Harry's POV

"Where's Zayn?" I ask, walking up to the boys that are already kicking a ball around in the park.

"He's not coming," Niall says. "He's hanging out with what's-her-name."

"Mel," Liam says, rolling his eyes. "You have to learn our girlfreinds' names sometime, Niall."

He shrugs. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

"At least you remember Carmen's name," I add in, smiling. Everyone looks at me weird.

"Yeah, but I actually like Carmen, she's cool," Niall says. Liam punches his arm. "Easy! Come on, Carmen plays sports and video games and she's so chill. She's not all girly and shit like the other two."

"Who says I'm not girly and shit?"

I turn around and can't help the goody smile that spreads on my face while Carmen walks up to us. She stops beside me and crosses her arms. She's got her hair in the low ponytail she usually wears for volleyball with a headband to keep it out of her eyes. She's also wearing really short jogging shorts and a t-shirt with USC volleyball written across it.

"Wrong sport," I point out, nodding to her shirt. She looks down and eyes me suspiciously.

"Quit staring at my boobs, Harry," she says. She smiles at me and walks past to where the others are and I just laugh and shake my head. After the other night I got endless teasing from the boys, and I'm sure today isn't going to help that. Frankly, I really don't care. I'm going to take the time I get to try and show her that we'd be good together.

When she showed up at the house on Thursday I was shocked, to say the least. I know we had talked about me helping her out with her stats class, but I didn't think she'd actually come over to do it with me. And then she stayed and watched the movie and I feel like a fucking teenage girl saying this, but she actually let me hold her hand. It's so minimal, but so fucking exciting for me. She's not acting like I annoy her or repulse her anymore, she's actually letting me try. And I love it.

"We have an odd number," Niall says, "So, Carmen, you can have three on your team. I'll be nice."

She scoffs. "Don't do me any favours, Horan."

He raises his eyebrows and we all laugh a little. "Alright, then. Carmen and Louis against me, Harry and Liam."

"No chance," Louis says, high-fiving Carmen. "You guys are never going to win."

"That's really impressive smack-talk," Niall calls back.

"Shut up and give us the ball," Louis says. Niall kicks the ball over to them and Louis talks quietly to Carmen, strategizing I guess. Apparently we're taking this seriously.

"Okay, so....let's not let them win, okay?" Niall says to us. "So Harry, try not to keep the ball for too long."

"Hey! I'm not that bad," I defend. They both roll their eyes. "Guys!"

"Ready?" Carmen calls to us.

---

"She's fucking good," Niall says quietly to me. "Don't tell her I said that, though."

"Carmen! Niall says-" He covers my mouth with his hand and Carmen just laughs whle her and Louis take a drink. I don't even know how long we've been playing, but it's been really fun. And Niall is right, Carmen is really good at football. I didn't think she'd be bad since she's obviously athletic, but I didn't expect this.

"Okay, next goal wins," Liam decides. "I have to head home after this."

"Alright," Carmen says. She runs for the ball and passes immediately to Louis, who gets around Liam and then passes forward to Carmen. She goes up against Niall with some pretty fancy footwork and ends up getting around him. I take my chance to get the ball from her and when I get in front of her she smiles at me.

"No chance, Styles," she says, rolling the ball between her feet.

"We'll see."

She laughs and I jog backwards while she moves forward, waiting for her to make a move. Then she turns around and tries to cut across, but I wrap my arms around her stomach and pick her up off the ground. She screams and laughs while I spin her away from the ball.

"Harry!" She curls her knees up a bit and hits my arms. "Put me down, you're cheating!"

"Oh sorry, is this not allowed?" I ask. She just laughs and when I set her down she goes after the ball again. "No, don't go over there!"

I pick her up again and she just keeps laughing, a light, happy sound that makes my chest feel lighter somehow. I feel like a genuine laugh doesn't come from her often enough, and when I get to hear it I feel way happier.

"You suck," she says, pushing at my chest jokingly when I set her down.

"Pushing isn't allowed," I scold, wagging a finger at her. She looks to the right and suddenly takes off past me, calling Louis' name. I run after her but I'm not quick enough and by the time I get to her she's already scoring.

"Look at that," she says, her hands on her hips while she walks back towards me. "You cheat and I still win. What are the odds?"

"Don't get cocky," I say, still smirking a little even though we lost. She laughs and walks over to Niall, jumping on his back and rubbing her fist against his hair. He swats at her and when she gets down he throws her over his shoulder. My hands ball into fists and I watch from where I stand, wondering why the fuck he's doing this when I'm right here.

"I'm throwing you in the pond!" he says.

"Niall!" She kicks her legs and hits at his back. "Niall, don't you fucking dare!"

"This is what the winner gets, did I not mention that?"

