As You Are // H.S

Nine.

Harry Styles.

I had finished school for the Christmas break, and so had Alexis, she had time off from work because her boss was away on vacation with his family, so she only worked on the weekends at the second-hand book store.

We saw each other just about everyday, kind of hard not to when we live in the same building. It had been two weeks since she was crying in the woods, and she hadn't brought it up again, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. It was Saturday afternoon, and she was working a shift at the book store so I decided to visit her.

I drove to the small diner first, getting out and grabbing two take away coffees for the both of us, then I drove to the book store, getting out and walking in, the bell above the door chimed as I opened it, and I saw Alexis come out from behind a tall shelf. 

"Harry!" She said, her voice going a little high. I smiled and gave her a hug, handing her the coffee I'd gotten for her.

"Thanks, you didn't have to do this!" She told me. 

"It's fine, really." I reassured her. She sipped her coffee, and placed it on the small counter, walking back to the shelf she'd previously been at, finishing what she was doing. I sat at a small chair, in a reading space, drinking my coffee and admiring her from a distance. The way she'd reach up to get a certain book, her shirt would come up a little, showing the small area of skin on her lower back. When she couldn't reach, she'd get frustrated and huff. I chuckled at her, and she turned around shooting a glare in my direction. I got up and walked over to her, putting my hand on the small of her back, and reaching over her to grab what she'd been trying to reach. 

"Perks of being tall." I told her, and handed the book to her before heading back to my original spot.

"So, have you resolved anything with your parents?" I dead panned. She froze, and looked at me from across the room, biting her lip. She then shrugged and proceeded to place barcodes on new arrivals. "Lexiiii."  

"Harryyy." She said, dragging out the 'y' to mock me. When I raised an eyebrow at her she huffed, and walked over to me. "Fine, I haven't, I've talked to them, I'm fine with them, but they aren't fine with themselves, yeah I want them to either sort their shit out, or get a divorce, but I hope if its the latter, it happens after the Christmas break, I don't want it to ruin Christmas." I nodded my head in acknowledgement, knowing what she meant. I placed my hand on top of hers, rubbing my thumb along her knuckles in a comforting way.

We'd become close enough in the last month of us knowing each other for this to be a normal thing, greeting one another with hugs, and comforting one another when it was needed, and we'd often fall asleep on the couch together, and wake up cuddling, like the first night it happened, but I still hadn't grown the balls to ask her out, even though Niall wouldn't shut up about it. I was scared to be rejected by her, scared her history with her ex would affect my chances. 

We didn't talk about her parents after that, I understood that she didn't want to talk about it. 

"Hey!" Alexis spoke up. "Louis and Sammy invited me over tonight for dinner, movies and drinks, they said we could bring Niall, too." Louis and Sammy had been together for over two years, so they shared a place. We'd all become close over the past two weeks, going out and hanging out together, we introduced them to Niall, and he got along with them great.

"Sounds great Lexi, I'll meet you in the lobby at seven, I'll drive." She agreed, and after that I left to run errands for the day. 

When I got back home, it was almost six, I was unlocking my door and my phone started to ring, I answered it and sat it in between my shoulder and ear whilst I walked inside.