Harry's POV

"Let's get some nachos or something."

"No, Liam. Let's get our seats first," I say, tugging him towards the stands. We go up to our seats, about ten rows from the court. "Do you see her?"

"Yea, right there. She's number three."

I look through the girls in white long-sleeve jerseys until I see her. Long blonde hair in a low ponytail down her back, white jersey tight against her skin and slightly layered over tight black shorts. She looks amazing, and completely in her element. She looks comfortable. It's refreshing.

"What's going on with you two, anyway?" Liam asks.

"I have no idea. You probably know better than I do. She thought I was on a date last night at the poetry thing." I smile a little and watch them move onto the other side of the net where the other team starts hitting. "I think she was jealous."

"Try not to sound so happy about that," he laughs.

"I'm just saying, it's better than the cold shoulder I'm used to."

"I guess so."

"I've never watched a volleyball game. When do they start?"

"They have to do their warmup. Five on each side and then two minutes of serving," he explains. I can't take my eyes off of Carmen. They're on the opposite side, so she's blocked from my view sometimes, but every time the ball is hit to her she passes it up perfectly. She moves with perfect fluidity, and her athleticism is completely impressive.

"You're drooling," Liam says. I punch his arm and shake my head, running my hand through my hair. Carmen's little speech last week didn't really discourage me. I gave her some space, and after last night I feel like my window of opportunity is open wider than ever.

"She looks great." I look at the court again when the whistle blows and they switch sides. The girls on USC get into three lines and Carmen is in the first on the one closest to me. The ball gets set high over the net and she approaches it fast, jumping higher than any girl I've ever seen. The ball goes straight down on the other side with greater speed than I was expecting.

"Wow," I breathe. "She's fantastic."

"Just wait for the actual game to start. Then you'll be impressed."

When the warm-ups are over and Liam is seated with his damn nachos the teams both go onto the court. Carmen is starting in the back left position, and as soon as she steps onto the court her eyes go to the crowd. She sees us, well, probably sees Liam mostly. Her eyes light up and relax at the same time, a sigh released from her chest. She smiles at him and her eyes go back to the game. Here we go.

---

"Carmen!"

Liam waves her over and she's already go the biggest smile on her face, dressed up in yoga pants and a red jacket from the team. He hugs her and she laughs a little.

"I can't believe we won!" she says happily. He keeps her under his arm, taking her bag to put over his shoulder, her eyes light and happy. She smiles at me. "Hi, Harry. Thanks for coming."

"It was incredible. I mean, you were. You were great. Really good." What the fuck?

"Thanks," she says, laughing a little. "I'm really glad you guys came."

"Where did that serve come from?" Liam asks. I'm told it's a spinning jump serve, apparently hard to receive and even harder to perfect the way Carmen has.

"I've been practicing," she says. "I was in the gym this morning for an hour practicing it so I could do it for the game. Austin was really set on it."

"Who's Austin?" I ask instantly. Shit. Way to be cool, Harry.

"That would be me."

A tall- really tall- man walks up behind Carmen and Liam. He steps up beside Carmen and pats her back.

"Amazing game, Carmen. What did I tell you about that serve?"

"Yeah, yeah," she says, swatting playfully at him. Who the fuck is this guy now?

"Enjoy your evening," he says. She waves him off and looks back at Liam and I can practically see light beaming from her face.

"Want to celebrate?" she asks. She looks at me as well. "Let's get some ice cream."

---

"Can we go to your place?" Carmen asks, turning around in her seat so she can see Liam. I look at him in the mirror and he shrugs. We already went to get ice cream and I was supposed to be bringing her home now.

"I guess so. Why?"

Carmen hasn't been to our house since what happened last weekend, and she's been avoiding us all apparently because of me. The boys all like her, they actually want to hang out with her so they're a little upset with me about it. Plus, if Carmen doesn't come over Ivy doesn't either and suddenly I've got an upper hand with Louis. That's always a plus.

"I want to see everyone," she says. "Do you mind?"

When I look over at her I realize that she's asking me. "Of course, yeah that's fine. Let's go."

I drive past Carmen's house to go to ours. It's quite convenient living so close to her. For many reasons. It's also really nice that she wants to hang out with us. Maybe she's opening up a little? Or maybe she's just doing this for Liam's sake. Or maybe, the least likely reason, she's doing it to spend time with me.

