Broken

Payno (Clark)

I tug at the red dress, as it rides up my butt. Harry's been texting non stop in the car ride over to Candace's. The blue light on his phone illuminates his face and it creates a soft glow inside of the car. I swivel my head to look out the window at the city surrounding us. The butterflies in my stomach are dangerously close to reaching catastrophic levels. I mean how am I supposed to act around famous people? I'm not sure I know how to "play it cool." 

I anxiously pull out a small mirror from my bag and start tugging my fingers through my hair. It's worse than I thought. It has its normal tousled look, but I also normally don't attend big parties. I try and pull it away from my face into a low bun, but I end up looking like a rat. Great . 

"Do you want help?" Harry asks, putting his phone in his pocket. I'm not sure how he's going to help my situation, most guys I know can't even do a proper ponytail.

"what are you going to do?" I ask

"braid it." 

I give him a curious look, but nod and turn so my back is to him. I feel his fingers start at the bottom and lightly tug at the ends of my hair. He slowly works his way to the top, brushing out all the knots with ease. I let my eyes flutter shut and enjoy Harry's delicate fingers working their way through my hair. 

"Do you want one or two?"

"two please" I say, feeling like I'm back in kindergarten when my mom would braid my hair. I used to sit at the kitchen counter everyday before school, and she would put these little white ribbons on the ends of my two braids. I would try and tug them off, but she would always catch me. We used to fight about that almost every day. We were both so stubborn. I smile sadly at the memory.

I feel Harry tie the elastic onto the braids.

"turn so I can see my masterpiece." he says in a dramatic voice. I spin in my seat to face him, and he claps his hands in delight.

"how'd you get so good?" I ask, tilting my head.

"My mum taught me, so I could braid my sister's hair," he laughs.

"kind of genius of my mum though. She never had to braid my sister's hair again." I giggle at the idea of little Harry learning to braid hair.

"My mom taught me too," I say quietly, playing with the rings on my finger.

"oh" is all he has to say. 

 I shrug and give him a forced smile, turning to look back out the window. 

I'm startled by the feeling of a warm hand on my bare thigh. I look down to see Harry's hand resting on my leg just below my dress, his thumb stroking back and forth. A wave of heat crashes through my body, and my heart explodes at the small gesture. My eyes stay trained on his long fingers wrapped in thick silver rings. How can someone's hands be so sexy? Warmth flows through me, lifting the corners of my mouth into a small smile. I lift my head to look at him but he's staring straight ahead, making it impossible for me to read what he's feeling. He raises his eyebrows, and nibbles on his lip as we pull up to a frighteningly crowded Candace's.

The driver pulls up to the curb. I see two bouncers posted outside the club, holding back a group of people trying to push their way in. The small opening of the glass door emits a deep pink glow, from the pulsing lights inside. I swear the whole sidewalk is moving up and down from the deep base of the music. Harry slides out of the car, and rushes around to my door. He pulls it open with a smug look on his face.

"my lady."

I giggle, and take his outstretched hand. 

"Hmm, I think I like this whole gentleman look on you," I murmur into his ear.