Stars in Your Eyes

Shay woke up with the thought of Harry floating through her mind. Did he really kiss her the night before? Was it a dream or was it real life? She laid there staring at her ceiling as the sunlight grew more vibrant inside the confines of her room. She was up entirely too early for her liking on a Saturday morning, but she couldn’t sleep when all she could think about was him.

When Shay heard voices in the hallways, she decided to roll out of bed, putting her robe on over her tank top and shorts before she walked out of her room. She felt anxiety and awkwardness bubble up in the pit of her stomach at the thought of seeing Harry. She was scared to get confirmation that the kiss actually happened. She didn’t know what she would say to him or how she would act around him. To be completely honest, she knew they shouldn’t have kissed and she knew she shouldn’t let it happen again. There were lines that shouldn’t be crossed – especially because he was Louis’ best friend and he was a year and a half older than her. But even though she knew that, she couldn’t escape the excitement that just the thought of Harry brought to her. She really, really liked kissing him.

What was it he said to her? Something along the lines of ‘I’ve wanted to do that for a while’. Just the thought of that was enough to completely rile her. He wanted to kiss her for a while? It didn’t make any sense to her. What was a while? She’d only started noticing how hot he was a few weeks before. Seriously, how long was a while in Harry Styles’ world?

Walking past the spot in the hallway where they kissed sent a shiver throughout her body. She smiled to herself as she slid her fingertips against the drywall. Ugh. She really needed to stop. She felt like a stupid little girl.

Shay quickly took the stairs down, heading into the kitchen expecting to see her mother’s face, but instead she was met with two very sleepy teenage boys shoving cereal into their faces. Shay froze immediately in the doorway of the kitchen, staring into Harry’s eyes. He stared back as he chomped on the mouthful of cereal he just shoveled in, before his lips turned up into a smile just for her. She was much too nervous to smile back, so she quickly turned to the refrigerator, opening it up. Oh God. His smile. Was that a confirmation that last night really happened? Shay pretended to dig around in the fridge as she heard someone approach from behind her. She tensed up immediately, thinking it was Harry. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Louis head to the sink with his cereal bowl. Relaxing at the sight of her brother, she closed the fridge just as he turned toward the kitchen door and headed out, leaving her all alone with Harry.

“Morning, Shay,” Harry said in his too-deep-for-a-teenager voice as he smiled brightly at her.

“Hi,” she squeaked out.

He stood up quickly, pushing in the stool he was sitting on before walking to the sink himself. She caught the look he sent her as he checked her out and it sent a flush of excitement through her. When he turned toward the sink, she took the opportunity to tie up the front of her robe. If she was going to try to resist him, she would probably have to dress a little bit more modestly around him, because she didn’t think she could handle him looking at her like that again.

Seconds later, Harry turned toward her and leaned against the sink as his eyes watched her.

“You’re acting a bit odd,” he said matter-of-factly. Shay stared at him for a few moments like a deer in headlights.

“Am I?” She croaked out.

“You are,” he said with a nod.

“I… I don’t know,” she said, avoiding his eyes as she looked down at the floor.

“Is it because of last night?” He asked. Shay’s eyes quickly snapped up to meet his as a wave of anxiety flooded her.

Harry smiled immediately at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. There was her confirmation. It happened. It most definitely happened. Harry Styles kissed her last night.

“Good morning, you two,” Shay’s mother said as she strutted into the kitchen, breaking Shay and Harry out of their stare down.

“Morning, Jay,” Harry said, smiling warmly at her.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she said, smiling back at him as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Morning, Mom,” Shay said, feeling awkward that it was her mother who cut the sexual tension in the room.

“Hi, doll,” she replied back, sending Shay a smile before she looked at Harry and then at Shay again.

“Harry, come on!” They heard Louis shout.

“You’re being summoned,” Jay said to Harry, taking a sip of her hot coffee.

Harry let out a laugh as he moved away from the kitchen counter, giving Shay a quick smile before he headed out of the room.

“What was that about?” Jay asked as she gave her daughter a quirk of her eyebrow.

“What?” Shay choked out.

“You and Harry… smiling at each other,” she pointed out.

“Uh, he was just telling me something that happened…” Shay said, her words trailing off, hoping her mom wouldn’t ask what it was.

“Hmm,” she hummed, narrowing her eyes at Shay.

“What?” Shay questioned through a scoff.

“Seems weird,” she commented, shaking her head slightly.

