Beautifully Flawed | Harry Styles [One Direction]

Chapter 3

If Harry’s house was messy then my place was a dump.

As soon as you walked in, you found yourself in a small foyer that led you to a sort of small reception room the minute you crossed the two big glass doors. To the left, there was a smaller room with a wooden table and some chairs and on the right there was a bright seating area, with a couple of armchairs, a big cream leather corner sofa and a modern fireplace. There was a flight of stairs going up and another one going down right across the foyer.

“Wow,” was all I could utter. “Your house isn’t messy at all.”

“Well maybe not this part,” Harry laughed and placed the keys on a small table in the reception area. “Come, let me show you to the kitchen,” he said and placed his hand on the little of my back. I unconsciously flinched at the contact of his hand against the flimsy fabric of my top and he quickly removed it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to---”

“It’s okay, you just caught me off guard,” I smiled nervously and followed him through another set of glass doors past the seating area towards the stairs.

Second time in less than two hours that he’d managed to catch me off guard. This can’t be good.

I watched him carefully as we walked. He was pointing at stuff and talking about what was upstairs and what was downstairs and I nodded quietly. “The rooms are on the first floor and there’s a small studio there too,” he informed sounding robotic, as if he was being forced to tell me all these things. “And in the basement there’s a media room, a bathroom and the laundry room.”

He seemed uneasy and I wondered if that was because I had moved away when he touched me. I didn’t do it consciously; I was simply surprised that he would do something of the sort and to be honest, I kind of still felt uncomfortable when it came to men. I had had very bad experiences in the past and as much as I tried to convince myself that I was alright after James, I really wasn’t.

After passing the guest bathroom, we reached the ample country cottage style kitchen. There were huge window panes leading to a quite impressive garden.

“Welcome to my kitchen,” Harry said. “Please take a seat m’am,” he added and I did as he said. “The breakfast menu consists of coffee or tea, juice and…” he opened and closed some cabinets above his head as he spoke. “… one Jaffa Cake.”

“Sounds good to me,” I smiled shyly. “I never have time to have proper breakfast in the morning anyway.”

“I really need to do some shopping.” Harry said shaking his head and emptying the box on a plate. “I’m sorry for inviting you over and having nothing but Jaffa Cakes,” he added sounding embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, Harry, really…” I insisted and watched him turn around quickly and rummaging through another cabinet he hadn’t yet opened.

“I knew it!” he showed me a packet of crumpets and smiled like a kid in a candy store. “I hope you like crumpets, they are probably my favourite thing ever…”

“I do, yeah,” I replied and watched him opening the fridge and taking some butter and juice out. “Listen, can I ask you a question?”

I watched him nod. “Sure, what is it?”

“Well, I was wondering… a few things actually,” I frowned and stood up to go and help him out. “I don’t wanna come across nosy or even rude but…” I sighed. “First off, I want to apologize for moving when you … you know, back there in the reception? I know you probably just did it without thinking and---”

“Listen, it’s okay,” He smiled and handed me two glasses with orange juice so I would put them on the bar. “I’m like that, kind of… touchy when I feel comfortable around someone.” He chuckled. “No, not ‘touchy’, that doesn’t sound good does it…?”