Courage to Fly (EDITING IN PROCESS)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cheyenne's POV






I sat at the bar of the little sandwich shop in the airport on that Saturday eating a cookie, looking at my phone. It was seven fifty-five, and Kayla and I were waiting for Harry to text me that they were here.


"You nervous?" Kayla asked.


"Kind of," I said.


"Why?"


"Well..." I started, "we're going to be in our home town, with our family and friends, and my birthday, and other things...and..." I shook my head.


"Your mom'll love him, I know it,"


"You're worried about your mom, aren't you?"


She nodded.


I sighed. "Hopefully we can get out of them meeting our families this time..." I said.


"Hopefully..."


My phone buzzed and I grinned.


Coming out of the terminal now, babe. X


My smile got bigger and grabbed Kayla by the hand. "Let's go!"


We ran down to where we could see down the terminal. We held each other's hand as we waited for our boys. I saw Harry coming down the hall towards us with Niall trailing behind him.


"Harry!" I called and waved.


He grinned and walked quickly to me. Once he was into the waiting area, he dropped his bags as I sprinted to him, and he picked me up and spun me around. He kissed me hard on the lips and then placed me back on my feet, bending my back and placing his forehead on mine.


"Hey, baby," he whispered.


"Hi," I said, running my fingers through his curls. He smiled, and pecked my nose, then kissed me lingering on the mouth.


I stood back up, and he pulled me close to his side, smelling my hair before picking up his bags. Niall was standing next to the said with Kayla, tickling her, and then grabbing her around the waist and kissing her all over her cheek and neck before she bit his ear and he kissed her softly on the mouth. It was honestly adorable how bad they were flirting.


"Come on, guys, let's keep the PDA down to a minimum until we get home," I laughed, leaning my head on Harry's shoulder.


Kayla buried her head in Niall's shoulder and laughed. He handed her one of his bags and took her hand. I pulled Harry by the arm, and he pretended that he was going slow, and I tugged him along.


"Come on, babe!" I laughed as I pushed him to the car.


"Cheyenne..." He whined, "I'm tired!"


"Well, if you get in the car, I will take you home and you can sleep for an hour before we have to leave for graduation. Actually," I said opening the trunk of the car, "you can sleep on the way home, if you really want to."


"You think you have enough room in your trunk?" He asked, poking me.


"Nope, still couldn't fit that sixth body in there. I had to put it in the back seat," I said loading his luggage into the far back of the car.


"That's very...interesting," he said.


"What'd you say?"


"Nothing..."


I looked over my shoulder and smirked. "What are you looking at?"


He suddenly looked away and grinned. "Nothing,"


I was wearing my short shorts, so I was pretty positive I knew what had at first caught his interest. "You suuuuuuuureee?" I asked wiggling my butt in his direction.


He glared at me, and then pinched my cheek. I kicked him with my heal and he grabbed me by my hips and pulled me away from the car.


"Quit. Quit, quit, quit, quit, quit! Styles! Put me down!" I said giggling.


"PDA to a minimum, Cheyenne!" Kayla said helping Niall load his luggage up.


Harry turned me around to face him and stood me back on my feet. He kissed me gently, and touched the bit of skin that was exposed from my short tank top.


"You look hot," he said.


"Hot as in the attractive sense, or the temperature?" I asked.


"Well, you're raising my temperature," he said.


I scrunched my nose up and put a little distance between us with my hands. See, this is the reason why I loved London. It was more north of where we lived, so it was always chilly. I never did well with heat, and it was summer in Tennessee. It. Was. Miserable. At least it wasn't Florida. Lord, I practically died down there... But my body was getting overheated in this awful weather, and he pouted at the separation.


"Babe, I am hot," I said.


"I know," he said taking both of my hands and extending them to either side of us, and placing his forehead on mine, "you don't take to heat well, do yah?"


I shook my head.


"It's okay," he said stifling a yawn, "I'll snog you later inside," he said grinning.


"I'll like to see you try," I whispered, smiling mischievously.


His eyes and smile widened and he started to say something when I broke away from him and went towards the car, beckoning him with a finger. I heard him growl playfully from behind me, and then he was holding onto my waist and walking behind me, biting my neck. I pushed him into the car, and walked around to the driver's side.


"Why do you get to drive?" He asked opening his door.


I raised an eyebrow and opened my door. "My car," I said getting in. He sat next to me and kissed my cheek, buckling his seat belt.


I looked in the rear view mirror and smiled. Kayla was sitting with Niall already asleep on her shoulder. She was running her fingers through his hair and talking quietly.


