Harry and I were pumping air into the tons of soccer balls we had left to do for our soccer practice. While Harry was telling me about this movie he wants to see, I kept listening while I looked over to the field, I looked for my best friend Emily on the field. I finally found her and gave her a very discrete wave and she waved back, she looked side to side to see if anyone was looking at her and she looked back at me and gave thumbs up to me and winked. I silently laughed at her and then one of her team mates bummed into her bringing her back to the mini soccer game they were having while they waited for us to finish.
Harry nudged my arm and said “Hey, anyone in there?” and then giggled softly.
“Oh, sorry Harry my friend was just…” he then cut me off and said “Would you ever go on a date with me?”
My head went back a little in surprise.
“Wait, what?” I shook my head slightly thinking I heard him wrong.
He smiled at me and repeated “Let’s just say I asked you out on a date, would you say yes?”
I felt my cheeks suddenly heat up to an almost unbearable temperature. He smiled waiting for response.
“I-I, guess… I mean, I would have to get to know you…” I stuttered.
Harry leaned over and whispered into my ear in a deep and raspy voice “I guess I should tell you more about myself then.”
Suddenly, he jumped up onto his feet and pulled up a full net of blown up soccer balls to his chest and said playfully “But before I do that… Beat you there!”
Then winked at me and started running over to the coach. Feeling a bit dazed from the conversation we just had gave him some time to get a good distance in front of me. I quickly shook my head then I stood up quickly, picked up the now much heavier mesh net full of blown up soccer balls, threw it over my shoulder and started running as fast as I could. I caught up to Harry quickly and passed him with no problem. I looked back to see how close he was to me and he was hot on my tracks, I started laughing to myself, then skidding to a stop in front of the coach dropping the heavy load onto the ground and doing a really lame victory dance as Harry came close slowing down.
He said through every breath “Wow, you are fast!”
I smiled big and playfully punched his shoulder giving me a smirk and raised his hand in a ‘low five’ position; I smacked his hand and winked at him.
I then ran over to Emily. I jumped onto her back and she hooked her arms on my legs to insure I wouldn’t fall off. She spun around once and released my legs so I could drop.
“You would not believe what happened just now!” I said in a squeaky, excited voice.
She grabbed my fore arms and jumped up and down.
She replied with a big smile. “What!”
“It’s Harry, h-he was asking me if I would ever say yes to go on a date with him, does that mean he is interested in me?” I asked questioning her.
She instantly stopped jumping right in her tracks and her face went serious. I stopped smiling and then I had a straight face.
“What…” I said to her being very uneasy and confused.
She paused for a moment then said “I hate you, he’s totally into you.”
She then released her serious face and broke into a laughter fit. I punched her arm mildly hard
“Oh my God, don’t do that! You scared me.” I said as she laughed rubbing her arm where I punched her.
Coach blew his whistle signalling us to come in close to him so he can talk to us. Emily and I ran over along with our teammates and sat down in front of coach
“Alright girls, Harry here is going to try a drill with you.” He then paused and continued “and just because he is a cute looking boy that happens to be your age or close, doesn’t mean you don’t treat him with any less respect you give me. If I see any of you slacking off when Mr. Styles here is in charge you’ll be doing laps for as long as you live.”
Some of the girls giggled to his comment of ‘cute looking boy’.
Harry took a step forward and cleared his throat.
“Okay ladies, we are going to start a drill I used to do when I played, it will really focus and show how much skill and concentration you ladies have.” He said in very serious and mature tone.
“I will show you what we are doing on the field so follow me and I will run it over with you guys.” He continued.
We all started to get up as Harry started walking to the spot he wanted us when the coach blew his whistle, we all looked over at him and he raised up his hand and pointed at everyone, then said with a smirk “seriously, remember… laps for your whole life.”
We all laughed and jogged over to catch up to Harry.
