Letting Go (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 45: Dream A Little

Harry

She was avoiding me...again. I swear if I had a pound for every time she did this to me, I'd have enough money to get my own house by now. The only way I could get her to talk to me was climbing up to the damn roof. I huffed, finally pulling the rest of my body over the ledge. You'd think I'd be in better shape, chasing after kids all day.

I tiptoed across the roof and slowly snuck up behind her. She was sitting with her legs sprawled out in front of her, her right hand on her nerf gun as she watched the dirt road beneath us carefully. Just as I was about to reach out for her shoulder, she snorted.

"You know you're not that quiet Styles." She grinned, her eyes finally meeting mine.

I huffed, throwing my own nerf gun to the side before plopping down beside her. "I was just taking it easy on you."

"Uh huh, sure." She smirked. "Is that your excuse for last time too?"

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't aware that you were allowed to climb on the roof. That's basically cheating."

"Whatever you say Harry." She chuckled to herself and pulled up her left leg to rest her chin against her knee.

I watched her gaze settle on the lake. The colors of the sunset bounced off her skin, lighting her face in pinks and oranges. That's when I noticed the lighter lines running down the middle of her cheeks and how the outside of her irises were red-rimmed. Her mouth was slightly turned down at the edges and I got the urge to reach out to touch her cheek and smooth the frown lines, but I held back.

Instead, I moved closer to try and read what was bothering her. I had a feeling I knew what it was but she wasn't going to tell me unless I asked. "How did the appointment go?"

"I have surgery in three days." She muttered impassively, not even bothering to look at me.

"Shit." My jaw dropped, but I quickly clamped it shut. She was already upset enough as it was. Leaning forward, I tried to catch her eyes and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She flinched slightly at my touch, yet she didn't turn away. "I'm really sorry love."

She nodded and subtly leaned into my hand. After a few moments of silence she caught her bottom lip between her teeth and chuckled mirthlessly. "Hey, we both knew this was coming eventually right?"

"It still sucks Nat."

She shrugged. "It is what it is. At least I'm on proper pain meds now."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she held her finger to her lips and pointed at the ground in front of the cabin. Six boys were walking along the dirt road, nerf guns out and ready to kill anything that moved.

Nattie lifted a photo and held it up to me, a sly grin on her lips. "Those are your campers, right?"

I stared back at my picture. Oh no. I looked closer at the group ten feet below us, closing in on the cabin. Immediately, I recognized Alex the ringleader of my boys manning the front. Shit, we were going to miss curly fry day if they lost! Why the hell would they stick together when I told them to split up? Now they're sitting ducks, the dumbasses.

I shook my head emphatically. "Nope, not mine." I mustered.

Her grin grew wider and she picked up the nerf gun, taking aim at the unsuspecting campers. "Sure. So you won't mind if I shot them down then?"

I looked from her to the boys and back again. Right as she was about to pull the trigger, I wrapped my arms around her, yanking her towards me and pulled her face into my chest. "Quick lads, run! Run for your lives!" I yelled, ignoring the elbows slamming into my gut.