"Didn't you guys get any sleep on the plane?" I asked quietly as I pulled out of the spot.


Harry yawned and nodded his head. "We're tired from everything else, traveling and all," he said.


"Is it really that tiring?" I asked.


He nodded with his eyes closed. His hand moved over to my leg as I was going down the road, and I laughed quietly.


All three of my passengers were asleep by the time we got home. I woke Harry up with a kiss on the nose, and then shook Kayla up, and she woke Niall up. I helped my yawning boyfriend get his stuff into the apartment, and Niall and Kayla came up behind us.


"There's food," I said, "Niall, we'll get you some on the way down there, don't eat everything, please," I helped Harry into my room and he fell on the bed. I laughed and sat down next to him on the bed cross legged. He moved so that his head was lying in my lap. His long arms were around my legs so that his hands rested on the back of my hips at the base of my spine.


His fingers made small circles on my skin and I ran my hands through his curls. He sighed deep in his chest and nuzzled his face into my lap.


"You can't just fall asleep on my lap, baby," I said quietly. Kayla gave me the "look" as she walked past the door and I stuck my tongue out at her.


"Yes I can..." Harry mumbled.


I laughed and leaned over and bit his ear. He jumped and raised himself up on his elbows. "What was that for?" He asked.


"Wake you up a bit," I said, kissing him on the cheek and getting up.


"Oh, come on, come back here..." He whined.


I kissed him on the cheek again and grabbed his hand and tugged. "You hungry?"


He nodded, eyes still closed.


"Well, come on, sweetheart," I said and tugged him up. I brought him into the kitchen and placed him on the stool in the kitchen. "What do you want?"


"Just a sandwich," he said, laying his head down on the counter and closing his eyes again.


I smiled at him; he looks like such a small child when he's sleeping. "Does it matter what kind?"


"No..." He mumbled.


I got out the ham and made him a simple ham and cheese sandwich. I took out my phone, and took a picture of him sleeping. "Here babe," I said waking him up and giving him the sandwich.


He sniffed it, and then bit into it as I brought him some water. I went on twitter on my phone and posted the picture.


The sweetheart's just got in. He can't keep his eyes open, lol. @Harry_Styles


"Harry," I said.


He looked up at me, his sandwich in one hand, the other rubbing his eye, and chewing a bite. I took a picture, and he frowned at me taking his hand away from his eye and glaring at me. Another picture.


"Why do you keep doing that?" He asked.


I shrugged. "I always loved collecting pictures of you," I said looking at the pictures, "now I can collect my own," I smiled and kissed his cheek.


He smiled at me and took another bite. He held up the sandwich. "This is the best sandwich I have ever eaten," he said.


"Quit, it's just a sandwich," I said still playing with my phone.


"But you made it," he said.


I looked at his smile and I let my lips slip into a tiny smile. "You're too smooth, Styles," I said.


"You're not too bad yourself, Simpson," he said taking another bite.


I shook my head. Another twitter pic. I added the one when he was glaring at me.


"This is the best sandwich I have ever eaten," Yeah, I'm still not buying it, babe, lol. @Harry_Styles


Harry's phone buzzed and he frowned at the screen. He looked up to me, and his frown deepened. "Really?" He asked, trying not to laugh, "Really?"


I grinned and nodded.


He shook his head and looked at the pictures. "Oh, come on," he said shaking his head. "I already have Zayn constantly tweeting me sleeping, I don't need my girlfriend too," he was smiling though.


I laughed as I slid my hand across his shoulder and kissed his cheek as I passed him.


"Where are you going?" He asked.


"To get the foodies," I said. "Kayla! Niall!" I called, walking down the hall, "You guys want to eat?" I walked into her room, and shook my head.


Kayla was straddling Niall, but it wasn't in anyway heated. She was clinging to him with her head in his shoulder, slightly hyperventilating. Niall was softly whispering to her while petting her head. He looked at me with worried eyes.


"What happened?" I asked.


"She freaked out again," he said.


"Seems like she's getting better about it though," I said coming up next to her and placing my hand on her shoulder.


"What do you mean?"


"Last time, she ran away from you, needed to get as far away from you as possible," I looked Niall in the eye, "she latched onto you this time, right?"


He nodded, the side of his mouth tugging up slightly.


"K?" I asked.


"Yeah?" She said weakly.


"You okay?"


"Yeah..." She looked up at me. She wasn't crying, she was just red in the face and looked worn out.