“He’s weird,” Shay scoffed, trying to play off the way she was feeling.

“You’re both weird,” Jay chuckled as she began to make some toast for herself.

“Can you make me some too?” Shay asked, smiling pleasantly at her. Jay gave her a playful eye before she nodded at her.

“Thanks, mommy,” Shay said, kissing her cheek.

“You’re welcome, daughter,” she said, smiling amusingly at her.

After her mother made her toast, she took it up to her room. Louis and Harry already left the house not long after, so she felt a little less awkward without Harry roaming around.

For the rest of the weekend it was pretty quiet at her house. There were no boys kissing her in the middle of the night. There were no green eyes staring her down, making her feel things. By Monday, Shay pretty much pushed the incident to the back of her mind. She decided if it were to happen again, she would just play it cool instead of being totally awkward around him. And then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to let it happen again. Harry is Louis’ friend. Harry is Louis’ friend. Harry is Louis’ friend. The words went ‘round and ‘round in her head until she was almost completely convinced that she’d most definitely push him away next time. Almost.

The only time Shay saw Harry on Monday was when Louis came up to her at her locker asking to borrow money for a soda. Harry was flanking behind him with his green eyes perfectly trained on her. She tried to concentrate on what she was doing as she dug in her purse for her wallet, but it seemed like just being in Harry’s presence was jumbling up her brain.

“Shay, what are you doing? Your wallet is right there,” Louis said, reaching into her bag, pulling it out.

“Oh. Ha,” Shay said awkwardly as she watched Louis open it up.

“You pushed it around like eight times trying to find it,” Louis grumbled, taking the two dollars out that he requested.

“I didn’t see it,” Shay said, blushing as she looked up meeting Harry’s eyes.

He was smirking at her, which didn’t help her any. She shook her head, looking away from him, feeling absolutely embarrassed.

“Thanks,” Louis said, handing her back her wallet.

“Sure,” she said quietly, dropping it back into her bag.

“Bye, Shaylynn,” Harry said, smiling at her as he walked off with Louis. He really needed to stop saying her name like that. It was making her head spin.

On Tuesday, Shay stayed after school for a bit to talk to her biology teacher before she walked home. By the time she arrived, Louis was already home with a whole slew of friends, playing video games in the living room, being loud and obnoxious.

“No Dr. Phil today,” Harry told her with a wide smile just for her.

“Ha. You’re funny,” she scoffed, narrowing her eyes at him.

“I thought so,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“What is with you two and Dr. Phil?” Louis asked, look over at them quickly before his eyes went back to the TV screen to watch the game he was playing with his friend Niall.

“Shay loves watching Dr. Phil,” Harry joked, nudging his elbow into Shay’s arm.

“I hate you,” Shay said, glaring playfully at Harry.

“Oh, Shay-Shay. Don’t be like that,” Harry chuckled.

“Don’t call me Shay-Shay… ever again,” Shay said, feigning offense. Harry laughed out loud, which was literally music to Shay’s ears. She loved that she was able to make him laugh like that.

Shay scanned the room to see a bunch of familiar faces – all boys Louis had been friends with for years. She supposed there were some advantages to having a brother in the 12th grade. It meant she pretty much knew all the cute senior boys and they knew her. But getting to know them outside of school in a group setting just made her realize how stupid boys could actually be. It was one thing to hang out with Louis and Harry and enjoy herself, but when they got together with their posse, it was just overbearing sometimes.

Deciding she had her fill of testosterone, Shay turned out of the room and headed up the stairs to deposit her backpack in her bedroom before she came back out to make herself a snack.

“So we meet again… in this hallway,” Shay heard Harry say and her vision snapped up to his, her eyes wide as her heart beat sped up.

“Did you follow me up here?” Shay asked quietly, staring at him.

“Bathroom,” he said, pointing his thumb at the door.

“There’s a bathroom down by the living room,” she pointed out. But she knew he knew that. He spent a lot of time in their house over the years.

“Liam just went in there,” he said with a shrug.

“Oh. Okay,” she said quietly, not really believing him since he made no move to actually go into the bathroom.

“You seem weird,” Harry said, eyeing her.

“What? That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Shay scoffed, sending him a sideways smirk.

“You know what I mean. You’re acting weird,” he told her. She sent him an odd, questioning look.

“You keep telling me that,” she pointed out.

“You’re not acting like the Shay I know,” he said, smirking sweetly at her.

“How should I be acting?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“I don’t know…” He said quietly, shrugging his shoulder.

