Lover (H.S)

Chapter 1: Friday

Harry was running late. Really late actually. He did have a reputation of being fairly late to his college classes, but he didn't think he has ever been quite this late. Last night's party had definitely been a mistake. Damn Niall and his Irish partying tendencies. Niall was Harry's best mate. They had met on their first day of freshman year at university and had immediately clicked. Their friendship after that first day had been natural. Niall was a good lad; really, he was. However, he did tend to go a little bit too hard during parties. He drank relentlessly; according to him, he didn't get drunk as easily since he was Irish.

Harry was cursing Niall in his hungover brain as he quickly got ready for class. He'd have to skip taking a shower, but he tried to make up for that by spraying deodorant. A ton of deodorant, to be specific. He grabbed a granola bar on his way out, and quickly made his way to his car. He was hungover, exhausted and his head hurt a little too much for him to actually be ale to drive effortlessly. But of course, taking the public bus would take longer, and he couldn't afford to be later now, could he?

Harry ignored the pounding in his head as he revved the engine of his car and stepped on the gas. Thankfully, his university wasn't too far. It was just a ten-minute drive, but only if traffic was sparse. Fortunately, traffic wasn't too much of a bother today and he made it to university fast enough. There was just one open spot in the parking lot, and that too, some other car was already making its way towards it. Oh, hell no. Harry quickly manoeuvred his car with ease and slid into the last parking spot. The other car braked suddenly, in order to avoid crashing into his car. The window of the other car was open, and he could clearly hear the driver cussing him out as he stepped out of his car, his bag on his shoulder.

The other driver was a girl. She was rather gorgeous; her hair was the colour of the finest honey from the best honeycombs, and her eyes were an absolute gorgeous shade of grey. They reminded Harry of the melancholic grey clouds which presented themselves right before a perfectly chilling storm. Not that the girl's eyes held any hint of sadness or melancholy or anything of such sort. No, the only emotion Harry could make out from her eyes were annoyance, frustration and maybe a hint of anger.

As much as he would like to stare at her, and maybe even get her name and number, Harry was super late to class, and he had to get there immediately. He shot the girl an apologetic look before going about on his merry way.

Fast forward a few hours later, and Harry was ready to be done with classes for the day. Unfortunately, he still had one last class left. Political science. Sometimes he really wonders why he ever decided to take such a boring class like political science. Of all the classes he could take, he had to go and pick this one. Jesus Christ. It wasn't so bad, he supposed. At least, the professor was kind of cool.

Harry got to his last class of the day early enough to secure a decent seat by the windows. He was just in the process of getting his textbook out when he heard an annoyed voice speak next to him, "Oh, great! As if this day couldn't get any worse. Now I have to sit with this guy of all people. Just the cherry on top, isn't it?" Huh. Quite a lovely British accent, Harry noticed.

He looked up to see who the speaker was, and to his utmost surprise, it was the girl was earlier today morning. Yeah, the other driver. Harry moved his seat so she could sit next to him, "Oh, sorry? Uh..." She snapped as she flopped down ungracefully onto her seat, "Don't bother. You have annoyed me enough for one day."

Harry spoke incredulously, "This is the first time I've ever said a word to you." She glared at him, "Yeah, and? You don't need to utter actual words to be annoying. I guess you do have a talent after all."

Harry blinked; okay this girl was literally a stranger to him was rather hostile. He started, "Is this about the parking?"

The girl mocked him, "Is this about the parking? Of course, it is! Do you know how late I was to class because of you? I saw the spot first; I should have totally been able to park there and get to class in time. But no, you had to be an asshole and steal my spot. I had to spend the next twenty minutes trying to find a spot!"

Harry winced, "I'm sorry about that. In my defence, I was really late to class, so..."

She scoffed, "That's no excuse. But whatever. Please just refrain from even looking at me for the next fifty minutes, okay? Thanks."

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he just kept quiet. Okay, to be fair, her annoyance was justified, but she was being way too hostile than necessary. Maybe she was having a bad day or something. He shrugged it off; he just had to tolerate her presence for fifty minutes. Then he could go back to his flat. Sometimes, he really wonders why he decided to not live on campus. It'd have been easier to get to class on mornings like today if he lived on campus. But eh, no use thinking of that now.

For the next forty-five minutes, everything was going great. The professor droned on about some government, and Harry made his notes, successfully ignoring the girl next to him. She ignored him as well, and it was pretty great. But of course, that wouldn't do, now would it? The professor decided to drop a bomb shell on them during the last five minutes. Apparently, they had to pair up to write an essay. The topic of the essay was quite easy. They had to choose a country and write about its government and constitution and how the newer amendments have helped in improving the government system and in maintaining peace within the country.

No, the topic wasn't the problem. The whole partners business was. The professor made himself very clear when he said that everyone had to pair up with their desk partner. And of course, Harry's desk partner for the day was the driver girl. The look of pure horror on her face when she realized she'd have to work with Harry would have been quite priceless that is, if Harry wasn't horror-stricken as well. She gaped at the professor and Harry alternatively before finally resigning to the fact that she had no other option.

Harry started speaking, an apologetic undertone to his voice, "So, since we're going to be partners, I guess an introduction is in order?"

The girl clenched and unclenched her fists before taking a deep breath, "Right. I'm Cornelia Brooks."

Harry couldn't stop an amused chuckle from escaping his lips, "Cornelia?"

That was obviously the wrong thing to say. The girl, Cornelia, glared at him, "What's wrong with my name?"

Harry shook his head quickly, "Nothing! Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just... Cornelia as in like Cornelia Street?"

She looked at him suspiciously, "You listen to Taylor Swift?"

Harry shrugged, "Who doesn't? Lover is my favourite album. I guess, we aren't walking Cornelia Street anytime soon, huh?"

Cornelia glared at him again, "We are not doing anything, except writing our damn essay. And speaking of that, you still haven't introduced yourself. Get on with it; you're wasting my time."

There was no winning with her, was there? Harry sighed, "Harry Styles."

Cornelia scoffed, "Ha, even your name sounds pretentious. And what even is that shitload of deodorant you're wearing? Jeez."

Harry gaped at her for a few senses before he regained his senses. He was going to excuse his actions, but then he decided against it. She wasn't worth it. So, instead, he just rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Do you want to swap phone numbers to talk about the essay?"

Her refusal came quick, "Absolutely not! I am not giving my phone number to some pretentious jerk like you."

Harry controlled his temper, "Okay, well how else do you suggest we communicate for our essay?" He added with a snort, "With emails?"

Cornelia's eyes lit up, "That's actually a good idea! Wow, who knew? You do have brain cells after all."

Harry's jaw dropped, "You can't actually be serious. Who even uses email anymore?"

Cornelia sounded suspiciously chipper as she said, "I do! And I'm totally serious. Yes, tell me your email."

Harry stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. She stared right back, her stance completely serious. Harry sighed to himself; there was really no winning with her. In the next couple of minutes, Harry ranted his email address to her, and she quickly sent him and period symbol, so he could have her email address as well. Yes, a period symbol. A full stop? Whatever it's called, she sent him a single dot. Not even hello. Jesus Christ.

Once that was done, she just walked off; not wanting to be in Harry's presence more than necessary. Harry just sighed to himself before he started walking to his car. It looks like he'll be sighing to himself a lot when he's around Cornelia. Fun.