The Boy Across The Road

06 ~ Lunch

HARRY’S POV

Author’s Note: What Maddie wears to the café :) http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=53174538

I woke up and looked outside to find that the weather was over-cast. Certainly wasn’t the weather that reflected my mood. I had finally scored a date with Maddie. I remembered when I first saw her on the bus. I hadn’t completely known who she was then but her face seemed recognisable. I’d gotten home and dug out my old school photos which weren’t really hidden as mum had displayed them all over the house. She looked the same yet completely different in the photo. Her smile was the same but… she had gotten a lot hotter. She was still short but her petite figure was cute. She’d lost her baby fat but still had chubby cheeks.

It was 10:00 now and I was meeting Maddie at 12:00. I peered through my window wondering if I would be able to see her through her window. Then I realised that that was a pretty creepy thing to be doing and retracted from the window. I decided that I better get ready instead of staring at her like a creep. My phone lit up and I saw that it was a message from Niall. ‘Hey, we’re still good for me to come next week right? I have to tell you about this girl ;)’. I chuckled. I guess that Niall had finally found his princess. ‘Sure, see you then :)’ I replied and went down to eat breakfast.

I sat at the café, waiting for Maddie to show up. I checked my watch and saw that it was 12:05. Why wasn’t she here yet? Was she ditching me? No, no, no. I was being stupid. Just because she was five minutes late didn’t mean that she wouldn’t be showing up. And then I saw her walking at a fast pace checking her phone, probably for the time. Her hair was out and blowing in the wind, her dark brown curls strewn across her face. She looked up at me with an apologetic smile.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. I got caught up with my friend. He got up out of his chair and pulled hers out for her. “Thank you,” she said, her dimple showing. He signalled for a waitress. “You’ll be eating as well right? I hope you knew this was a lunch date.” He said as the waitress brought us the menus. “Of course! I hope you didn’t expect to me to go with just coffee for lunch.” She said raising her eye brows.

“Oh, hi!” Maddie said to the waitress. They seemed to know each other. The waitress was tall with brown hair and brown eyes. More Louis’ type, I thought to myself. “Fancy seeing you here again!” the waitress said, making obvious gestures towards me with her eyes that I ignored. That was one thing I hate about being famous. People seemed scared to say hello and treat me like a normal person. This was something I noticed that Maddie didn’t do. She left us to decide on what we wanted. “You know her?” I asked, browsing the sandwich options. “Oh yeah, I met her the other day when I was here with my friend. Ivy I think her name was.” She said, not looking up from her menu.

I realised that in this whole time I had been thinking about how today would go, I hadn’t thought of what I would talk about to her. Good one Styles, I thought. “So…” I said. I needed to think of something quick. “What are you doing once the summer is over? You have one more year of school right?” I thought about what I would be doing when the summer was over.

“Actually no, I was um… well, in Primary School they pushed me up a grade so this was my last year of High School.” She said awkwardly. “Right, you’d think that after going to school with you for like four years I would know that,” I said looking down. “But um, I’m moving to London to study after the summer is over. Well actually, a week before it ends, just to get used to my surroundings. Hopefully experience new things, I mean it will be a completely different environment. Loud London and quiet Holmes Chapel are really different.” I was really thankful that she was making conversation. I don’t know why I was being so awkward around her. Was I nervous? I’d never been nervous around a girl before.

Ivy the waitress came back to collect our menus and get our orders. I’d decided on a BLT and Maddie was getting banana bread. Tiny lunch if you ask me but she seemed to be alright with it. The rest of the date went by smoothly. Our conversation started to flow and she laughed at all of my jokes – even the lame ones. I realised that whenever I saw her smiling, I would start to smile too. “Well, I’ve told you about my plans when the summer is over. What about yours?” she asked, looking interested. “Well, I go back to London in two weeks and from there, the boys and I get to work. But I can’t tell you what we’re doing, it’s a secret,” I said winking at her.

I signalled for the cheque and saw Maddie rummaging through her bag. She pulled out her wallet and smiled as Ivy returned with our cheque. “What do you think you’re doing? I asked her. “Um, paying for lunch, what does it look like?” I quickly moved the cheque to my side of the table so that she couldn’t reach it. “Don’t be silly. I’m paying. What sort of gentleman would I be if I didn’t pay on our first date?” She looked as if she was going to argue and then decided against it. I paid and left a tip as Maddie stowed her wallet away in her bag again.

We both got up. “How are you getting home? Is somebody picking you up?” I asked as she pushed her hair away from her eyes. “Uh no, I’m catching the bus.” Well, this was the perfect opportunity to ask her out on a second date! “Well what’s the point of that? I’ll give you a ride home. We live next door to each other anyway. It would be stupid not to!” She held back from laughing and nodded. Excessive enthusiasm is making me obvious, I thought.

I led her to my silver Audi that I’d parked close to the café. She got into the passenger seat and we headed off home. The radio started to play a slow romantic song and I awkwardly turned it off so as to make conversation. “So, do I have any chance at a second date?” I asked hopeful, hoping that it wasn’t coming out in my voice. “Well, I had a really great time so I think… yes.” She said smiling. Success! I parked the car in front of my mum’s house. I got out of the car and opened Maddie’s door for her before she could herself.

We trod along the pebble path as I walked her to her door. She turned towards me. “Thanks again for today, I really did have a great time.” I bent down and kissed her on the cheek as she began to blush. “I’ll contact you to make plans,” I said smiling. She walked inside and I walked towards my house feeling warm inside. Today had been a great success. There was something about Maddie that just kept me wanting more. I walked inside, to my bedroom, flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling smiling.