“Well, Harold. I believe we’re at a stand-still,” Shay joked, putting her hands on her hips.

“That’s more like it,” Harry said, smiling widely at her.

“What?” She asked, furrowing her brows.

“You’re joking around with me. You called me Harold. You’re not ignoring me,” he explained.

“I don’t ignore you,” she said, taking real offense to the fact that he thought she did.

“You ignore me a little,” he said, holding up his index finger and thumb a millimeter apart.

“I don’t mean to,” Shay said quietly, looking down at her feet, truly feeling bad that he thought she did.

“Shay…” Harry breathed. Shay looked up to meet his eyes again and found him stepping closer to her.

“Harry,” she squeaked out, ready to tell him they couldn’t get any closer.

“Does it bother you that I kissed you?” He asked lowly, making sure no wandering ears could hear.

“Uh…” She stammered, not sure of what to say.

It was bothering her, but she could most certainly say it wasn’t bothering her in a bad way. It was only bothering her because as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get the kiss out of her mind. The thought of his lips on hers played over in her head on a constant loop, making it hard for her to concentrate on anything else.

“You can tell me the truth,” he said, leaning himself lazily against the wall.

“No. It doesn’t bother me,” she told him, looking down at her hand that she was nervously picking at.

“Good,” he breathed lowly. Shay’s eyes came up to meet his again as another wave of anxiety rushed through her.

“Why did you kiss me?” She asked boldly, feeling uncomfortable under his lustful stare.

“I already told you,” he said as the corner of his mouth curled up into a half smile. Shay stared at him, waiting for a memory refresher.

“Because I wanted to,” he said, giving her a full genuine smile.

“Oh,” she said as she smiled bashfully, looking down at her hands again.

Seconds later, they heard voices coming toward the stairway, near where they stood. That was when Harry took her hand and pulled her inside of the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

“Harry, what—” She protested, but got cut off as his lips crashed into hers.

Oh my god.

His hands gripped onto her face and his mouth dominated hers in the best way possible. She felt her back press against the wall and Harry press himself against her. She didn’t even have enough time to tell him it wasn’t a good idea. She was certain the words would never come out, not with his tongue in her mouth. Not with the way she was melting into him. It was almost too much, but she didn’t want to stop. It was maddening bliss.

The two of them didn’t break apart until they were completely breathless. Harry leaned his forehead against hers as their chests heaved from lack of oxygen.

“What… was… that?” Shay breathed.

“It was something,” Harry said lowly, with a light chuckle.

“Mm-hmm,” Shay said, licking her lips.

Harry pulled back from her just enough to look into her eyes.

“I like kissing you,” he told her, causing her insides to wrench.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, pressing her hand against her forehead as she turned away from. How the hell was she supposed to tell him they shouldn’t be kissing if he said things like that?

“What?” He asked.

“This is just so crazy,” she said, turning back to look at him.

“Not so crazy,” he retorted with a shrug.

“You’re my brother’s best friend,” she reminded him.

“So,” Harry said, looking at her like it didn’t matter.

“Isn’t it weird?” She asked, knowing it was weird for her.

“Not really,” he said with a shrug. She didn’t really know what to say.

“Is it weird for you?” He asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

“Well, yeah,” she said honestly.

“Bad weird?” He asked.

“I… I don’t think so. I don’t know,” she said.

Her head was absolutely spinning. All she knew was she wanted him to kiss her like that again. And again and again.

“You can be honest with me, Shay,” Harry prodded.

“I liked it,” she told him, looking up into his eyes again as her cheeks flushed hot.

“Me too,” he said smiling widely before he leaned down to leave a peck on her lips.

“HAROLD! Where the hell—” They heard Louis call from down the stairs.

“Shit,” Shay gasped, gripping tightly to Harry’s arms to keep him at arms-length. Harry just gave her an amusing look.

“Anyone know where Harry went?” They heard Louis ask.

“I should go back down there before he comes up here,” Harry whispered.

“Probably,” she agreed, letting his arms go.

Harry reached up, grabbing her face again. His lips came down soft and slowly, kissing her more gently then before. Seriously, oh god.

“I’ll see you later, Shay,” he breathed, smiling at her.

“Yeah,” she croaked out right before he slipped out of the bathroom, leaving her in there alone.

It took her a few moments to wrap her head around what just happened. But what it came down to was, she was pretty sure she and Harry just started something. She wasn’t sure what, but she couldn’t wait to find out.

Notes