Pieces of Us| h.s.

Chapter Twenty Five.

Harry Styles

I woke up this morning lying on my back, one arm lying over my own stomach and the other stretched over to the other side of the bed, under Sydney's neck.

She was facing away from me, her long hair fanning over my arm and the pillows. Despite being in two plaits, there were so many spontaneous layers she had cut into her hair so naturally it didn't stay that way. She had stolen the duvet, leaving me with one little corner but I didn't mind, her presence kept me warm.

We slept together last night, and I'll be honest it was the best sex I've had all my life. It was emotional, it felt emotional to me anyway and maybe that's something we shouldn't have done, but I don't think either of us meant for it to happen. It was one of these things where one thing just leads to another, as cliche as it sounds.

Afterwards we just lay there together, there was no regret swimming in the atmosphere, no awkwardness or tenseness. We didn't talk about it, we didn't feel like we had to. Eventually we both fell asleep there, next to each other and I haven't slept this well in a while. I felt more peaceful than ever.

Sydney was still asleep when I woke up, facing away from me and instantly, there was a smile put on my face.

I just lay there for a moment smiling, listening to the sound of Sydney breathing in her sleep. I wouldn't call it snoring, although maybe that's what it is and I'm looking at her through heart eyes so it doesn't appear that way to me. The feeling of our skin against each other, her hair over my arm and chest, our legs partially intertwined, it made my heart swell.

I looked at the clock as I started to grow a little restless, and decided I needed to get up, no matter how badly I wanted to lay there in Sydney's company, just listening to her breathe and be so peaceful. The biggest task was having to pull my arm from underneath her without waking her up, although she seems to be a heavy sleeper. Every time she's late for the bus we're all banging on her door to wake us up and she never answers, although she might just like ignoring us.

We were in Sydney's room, so at least nobody would bat an eyelid, whereas if she had fallen asleep in my room people might wonder whether we swapped rooms.  I pulled my arm back and of course, Sydney didn't wake up. It made me smile actually, sitting up and just admiring how peaceful she looks lying there. I brung the duvet up over her shoulders as I looked around for my boxers which I remember to be lying on the floor somewhere. However, just as I did go to stand uo, Sydney rolled over with her eyes barely open, flashing me a tired smile.

'Hey,' her raspy voice spoke.

'Morning you,' I said, pushing the longer pieces of hair that were covering her eye out the way. 'How'd you sleep

'So good that I'm going back.' She smiled, shuffling around to get comfy and closing her eyes again. 'Don't do mornings.'

'It's almost eleven.' I chuckled.

'Exactly.'

One thing about Sydney is that when she does go to sleep, she will sleep for as long as she possibly can. You'll never be able to drag that girl out of bed early unless she has no choice, even then we have to tell her we're leaving an hour earlier than we actually are.

I grabbed my boxers and decided to leave her be, even though I so desperately wanted to lie there with her and pretend the whole world around us doesn't exist. She looked beautiful, she really did and I don't think I've stopped smiling since I woke up. It's hard not to when you've woken up next to a real life Angel.

Luckily there was nobody in the corridor upstairs, so nobody saw me leave Syd's room and head into mine to grab a jumper so I wasn't going downstairs massively exposed. When I headed downstairs, I could already see Myles sitting at the breakfast bar and he spun his head round when he heard me approaching.