Peekaboo Harry • HS

12 || Story of My Life

Harry's home reminded her of a modern version of Mr Tumnus' house from the Chronicles of Narnia. Everything was almost made of wood, a long wooden cot with a white mattress pushed against the wall, one wooden chair, and one small wooden table. There was a bathtub and a small toilet. Basically, it was a wooden cell if it weren't for the fireplace and the small round window above it. There was no other door in the small space, and the window overlooked a dark sky Dani did not want to  inspect.

"Harry, this place is rather small," Dani said with a worried frown as Harry led her across the room. "You should sleep in my room instead." She didn't even mean it as a come on, but hey, anything can happen now...

Harry grinned at her. "I want to do that, but if I don't return here, I feel sleepy all the time. I think I really have to use this room to rest."

If she were being completely honest, Dani didn't want to know how he could return home. She knew this would happen eventually, but she wasn't ready for it. Who in their right mind can let go of Harry Styles anyway? If they can survive underneath her bed forever, then she was more than willing to disappear from the rest of the world if that meant being together with him for good.

It took her a while to notice that Harry brought her in front of a wall where there were two distinct rows of wooden blocks. "Wall deco?" Dani asked mindlessly, and leaned closer to inspect one block. It wasn't plain wood, she realized, because there was an image seemingly imprinted over it. However, it was extremely dusty. Placing her hand on top of it, she rubbed. It didn't take long until a picture of a baby appeared. "Hey, it's you!" she grinned at Harry as she tried going to the next one. "HEY! Another one!"

Dani started rubbing and rubbing when it dawned on her.  A picture of him in front of his 6th birthday cake. A picture of Harry with his dog named Max was on the next block. It didn't take long until she was staring at a picture of his X Factor audition. When she counted all the blocks and found 21 of them, which was the same number as Harry's age, Dani's heart pounded so hard she had to step back from the blocks like her hands were burning. She wiped her dirty palms up and down her shirt and her shorts, and she almost wanted to cry in realization that she might have sent him closer to home than intended. "Please don't tell me what I think this is..."

"Not really. I already saw the pictures so I've regained my memory of all those years."

"You mean you had the choice not to get your memories back?"

"Not really, but..."Harry bit his lip. "Remember when you told me that in order to understand your love for me, I had to find out who I am?" He pointed to the 18th block. "I had to rub all the way there. Because I wanted to understand why my body wants to do... weird things with you."

Dani was confused albeit strangely aroused. "Are you saying that you just regained all your memory since you were 18 years old by cleaning all the 18 wooden blocks?"

Harry nodded. "Small Simon told me that loving you completely had a price... And after reading your books, I honestly wanted to understand who I am. And you were right, it wasn't a bad thing. I remembered my family, my friends... everyone. At least those I've met when I was 18."

"So that means there are only 3 blocks left." 

"I tried cleaning other blocks first, but I really have to clean it in order. No fast forwarding."

"Does this mean that I'm like with an 18-year-old stuck in a 21-year-old's body?" Dani glanced at him sheepishly. Was Harry's literal innocence the reason why he didn't jump into bed with her?

"Yes," he whispered, giving her an excited smile. "And personally speaking, I've always loved older women..."

Dani felt her body heat up, and she was more than ready to kiss him again when she remembered why she was panicking. "Wait! You mean you're, like, three blocks away from going home?"