"Oh no!", you muttered.
You had been looking forward to the Waldorf Charity event ALL YEAR, but looking at the assignment sheet now, you couldn't help but feel your spirit sink.
Someone had thought it was a good idea to put you on the Christmas Cookie team. You thought everyone here knew by now that you weren't really good at baking. You were more the arts and crafts kinda person.
You went over to the organisation desk. Anne Twist was sitting there, smiling gorgeously at everyone. Whenever you saw her, you found yourself hoping that you would look like she did at her age. She wasn't old, of course, but she wasn't twentysomething anymore either, though she didn't look a day over 28.
You grinned at her.
"Hey Anne."
She gave you a particularly wide smile. "Hello Y/N! It's nice to see that you're taking part again this year."
"Well, of course. There's just ONE thing."
"Anything, sweetheart."
"Um, so for some reason I've been assigned to the Cookie team and I thought, after the cake disaster two years ago we had all decided that I should be kept away from any sort of cooking or baking."
Anne frowned for a second, then her face light up with realization. "Oh, yes, of course. Oh, I'm so sorry, hun, I must have forgotten."
Your shoulders slumped. "Is there anyone I can switch with, perhaps?"
She didn't even look into her list, which all of a sudden made you suspicious.
"No, sorry, Y/N, but most teams are already at work."
She saw your face and gave you an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry! My son is on your team. He's great at baking, sometimes maybe a bit overenthusiastic, but he means well. Just stick to him and things will be fine."
You sighed and nodded. "Alright...I guess. Thank you anyway."
"No prob. And remember, it's for the kids." Anne winked at you, as you started to walk away. You frowned. She was WAY too cheery. Something was up.
It all fell into place when you arrived at the local bakery, where the cookie baking was gonna take place, and met Harry, Anne's son.
He was standing outside, wearing a beanie, button-down, with a white shirt under it, and black skinny jeans, and was talking to a woman and her son.
So far you had only heard about Harry, the singer, the boybander, the superstar. In Cheshire everyone just called him Haz or Harold. No one here thought of him as a millionaire, no, to them he was just a normal boy, turned into a young man over the past few years. You had heard stories about his wild child years from some old friends. And as he talked and laughed with the little boy in the woman's arms and then high-fived him, you could see it: The boy behind the man. The teenager that had to grow up way too fast to fit into a weird new world, but every once in a while got to come home and be himself. You could also very much see Anne's radiance in him. They both had this magnetic field to them, that pulled everyone around them in and made them bathe in their warmth and kindness.
Harry must have felt your eyes on him, or maybe the kid gave you away with a look, either way, he turned, saw you standing there and gave you a big smile, just like Anne. Then he came over.
"Hey, you must be Y/N. My mum's told me a lot about you.", he said, stretching out a hand.
You took it and shook it for a second, as a thought crept into your mind. But it couldn't be, could it? Anne would never...
"Yeah, she talks about you non-stop as well.", you replied, pushing your suspicions back.
Harry laughed. It was a cute laugh. His eyes and nose wrinkled when he laughed like that. And those dimples.
"I can imagine. So, are you ready to some cookie baking?", he asked, as you made your way towards the door.
"Honestly, I should probably warn you. I SUCK at baking... or cooking for that matter. I'm more... artsy."
Harry frowned. "Hm, I doubt that, but hey, if you want you can help with the cutting and decorating."
Your eyes lit up. "Perfect."
He grinned and then opened the door for you.
"Thanks.", you said, not being able to hold back a grin yourself.
Anne hadn't exaggerated. Harry was VERY enthusiastic about baking. He quickly made it clear that he would call the shots, by greeting everyone and then going on to seperate them into groups. He himself was in charge of the batter with some, seemingly hand-pickend, helpers. You started helping with cutting until the first few badges were done, then switched to decorating.
You watched Harry for a while at some points. He was so great with the kids, always funny and at the same time carefully making sure that everyone got a turn. He kept telling stories that most of the time didn't seem to have a point. By the third one you were so amused by his pointless anecdotes, that you couldn't help but laugh. Your back was to him and you thought you got away with it, but then something bumped against your head.
