habits of my heart (h.s.)

twelve

"You want me to come over for dinner tonight? At your apartment?"

I glanced over at Harry, who was currently giving me an encouraging smile, although it felt a lot more smug to me. He nodded his head, and I tried not to roll my eyes before saying, "Yes. But only if you're free."

I could hear Roger hesitating on the other side of the line. "It's just you live with your friends, right? I thought maybe it would be a little too soon...."

It took everything I had not to let out a sigh of relief. "You know what, you're right. It is too soon, maybe--"

"No, Aly, wait, you didn't let me finish," Roger chuckled. "What are we waiting for? I'd love to come and meet your friends. Text me your address and I'll be there tonight."

Harry, who had clearly heard everything, was grinning on the other side of me, and I tried to mirror his expression to the best of my ability. "Great! I'll do that. See you then." I quickly hung up before he could even say goodbye, feeling a little guilty but more distressed about what I had just set myself up for.

"So he's coming tonight?" Harry asked me. When I nodded my head, he clapped his hands together. "That's great. Can't wait to meet your boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "He's not my boyfriend."

"You said yourself it was more than a one night stand."

"Yeah, but he's still not my boyfriend," I repeated. "Why are you suddenly so interested in my relationship status?"

Harry frowned. "I'm your friend. Aren't I supposed to be happy for you?"

I hesitated, unsure of how I was supposed to answer that. It wasn't like I could tell him that I secretly wanted him to be annoyed by Roger. This was a new revelation I had recently come upon, but I wasn't sure why. My friendship with Harry was different from my friendship with Niall, that was for sure. It almost felt like we were dancing around something that we both knew was there, but we weren't sure how to approach it.

And now he was going to meet Roger. Roger, who I didn't even actually like. I had no idea why I hadn't just told him the truth in the first place. Now look what I had gotten myself into.

"Yeah, of course," I said finally. "Just....don't be weird around him tonight. Be nice."

Harry stared at me for a second before saying, "I'm always nice."

"No, you're not," I said. "You're always frowning and pinching your eyebrows and rolling your eyes. This dinner was your idea, so at least be nice to him."

He was about to roll his eyes, but he quickly stopped himself, clearly remembering what I had literally just told him. "I promise I'll be nice to your boyfriend, Alyson."

"For the millionth time, he's not my boyfriend!"

I only got a smirk in return.

++++

Even though I wasn't actually interested in Roger, it still took me almost an hour to pick an outfit for dinner. I wasn't sure how casual I should go, or whether people were making this out to be fancier than it actually was. Finally, I settled on a plain black jumpsuit, figuring I couldn't go wrong with that, and began to apply my makeup. I was finishing up my eyeliner when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in," I called out.

Harry walked into my room, and immediately flopped down on my bed. "Hey. When is he getting here?"

I ignored his question and snapped, "What's the point of trying to be respectful and knocking if you just come in and ruin my bed?"

He smiled good-naturedly. "Oops. Sorry. I'll fix it, I promise."