I rubbed her back, and wasn't surprised when she didn't recoil from my touch. She was finding comfort from these attacks in being close to someone she knows will take care of her more than running away and protecting herself. It was something good. And it had only started like that since Niall. Like I've said before: he's good for her.


"You think you'd want to eat something?"


She glared at me, not filled with as much sarcasm as usual, but she still glared at me. "Do I want food? What kind of question is that?"


Me and Niall laughed and I moved back as Niall picked her up and put her back on her feet.


"Can you stand alright?" I asked as Niall got up and Kayla wobbled a bit.


"Yeah, just a bit unstable..." She said.


I smiled and then looked to Niall and then back to Kayla. "Stick close to your boyfriend," I said.


She smiled and let Niall take her hand. I walked back into the kitchen, and was pulled into Harry's lap and kissed on the neck.


"Everything okay?" He asked sliding a ham sandwich in front of me on the counter.


"Yeah, K had a small panic attack again, but she's fine."


"What happened?"


"Not sure, but she was hyperventilating, and shaking, so it wasn't that bad."


"Good," he kissed my cheek again and adjusted me on his lap as Niall and Kayla came in. I picked up the sandwich and took a bite. "When are we going to have to leave for the graduation?" He asked.


"Um," I said around a bit of food looking at Kayla, "about an hour, maybe?"


She looked at her phone, and bit her lip. Niall came up behind her and hugged her around the waist and put his chin on his shoulder.


"Around there," she said, "Hour and a half, maybe?"


"Do either of you need to shower?" Niall asked.


I shook my head. "No, we did all of that before we came to get you two." I said, taking a drink of the sweet tea Kayla handed to me.


"So we can just go?" Harry asked.


I smiled and shook my head. "Me and K have to get dressed, and if you two want to look nice...?"


Harry smiled, and nuzzled his nose into my hair. "Yeah, I'll clean up a bit," he said.


"I have something I want to change into," Niall said.


"Okay, then, we'll eat, then get ready and go, sound good?" I asked looking at Harry.


"Mmhm," he nodded.


"Perfect," Kayla said around a bite of sandwich.


"Yeah," Niall said eating sandwich and a handful of chips. He tossed a bit of chips at K and she took some and threw them at Niall. They got in a mini (thankfully not messy) food fight that ended in Niall picking Kayla up and placing her on the counter and kissing her. He was still shirtless (a detail of which I am pretty positive she was quite happy about) and her hands traveled up his arms slowly.


The detail of this experience that I found interesting was that me and Harry just sat there, talking. Not necessarily ignoring them, just not minding them.


"How do you like the sandwich?" He asked.


"Love it, sweetie," I said.


"It's not my best, but..." He shrugged and smiled.


I smiled and kissed him on the nose. "I love your dimples," I said poking him in a dimple.


"I love yours," he said poking my little dimple on my left cheek.


"I have another one," I said.


"I know," he said poking the one on my right cheek, "I just can't see that one as good."


"The one on your right isn't so prominent, either," I said.


"I know," he said, "but you can see it better than yours."


I stuck my tongue out at him and then bit his neck. He sucked in a breath and I bit down on the skin. I kissed his jaw and then moved up behind his ear. I bit his earlobe and tugged. He grunted and pulled away from me. He smiled down at me and shook his head.


"You're such a damn tease." He said.


I laughed and bit his jaw again. "I know,"


He smiled at me and then looked at Kayla and Niall. "Are you guys done yet?" He asked.


Kayla looked at us over Niall's shoulder, and Niall turned his head to look at us too. They both laughed, and Niall helped Kayla down from the counter. He kissed her cheek, and she grabbed the rest for her sandwich and headed down the hallway. I kissed Harry on the cheek and headed after her. I flopped down on her bed and she kicked me.


"You should be getting ready," she said.


"I know, I know, gimme a minute,"


She sighed and sat down next to me. "What do you want?"


I sat up and looked at her. "You see now, don't you?"


She thought for a second then nodded.


"Where'd he get this time?"


"He almost got my shirt off...he at least had his hands on my bare hips before I started shaking."


"Doing better?"


She nodded. "Yeah...maybe next time he could get my shirt off without me freaking out totally..."


"I know saying 'don't think about it' is useless, but maybe telling him what happened would help settle you."


She nodded. "He'd understand then," she said, "be able to help me through the whole thing...that's where you're getting, right?"


I shrugged. "Basically,"


She nodded. "I was thinking about doing that...I might...maybe..."


I put my fingers lightly on her shoulder. "Everything will be fine either way,"


"How do you know?"


