One Plus One

Chapter Twenty

I could hear the screech of trainers as I walked in along with balls bouncing. I walked closer to the reception desk but no one occupied the chair. I had a quick look around but there was no one about. I followed the noise I could hear down a long corridor. The noise grew louder the closer I came to a sports hall at the back of the building. I could faintly hear cheering every now and then, and Brody's bellowing voice over the top of everything.

I stood on my tip-toes to peek through the small glass window of the door. There were a lot of people on benches, they seemed to be parents. The children then came into view, sprinting up and down. I gripped hold of the handle and pulled the door open, slipping inside and sat down on a bench next to the door. I glanced around and that was when I saw him.

Harry's curls were hidden from view underneath a beanie. He wore a baggy white t-shirt and black shorts covered his legs. He jogged up and down, occasionally getting the ball from the kids and passing it to others. The smile on his face was massive. He obviously loved what he did. One of the little girls managed to score a goal and ran up to him, jumping on him. He caught her, picking her up and spinning her around, the girl's laugh echoing around the hall.

The end of the match I had been watching was signalled by Brody blowing the whistle dangling around his neck. He suddenly caught sight of me and a confused expression crossed his features. I raised my finger to my lips, signalling him not to tell Harry I was there. He seemed to understand, nodding and smirking.

I continued to watch Harry interacting with all the kids. They didn't leave him alone and the smile never left his face for one second. I saw the little girl who Harry had picked up tug on his t-shirt. He looked down to her as she spoke, then pointed, in my direction it seemed. Harry looked up, looking to see what the child was talking about, and on spotting me, he broke the through the crowd of children and made his way over.

"Nice legs, Styles." I joked.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come and find out what you did. I finished early."

"Well, you found me."

"Yes, and you work with kids. Wow."

"I teach them team sports. Nothing serious, just getting them together."

"That little girl, there." I pointed. "She really likes you."

"That's my niece. Em drops her here while she works."

"Oh, so you're a babysitter too?"

I smiled playfully at him. He grinned as he leaned back into the wall next to me.

BRODY'S POV

I couldn't help but feel a sense of achievement as I glanced over to the pair of them. Marlie and Harry sat talking with each other on the bench, oblivious to their surrounding, totally encapsulated in each other. All thanks to me. If I hadn't have coaxed the pair of them they would have probably still been playing it loose which was the last thing they both wanted.

Harry had come into work looking pretty pleased with himself, no doubt because of what had happened the previous night. I'd seen him looking happy before, he'd always be smug about it when he'd scored it with a girl. Only because the rest of us needed him to even get near girls. But this morning, he was a different kind of happy. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was down to Marlie. He'd been happy as Larry ever since he met her. I took it upon myself to inspect his bag whilst we were on a break, he always took off his chains before work and sure enough there was one missing. He'd given it to her.

"Brody, is that that Marlie girl?" asked Danny.

"Yeah."

"What's going on there then? He said he hasn't fucked her. So why's she here?"

"Use your brain, dickhead."

"You mean Harry's asked her out? Like, for real?"

"Yeah. She's got his chain. This is serious, mate."

"This is bad news."

I looked at Danny questioningly. His stare was fixed upon the couple on the bench. I joined him in looking over to find they had now left the bench had taken to collecting up all the cones we had set out. Harry was encroaching on her, Marlie picked up speed to try and escape him. Harry ran after her, discarding the cones he had picked up on the floor. She shrieked as he grabbed her around the waist from behind, her feet leaving the floor as he playfully threw her. She casually walked back up and reached up, stealing the beanie from his head. I turned my eyeline back to Danny. I knew exactly what he had meant, previously. I'd made a bad mistake.

MARLIE'S POV

Harry's mouth fell agape as I tugged the beanie from his head. He reached for it but I snapped my hand backwards. When he tried again, I sprinted. I heard his footsteps close behind me. His raspy laugh was echoing around the hall along with mine. He grabbed me from behind again as we came to a stop in front of the boys, the pair of us out of breath and giggling.

"So can we get back to work now, mate, yeah?" asked Brody

His tone was harsh, forcing our giggles to subside.

"Come on, lighten up." Harry retaliated.

"You can pick up those cones and put the footballs away."

"I'll wait outside for you, Harry." I quickly said, noticing the tension.

Harry was reluctant to let go of my waist at first but when he noticed me tense he dropped his arm, knowing I was feeling uncomfortable. I glanced over my shoulder as I left, Brody, Harry and Danny seemed to be having an intense discussion, my guess was that I was the cause of it.

*****

I waited for around half an hour outside the sports centre. Harry soon emerged with a tense look of frustration on his face. When he registered my confused expression, he changed his look to a beautiful, bright smile making me feel all flaky. He reached his hand out for mine and entwined our fingers as we strode back to his car.

"So, where am I taking you? Your place or mine?" Harry asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

"That depends on your plans."

"You don't want to know my plans." he suggestively spoke.

His hand found its way to the zip of my hoodie, pulling it down so he could indulge in the view. I batted his hands away.

"Don't even go there."

"Are we forgetting what happened last night?" he joked.

The heat rose in my cheeks once more. There was no way I'd be able to forget that. I saw the grin form on Harry's face and the twinkle in his emerald eyes.

"What do you say we order something in and watch a film? You're off work tomorrow yeah?"

"Yes. Why?"

"No reason."

Harry has a mischievous look about him. He set me on edge. I kept glancing over to him as he drove. He could tell he had my mind racing, the satisfied look he wore told me that.