✓ lights /styles au/

9 Lungs

do you still look me in the eyes?

Josephine and Harry cleaned up the glass the next morning. He tried to clean it before she woke up, but she was a light sleeper so when she heard his mumbled cuss words slip from his frustrated lips, she knew what he was doing and found him by her (his) side of the (his) bed crouched over and holding a palm full of large, jagged- edged glass that looked like it could cut through his skin at any given moment.

He said, "please don't get up," and her eyes widened. He hadn't even lifted his head to show her he heard her sit up. She dropped back onto the bed and hummed to herself, the draft from the open door making her pull the blankets over her naked chest.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning."

"I didn't mind the mess," she said against the pillow, fingers running over the soft fabric and eyes running over the soft-looking ceiling. She noticed the uncovered window when he stood up, hair being highlighted by the orange sun. "Why did you move the curtains?"

"They block out the light."

"The light hurts your eyes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but you can't see without it, so it's fine."

"Harry," she said, "if it hurts, don't let it through."

"Niall is coming over."

Jo sat up then and frowned not because she didn't like his friend, but because his friend didn't like her and she felt very intimidated by people who didn't like her. "He doesn't like me."

"Niall likes everybody."

"Not me," she huffed aloud.

He walked over to the door. "He invited us for a night out."

"Us?" Is what she asked, using her hands to cover her face. She didn't think he'd notice the muffling of her voice against her hands, but he smiled and walked out of the room.

"Yes. He'll stop by later on tonight."

+++++

They were at one of the popular bars down in Manhattan.

Niall only stood long enough to say a few words to Josephine, and then he disappeared in the crowd to mingle. Harry followed him soon after but he had no intention on meeting somebody new. He kept alert as his friend talked about how shitty of a day he had, nudging his shoulder every so often to ask if Jo was at least talking to someone at the bar.

She was, and Harry pretended he wasn't bothered about the fact that she was talking to a man. After a few minutes of talking and catching up the lost time from the week span, Niall found someone to talk to and Harry made his way to his girlfriend, splaying a hand over her waist when he was behind her and breathing out against her neck.

She pushed him away a little. "Hey."

"Dance with me?" He asked, ignoring the presence of the other man sitting in front of them. He could feel his eyes and the strong gaze that went with them. Harry rolled his own under his closed eyelids, his tinted glasses falling past his nose before he pushed them up and pulled away from her.