"Cause he hasn't run away yet." I said, "And he's pretty much crazy about you," I stood up and went for the door. "I promise, I don't think he's gonna be going anywhere for a while." I said smiling. She smiled back at me and then I left the room.


Harry came into my room a few minutes later while I was changing. "Could you help me with this?" I asked turning around where my zipper was. I honestly could have gotten it myself, but I figured if he was going to touch me, he might as well be helpful about it.


I was wearing a bright turquoise colored dress with a little bit of green and royal blue criss crossing through the middle. He zipped me up, and turned me around to face him.


"Whoa," he said.


I smiled. "What?"


"Your eyes," he said, mesmerized, "they're so...blue..."


I smiled.


"They're so beautiful,"


I felt the blush build on my cheeks. "Thanks..." I said.


"I'm serious," he said.


"I know..." I lowered my eyes and grinned.


He kissed my cheek and then sat on the bed. I wandered over to the dresser and played with my hair.


"Is this you?"


I turned around and saw him pick up a picture on my bulletin board.


"Yeah,"


"You look so different..."


"It was from the summer before I went to university. I went down to Florida so see my family."


"Your hair," he said shaking his head, "it's gone,"


I smiled looking down at the picture, then looking at my waves that hung down close to my waist. "Yeah...I was thinking about cutting it that short again, I'm not sure."


He looked at me and shook his head. "Not yet,"


I frowned at him. "Yet?"


"Yeah," he said pinning the picture back up and coming over to me, "Your hair is beautiful, you look pretty with it cut, but I like it too much," he held me around the waist and started twirling a piece of my hair around his finger, "You can cut it later, but I don't know if I'll be staying around long enough to see it grow back,"


I looked down for a second, and then looked back into his eyes. "I'm kinda hoping you are..." I said.


"I don't know..."


"You don't know?"


"Yeah," he cleared his throat, looking down and avoiding eye contact, "I'm not sure how long I'll stick around."


"So, you're already planning on leaving me?" I asked, already prepared to put my defenses up.


"What? No, I only just-"


"Then what do you mean?" I said, backing away from him, he let me go easily, confusion in his eyes.


"I mean...relationships sometimes don't work out, mutual feelings and other things, there's a possibility that we might..." He hesitated and shook his head.


"That kind of mentality is what causes couples and relationships to fall apart." I said, "I should know, that's how I always think about my relationships,"


"So you're seeing it that way too?" Harry asked, placing defenses up himself.


"No, but I have before,"


"About us?"


"No,"


"How do I know that?"


"I thought you trusted me?"


"I thought I did,"


I stared at him and he stared back at me, neither of us wavering. He sighed after and turned to pick up one of his suitcases. "What do I wear this afternoon?" He said weakly.


I walked over to the suitcase and looked through it real quick. "This one," I said pulling out a royal blue blazer. "With dark blue jeans and a white or light colored t-shirt."


"Why?" He asked.


I glared at him for a second, the sighed. "Because it looks like my dress."


He sighed and lightly touched the tips of his fingers to mine for a second. "Alright, baby," he pulled out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and a white shirt. "Fine if I change in here?" He asked.


"Long as you don't strip completely down to nothing, you're fine." I said.


"You going to stay there?" He asked taking off his shirt.


I looked at him for a moment, and then shook my head.


I saw him try not to sigh and the nodded. "Alright,"


I walked out and sat on the couch in the living room. He came in a minute later and looked at me expectantly. "Well?" He asked. "What do you think?"


I thought for a moment, and then nodded. He nodded back to me, and then started playing with the necklace that hung around his neck. I realized that I was playing with mine too. We glanced at each other and then looked away. I heard him sigh and I felt a heavy weight lower onto my chest.


"Hey, you guys ready?" Kayla said, coming into the kitchen. She was conveniently dressed in a yellow day dress that was fluffy in the skirt....and yellow Surpras.


She smiled at me and him. "You two look like you're ready for Cheyenne's dream wedding."


Harry glanced at me. "Is that right?" He asked. I blushed and nodded.


"She wants a Doctor Who themed wedding, always has, at least since senior year," Kayla joked.


Harry grinned. "I don't think I'd mind that," he said, "I really like Doctor Who," He looked at me and gave me a small smile. I smiled shyly back at him, and then looked out the window.


"You two okay?"


"Yeah," me and him said at the same time.


She frowned and shook her head. I got up. "C'mon, guys, bus is leaving," I said grabbing the keys and heading for the door.


"Reinette is in no way a bus," K said.


