The Writer (AU)

Chapter Thirteen~ Coffee, Food, and Tears

My eyes opened to my alarm going off and I groaned as I slammed my hand down on my phone to shut it off.

"Get up, loser," Ashton yelled, banging on my door.

"Shut the hell up!" I yelled back and stumbled toward my bathroom. Harry and I had ended up talking until about 1:30 and I don't remember anything after that. Of course I fell asleep on him. The light slightly burned my eyes and I did my business. Pulling a shirt over my head, I did the smell test and put on some shorts along with my Nike shoes before heading out the door. Running back inside to grab my bag of clothes and shampoo, I rolled my eyes as I walked back toward my car. Driving to school, the clock on my dash gleamed 5:34 and I wanted to shoot myself.

Pulling into the parking lot and dropping my stuff off in the locker room, I grabbed my shoes and made my way toward the gym.

"Hey, Ellie!" Coach Huffman exclaimed excitedly and smiled at me.

"Good morning," I groaned as I plopped down on the hardwood floor.

"How we doin'?"

"I've been better, but I'm still breathing so is can't complain."

"What's goin' on?"

"Got in a fight with my dad. It's really no big deal," I shrugged.

"He didn't like, hit you did he?" she asked, taking a sip from the cup she had in her hand.

"No, no. He would never hit me. Just said some stuff that wasn't very nice to each other," I replied. Other than spanking the crap out of me when I was a kid, my dad never hit me.

"Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Okay?" she smiled politely. I just nodded as the other girls filed in and rubbed at my eyes again. We started our workout with running and stretching and then made our way to the weight room.

"Alright girls," Coach Huffman smiled. "We're gonna do stations. We have box jumps, burpees, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and then side plank. Groups of two at each station. Matchup with someone close to your size because they'll be your partner later"

"Rocky, you wanna be my partner?" I laughed. She was only 6'4" but she was the second tallest girl on the team.

"Sure," she nodded.

"Let's do sit-ups first." Rushing toward the sit-up station, we plopped down and waited for Coach to start the clock.

"Alright, three minutes at each station and then rotate!" she yelled. "Go!" Through the rest of the workout, I realized how out of shape I was. Thank God for preseason workouts. Catching my breath as we finished, I quickly made my way to the locker room to shower. My phone started to ring and I tightened my towel as I answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey pretty girl," Harry groaned sleepily. "I'm here."

"Here as in school here?

"Yes," he chuckled.

"I was just about to get in the shower. So give me like, thirty minutes."

"Good. I can go back to sleep."

"See you soon." The line cut off and I tossed my phone in my bag, practically running toward the showers. This was probably the fastest I had ever scrubbed my hair and taken a shower like, ever. Drying off the best I could, I quickly got dressed and fixed my unruly, wet hair the best I could. Doing my makeup, stabbing myself in the eye and having to start over twice, I finally got it right and put all of my stuff in my locker. Throwing my backpack on along with my ID, I practically raced toward the front of the school. Walking toward his black Range Rover, I smiled at him sleeping in the front seat.

Quietly knocking on the window, he jolted awake and rubbed his eyes, unlocking the doors.

"Hi," I chuckled, climbing into the passenger seat.

"Hi," he sighed sleepily, leaning over the console and kissing my cheek. Blushing slightly, I still wasn't used to this. A boyfriend! Trying to calm my inner thirteen year old, I couldn't help but smile.

"Where to?"

"IHOP, I guess?" Harry shrugged. "Oh, I have some doughnuts." He leaned between our seats and his shirt slightly came up. Looking at the smooth skin of his tattooed hip, he brought the box between us with a wide, dimpled, sleepy smile.

"Thanks," I laughed, blushing even more as I opened the box of doughnuts and then closed them again.

"You're not gonna eat one?"

"I'm just, uh, saving room." Internally slapping myself because I didn't want to look like a fat ass in front of him, I hoped he believed me.

"Ellie," he chuckled, shaking his head and opening the box. Taking a large bite of a doughnut, he smiled at me."Now you have to eat one."

"Harry, I'll eat one after breakfast," I laughed nervously. I knew if I ate one now, I wouldn't hesitate to finish the entire box. There was an awkward silence between us as he at a second one and licked his fingers.

"Look," he sighed, swallowing his last bite. "I don't know who ever told you you were fat or anything, they were wrong. You are wonderfully beautiful just the way you are. I promise that no matter how many doughnuts you eat, I will eat the exact same amount and we can be crazy, and eat doughnuts together."