Your frowned, turning around. Harry was standing there, grinning. To your feet lay a small ball of dough. You glared at him.
"Did you just throw cookie dough at me?", you asked, sounding more offended than you actually were. A few kids already giggled.
"Possibly. I wanted to get your attention." He shrugged.
"And you couldn't have just called my name?" You put your hands on your hips.
He thought for a moment. "That...could have worked. Just wasn't my first thought."
You glared. "What did you want then?"
"I wanted to know what you thought was so funny about my story? I hadn't even reached the punchline yet."
"Oh, because you were gonna do that?"
Now it was on Harry to frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"
You smacked your lips. "Well, Harry, you never get to the point. Ask anyone here. No one has any clue what the point of your last two stories was."
In answer all the kids around yu shook their heads, while the grown-ups just grinned.
"Is that so?"
You nodded. "It is."
"Well, let me show you what I think of that."
And with that he picked up a ball of cookie dough that had been laying on some flour, ready to be rolled out, and threw it at you. It hit the middle of your chest, before dropping to the floor, leaving a huge flour stain.
"Oh. You. Didn't!", you grumbled.
"I did. What are you gonna do about it?", he challenged with a big grin.
All the kids were watching the two of you with wide eyes now.
You smiled an evil smile. Then you quickly pulled a spoon of frosting out of one of the bowls and threw it at him. It landed in the middle of his face.
That did it. You broke into a fit of laughter and everyone laughed along. At least until Harry suddenly stood in front of you and threw a handful of flour at you. And that was how the food fight broke out, which was only ended by the woman, who owned the bakery, walking in to check on things. Harry and you were in the thick middle of it all, looking a bit sheepish...as far as one could see under the crust of flour, eggs, dough and frosting on your face.
Afterwards you finished the last of the cookies, before returning the dirty children back to their parents, with a "There was a malfunction in the kitchen.", which no one believed of course. Mostly because of the kids thanking you and Harry for the awesome food fight though.
As punishment the two of you had to clean up the mess by yourselves. Which was fair, all things considered.
"How did we get dough behind the fridge?", you asked out loud, stretching to reach it.
"That probably been there for a decade.", Harry stated dryly, swiping up the last of the flour.
You laughed, pulling back, holding a crumbling ball of dough. "Sure looks like it."
Harry grinned. He dumped the dust pan's content into the trash and held it open for you. Then the two of you looked around.
You nodded proudly. "Looks as good as new."
"Absolutely."
You grinned at him, holding up a hand. "Well done, Styles, well done."
He high-fived you. "You too, Y/L/N. We make a pretty good team."
You couldn't agree more.
For a moment you just looked at each other and you suddenly became very aware of how close you were standing. If you just leaned in a bit and tilted your head...
"Are you two finally done?", May, the lady who owned the bakery, asked, walking in, making you two jump apart.
You gulped. "Um, yeah. Yeah, we are."
"Good, then take your cookies and get home. It's late."
You and Harry grinned at each other and nodded.
Before you went your seperate ways outside, you turned to Harry.
"Today was fun. Thank you."
He grinned. "Yeah, you too.", he thought for a moment, biting his lip, "Maybe...we could do it again sometimes?"
You frowned. "What? The cookie baking? I told you I'm terrible at that."
He chuckled. "No, not that. Although I'm sure I could help you with that. No, I meant, hanging out, just the two of us...you know?"
He moved awkwardly from one leg to another and you were amused at finally seeing a more vulnerable side to Harry Nothing-Can-Shake-Me Styles.
"Are you asking me out, Mr. Styles?", you wondered with a smile.
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am. So what do you say?"
You gave him a big smile. "I would love that."
His face exploded into the biggest smile you had seen today. It was like looking into the sun.
"Awesome. I'll call you."
You nodded. "You better! See you, Harry."
"See you SOON, Y/N!", Harry called after you, as you started walking away.
Thinking about how the day had went, you couldn't help, but thank Anne for putting you on the cookie team and insisting you stay. Although...yeah, you were pretty certain now that this had been her plan all along. You shook your head, laughing. You couldn't believe Anne had just set you up with her son.
