how you get the boy

twenty four

As much as I hated to say this, I wished I could avoid Harry – at least for the rest of the day – because after what had happened at The Cup, I didn't think I could afford another awkwardness stretching itself between us. But if I wanted things to work out, I shouldn't do things that I would do. I should do things that I was supposed to do. And that's why when I heard three knocks on the door, I went to open it instead of ignoring it and locking myself in my room.

Harry's rubbing the back of his neck, shifting from one foot to another when I opened the door and a smile hardly touched his lips. He looked nervous, but soon enough he relaxed and straightened his back.

"I'd walk in without a knock, but that'd be rude," he said with a smirk on his lips, an attempt to lighten the mood. When I didn't say anything in reply, he added, "Can we, uh, talk?"

I nodded and stepped aside to let him in before making my way to the living room. Harry followed behind me quietly. Then, when we're sat next to each other on the couch, Harry pressed his lips together whilst I pretended to be interested in whatever was showing on the telly.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, probably because he couldn't take the silence anymore. I turned to look at him and he cracked a small smile as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I upset you, didn't I?"

There were a number of things that I had expected him to say, but that wasn't one of them. Perhaps it had something to do with my tendency to expect for the worst and perhaps after what happened earlier, I'd made myself believe that Harry and I were incapable of talking to each other without feeling awkward. "It's-It's fine."

"It's not," he argued as he placed a hand on top of my knee. "It's not fine, bunny, I shouldn't have done that."

"Done what?" I quizzed, kinking an eyebrow at him. Now I was just messing around with him and he knew that.

His cheeks were red for a moment and his hand went up to the back of his neck and he began rubbing it again. I noticed that he did that often when he's nervous. "I shouldn't have introduced you as my neighbour in front of my classmates."

As soon as those words left his lips, Louis emerged from the kitchen with a plate of sandwich in hand and a bottle of beer in another. If I didn't know him better, I'd say that he'd been eavesdropping our conversation from the kitchen. Thin walls and all that.

"I'm sorry-" Louis halted in his tracks, "-but did you really introduce Tee as your neighbour, mate?"

Harry whipped his neck to look at Louis so fast that I was afraid he might break it. Good thing he didn't. The skin around Harry's neck turned into a bright shade of crimson immediately – it looked almost similar to his cheeks – and he frowned. "Why're you here?"

"I live here," he replied matter-of-factly after taking a sip of his beer, eyebrows raised. "What do you mean why I'm here?"

I could tell that Harry had no response for that because he opened his mouth and closed it a second later. He did that for three times until eventually he gave up and decided to turn to me and say, "Can we-uh-talk at my place?"

Behind him, Louis snickered, "Don't mind me, I'll be in my room-"

Harry ignored him. "Please?"

"Fine," I told Harry whilst shooting a glare at Louis who was now chuckling to himself and making his way to his room. I couldn't really blame him for laughing because I would've found this whole thing hilarious too had it not involved me.

Harry stood up from the couch and offered me his hand, which I took without hesitation, allowing him to lead me out of my flat. He didn't let go of my hand until we were standing in front of his flat and he struggled to open the door. He twisted and twisted and twisted the knob but nothing happened and I thought he might groan in frustration if it didn't open in the next second.