After Winter - Harry Styles [Wattys 2013]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~Emily~

"Let me get this straight," Jill starts, running a hand through her brown locks in aggravation as she looked at me, "The night you left to get some fresh air, you bumped into him and you guys talked and fought and ended up making out in the rooftop?" She asks, giving me an emotionless look.



I hung my head up in embarassment, "You make it sound pathetic, Jill." I mutter quietly, looking up to meet her playful glare before she erupts into laughter. I groaned in frustration, pinching the bridge of my nose.



"Stop laughing at me." I hissed, waiting for Jill to calm down. The crinkle in her eyes become evident from doubling over in laughter, tears brimming her eyes. I grunt, running a hand through my already slovenly hair; the laughter dying down.



"Are you done?" I hiss at her, giving a her a cold stare, her arms raising in defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll stop. You have to tell me every detail, though. Like, how did this even start? Two weeks ago you couldn't wait to strangle the fuck out of him and now you want to fuck him?"



"I do not want to fuck him!" I say in defense, ignoring the way my voice rose an octave higher whilst saying this. Great, now she would think I'm denying senseless things.



"In denial." She sings, twirling a lock of her hair while sipping on her water. Banging my head on the desk, I flip her off, a thread of profanities leaving my lips. I feel the aura suddenly change the moment I lift my head off the table; the humoured expression gracing Jill's face is now gone as she reads out a message.



"Who's that?" I ask, peering over in curiosity. She jerks back immediately, giving me a nervous smile before slipping her phone back in her bag. Giving me a sheepish smile, she props her elbows on the table, eyes trained on me.



"It's no one. Now shut up and just talk about your amazingly new boyfriend, Harry Styles." She says, tone laced with sarcasm. My eyes bulges at the volume of her voice, shushing her quickly as a group of girls from the higher batch walks by us, snickering at me before heading towards a few tables away.



"Stop shushing me like it's some top secret, Ems. The whole Knox population probably knows of it already. Why keep it a secret when you can flaunt it." She suggests, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly at me. A hint of pink tinges on my cheeks, making her and I share a chorus of laughter.



I guess I won't have a problem with how Jill feels about this whole thing, then.



~*~

When the final bell rings, Jill and I stand up from our seats and exit the hall quickly, feeling relieved to have ended Physiology class without a hassle. Those kinds of classes are the kinds that I dread the most. The Professor could hardly explain clearly the topics, our only source of knowledge being the presentation provided by the Dean of the University; it being very vague as well.



I hear Jill snicker from beside me, both of us walking briskly side by side towards her car, completely oblivious as two arms snaked behind me, lifting me off the ground in a second, causing me to yelp reflexively.



"Eek!" I shriek inhumanly, continuously pounding my fists on the laughing figure keeping hold of me. I swivel my body towards him, giving him a cold stare before giving him a final pound on the chest.



"What was that for?" He grunted, looking at me with an amused grin. I roll my eyes at him, arms crossed, "That was for catching me off guard. Literally." I give him a flat look, earning nothing but a laugh that brings out his dimple.



I can't help the smile that creeps on my face the second his dimple makes an appearance, absentmindedly poking it, watching him scrunch his eyebrows. "Why are you poking my cheek?" He asks cutely, pulling my hand away from his face.



I shrug, "I don't know, I find your dimple cute." I say honestly, giving him a sheepish smile. An eyebrow is raised at me as well as a smirk, "Only the dimple?" He asks and I laugh, shaking my head in amusement.



"Okay, fine. YOU are cute. Happy now?" I ask, sighing defeatedly. He chuckles, nodding slowly before pecking me on the lips. "I forgot to say hi?" He says, making me giggle.



It wasn't until someone cleared her throat that I remembered Jill was still here. Facing her, she had a full-on smirk plastered on her face as she examined us carefully. Shaking her head in amusement, she decides to talk, "You guys are seriously so adorable but I have to go now. See you tomorrow, Ems." She nods before walking to the other side of the lot to her car.



I turn back to Harry, seeing a smirk on his face, "Well then, why are you here?" I ask teasingly, crossing my arms at him. He shakes his head with a smile on his face, "What else am I doing here? Off to fetch my girlfriend." He says coolly, disregarding the pink tinge growing on my cheeks.



"Whatever, Styles. Let's go." I practically drag him towards what I assume to be his car. He laughs at my antics, shaking his head in amusement before unlocking his car and letting me in the passenger seat.



"You're cute when you blush." He remarks, the heat on my cheeks increasing as I placed my seatbelt on. "And you," I paused, fixing my hair in a high ponytail before looking back at him, "are a major liar." I chuckle at his gobsmacked expression, clutching his chest as he feigned hurt.



"Your words wound me, Jane." He coos as my eyes widened at what he called me, smacking him on the shoulder painfully, "Ow!" He flinched, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.



"What was that for?" He whines, glaring at me. A smirk tugs on my lips, "I told you to never call me by that name. Serves you right for being a dickhead." I teased, sticking my tongue out at him. He does the same before shaking his head in amusement, turning the engine on and finally backing away from the campus.



Times like these are my most favorite. It's when I don't have to care about the media publishing false stories at the end of the day about us. It's when we can act our normal selves around each other without worrying what others might think. It's the feeling of being a normal person with him. No flashing cameras, no bombarding questions, no made-up stories; just us.



And even if this is just the first day of my newly improved relationship with Harry, I feel like we're going to come a long way if we don't let others opinions get in our heads.


~*~

"Are you serious?" He asks, disbelief plastered on his face. I give him a flat look before nodding, earning a bout of laughter from him. "I can't imagine how they looked like when they saw us basically making out."



"Harry!" I call him out, still not used to this whole affection thing. He gives me a smile, pecking me on the cheek. "I'm sorry, babe. It's just amusing how they reacted to us. They should've expected it from the very start, you know." He says coolly, taking a sip of his iced tea.



