Harry's POV

I wake up the next morning with a horrible pain in my neck, my head in an awkward position from falling asleep on the couch. Carmen is next to me, her leg hooked around mine and her arm across my stomach, head rested on my chest. I can't help but smile. This is definitely something I could get used to.

Leaving sucks. I don't even want to go back to my house, never mind going back to England for two and half weeks for break. I actually switched my flight to leave later because I didn't want to leave Carmen. Hearing that her Dad might not even come home makes me want to stay even more.

My phone starts vibrating on the table, but I just leave it. Hopefully she doesn't wake up from it. Instead I move a stray strand of hair out of her eyes so I can see her face, and when I do she smiles.

"You're staring," she says quietly. I smile.

"Maybe a little." My phone start vibrating again and she groans.

"Answer the damn phone." She pushes me away so I almost fall off the couch and reaches up to the back of it for the blanket that's there. I didn't really mean to sleep here last night, but I'm not complaining.

"Hello?"

"You didn't come home so I'm just making sure you're aware of your shift this morning."

"Shit, right. Okay thanks, Lou."

"If I have to drag my ass out of bed then so do you." He hangs up before I can respond and I laugh a little at how grumpy he is in the morning. Not an early riser, that one.

"What was that about?" Carmen asks. I still have over an hour before I have to be at the restaurant, so I lay down beside her again, pulling the blanket over me as well.

"I have to work later." My arm winds around her waist to pull her against me. "What are you doing today?"

"Studying," she says, sighing. She studies more than her brain can actually hold, I think. "There is something else I want to do, though."

"What's that?"

"It's a surprise." She smiles with her eyes closed. "Do you want to go to the coffee house with me later?"

"Your coffee house?" She nods. "Yeah, all right. I'm done work at two, I think."

"I can meet you at the restaurant then."

"Okay." I stand from the couch and she opens her eyes, scrunching up her face in displeasure. "Relax, I'm just going to bring you to your bed."

"Okay." She puts her arms up for me to pick her up and I can't help but laugh at how adorable she's acting today. When I lift her off the couch she stares at my chest. "I like these things on your chest."

"Swallows," I laugh.

"Sure. They're nice."

"Thank you."

I set her on the bed and she sighs, rolling a bit so she's facing away from me. I can't work in what I'm wearing now, so I have to go home to get ready unfortunately. On my hands and knees I lean over her.

"I have to go," I say quietly. She looks up at me. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah." She looks up at me expectantly and it makes me almost giddy; I know that look. She wants me to kiss her. So that's what I do. She sighs against my lips and even lift her head when I start to pull away, making me smile when the kiss ends. She falls back onto the pillow with another sigh and shuts her eyes, pulling the blankets around her.

"You're going to sleep all day, aren't you?"

She smiles. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Okay, but you better not stand me up. I won't be happy." She just laughs and I start walking out of the room. "See you later."

On the drive home I pull my phone out to return one of my Mum's fifty messages. I decide to call her instead, which would probably make her much happier anyway.

"Hi sunshine," she sings. "How are you?"

"I'm good Mum, how are you?"

"Oh I'm fine, just miss you. Anyway, I wanted to make sure you've got everything you need for your flight home," she says happily. She worries so much about her adult children.

"Yeah, I'm good. I told you I'm not coming back until the twenty-first, right?"

"Yes, you told me. Did your schedule change or something?"

"No, I just switched my flight." Don't ask why, don't ask why.

"You don't want to see you mother?" she teases, though I know it probably hurt her a little to know I shortened my trip.

"Mum, I need to ask you something."

"Way to dodge the question, Harry, but okay."

"I umm...could I bring someone?"

She pauses for a moment. "Home for Christmas?"

"Yeah," I agree quietly.

"Harry Edward Styles, do you have a girlfriend I don't know about?"

"No," I laugh. I don't really know what she is, really. "She's just a friend, but her Dad isn't coming home for Christmas so she'll be all alone." I know she said Liam invited her, but I don't want her to spend Christmas with him, I want her to spend it with me.

"Oh, that's terrible. Yes, of course she can join us. Will she be here for the whole two weeks?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't asked her yet." And the odds of her saying no are pretty damn high.

"Okay, well let me know if she's coming or not so I'm ready."

I laugh. "What do you need to be ready for?"

"You're such a boy, Harry. I need extra food for dinner, the guest room needs to be made up, extra-"

"Mum, you worry too much. Trust me, she won't expect much. As long as she has a bed. Plus, we always have way too much food at dinner anyway, so I'm sure you won't need extra."

"Well your sister is bringing someone as well, so I might."

"Gemma?" I ask, frowning. "She's got a boyfriend?"

"It would appear so."

"Hmm. Okay, Mum, I have to work so I've got to go. I'll let you know if she's coming, okay?"

"All right, love. Bye, Harry."

"Bye, Mum."

I hang up and walk into my house, showering right away and changing into all black for work. I don't like it when my sister has a boyfriend; it's not some need to protect her or something. She has a terrible habit of choosing the worst guys and she never sees it until they cheat on her or break one of our windows or something stupid like that.

---

Surprisingly enough, Carmen comes to the restaurant an hour before my shift is over. She walks in with Ivy and I head over to the reception area. She smiles when she sees me, and it makes my heart fucking race. So simply.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. She steps forward and kisses me quickly, and for some reason my fucking face turns red.

"I don't know if you know this, but they serve food here," she says, smirking at me. "We thought we'd have some."