Harry explained the drill to us and we all nodded when he asked us if we were all ready to start. My team mates and I were lined up in two parallel lines facing each other and we had to kick the ball back and forth to the person in front of us. Then when Harry blows his whistle we have to turn to the person to our left or right, depending on what side you were on, and kick the ball to them. Then whoever is at the beginning and doesn’t have anyone to pass to, they have to run down between the lines kicking the ball down till they reach the end. Then this process will repeat till everyone has gone. Because of our uneven team, and me being at the end of the line, with no partner in front of me, Harry jogged over and stood in front of me. We passed back and forth and then Harry blew the whistle and we turned then I started kicking the ball back and forth with Emily since she was beside me.
Time passed and Emily was up next to run down the center. When the whistle blew Emily and her partner booked down the center of us at the speed of light. Harry and I were next to go, I was hyped up and ready to go, he put the whistle to his mouth and winked at me, I winked back and he blew the whistle. Everyone turned, then Harry and I raced side by side down the center kicking the ball in front of us passing it to each other, we got to the end and I raised my hand for a high five, he smacked his hand onto mine and leaving it there for a moment and then slowly let his hand slide off mine, he pulled himself close to me and whispered in my ear before he blew his whistle for everyone to stop.
“You have such small hands” he giggled showing off his dimples.
I felt my cheeks redden a little bit.
“Hey, maybe I have normal size hands and yours are just really big!” I said back.
I rolled my eyes to my own comment and followed it with palming my own forehead. It may have been the worst come back I have ever said. I laughed it off and my embarrassment gave Harry a smile followed by a light chuckle. I watched as Harry placed the whistle between his plump pink lips and blew it twice for everyone to group up in front of him. The coach was talking to the parents as the drill was happening, Harry looked over at him, making everyone look over at the coach, and the coach looked over and gave the parents the ‘I’ll be one minute’ gesture with his finger and he jogged over to us.
The coach cleared his throat.
“Good job ladies. That was defiantly a good start to the new season. That is going to be all for practice today. By the way, I gave each of your parents a form for them to fill out for the brand-new jersey’s you’ll be getting for this season.”
We all clapped and cheered because we’ve had the same jerseys for 3 years now. He started going through his bag pulling out a gorgeous periwinkle colour and held it up for everyone to see.
“This year each of you can put on your nicknames or just your last names on the back and you can choose your numbers. Just bring back your forms before someone takes the number.”
Everyone started sitting up and gathering there stuff and the white noise of chatter filled the air. Suddenly the coach yelled out silencing everyone from there conversations.
“Oh, I almost forgot! Bring it back in for a second”
We all walked back to him and waited for him to speak.
“There is going to be practice tomorrow, which is Thursday, at 7:00 a.m. as usual, but there will be no official practice here this Friday because I will not be here for personal reasons, but Harry is going to be here at 8:00 a.m. and if you want to just practice some of your skills or just exercise you’re welcome to join him.”
We all nodded and started our way back to the cars again. Everyone was talking and asking each other if they are coming on Friday. From listening in to conversations, most people said they are too busy or they just don’t want to go. I caught up to Emily and gave her a hip bumped.
“Hey are you going to come down here on Friday?” I asked her.
“Err… No,” she said in an apologetic tone “I have to drive to the airport with my family and fly over to my Grandparents for the weekend.” She said with sadness in her voice.
“Oh, crap I’m stupid, I totally forgot about that… I’m sorry, and I hope your Grandma is doing better when you get down there.”
Emily hugged me tightly and then broke away.
“Well my Mom is waiting for me Katie; I’ll see you at practice tomorrow though!” she said in a happy tone.
I waved her good bye as she ran over to her mom’s car. She opened the passenger door up and hopped in. I watched her drive away with her mom.
I looked around for my mom and she was still chatting away with some of the other parents so I decided to walk over to the car and just wait inside. When I got to the parked car, I pulled the handle and it wouldn’t budge.
“Of course it’s locked” I said to myself under my breath.
I placed my water bottle on the hood of the car and then leaned back on the warm car. I crossed my hands and watched my mom as I waited for her to finish talking.
“Hey!” a voice called from behind me.