"Reinette?" Niall asked, coming behind me and Harry.


"The car!" I called.


"Like the Girl in The Fireplace?" Harry asked.


I stopped and looked at him. "Yeah," I said smiling, "surprised you remembered the episode,"


"I told you," he said kissing me on the forehead and pushing me forward, "I love Doctor Who,"


"Never said you loved it-"


"Well, I do," he said laughing. "But, we can talk about that later, we need to go,"


I laughed and started the car. Niall and Kayla piled in the back seat and I pulled out.


The drive down to the college wasn't too bad. The boys were awake this time, so it was louder. When we got there, though, we had to instruct them on something.


"Okay," I said, "I know that you both are really family oriented, and everything, and yadda, yadda, yadda, but me and K are...well...really worried about our parents and family meeting you."


"Worried they won't like us?" Niall asked, laughing.


"Well, not exactly..." I said.


"They've reacted weirdly and a little put-off-ish-ly before in the past, and..." Kayla said.


"It's hard to explain," I said. "Just stick to the left of the auditorium, and then meet us here when we're done. Both of us went out with our families last night because we said we wanted tonight to celebrate personally, which means you two," I said giving Harry a small smile. He smiled and looked down at the ground.


"So we're...what? Going out to eat, or staying in?" He asked.


"Well, we're a little broke..." Kayla said.


Harry and Niall laughed and shook their heads. "Ladies!" Harry said, "You are dating Harry Styles and Niall Horan from One Direction. Broke isn't in your vocabulary," he said poking my nose. Niall nodded, and then kissed K on the cheek. "I'd rather stay in though," Harry said.


"Why?" I asked.


"Again," Niall said, "we're Harry Styles and Niall Horan from One Direction. We get noticed everywhere we go."


"We want to spend time with you two," Harry said gently taking my hand. "Can't do that with cameras flashing. No one knows we're going to be here tonight, that's why we came in early. They think we're coming in tomorrow."


"Hm," I said and looked at Kayla, "guess we have popcorn and movie marathon, then."


"Sounds good," she said.


I kissed Harry on the cheek then tugged on his arm. "Left side of the auditorium and you'll be fine, okay?"


We left them there and scooted to say quick hellos to the fam before we went backstage. The ceremony went quickly, I kept steeling glances at Harry and K, but overall a couple of hours sitting, standing, sitting and walking, and standing and sitting again wasn't that horrid...


Niall and Harry successfully steered clear of our families, and our families successfully didn't detain us for hours before we left, and didn't follow us out to our car.


We picked up about five boxes of pizza on our way home, and I set aside some money for a delivery just in case. We all changed into our pajamas, which consisted of K in her Garfield pajama pants and a tank top, my shorty-McShort-shorts with Peace Frogs all over them and a long sleeved t-shirt, Niall in joggers and a white t-shirt, and Harry in...well...just joggers.


"Babe, come here for a second," Harry said, later that night when we were in my room.


"What?" I asked.


He hugged me around the middle and kissed me on the forehead. "I'm sorry about this afternoon," he said.


I shook my head. "Don't be, it was my fault. I started assuming, and..."


He hugged me tight and laid his cheek on the top of my head.


"Harry?" I said quietly.


"Yeah?"


"Do you really love me?"


He looked me in the eye for a minute, then sighed and shook his head. "I don't know..."


I shrugged. "I dunno either..."


He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He asked awkwardly.


I sighed. "K's right," I said, "I always tell everyone that I love them without meaning it. That's how I mess things up..."


He nodded and squeezed me around the middle. "Me too," he said then laughed, "I told Ashley I loved her...I never meant that..."


I laid my head on his chest and he laid his cheek in the top of my head. "I care about you," I said, "I really, really don't want to mess this up with you,"


He kissed the top of my head and took a deep breath into my hair. "Me too," he whispered. I buried my nose into his chest. "You know what?" He asked.


"What?"


"It doesn't matter,"


"What?"


"It doesn't matter if we're in love with each other yet, I want to love you. I want to stick around long enough to fall for you, and..." He looked at me, "what about you? Do you want to stick around?"


"As long as I possibly can," I said.


He kissed me hard on the mouth, and then led me out into the living room.


We all cuddled on the couch and watched about three movies and ate around eight boxes of pizza. Last thing I remember, I was falling asleep in the middle of Avatar (the science fiction movie about blue aliens [I love that movie]) and the next thing I knew, Harry was snuggling in next to me in the bed. I nuzzled my nose into the crook of his neck and went back to sleep as he hummed in my ear and played with my hair.