We were currently in his flat having a talk of how the people in campus reacted to our little scene a while ago. He found it amusing whilst I found it terrifying. I found it terrifying because it was my first time gaining so much attention after so long. The last time I had this much attention was when their fans found out I was Harry's best friend and even that incident horrified me for at least a week.


It scares me even more now that our relationship is brought to a whole new level. What would they think? They were so used to me being friends with them that they would never expect this to happen. Heck, I never expected this to happen. My thoughts were pushed aside as I felt a hand clasp mine, squeezing it lightly. I look up to find Harry staring at me worriedly, "Hey, is something bothering you?" He asks lightly, a massive frown creasing his face.



I give him a light smile, "Everything's fine, Harry. I'm just worried about how your fans will react. For sure some people in the university have spreaded the news online. I don't know how I will handle the hate when it comes." I admit shyly, my fingers suddenly sparking interest as I looked down.


I hear Harry's chair screech against the floorboards, feeling him approach me, his arms wrapping around me affectionately, hot breath fanning against the crook of my neck. "They loved you when they found out you were my best friend. They'll probably love you even more now that they know about us." He assures me, lips planting firmly on my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.


I pry away from his hold, turning slightly to face him, "You can never be sure, Harry. I've seen how they react to any of you dating anyone. They literally are deadly." I say, chuckling lightly as I recounted the times I was on twitter reading through thousands and thousands of comments when Zayn announced he was getting engaged.


"This is different. We're different. Through the years, they've grown to love you. You're probably the only girl they trust enough to come with me to the tour. You're the only girl they trust me with. They'll probably sit on their computers and say 'finally' once they find out we're together. At the end of the day, their opinions really don't matter because as long as we have each other, no one else really matters. I choose to ignore hateful comments thrown at me. You should too." He says softly, managing to somehow calm my nerves down.


I stand up abruptly, giving him the tightest hug I could muster, burrying my head at the crook of his neck, my lips ghosting over it. I could feel his heavy, raspy breathing against my body; signifying how tight he's holding me. "Thank you for everything, Harry. Thank you for always being there for me, no matter what." I tell him wholeheartedly, prying away from the hug to look him in the eyes.


With a soft smile planted on his face, he gives me a soft kiss, one that makes me heart skip a beat before a grin tugs on his lips, "Thank you for saving me. Thank you for saving me from the heartbreak Amber has caused me. Without you, I probably wouldn't have survived."


I give him a grateful smile, arms wrapped around his neck. His grin falters, eyebrows scrunching as he looked at me. "Is something wrong, Harry?" I ask cautiously, removing my arms from his neck, letting it fall to my sides.


He shakes his head immediately, giving me a negative answer, "It's nothing. I just... I have to tell you something, Ems." He says seriously. I silently encourage him to continue, his lips parting to say the words I needed to hear when my phone vibrates on the table, both our heads jerking to read the caller ID flashing repeatedly on my screen.


Louis.


~Chapter End~


HELLO GUYS I HOPE YOU LIKED CHAPTER 27 PLEASE DONT KILL ME BECAUSE OF THE CLIFFHANGER YOURE GONNA LIKE CHAPTER 28 ANYWAY DONT WORRY. I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED IN A MONTH I THINK. MY SCHEDULE GOT JUMBLED UP AND MY COUSINS CAME HOME AND THERE WAS THIS CONFLICT AND STUFF AND IM JUST GLAD YOU GUYS ARE STILL HERE WITH ME.


THE OTHER DAY I CHANGED TE TITLE OF BENEATH HER BRACELETS TO RUN SIMPLY BECAUSE I THINK RUN FITS THE STORY MORE THAN BENEATH HER BRACELETS. I ALSO CHANGED THE DESCRIPTION AND I GOT GOOD FEEDBACK SO THATS A GOOD START.


ALSO, LAST WEEKEND, AFTER WINTER HIT 3000 READS YOU GUYS I WASNT EXPECTING IT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT HOPEFULLY YOULL SHOW IT MORE BY VOTING AND COMMENTING IN THIS CHAPTER



SOME PEOLE HAVE BEEN ASKING ME IF I WILL EXTEND AFTER WINTER BECAUSE "the drama just begun" BUT SAD TO SAY NO I CANT BECAUSE MY SCHEDULE IS REALLY GETTING JUMBLED UP AND MY LAPTOPS BEING REPAIRED AND I HAVE THE SECOND FANFIC TO START WITH AND I JUST DONT HAVE TIME TO SQUEEZE IN EXTRA CHAPTERS FOR THIS, IM REALLY SORRY.



AS FOR THOSE WHO ARE OKAY WITH IT, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. THREE MORE CHAPTERS TO GO AND I CAN FINAL.Y PUT THE GREEN TICK BESIDE THE TITLE. This journey has been amazing so far and I am really really thankful to have you guys with me through it all.


I know I left with a cliffhanger but trust me when I say it will be worth it and chapter 28 will be much longer. Im sorry that this is so short because honestly i just had to finish this chapter and i didnt know what else to write. As for the hemily shippers, i hope youre happy with this chapter because its filled with hemily moments and i just dskfnasdkfmds




IM SORRY IF THERE ARE ANY GRAMMAR ERRORS OR TYPOS BECAUSE I JUST WROTE THIS IN MY IPAD AND IDK IM TOO LAZY HAHAHAHA I LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY STORY FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @chainialls



SEE YOU EVERYONE AND PLEASE COMMENT AND VOTE IT HELPS A LOT. DONT HESITATE TO SHARE THIS STORY WITH YOUR FRIENDS TOO IT HELPS A LOT AS WELL. THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU.



-Sofia xoxo