Hide and Seek (not continuing)

Chapter 14 - Let's Go for a Walk

*unedited*

[Camille.]

Relief. That was the feeling I had after I had told Harry about my social anxiety. Nobody really cared before, they all thought I was just shy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a little timid, but never this extreme. And once you got to know me, believe me, I wasn’t shy at all anymore. It just took me a while before I got used enough to people before I could completely be myself. Unfortunately, most of them didn’t stay around long enough for that to happen. Therefore it made me really happy that Harry actually wanted to understand me. It made me feel a little wanted, if I’m honest.

I also couldn’t ignore the fact how safe I had felt with Harry. I remembered all the awful things going through my mind as I lay on the cold ground, but all those thoughts disappeared when Harry picked me up, the warmth of his body made the coldness of mine slowly fade away. Normally, I freak out when someone’s that close to me, but the way Harry held me when we were in his room made me feel protected, like everything was going to be alright. And despite what my mind usually told me, I actually believed I was going to be fine. When he sung to me, I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the words of that song. It was like it was written about me, although it wasn’t – of course. In other words, Harry Styles saved me and helped me with my panic attack and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

“Do you have classes today?” Harry asked. We were still sitting on the sofa, quite close to each other as his arm was still around my shoulder. And if I’m honest, I was starting to get a bit uncomfortable now. I mean, Harry’s great and I do feel comfortable being around him, but that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a fan of touching. I felt okay with it yesterday, but my social anxiety is still here so I won’t always be able to bear physical contact.

“How late is it?” I replied, answering his question with another one. Harry quickly glanced at his watch, taking his arm off my shoulder.

“About ten thirty, why?” he wondered.

“Damn, I kind of had two classes this morning but I guess I slept through them.” I sighed. Maybe I could ask Natalie if I could borrow her notes of today’s classes, as she had told me she was also in English Writing and English history. Thankfully, the teachers never really cared if we came to their classes or not, they just want us to pass our exams at the end of each semester. So that meant if we could learn everything on our own without going to class, but still managed to get good grades, that’d be totally fine. But of course I was one of the students who used to attend all classes, well, except today’s then. It wasn’t like I hadn’t missed classes before, sometimes I had to work at the coffee shop so I had to skip a few then. But yeah, usually I went to school because I always found it easier to remember things when I heard someone explain it rather than when I read it in a book.

“So that means you’re free today?” he said, smiling.

“Yeah, don’t have to be at the coffee shop today so… Yeah, I think I am.” I answered.

“Great, mind doing some stuff together today then?” he asked carefully.

Well, no, I wouldn’t really mind so I agreed but told him I wanted to go home first to freshen myself up. With that I stood up and said I’d see him in an hour or so. Before I could leave the door he asked if he should walk me home after what had happened yesterday. I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. It’s not dark outside so I think at this time of the day nobody would attempt anything. Besides, the streets are really busy at the moment so there are enough people to help me if something happens.” Harry frowned, not really wanting to let me go alone but eventually just replied that I should be careful. I nodded and walked through the door after saying a quick goodbye.