"Niall!" Liam shouts when we get inside. "Niall, we brought you a present!"

"Is it beer?" he shouts from upstairs. "We're out of that!"

"No, idiot. Come down here!"

He grumbles something from upstairs and comes down in his sweats and a ridiculous tank top that we always tease him for wearing. He looks up and sees Carmen.

"Look who it is," he says, walking over to Carmen. She squeals quietly when he hugs her and picks her up to spin her around. I can't help but glare and when he sees me he sets her down. "Where've you been?"

"Just busy," she says, shrugging. She punches his arm. "You should have come to the game."

"I wasn't invited."

"Niall, it's a public thing. Anyone is invited."

"Harry here got a personal invitation," he says, pointing to me. Carmen laughs and looks at me.

"Yeah, I guess he did." She stares at me a little too long and I have to look away when my heart starts beating too hard. "So, I hear you want to play some video games?"

"FIFA, to be exact." Niall walks over to the couch and Carmen follows.

"Carms, do you want a drink?" Liam asks. I narrow my eyes at the nickname. Since when does he have a fucking nickname for her?

"I'll have water," she says, sitting next to Niall on the couch. I follow Liam into the kitchen.

"Carms?" I whisper. "Geez, I knew you guys were close, but you have a fucking nickname for her too?"

"Would you chill?" He rolls his eyes and takes out two water bottles. "She hates it, that's why I call her that. So I wouldn't try it, if I were you."

"I wasn't going to," I mumble, getting water for myself.

"You're acting jealous right now," he says. "Of me, to be exact."

"Whatever." I'm not jealous of fucking Liam. Do I wish I was as close with Carmen as he is? Sure. But that does not make me jealous.

"I'm just friends with her, Harry. That's all. I'm not a threat to you."

"Can we stop talking about this."

He laughs and shakes his head, heading for the living room. "You brought it up."

I follow him back and take the seat on the other side of Carmen so she's between Niall and me. Niall is already winning, but Carmen looks determined as ever.

"Stop doing that!" she says, reaching over and swatting his chest. He laughs. "Niall, seriously! You have to let me warm up."

"This is me warming up," he says, scoring again.

"I don't think I want to play," Carmen says. She hands the controls to me. "Show me?"

I smile, surprised and pleased that she asked me and not fucking Liam. "Sure."

She smiles and moves a little closer so she can see my hands, which are fucking sweating because she's so close. When she leans a little further over I can smell her shampoo or something, and it smells fucking amazing. Vanilla and a little hint of something fruity, but it smells incredible.

"Wait, how'd you do that?" she asks, pointing to the screen.

"Slide tackle?" She nods. "You just...here." I set the control back in her hand put my one hand over hers. "Hit this and run at the same time, then press the button on the other side."

"Okay.." She tries to do it but fails miserably. "Shit!"

I laugh and put my other arm around her so I can put both my hands over hers. She stiffens slightly but I pretend not to notice, enjoying the moment. Eventually she relaxes and I put my hands over hers so I'm pressing the controls with her fingers.

"Like this," I murmur in her ear, pressing the right buttons.

"Oh! Okay, I got it." I don't move at first and she turns her head towards mine. Our faces are maybe two inches apart and I hear her suck in a breath when she realizes. I can't help but look down at her lips before I finally pull my arm back and sit in my own spot. She looks at me for a moment, the emotion in her eyes undecipherable, before she turns back to the game.

"You're terrible at this," Niall says to her.

"I could beat you any day in real life," she fires back.

"At football?"

"Soccer. But yes."

He scoffs. "No way."

"I wouldn't underestimate her, Niall," I warn him. She smiles at me and looks back at him.

"See?"

"Fine, we're putting that theory to the test," he says. "When are you free this week?"

She laughs. "I'm not really. Not until Sunday."

"What the hell? How?"

She shrugs as she continues trying to play the game. "I have work and classes. And I have volleyball every day and a game on Saturday."

"Busy enough?" he jokes, nudging her with his knee. She laughs. "Fine, then. Sunday we'll all go to the park to test this theory."

"Deal," she says. Somehow she manages to get around Niall and she actually scores. "Yes! Ha! I win!"

"It's five to one, Carmen. You don't win," he says. She suddenly turns off the game. "What are you doing!"

"Now you can't prove it."

