Carmen's POV

"Harry!" I yell, running up the path to the boys' house. "Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry!" I run through the door and kick my shoes across the room, waving to the people in the living room as I run for the stairs. "Harry!"

Where in the fuck is that boy! When I burst into his room he's not there and he's not in the bathroom so I run back downstairs to ask the rest of the group. They all just stare at me and I almost trip over myself when I get to the back of the couch.

"Where's Harry? Have you guys seen Harry?"

"I'm Harry." And there he is, sitting on the other couch with his hand raised. He laughs and stands up while I run over to him. "Which drugs are you on right now?"

"He's coming home!" I shout, throwing my arms around Harry's neck. He stumbles back a little and laughs, putting his arms around my back.

"That's great! But...who are we talking about?"

"My Dad!" I look at him again and he raises his eyebrows, my hands against his face. "My Dad's coming home."

"Baby, that's amazing," he says, squeezing my hips. "When does he get back?"

"I don't know, it'll probably take a few days but...but he's coming home."

"Hold the phone," Niall says. "Why is this such a big deal?"

"Because I haven't seen him since October. I'm so excited!" I kiss Harry and he laughs as I turn around and collect my shoes. "I need to go clean the apartment."

"What?" He follows me to the door. "Why?"

"Because I just need to, it has to be ready. And I need to restock the fridge and...and you definitely need to get all your shit out of my room because my Dad is not going to like seeing your boxers on my floor."

"Well why can't- wait, you're leaving now?" he asks, wrapping his fingers around my arm as I step onto the porch. I turn around to face him and he slides his other hand over my waist. "I thought you said it'd be a few days."

"Yeah, but if I don't keep myself busy then I'll just think about it too much and I'll go crazy," I explain. He gets a stupidly cute smirk on his face. "What."

"Nothing, it's just I can think of a better way to keep yourself distracted."

"Oh yeah?" I loop my arms around his neck. "What might that be?"

"It definitely involves more of my clothes on your floor," he says, leaning down to kiss me. As soon as his lips touch mine I slide one of my hands over his cheek, my second favourite place; it's hard to put my fingers in his hair when he's got it in a bun. And then his tongue is in my mouth and my body is tight against his and when I try to step back so I can breath he just steps with me until my back is against the post. I get a tiny breath in before his lips are back on mine and I really wish we weren't on his front porch.

"Carm- okay! Seriously?"

Harry stops kissing me and looks slightly to the right, a small smile on his face while he takes a deep breath. When I look over his shoulders at Liam and my face gets more flushed than it already was. I push Harry back a little and he chuckles.

"You know people can see you out here, right?" Liam asks.

"What's up?" I ask running my hand over my bottom lip.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay, what is it?"

"No like..." He looks at Harry. "Later."

"Oh. Okay, that's fine. Do you want to come to the apartment?" I ask. Harry looks at me and then I'm brought back to thirty seconds ago. "Oh."

"Can we get coffee tonight or something?" Liam asks, rolling his eyes with a small smile on his face. Apparently we're a little obvious.

"She'll be there," Harry says, taking my hand and walking down the stairs. I laugh and wave to Liam, promising to call him to make plans.

"Harry, you're not even wearing shoes!"

"I have some at yours." He opens the passenger door for me and I laugh as I climb in.

---

There's so many reasons that I'm in love with Harry. It's almost annoying to think that it didn't happen sooner because he's so amazing. We obviously have an amazing physical connection but there's so many other things that I love even more than that. He's nice. Like, the kind of nice that you barely see in people anymore. The other day we were driving home and there was an old woman walking home with grocery bags in both hands, so Harry pulled over and offered to drive her home. He cares about other people and he's gentle and amazing with kids and he's selfless and he's just amazing. Plus, he's so fucking adorable.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks, his fingertips tracing random patterns on my back.

"Just..." I sigh and place my hands on his chest to rest my chin there. "You."

"Me?" He smiles and tucks my hair behind my ear. "Why?"

"Because you're cute."

He rolls his eyes and I feel him bend his one leg next to mine. "I'm not cute."

"Well I think you are."

He smiles and I lay my cheek against his chest again, closing my eyes as his fingers brush through my hair. I love this. Laying here with him, not worrying about anything, just listening to his heartbeat. I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend my time with. Ever.

"Harry?" He hums in response and I look at him again, lifting myself further up his body to place my face above his. He takes a deep breath and smiles one of those heart-stoppingly beautiful ones. "When you go home and leave me here all alone and forget about me-"

"That's not going to happen," he laughs.

