I flipped the switch of my apartment light off, gently closing the door behind me. I walked a few steps down the hall way and realized Harry was stopped and watching the small steps I took. He had shown up a few minutes before to pick me up for the concert we were attending together. A faint smiled appeared to his face as I caught up to him in the hallway and we took our march towards the elevator. He gave a halfhearted compliment about the apartment building. I assumed he had seen much nicer, grander places on his travels with One Direction and meant no offense towards my living space. Clearly, he was just starting to get the taste of the more finer things in life.
I let out a relieving sigh as the elevator doors opened up to a free and open lobby space of my building. Apparently Harry wasn’t much of a talker and the elevator ride down from my floor was agonizingly awkward. When we stepped out the doors of the building I felt a cool, crisp London breeze overcome my body and wanted to stand there for a few minutes soaking in the lovely night. However, Harry put a forceful arm on my backside and lead me towards the passenger door, which he held open for me. I decided to break the awkward tension when he got into his car’s driver side.
“Did you not want to enjoy the night?” I innocently pondered.
He turned towards me with that same faint grin. “We can enjoy it after the concert when it’s a bit later and a bit darker. Right now I’m trying to make sure we aren’t on the cover of some tabloid magazine.” I noticed the grin slightly disappear when he said those words. He clearly did not enjoy having to watch his every move in order to please the public. When we finally arrived at the small club on the outskirts of town where the concert was being held, Harry parked the car at a lot across the street.
We snuck inside quickly and I tried to be as accommodating as I could towards Harry’s inherit shyness, which I attributed to his wanting to stay under the radar as “One Direction’s Harry Styles.” We walked towards the bar and got a couple drinks then turned and propped our elbows on the bar.
“Do you like the city so far?” Harry asked. Normally this question would be taken as a simple small conversation starter, but Harry seemed to have a lot of sincerity and wonder in his voice.
“It’s lovely. I’m still getting lost and have yet to meet lots of people, but you can definitely feel a different vibrance from Manhattan,” I quickly responded. At the mention of my former home I smiled, remembering all my friends who were probably hanging out until it was time to eat dinner and go out galavanting throughout the wild New York nightlife as we spoke. Harry took notice to my change in demeanor and smiled along with me.
Luckily the crowd that concert didn’t seem to be too interested in the tall, curly haired boy who stood to the side with a friend. Considering it was a small concert for a teenage girl who played all her songs with a piano, it wasn’t exactly a wild night. Most people just stood in a big huddle bobbing along with the music. Although I always considered it to be rude to talk during concerts, the vibe at this show was one where everyone freely spoke all throughout the performance. Harry and I held a casual conversation, learning a bit about each other’s lives. When we realized we had similar music tastes and record collections that became the main focus of our conversation for the last portion of the concert.
Before I knew it, the lovely concert had ended and the once packed room was now slowly dwindling down to a few last souls, most of which seemed too inebriated to go anywhere without the assistance of their friends. Harry and I stifled our giggles at one girl who apparently wasn’t even able to get off her stool at the bar without a friend carrying her out. Finally once the entire crowd had emptied and the place seemed deserted, the shy boy and I walked the short walk back to his car.
The car ride back to my place was for the most part as quiet as the elevator ride when we were in my building earlier. However, the awkward tension seemed to have dissolved and it was clear we were both just shy listeners who didn’t feel the need to fill silence with vapid, empty talk.
“Have you eaten?” Harry wondered as he walked me to my doorstep.
“Uh…I ate a little bit while I was getting ready and have some stuff to heat up when I get back into my apartment,” I informed Harry, who responded with a mute “oh.”
“You’re more than welcome to come in and eat with me,” I said with a bit of laughter at how silly this whole moment seemed.
“Good, because I’m starved,” Harry said, relaxing a bit at the comfortableness of my flat we had just walked into. I heated up some food for the two of us and we sat opposite at my kitchen island. We discussed how much we enjoy the concert and I couldn’t help but notice how clear his green eyes were and how tired his curls atop his head seemed. You could tell he had been styled so much in the past that the hair was starting to lose some of it’s natural spunk. His jawline was not extremely defined, but it was deep enough to be a prominent feature. I snapped out of my observant daze when I realized I was focused more on his protruding collarbones than his mouth. I quickly quipped my head back up to his emerald eyes, hoping he didn’t notice my short detour. He formed a cheeky smirk as he continued telling me about a record store near his house. I stayed entirely focused on what he was saying after that, slightly embarrassed I had been caught appraising his appearance.
We finished our dinner and said a friendly farewell. As soon as the lean boy walked out my door and I had shut it behind him, I realized how much I enjoyed the smell his scent trailed from where he had just been walking.
I snapped back to focus on the present. I had just spent an entire night with Harry and for some reason was craving to be back in the presence of his soft voice and cheeky grin.
