yes." I wanted to go out with him so bad, but I had to stay true to my best friend. This was not okay in any way.

"Gracie, there wasn't anything between Naomi and me. You know that." Harry continued and was ready to fight for this. I loved the way he said my nickname, it sounded good coming from his lips.

"I know that. But it wasn't the same with Naomi. I comforted her when she cried over you. It's too soon at least."

"I understand she took it a bit harder than I ever thought she would. But seriously though, it's not good enough of a reason for us to deny that we have something special here." Harry continued and made me definitely feel special.

"Special?"

"C'mon... I liked you the very first time I saw you. You are special and I feel good when we are together. Please, go out with me." Harry tilted his head and it was extremely hard for me to shake my head to him.

"I'm sorry, Harry. We need to wait and see how everything goes." I felt like shit telling him no.

Harry looked out of the window and left out a disappointed sigh. He started the car and gave in. We didn't say anything more to each other and I hated how the whole thing had turned out. But I just couldn't date him, not yet at least. It was way too soon and Naomi would've never talked to me again if me and Harry would date. I wanted to date him, there was no denying. But not now.

"Hmm... Why's our house all dark? It's not that late, mom never goes to bed this early." I said out loud as we came to our driveway.

"Maybe she did this time." Harry said and glanced out of the window towards our house.

"Nah, she never goes to bed early on the weekends." I assured him and started to get a bit worried myself.

"Do you want me to wait here, if you go and check she's at home?" Harry offered and it warmed my heart a bit.

"Yeah, thanks. Just a sec!" I said and got out of the car. I opened the front door, left it open and went inside. I put the lights on and started to go from room to room, calling for mom.

"She's not home?" I heard Harry's voice from downstairs a little later. I shook my head and walked back down.

"Weird... She never goes anywhere without telling me. If I would do this to her, she would be all over me, calling me non-stop! I'll call her now." I said a bit irritated, got my phone and called mom. Harry was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, waiting.

"Great, her phone is off. This is getting ridiculous right now. Where the hell is she?" I said and raised my voice a bit, my frustration building.

"Everything's probably fine. Try to think, is there anyone she could be with?" Harry said and tried to calm me down.

"No... Not really... Wait! She told me about a man she is dating a week ago. Maybe she is with him!" I realized. But why was her phone still off? It was never off.

"Okay, good! Maybe her battery just died. Are you going to be okay here?" Harry asked and pushed a bit of my hair back with his hand. It felt good.

"Yeah... I guess so. Thanks for waiting. You're sweet." I said quietly and smiled at Harry.

"I can stay here for a bit if you want me to. You look a little shaken for some reason. She is fine, trust me." Harry continued and stepped even closer to me. I didn't want to push him away any longer. He was saying all the right things.

"She has never dated anyone after dad... Not that I know of anyways. And I'm not used to not knowing where she is. It's our rule, to always be aware of what the other one is doing and with whom." I continued and played with Harry's shirt for a bit.

"I understand that. It's pretty much the same with my mom. I guess it's a thing for single parents. They are always extra worried."

I looked at Harry, who was way taller than me. He made me feel like I was protected and I liked that feeling. I took his hand to mine and we went upstairs to my bedroom. I kicked my shoes off and Harry did the same. I told him to turn around and I changed my sweats on and hopped on my bed. He turned back to face me and I gestured him to come sit next to me and he did.

"I hope you know how much I would want to go out with you?" I said to him as we sat next each other on my bed.

"I think I do. And I respect you and your decision. I hope we can work this out though." Harry responded and turned to look at me. I turned my head towards him as well, wanting to kiss him like never before. No one could possibly look cuter than him.

I wanted to feel him next to me, to hold me and just sit there forever. I was crazy about him! I cuddled next to him and wrapped my hands around his lower stomach and he wrapped his arms around me in response. He smelled my hair before laying his head on top of mine and we just sat there together for a long while.

I opened my eyes and realized I had fallen asleep. Somehow, there was a blanket on top of me. And there was a hand caressing my hair. I remembered Harry had been in our house. In my bedroom. And clearly, he was still here.

"You fell asleep and I didn't quite know if I should go or stay. I didn't want to wake you up. " Harry noticed I was awake.

"Oh, you could have woken me up! What time is it? Oh no! Is my mom home?" I remembered and panicked as I had a guy in my bedroom. She would not be happy about this.

"Relax, she hasn't come home. It's 1am. But you got a message on your phone. Here, check it." Harry said and handed my phone from my desk.

I opened the message and it was from mom. She texted that she was with Johnny and that her battery had died. And that she was staying there for the night. I was relieved to know, that everything was okay but at the same time, I felt annoyed that she just informed me that she was staying away for the night. Without even telling me before. I was the kid in the house after all. And this was so not like her. I told Harry about the text.

"I can't believe she did this to me. It's like she's the teenager here!" I said angrily. Harry took the phone from me and said he understood my reaction.

"I'll deal with her tomorrow then. So, do you want to stay the night?" I decided to be a teenager myself and rebel against mom for what she did. Harry looked surprised but smiled a little.

"I can't sleep next to you, Gracie." He said and shook his head. And what was that supposed to mean?

"Why is that exactly?" I challenged him.

"Sleeping next to you would be like torturing myself. I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you to be honest." He responded and I could feel my ears turning red hot.

"Um... Right. Well... Are you going home then?"

"I can stay here, if you want."

"Without sleeping? C'mon, you can go home. I won't mind!" I laughed at his response.

"Yeah, sounds a bit extreme, not sleeping at all. I'll go. You stay here, I'll find my way out. Want to go together to school on Monday?" Harry asked.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll call you tomorrow. Goodnight and thanks for everything." I hugged him before he left.

I had a hard time going back to sleep after Harry was gone. His perfume lingered in my room and on my clothes. How I wished he would have stayed. And how I wished I could have just accepted his suggestion on going on a date. I had never been this crazy about someone before! He was so different, so open, sweet and cute. And he made me feel safe even though I didn't even know I wanted to feel any safer. But dating him sounded like something that was definitely not in the near future. How on earth could I pretend like nothing was going on with him around Naomi?

Notes

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