Carmen looks over at me. "Harry, help!" She starts laughing, but she doesn't sound like she's too fond of going in the pond, and honestly the fact that she's asking me and not Liam is enough to make me not angry at Niall anymore.

I laugh and run up behind them so I can walk behind Niall. "Problem?"

She hangs limply. "If I go in that fucking pond I'll never come over again."

"I'll take that chance," Niall says. She looks at me with raises eyebrows. I don't really want to take that chance.

"All right," I say, reaching for her hands. She smiles and takes mine firmly in hers, and I stop so I can pull her right over his shoulder. Niall wasn't expecting it, though, and when he gets a good grip on her it's not until her knees.

"Niall, let go!" she screams, still laughing. She puts her hands on my shoulders and kicks lightly at him, and when he does finally release her I'm not ready for it. I fall backwards, Carmen landing directly on top of me.

"Well hi," I murmur. She laughs and puts her hands on my chest, but she doesn't move. "This is quite forward of you."

She rolls her eyes and sits up on my waist, proceeding to climb off me to stand. She reaches her hands down to mine and helps me up.

"Thanks for that," she says. She turns to Niall. "And I hate you."

He laughs and hooks an arm around her neck. "Come on, I wasn't actually going to throw you in."

"Whatever." She pushes against his chest so he moves away from her, but she's still smiling. We walk back to where Louis is, though Liam has already left. The park is close to our house so we all just walked here.

"Harry." She slows her pace so she can walk beside me while the other two walk in front of us on the sidewalk. "Can you still come over?"

"Yeah of course," I say. "I'll just go shower first and then I'll be there."

"Yeah, you smell pretty bad. Can't you have you in my room like that."

She laughs as I shake my head at her. She nudges me with her shoulder and I feel like maybe I have a shot with this girl. We studied together Thursday and Friday, but not yesterday because she had to go out with the team after the game. Although I have to say, she looked a little disappointed about that when I saw her afterward. Obviously I was as well, but I guess I can't expect to see her every day.

"So do you know Liam's girlfriend?" I ask her. She shrugs.

"Sort of. Liam likes to try to make us hang out, but we don't really have anything in common. I try for his sake, but she's really high maintenance and I hate that."

I laugh. "Yeah, that's what we said too. Liam likes that, though."

"Yeah," she agrees. "He likes to take care of people."

"So you don't like her?"

"It's not that I don't like her, I just don't have anything to talk to her about. I could never have a conversation with her if Liam wasn't there. I don't think she likes me, though."

"Why's that?"

She laughs a little. "I think she feels like I'm a threat."

"You mean with Liam?" I ask, completely surprised. They're close, sure, but Liam and Carmen give off more of a sibling vibe than anything else.

"I know, it's insane. But whatever, I don't really care. I just try to be nice for Liam. What do you think of her?"

I shrug. "She's alright. I haven't spent much time with her, but she seems...spoiled. High maintenance, as you put it." I smile at her and she rolls her eyes playfully. "Liam really cares for her, though, so we play nice."

"What's Zayn's girlfriend like?"

"She's basically the female version of him," I say, laughing a little. "They're the same person pretty much."

"That's funny. I wonder if I know her."

"Her name is Mel, she's an art major. So is Zayn."

We walk up to our house and the other guys go inside. "Okay, I'll see you at my house?" she says to me.

I nod and we stand there awkwardly for a minute, just looking at each other. I have a ridulously strong urge to kiss her, but I don't know if that's what she wants. She's just staring at me, so maybe she does, but I don't want to go for it and then have her shut me down again There's only so much a guy can take..

"Right. Okay. See you," she stutters. I can feel that my face reads confusion when I smile, and she turns and walks away before I can say anything else..

I watch her walk away for a minute before I finally walk up to the house. I want to walk her home, but I'm going to be there soon anyway so I don't have a good excuse. But maybe with the way things are now I wouldn't need an excuse.

Things are different between us. We're friends now, for sure, but there's something else there too. I hope she feels the same way. There's a lot more flirting going on now, and we're really comfortable with each other after Thursday. That night opened up something else for us, and all the hostility that I felt from her for the first while I knew her is gone. She's still got her edge, but that's Carmen and I like that she's a little rough around the edges. I hope I'm not the only one that feels like we're getting somewhere.

---

After I'm cleaned up I head over to Carmen's house. There aren't any cars in the driveway and when I knock no one answers, so I think it's safe to say that we're alone. When I walk in I can hear her shower running, so I bravely let myself into her room and sit at her desk, picking out one of the many novels piled there. I had no idea she liked to read so much.

I've read the first five pages of one called City of Lost Souls when I hear the bathroom door open. She walks in, scrunching her hair with her towel to dry it and when she sees me she jumps.

"Sorry," I laugh, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine. What's that?"

