No Control • hs

fourteen

The daylight wakes me up by breaking through the blinds. The covers are perfectly draped over me and my head is propped up just right. On the side table next to me lies the DVD case of The Little Mermaid. I had to have closure that last night was real because it seemed too perfect to be true.

I walk downstairs and smell the scent of waffles. I look to my right and there stands Harry, same clothes he had on last night. His hair was messy, but natural, it was perfect that way. "Good morning love."

"Good morning." I say sitting on a red barstool.

"Sorry." I say.

Harry furrows his brow. "For what?"

"For falling asleep on you."

"Um..."

"No! Not on you, but like on you." I shake my head. "I mean like on as in like during the movie."

"I know what you mean." Harry says stifling a laugh looking down at the waffle maker.

     "So, did you raid through their appliance cabinet to find that?"

     "No, it was sitting on the counter." I nod my head and grab an apple in a bowl on the table.

     "Couldn't wait?" Harry asks, flipping the top up on the waffle maker.

     "Harry, the last meal I had was lunch, I'm starving."

     "NO PEYT-" Harry stops as I bite into the apple, well, what I thought was an apple. I spit out the styrofoam that was now overtaking the taste inside my mouth. I jump up to go get a napkin or a paper towel. There is none in sight.

     "Hathry." I try to say, my tongue sticking out.

     "Go ahead." Harry puts his spatula down and pulls his tshirt sleeve so it extends my way. I wipe my tongue on his tshirt sleeve until the styrofoam taste is out of my mouth.

     "I owe you a shirt."

     "I have way too many anyway."

     "No, I literally just slobbered all over your tshirt with unbrushed teeth."

     "Oh well, I'll just wash it." I roll my eyes at his stubbornness.

     "Do you want to go on a walk later?" Harry asks placing a plate of waffles in front of me.

     "Sure. And thank you."

     "Do you want to eat out in the deck?" I nod and we walk outside and set our plates down on the table.

     "I got to the part where Ursula took away Arial's voice." Harry said, chewing a bite of his waffle.

     "Did you?"

     "Mhm."

     "I remember watching the introduction." Harry and I laugh. I really do like Harry. I don't know what I would do if I wouldn't have met him. I think I would've been the shy, well-mannered girl I was before I met him. I don't like that girl as much as I like the one that is with him.

     He brings out the best of me, the fun, the laugh, the drive to not exactly stay within the rules. I could hear his laugh and watch him smile for hours. Making him happy is all I want to accomplish when I'm with him. When he called me that night on the verge of crying, I knew I hurt his feelings by hanging up on him. The fact that he was crying, about me, breaks my heart. I never want to make him unhappy again. But I know nobody is perfect, therefore, you would have to be perfect not to make someone sad for the rest if your life.

     "Peyton?"

     "Yeah?" I say snapping out of my thoughts.

     "Are you alright?"

     "Yeah."

     "You seemed pretty deep in thought. Anything specific you were thinking about?"

     "Nothing, really."

     "Are you sure?"

     "Mhm." I say taking a bite of my waffle.

     "Oh my gosh."

     "What?" Harry says worriedly.

     "These are amazing."

     "Thanks." Harry says, leaning back in his chair, smiling. Lacy emerges from the house and stand right in front of the table.

     "Okay," she says "which one if you made the holy waffles?"

***

     I look at all of the cottages in a row. "Hey, maybe when Lacy sells her house, you could get one of these houses." Harry says, walking along the road behind the lake side houses.

     "Ya, and when Liam kicks you out for good, you can get one next to mine."

     "He didn't kick me out, I politely excused myself from a very inappropriate dilemma." I laugh at his word choice and we continue walking. We soon come upon the ice cream shop with the rats.

     "Okay, never in a million years will I use their bathroom, but I am going to go check the beach hours on the front door over there."

     "Okay," I say laughing "I'll just stay out here." Harry walks in the shop and I look around at the trees. I see a familiar face walking towards my way.

     "Hey, long time no see."

     "Niall, I don't want to talk to you."

     "Oh, but you can talk with that cool new boyfriend of yours, eh?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

     "He's not my boyfriend."

     "It sure looks like it." My ex boyfriend, Niall, pushes me to the ground.

     "Hey!" Harry comes out from the shop, anger building in his eyes. "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing here, but you get your hands off of her." Niall punches Harry right in the nose and blood runs down to his lip. Harry punches Niall straight in the jaw and pushes him to the ground. "Stay away from her!" Harry yells in Niall's face. Niall smirks as if he didn't know if he would or not. "Stay away!"

     Niall scoots out of Harry's grasp and walks in the other direction, only looking back once. "Harry!" Harry's nose is gushing with blood now. I run to the house as fast as my feet could take me. I grab a box of tissues and run back outside to where Harry is walking to the house. "Here." I grabbed a few tissues from the box and placed them on his nose. He grabbed them and held them there. We finally get back to the house and I sit with Harry on the living room couch. "Do you need ice or anything?"

     "I'm okay."

     "Are you sure?"

     "Yes, Peyton, I'm fine!" I sit back farther in my seat.

     "Sorry." He says, putting his hand on my kneecap.

     "No, I'm sorry, I'm bugging you."

     "Who was that guy anyway?" I pause.

     "That was Niall Horan, my ex boyfriend."