My face lite up from the sound of the recognized voice, I turned around to see Harry waving at me as he slowly approached me, I watched him walk over, he stuck his fingers in her hair and pushed his hair back letting it fall back down into the correct place, his hand fell back down to his side. His bottom lip was in between his teeth, he then let it slide out of his clenched teeth slowly. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get my heart pounding in my chest on purpose or not but he defiantly succeeded.
“You’re my last hope, Katie, are you going to come this Friday?” he said with hope in his voice.
I smiled and dug my foot into the loose gravel.
“Don’t make me beg” he said in a low sexy voice.
I felt my cheeks burn up, Harry stood there in front of me waiting for a reply, and he stepped closer to me and slid his thumb down the length of my upper arm giving me goose bumps all down my body. I looked up at him embarrassed; he had a smile on his face.
“I’ll be here on Friday, I promise” and smiled at him.
His smile grew bigger and his eyes widened. A dark ring formed around the rim of the color in his eyes, making the bright green inside the dark glow strong before me.
My Mom blurted out “Alright, hunny sorry about that, those damn parents…”
She drifted off when she noticed Harry standing beside me.
“Oh, hello Harry, what are you doing” she asked in a slightly harsh tone.
“Hello Miss, I was just asking your daughter here if she was going to make it this Friday.” He replied in a mature and polite way.
I liked how formal he spoke to my Mom; he was very good at first impressions. My mom interrupted my thoughts with her sharp remark, shocking me slightly.
“My daughter never misses a practice, never has, never will, she is the best player here and it will stay like that with hard practice.”
“Mom, calm down!” I said back to her angrily.
I was confused why she snapped like that, Harry was so sweet to her.
Harry said with sorry in his voice “My apologies Miss, I didn’t mean to offend you or your daughter in anyway…”
My Mom cut him off, and shook her head in shame.
“It’s alright kiddo; I’m the one who should be sorry though.”
My mother exhaled loud, cleared her voice, and then continued speaking with a much more lightened tone.
“Just these damn parents thinking they’re better than anyone else, it gets right on my nerves, I didn’t mean to lash out on you Harry”
I was so embarrassed by my Mom, I turned around and faced the vehicle and tried to burry my face into the car and then covering whatever else was exposed with my arms. Harry walked past me and over to the side of the car my Mom was on I looked up and over at them.
Harry stuck out his right hand and my Mom stuck out hers and they shook hands.
“Let’s start over, shall we” Harry said with a grin.
My mom smiled back and I saw her shoulders fall into a more relaxed position and said “I’m Lynda Roberts, Katie’s mother, full time flight attendant, and a passionate soccer mom.”
Harry chuckled and replied to my mom.
“I’m Harry Styles, nephew of Coach Styles, full time assistant coach for this wonderful senior girls’ soccer team, and a pretty passionate soccer supporter, myself.”
She smiled and said “Well, nice to re-meet you, Harry.”
Harry smirked then walked back around the car to the side I was on. My mom unlocked the doors and got in. She then followed by started up the car.
“You’re amazing; I have never seen my Mom turn nice to someone after is put in a bad mood, I praise you!” I followed my sentence with a jokingly bow towards him.
He let out a loud laugh making me giggle. He tossed a light, playful punch at my shoulder.
“Catch you tomorrow at practice, love?” Harry said in a sweet voice.
My cheeks blushed as I nodded. He grinned and started walking away I started to reach for the door and just as I was about to open it when Harry yelled out from behind me.
“You are pretty amazing too, by the way!”
I tried to retain the huge smile that was trying to consume my entire face but I held it back so I wouldn’t look like an idiot. I quickly got into the car and sunk into my seat pulling my seat belt over my lap. My mom put her hand on my lap and patted down a few times. She gave me a smirk, and then put the car in drive and drove off. I looked out the window and watched Harry walk the parking lot over to his Uncles car helping him put some equipment in the back. I sighed quietly when I lost sight of Harry. I turned forward and placed my elbow on the armrest then tilted my head till my cheek rested comfortably on my palm and for the rest of the way home I couldn’t get Harry out of my head.