"Okay," I say, rolling my eyes. "Come on."

"I'm going to say hi to Louis," Ivy says. She goes over to the drink station where he is and I stop in front of an empty booth in my section.

"Breakfast menus or lunch?" I ask. Instead of sitting she keeps standing in front of me. "What?"

"What?" she repeats. She smiles and looks at my chest. "I don't know."

I laugh a little and she shrugs. "Okay, then."

"Breakfast," she says, answering my question from before. She looks up at me again and rolls her eyes. "Really, Harry? The ponytail again?"

"It's got to be out of my eyes while I'm working," I explain.

"There are other ways to do that. Like cutting it."

"You're talking crazy." She slides into the booth and Ivy comes back and sits across from her. "I'll get the menus."

"I'll just have pancakes," Ivy says.

"French toast for me," Carmen says. Easy enough. "And coffee."

The whole time Carmen is there while I'm working I feel nervous, like she's going to be watching me and I have to impress her somehow. She probably isn't even paying attention to me, realistically. I almost dropped a whole tray of food, which consisted of five plates, so that would have been disastrous and completely embarrassing for so many reasons.

"We should all go out," Louis says to me randomly.

"We do that all the time."

"No, idiot. You and Carmen, me and Ivy."

"A double date?" I ask. He shrugs. "Gross. Shouldn't girls plan that?"

He rolls his eyes. "Who do you think asked me to ask you?"

I laugh. "Relax, Lou. It was a joke."

"Do I seem like I'm in a joking mood?"

"You're always in a joking mood."

I guess it would be kind of fun. I've been spending a lot of time with Carmen lately, and I should probably still do something with the guys. Louis especially; we grew up togethers, so out of the five of us we're probably the closest. After my shift is over Carmen and Ivy are just finishing up, so I slide in next to Carmen.

"Ivy said we should hang out with the four of us," she tells me, offering me a bite of french toast. Suddenly she's acting so...coupley? Girlfriendish? I don't know what the word is, but she's acting different. "I don't know if we can before break, though."

"We can always do it after," I say, shrugging.

The three of us talk for a bit and when me and Carmen leave everything seems brighter and my whole body feels light, almost airy. I have no idea what the fuck this girl is doing to me, but it's definitely a good thing. When we get to the coffee place she seems almost excited. She even takes my hand to drag me inside, and when we walk in I realize why that must be.

"Marla," I say, smiling at her. She grins at me and Carmen, and at our hands. Carmen takes me over to the bar and Marla steps out to talk to us. She looks like a proud grandmother, looking at the two of us like that.

"It appears that Marla knew both of us the whole time," Carmen says to me. "She's the one who told me to talk to you after...you know."

"It seems you worked things out," Marla says. She pinches my arm. "Glad to hear you didn't do the terrible things she said you did."

"You believed her!" I say dramatically, acting offended. Marla just rolls her eyes.

"Course not, Harry. Why do you think I told her to talk to you?"

"I'm kidding." I put my arm around her and Carmen just smiles. "Thanks."

"I'm actually glad you're here, Carmen. I talked to Simone and we don't want you coming in during your exams."

She frowns. "What? Why?"

"Because, darling. You work so hard all year and you deserve a break, to just focus on school."

"Marla, it's really fine-"

"My mind is made up," Marla says firmly. "Enjoy your break, dear."

---

"Harry."

I open my eyes and she raises her eyebrows. "What?"

"You're falling asleep again."

"I'm tired," I say, shrugging. "I want to ask you something, though."

"Okay." She keeps staring at her books and my heart pounds as I sit up next to her. My palms are clammy when I rub them together and when I don't say anything she turns around. "What?"

"I umm...I talked to my Mum today," I begin. "About you."

"What about me?"

"Well I...what you said yesterday made me think and..." I pause and push my fingers through my hair.

"Harry," she laughs. "Spit it out."

"I know you said Liam invited you to his place, but I was hoping...I wondered if maybe you wanted to come home with me. For Christmas."

Her eyes go wide and she just stares at me for a moment. This reaction is expected, I knew she wouldn't jump at the chance so it's not she's hurting my feelings by not saying yes right away. We're not even together so it probably does seem a bit strange.

"What did you tell her about me?" Carmen asks eventually.

"I told her that we're friends and that your Dad wouldn't be around so I wanted you to come with me," I explain. She bites her lip and stares at the blank television screen. I don't want to tell her it's okay if she says no, because I don't want her to say no. I want her to come with me because I don't want to leave her for that long.

"I don't know," she says quietly. "I said...I told Liam I would stay with him."

"He wouldn't care if you changed your mind."

"We both know he doesn't approve of you," she says, sitting back against the couch. I sit back as well, my shoulder over hers. "So he probably would care. He wouldn't stop me, though."

She's not shutting me down so...that's a good sign, right?

"Think about it," I offer. She looks up at me with shy eyes. "I leave on the twenty-first, so you can take some time to decide."

After a moment she nods and it takes effort to control my smile so she doesn't see how excited I actually am. When I think about how far we've come since we met, Carmen not even giving me the time of day, not letting me be around her for more than five minutes and being annoyed at everything I say, then her running from me so easily. Now we're talking, actually considering her coming home with me for the holidays.

Notes

i had to post this one cuz its a connecting one again :P

do you think she'll go with him?


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it makes me a little sad that no one has voted or subscribed lately :( i hope people are enjoying the story.