Underground

11

Harry Styles

May 15th, 2022

I wake on the beach, her small hand covering my chest, her small snores that are a song I haven't heard in nearly two years. Who knew one could miss the sound of something most find annoying, hers sound so... childlike.

After watching her tense atmosphere for the past two days when she found out about the back bone business of the publishing company she so blindly joined it felt serene to see her, feel her, be so calm. It was refreshing.

I could say It was because she finally shut the fuck up, but I have grown to enjoy her blabbering from time to time.

I turn to see her mouth partly open, her features seeming, just like her snores, child like when no worries are capsulated on her soft cheeks. The sun beginning to rise and the realization we fell asleep on this uncomfortable beach makes my neck already ache but with her small breaths against my neck it's hard to find it in me to want to get up.

But then I remember about today.

I bring my self up, her groaning like a literal child, not aware of the man she hates is the one she is cuddled into. I want to stay with her, let her warmth encapsulate me like it did a year and a half ago but I can't do that without her consent.

I need to leave her warmth, just like I reluctantly did two years ago.

"What time is it?" She grumbles, making a chuckle leave me, that would have aggravated me a week ago, and I can't tell you what changed but I almost find it cute.

Almost, she is still one of the most stubborn creatures I know.

"Seven in the morning, the sun's beginning to rise." I say after looking at my watch on my arm, the second I say the time she tenses, her eyes opening when I look down at her and her body tensing even more the second she comprehends our closeness.

She moves away from me, blinking a few times to wake herself up before looking at the rising sun, she hasn't said a word since her question and I have a feeling today is already causing her nerves to sky rocket.

I remember my first mission, I was fourteen and it was Zayn, Niall, the rest of the crew, and I, we were in and out in no time, probably because no one ever expected literal children to rob a hospital but hey the element of surprise is a magnificent thing.

After a few minutes, her body still shaking with the jacket I placed on her last night, she begins to calm with the sun now hitting us. It hasn't fully risen but is making the sand underneath us and the air a little warmer.

She takes my jacket off, handing it to me with a smile. It was soft, a friendly gesture that I wasn't yet used to but I give her a smile in return.

"You ready for today?" I ask, and she looks back at me, her eyes moving from the view in front of us again, she shrugs, her normal confident exterior being so far from reach.

"I kind of have to be." She says so lowly I nearly didn't hear her.

I know I asked the question, but I don't ever usually try to be comforting, knowing I am anything but good at it. I am too honest to be be comforting, the truth is anything but comforting and that's all I really know how to give her.

I bite my tongue, straying away from 'Get over it, it's going to happen either way.' because that's what I've been told most of my life. I know that never helped though so instead of saying anything brutally honest I decide on something softer.