Me and Liam laugh at the expression on Niall's face. He throws a pillow at her face and she returns it with equal force.

---

"I should get going," Carmen says, standing from the table. We all just ate dinner, a few hours too late, but dinner all the same. Louis and Zayn came home after the FIFA incident and we all hung out for a while before we realized it was dark and we hadn't eaten yet. With two empty pizza boxes and a girl that seems extremely exhausted I think it's time to call it a night.

"Why?" Niall asks. "It's not even late."

"I'm exhausted and I have to get up at six tomorrow morning," Carmen explains, standing and closing both boxes. "Where's your recycling?"

"Don't clean it up, we can do it," Liam says. She looks around and laughs a little.

"Can you?" she asks. He rolls his eyes.

"I can drive you home if you want," I offer while she slides her arms into her jacket.

"I wanted to walk actually," she says simply. "Thanks, though."

"You're not walking alone," I say immediately. "I'll walk with you."

"You don't have to do that, Harry. It's not far, I'll be fine."

"Carmen, let him go with you," Liam says. "You're not walking home by yourself, that's just stupid."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Fine, Dad. Let's go, Harry. I don't want him to yell at me for not cleaning my room."

I laugh and follow her out the door, first getting her bag from my car. She tries to take it but I refuse to let her carry it. We walk in silence for a few minutes while I rack my brain for something, anything to say to her. This never happens to me, I swear.

"Your friend was really good," she says suddenly. "Last night, at the poetry thing."

"Oh, Lily? Yeah, she was alright, wasn't she? I never go to that kind of stuff, but she convinced me."

She nods. "Yeah, I'm not sure why Liam wanted to go. We've never done something like that before."

"It's kind of fun, I guess. It's entertaining."

She laughs. "I'd say."

We walk in silence for another minute or two and I slide my hands into my pockets. I have strange urge to hold her hand and that would just be embarrassing, so I have to just not do that.

"How are your classes going?" I ask. We cross the last street before her house.

"They're alright. I'm taking this stats class and it sucks. I hate math and I'm terrible at it."

"Which class is that? The basic one for the behavioural sciences?" She nods. "Yeah, I took that one."

"How did you do?"

I shrug. "Alright, I guess. I got a 92."

"What!" she shouts. "Harry, will you tutor me?"

"What?" I ask, laughing a little. She turns into her driveway and I follow her to the front door.

"Really, I have a midterm next week and I'm so lost. I can't fail this class, it'll bring my entire GPA down. I would really appreciate it." We step up to the door and she turns to face me, nervousness in her eyes. "I mean, if you want. You don't have to. I could pay you-"

"No," I laugh, "You don't have to pay me. I'd love to help you."

"Really?" Of course, I always want to spend time with you but you never give me a fucking chance.

"Can I ask you something?" She nods and I continue carefully. "I thought...I mean no offence, but it seems like you didn't really want anything to do with me before and now..."

She sighs. "I know, I'm confusing as fuck." I laugh and she smiles kindly at me. "I don't know, Harry. When I said all those things I thought I didn't want to spend time with you..."

"And now?" I ask, trying to keep the hope from my voice.

"Now I'm not sure," she says quietly. She stares up at me and I step a little closer so I can rest the strap of her volleyball bag on her shoulder. "Thanks. For walking me home."

"Any time." I want her to explain what she feels about me, about us I guess, but I'm not going to act needy and make her spell it out for me right now. She really does seem unsure, to be fair. "Text me about stats?"

"Right," she says, nodding. "I'll do that."

"We can just meet at the library or at my house or here or something," I ramble. I just don't want to go home yet.

"Okay."

"Okay."

She laughs a little and shakes her head. "I think I can get in okay from here."

"Right," I say, nodding my head. She steps towards the door. "Goodnight Carmen."

I begin to turn around but she stops me when she steps towards me again. She lifts herself onto her tip toes and her lips press softly to my cheek.

"Goodnight," she says quietly, stepping backwards again. I stare at her as she disappears inside the house, completely frozen with shock and so much fucking excitement I could explode.

Notes

its slow i knoooooow
its going to get better, i promise! its got to be somewhat realistic ;P

anywho. please keep commenting :) i feel more motivated to update the story that gets more feedback, and right now that story is one way or another so ill be doing that one. unless i get tones of votes and comments ;)

thanks for reading :) i hope you guys like it.