"It's yours." I look at the cover. "City of Lost Souls."

She laughs. "I'll bet you're a little confused." She sits on her bed.

"A little. I think I'm missing something."

"Yeah, that's the fifth book in the series," she explains. "The new one just came out but I forget how that one went, so I'm rereading it."

"Is it good?" Maybe I'll have to read it.

"Yeah, it's amazing. They made a movie on the first one, but it sucked. The books are just incredible."

"I didn't know you liked to read," I say, moving to sit next to her on the bed. She shrugs.

"When I have time. Which doesn't happen very often. Ivy actually recommended this series to me a few weeks ago."

"Wait." I hold up one finger. "You read five books in a few weeks?"

She laughs nervously. "Yeah, books don't take long for me."

"What's not long?" I ask.

"Umm...a day. Sometimes two."

"What!"

"I can't stop! I'll literally read all day until it's done because I can't find a good place to stop and I have to know what happens," she explains quickly. I laugh and she stands to get a hairbrush. "Don't laugh! I know I'm a nerd, but I thought my skills today would balance it out."

I nod. "Yeah, you're definitely a lot better than I thought you would be."

"Well, thanks," she says, rolling her eyes. But she smiles, so I know she's not offended.

"You had time to learn to play soccer like that when you spend all your time on a volleyball court?"

She shrugs and runs the brush through her hair. "I played when I was a kid and for fun in high school and stuff."

"You're just naturally good at everything, aren't you?"

"Not stats."

I laugh and she smiles widely at me. "Right. I forgot."

"So-"

There's a knock on her front door and she looks at me with a furrowed brow. "Don't look at me, it's not my house."

She rolls her eyes and sets the brush down, shaking her fingers through her hair to loosen it up. "I'll be right back."

She walks out of the room and I wait for her to get to the door. If there's another guy at the door I'll probably lose it. As soon as I feel like I'm getting somewhere, there would be another fucking guy.

I suddenly hear her scream and I practically fall on my face when I jump off the bed to run towards the front of the house. When I get there Carmen has her arms wrapped so tightly around a man's neck he probably can't breathe. But I don't think he's a threat to me.

He sees me then, and I can see he looks confused. I can hear that Carmen is crying and I'm trying really hard to make sense of this situation.

"Angel, who is that?"

Carmen releases him and wipes under her eyes while she looks at me.

"Harry," she says. She waves me over and puts her hand around the man's waist. "Harry, this is my Dad. Dad, this is my friend, Harry."

He holds his hand out to me to shake and I do. This is her father? I'm not fucking ready for this, I'm usually good with parents but I was not expecting to meet him tonight. I'm wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt, so he can definitely see my tattoos and fathers don't usually go for the whole tattoo thing. I'm nervous as fuck.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," I say when I shake his hand. His stern expression has yet to soften and when I look at his chest I see something peculiar. I think he's in the army. Carmen is still crying, but she looks up at him with expectation in her eyes. He puts his arm around her shoulders.

"You too," he says. "Carmen hasn't mentioned you."

"I would have if you'd called me," she says, though there's no attitude or malice in her tone. She sounds so happy.

"Well let's go out for dinner and you can fill me in on everything I missed," he suggests. She nods enthusiastically and wipes under her eyes again. He looks at me and I can see the skepticism. "If you'd like to join us..."

I look at Carmen and she nods, a huge smile on her face. "Yeah, you should come with us."

"I don't want to intrude," I say. I really want to spend time with her tonight, but I don't want to take away time from their relationship. They obviously don't see each other a lot.

"No, I want you to come," she says. "Please?"

"Yeah, okay," I agree. She could ask me to do anything and I would.

"Okay, let me just go get ready," she says. She leans up to kiss her Dad on the cheek. "Harry, can I just talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." I avoid her father's eyes when I follow her to her room. I don't know what he'd think about that. When we get inside she closes the door.

"I'm sorry," she says, "I know we planned to study-"

"No don't worry about that," I say right away. She smiles and I can see she's trying not to cry. "So, he's...military? I had no idea, Liam never said anything."

"Yeah, he is. I haven't seen him since the summer." She pauses and bites her lip for a moment. "Liam doesn't exactly know, so could you not tell him?"

"Yeah, okay. Are you sure you want me to come tonight? Don't feel like you have to invite me, I really don't mind."

"I want you to come," she says. "He'll be here for at least a few days, so I have some time."

"You sure?" She nods. "Okay, if you want me to go then I will."

She surprises me by stepping up to me and wrapping her arms around me. "I really do."

"Then it looks like we're going out for dinner."

Notes

looool oh boy. dinner with dad. how is that going to go

pleeeeease keep commenting guys :) i love when theres lots of votes and stuff, but the comments motivate me way more :)

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