habits of my heart (h.s.)

twenty-one

i never wanted to be your weekend lover

When I finally returned to the apartment later that night, Harry and Niall were sitting on the couch. Niall had his eyes glued to the TV, while Harry was deeply engrossed in his phone. The moment I stepped into the hallway, however, both of their heads shot up. I waved at Niall, ducked my head down, and then started to walk towards my room. However, before I could make it to the door, Niall called me over.

"You're not even going to say hello?" he shook his head. "Now that's just poor roommate etiquette."

I didn't even have it in me to roll my eyes at him. "Hello, Niall," I sighed. "Can I go to my room now?"

"No. Come here, I wanna show you something."

"Niall, now's really not the--"

"Aly," he hissed. When I caught his eye, he motioned to Harry sitting beside him, who was staring at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world. Come on, he mouthed. Shoot your shot.

For a second, I stared at him in confusion, unsure of what he was talking about, but then I remembered: Niall still thought I had a crush on Harry. He thought Operation Make Harry Fall in Love With Me was still a thing. I groaned inwardly before shaking my head.

"Aly!" Niall repeated. "Come on, your favorite show is on."

I glanced over at the screen. There was an old Friends rerun on TV, which I usually wouldn't be able to resist, but right now, the only thing I wanted to do was go to sleep for a million years. However, upon noticing the deadly glare on Niall's face (which was seriously unsettling by the way, since I was only ever used to seeing him cheerful), I decided I may as well rip the band-aid off and go sit with them. The awkwardness would never fade if we never interacted. Besides, I couldn't avoid him forever.

That didn't mean I wanted to sit next to him, though. However, the second I made my way over to the couch, Niall practically pushed me into the empty space between him and Harry. We were squished so close together that I could feel his leg shifting against mine. He quickly moved it away, as if the feeling of my skin on his had burned him.

It felt like my stomach was being flipped inside out. He was so close to me, and yet he had never felt further away.

"Where's Adam?" I asked, willing to say anything to fill the uncomfortable silence in the air. Harry was still on his phone, but I couldn't see anything from where I was sitting. I wondered what he was doing--who he was talking to. I hoped it wasn't who I thought it was, but then I remembered it didn't matter. He was free to talk to whoever he wanted.

"Oh, he's on a date," Niall replied.

Harry's head jerked up at his response, and I felt like I might be sick.

"Not with Anna," Niall finished.

Harry's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything. He just shifted his attention back to his phone.

Niall glanced back and forth between the two of us, his eyebrows raised slightly. I could tell he suspected something was going on, but thankfully he didn't bring it up. Instead, he nudged me in the arm gently before saying, "So, Aly....when's that date you have again?"

Oh my God. I knew what he was doing, and I was going to kill him.

That caught Harry's attention, and for the first time since I had stepped into the apartment, he made eye contact with me. I couldn't read the expression on his face as he repeated, "Date?"

I was about to shake my head and deny it, but before I had the chance to, Niall beat me to it. "Oh yeah, this guy from her.....medicine class." This fucking idiot. "He's been trying to ask her out for weeks, and she finally agreed to it. He's dead sexy."