Across the Pond

Chapter 19

*Victoria's POV*

"A roller skating rink?" I ask in disbelief; Harry just smiles.  "I have absolutely no coordination"  "All the more reason to go" he smiles and we climb out of the car.  He takes my hand and we walk inside.  As soon as we walk in, people's heads turn to stare at us as if some super star just walked in.... oh.  I feel Harry stiffen next to me and he pulls me closer to him.  I thought for sure he'd drop me again, just like he did last time.  I'm thankful for his reaction this time, but I still drop my head and wrap my free hand around his upper arm. 

Harry order the skates in a short, clipped tone.  "What's wrong?" I ask quietly.  "I just didn't realize it would be this crowded."  I nod, understanding.  "We can go somewhere else?" I offer.  "No, no.  It's fine" he takes the skates from the counter and I follow him to a table. 

He laces up his shoes in an instant and stands up.  "Alright, come on" he holds his hands out to me.  "Why'd you have to get the blades for me?  I'm fine with the regular skates."  I look up at him as I try lacing the skate.  He chuckles and bends down to help me, "But I can help you more this way."  He pecks my lips, "Okay, let's go." I stand up slowly and almost fall back down but Harry catches me.  "This is gonna be really bad."  "Probably" he jokes and I swat his arm and try to walk away on my own.  My ankles roll in the skates and I use my arms to help  balance me.  Harry reaches for one of my outstretched, flailing arms but I yank it back.  "I got it."  "Well, excuse me" he mocks playfully and skates past me. 

 "Chop chop" he snaps his fingers and skates backwards to face me.  I poke my tongue out at him as I step onto the rink and almost fall again.  "You're holding up traffic" he laughs and points behind me.  "Sorry!"  I squish to the wall to hold on.  A group of little kids files onto the rink and give me a weird look as they pass me.  "Let go of the wall" Harry coaxes and holds his hand out.  I shake my head.  "Not yet, I gotta get used to this first."

"Suit yourself, but when I come lap you, you have to join me" he smirks and skates away.  I make a mocking face and he picks up speed around the rink. 

"Boo!" he wraps his arms around my wait causing me to squeal.  "Not funny" I try to sound mad, but the laugh that escapes my lips betrays me.  "It's pretty funny.  Now come on.  I didn't pay for you to become best friends with the wall" he takes my hands and pulls me away before I can grip the wall again.  I bend my knees a little in hopes that I won't fall.  He spins me in a circle and I cling to him so that I don't fall.  "You're 23 and you can't roller skate" he chuckles.  I make a face at him and he kisses me quickly.   

 "Gross.  We're in public."  "So?" Harry retorts and pulls me along.  After we make a few laps around the arena, it feels as if we are the only people here and all the other people seem to disappear.  It sounds so cheesey and I'm definitly not one for cliches, bu this just seems so real.  I don't see him as a celebrity anymore.  To me, he's just Harry the dork.

I got the hang of it after a while, but by then it was just about time to return the shoes.  "So what do you want for lunch?" Harry asks on the way to the car.  I shrug, "Something edible preferrably" I say sarcastically.  "Mmm no."  We stay quiet for a lot of the ride until he casually parallel parks in front of the restaurant.  "Show-off" I mumble and get out of the car.  "What?  You can't do that?"  he smiles and puts his arm around my waist to lead me inside.

The inside of the restaurant/pub is cute and quaint.  It serves everything from chicken fingers to steak and from water to martini's.  When the hostess leads us to our booth I tell Harry, "this is kind of like an Applebee's back in America."  "It's one of my favorites" he confims with a smile.

We eat quickly but stay extra long just to talk about a lot of random stuff like fashion, cars, work, family.  We talk about everything and nothing at the same time.  Those kinds of conversations are really hard to have with people yu barely know, but it comes naturally with Harry.  Either there's something actually forming between us or he's just really good at making conversation.... I sure hope it's the latter one. 

We finally start to leave and as soon as we are back in the car I say, "I should probably go home now."  "Okay" he agrees.  For a second I am taken back at houw quickly he agreed to leave me after we basically spent the past two days together.  Instead of objecting, I am actually kind of happy becaue I still have lesson plans to make for the week.

Harry walks me back up to my room like usual, but this time he has his hands tuced in his pickets.  He has some pretty weird mood swings.  One minute he is sweet and romantic, then the next he's detatched and quiet.  I literally don;t understand him.

"Okay, I'll see you soon" he says courtly and hugs.  I swipe the hair out of my face and turn to go inside my room, "Yea."  "You okay?" he asks, suddenly noticing my nonchelant attitude.  "Course."  He raises his eyebrows at me and I just smile and start to closes the door but he catches it with his foot and swoops in to kiss me.  After a few seconds, I push him back gently.  "Okay" he strokes my cheeck with his thumb.  "Bye" I wave and shut the door all the way this time.

When I turn around, Amanda is standing there watching me with a wide smile.  "Don't even start!" I throw my hands up and walk past her to my bed.  "Tori and Harry kissing by the door--" she sings.  "Stop it!" I whine and throw a pillow at her.  "Aww come on, T.  He's cute."

"No, no I can't get caught up with him.  I have work to do here."  "Doesn't mean you can't have a little fun in the mean time" she smiles and throws the pillow back at me.  I roll my eyes and take out my books when I hear the door open.  "Where are you going?"  I ask, peeking around the corner.  "Ling with Katie.  Wanna come?" she calls from the door.  "N-no, I ate."  "Kay, tootles then" she chirps and closes the door behind her. 

Why am I always alone here?  I've been out since yesterday afternoon and the second I come back, she leaves.  I sit in silence for a minute before I start working.  I turn on the TV for background noise and open my binder and set it on my lap. 

All of a sudden, on the TV I hear the host explaining the new  cover story, "Harry Styles spotted with yet another girl. I guess not much has changed since One Direction-- or maybe he's just trying to catch up to his mates.  Will this one be any different?  Only time will hell."  My head snaps up at the first mention of Harry's name.  The background picture on the announcement is a blurry picture of Harry and I having lunch at the restaurant.  My jaw drops to the floor.  Even when he's not in the headlines, he's still in the headlines and now I'm being dragged into it. 

Just then, I feel my phone buzz on my bed.  It's Harry.  At least I think it's Harry.  The screen is slightly blurred from the tears forming in my eyes. 

A/N:

Yay for updates!  Leaving for college for the next couple of days, but hopefully I will have an update before the end of the week again.  Enjoy