Me and Miss Jones... (Harry Styles)

Harry

As I walked down the darkened street towards where I had parked my car, Rosie’s words echoed through my head.

‘I love you…’ She loved me. Rosie loved me. And I was walking away, like the coward I had always been. I couldn’t just face it and tell her what I was beginning to realised, even as I left her behind.

I loved her too. I had since I’d seen her face when she turned up unexpectedly in New York. The days without her had been dark; I hadn’t been myself without her. Only now when she had admitted her feelings to me could I finally allow my own to surface, out of the deep pit where I had shoved them down after Cara had broken me. Swinging round, I realised that I wasn’t going to be a coward anymore.

Before I could change my mind, I ran back to Rosie’s house, leaping up the steps and banging loudly on the door in desperation. Moments passed and I could sense movement on the other side of the door. My heart was pounding so loudly, it was like the moment before I step on stage at an arena tour. Only this wasn’t a performance, this was real life. The door swung open and there was Rosie, bruised and battered, her eyes slightly red where she had clearly been crying.

          ‘I was an idiot,’ I said in a rush before she could speak, ‘I shouldn’t have left. I should have told you the minute I knew myself, that I love you. I love you with everything I have and I don’t ever want to lose you again. You mean everything to me Rosie,’ I finished, clasping either side of her face softly in my hands and kissing her passionately, pouring my love for her through that one kiss. I heard her sigh as she leaned in, deepening the kiss as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer.

          ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’ she said when we finally broke apart, and I started laughing. It was cut short though when she suddenly punched me in the arm.

          ‘Ow! What was that for?’

          ‘That was for leaving. This,’ she pulled me closer by the collar of my jacket, ‘is for coming back.’ She kissed me again, pulling me inside the house and shutting the door closed with her foot behind her. We made our way down to the bedroom without breaking contact, pulling my jacket off hurriedly. I never wanted to leave her lips again, and we tumbled into her bedroom and onto the bed, laughing.

          ‘I’ve missed you so much,’ I whispered against her lips, and I felt her smile at my words as her fingers brushed against my cheek. Her eyes locked with mine and I kissed her again, softly this time, relishing the feel of her lips against mine. I loved her.

          ‘I love you,’ she echoed my thoughts, her fingertips brushing against my shirt, undoing the buttons slowly. It wasn’t just going to be sex this time, not now that we knew how each other felt. I held still as she pushed the fabric over my shoulders, her fingers grazing the tattoos on my chest and upper arms, raising the fine hairs that grew there. She had such an effect on me, more so than any other girl I had ever known.

I pulled her pyjama top over her head, her long hair falling around her naked chest and I leant in to kiss her, the feel of her skin on my skin heating me, warming my blood and my bones and every other fibre of my being. After tonight, everything would be different. But for once, that wasn’t holding me back.

Slowly we undressed one another, our eyes never leaving the others, so wrapped up in the others presence. Only when we were completely naked did we pause, like a huge realization had hit us both.

          ‘Everything is going to change, if we do this, isn’t it?’ she said, pulling the bed covers over her and resting her head on my chest, the smell of her hair intoxicating. I thought about how I had bathed her earlier, the sight of her so vulnerable and broken. I thought that if I couldn’t fix her, that nothing would ever be right again in the world. All I knew was that I had to be there for her, I had to be her knight in shining armour, as cheesy as that sounded.