"Anyway, when you go home will you call me every day when you wake up?"

"It's a five hour difference, baby."

"I don't really care," I tell him. He laughs quietly and traces his fingers up and down my arms.

"Okay, I promise."

"And when you go to sleep."

"So wait, when I get up at nine and it's four in the morning here, you want me to call you?"

"Well...maybe just a text message. Or snapchat! Yeah, send me a snapchat so I can see this cute little face of yours when I wake up."

"Alright, I can do that."

"But definitely call when you go to sleep," I remind him. "That's not optional."

"If you think I'm only going to call you once a day you're sadly mistaken," he says quietly. "Maybe I'll just kidnap you and take you home with me."

"I have a job here," I remind him. Although going with him is a lot more appealing than the job I have with the university helping run the volleyball camps.

"I could pay you." His face scrunches up. "No, I can't pay you."

"Yeah, that'd be weird."

"You'll visit, right?"

"Well...I don't know. It's a lot of money and I don't know what my schedule's going to be like. I don't know if I'll be able to."

He sighs. "Carmen, you can't complain about being apart and not put any effort into trying to see me."

"Shut up," I mumble, leaning down to kiss him. I don't feel like arguing because I feel far too happy right now for that. His hands gently roam over my bare skin, as if he thinks I'll break if he's not careful. Whenever I kiss Harry it's like everything else disappears; he's too overwhelming to even try to think about anything else.

"Carmen. Your phone."

"Hmm?" He sighs as I start kissing down the side of his neck right below his ear.

"Your phone's ringing."

Normally that wouldn't be enough to make me stop but it could be my Dad or something related so I quickly roll away from Harry to try to find it in one of my pockets. When I do I put it on speaker so I can pull Harry's shirt over my head.

"Hello?"

"Carmen!"

"Oh my- Jayden?" Oh this is just weird. I quickly pull some pants on and walk out of the room, Harry laughing as I do. "Hi, Jayden."

"I'm having a art show!" He says loudly.

"You are?"

"Mummy helps me and we put all my pictures out so everyone can see them."

"And people are coming over to look at all of them?"

"Yeah!"

"That's so cool!" I exclaim. "I wish I could come."

"Mummy says send you pictures," he tells me. "Where Harry?"

"Harry is here with me," I tell him, the boy himself appearing out of my room in only his boxers. He stands in front of me where I lean against the kitchen counter, his body a little too close. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"Yeah!"

"He's so excited," I laugh, handing Harry the phone. He smiles and holds it to his ear, his thumb slowly tracing my bottom lip as he talks to Jayden. But I can't even pay attention to what he's saying to my little brother because he's not really dressed and he's too close.

"She'll facetime you later, okay?"

"Wait, no!" I hold out my hand for the phone but he hangs up before I can take it back. "Harry!"

"What?"

"I haven't talked to him in a week, Harry." He sets my phone down and lifts me onto the counter, spreading my legs so he can stand between them. "I miss him."

"Don't you miss me?"

"You're right here." I put my hands on either side of his neck and he wraps his arms around me to hug me against him.

"Well for my own ego you could just tell me that you miss me anyway," he says, rubbing the tip of his nose against mine. He seriously couldn't get any cuter and whenever I think about how he's going to be leaving me in a few weeks I just want to cry. We haven't had the most stable relationship, but I've spent so much time with him since September that I can't imagine not being able to see him.

"I'm going to," I mutter, closing my eyes as he kisses my forehead.

"Why do you keep bringing that up," he whispers. "I don't want to think about it."

"Because it scares me."

"Baby, nothing is going to change. Plus, I never said I was going back for the whole summer. If I don't at least go for a few weeks my mother might come here and kidnap me, but I never told you I was going to be gone for four months."

"Well why didn't-" My phone starts ringing again and I groan. People never call me, why now? But then I see Liam's name on the screen and I push Harry back slightly so I can talk to him. "Hello?"

"Hey, I know you're with Harry but I'm...I really need to talk to you."

"Is everything okay, you don't sound normal."

"Not really. Can you meet me at the football field?"

"Uh, yeah sure. Why there?"

"I'm already here."

"You're scaring me, Liam. What's going on?" I ask, pushing Harry back more so I can get down. "Are you okay?"

"Just come. Please."

"I'll be there in ten minutes." When I hang up I start redressing in my own clothes. Harry sits on my bed. "Can you drive me to the football field?"

"Sure. Is Liam okay?"

"I dont know."

Notes

so im anticipating like...maybe five more chapters? thats kinda what im thinking.
anyway. hows life?