All of this past

Again, not a date

The sound of the doorbell sounded through the house as I rushed into the bathroom. Crap! I was so late! Or Harry was early. The last option was the right one, a quick glance on the clock taught me. I was once again very happy about the second bathroom upstairs, so Sam could take his shower downstairs as I prepared for the night in the en suite to our bedroom. A quick brush through my hair would have to do though, as Harry obviously had arrived already. I could hear him talking and joking with Jude when I got out of my bedroom a few minutes later.

"Dad! Harry's here!" she called out. It actually surprised me she hadn't done that before. And not even a smart remark about this so being a date. Well, she had been pestering me about all the way home from school to dance practice and back home, so perhaps I deserved a break now. 

"I know, I know!" I said, slightly out of breath as I reached to bottom of the stairs. "Hi, shall we go?" I added, a smile directed to Harry before turning to Jude to give her my usual rant about the night. 

"Dad! I know everything I should know, and I will call you if anything goes wrong. Now leave and enjoy your da-" She pushed me out the door, but I cut her last word off with a stern look, causing her to sigh and try again. "Your evening that is definitely not a date, yes I know. Bye!"

We were both outside on our driveway, the door slamming shut behind us before I could wrap my mind around it. I shrugged, and followed chuckling Harry to his car, taking my now almost familiar place in the passenger seat.  I turned around to face him again, as we talked a bit about our days, well, to be honest it was mostly me complaining about how busy things already were with work and hobbies and clubs, even when school had only just started two days ago.

"By the way, I heard your nephew is taking my daughter out on Saturday? And if I heard well they already kissed last week." I said, amused and a bit bothered at the same time. It was still my daughter and in my eyes she wouldn't ever be ready to date , I supposed.

"Ah, so she told you?" he smirked, glancing sideways briefly.

"Not really, I heard her gushing about it to Kate. Apparently kissing skills run in the family, if I may believe her." I winked at him before continuing. "But she had to ask me permission to go on that date of hers, so yes, she told me a little bit. Smartly leaving the kiss out of it."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Well, please don't pull his head off like you wanted to do with her previous boyfriend Liam? I wouldn't know how to explain that to Gemma."

I giggled, surprising myself with the boyish sound that suddenly filled the car. Harry looked at least equally surprised but seemed to like it, joining in with the laughter as he pulled up to the cinema complex. The ticket line moved fast, and Harry insisted on buying us popcorn and a large cup of coke, although I repeatedly told him I had just had dinner and didn't need anything to eat or drink. 

We kept on joking while we walked into the movie theatre that was not even half filled when we entered, picking a seat around the middle. Harry joked about sitting in the back row like we used to do when we only just started dating, so nobody would notice us not watching the movie and just making out all the time, but followed me into the seats we had picked anyway. I got a casual flirting vibe from him every now and then while we were sitting in the dark theatre, making me blush at some of his corny and cheesy remarks so I was happy the lights were already out. Not only because I didn't know how to react, and now I could just pretend I was watching the commercials intently, but also because I wasn't sure if he was flirting on purpose, or if he was just being his normal self. I never really got to witness normal-not-my-boyfriend-Harry before, because he was all shy and closed up when we first met, and we got together soon after. I started munching on the popcorn anyway, it gave me something to do while we waited for the actual movie to start. It was his choice of movie, so if it turned out as bad as the play we went to see last time, it was at least not my fault this time. 

The theatre went even darker when the first images of the movie came on. I had a really hard time concentrating though, as I was very much aware of Harry's arm touching mine on the armrest. It felt... good. Nice and comforting, but also weird and a bit scary. My heart fluttered in my chest when I noticed he didn't move his arm either, but I felt guilty, and unsure about what was going on. This was all just so confusing. In the end, I reached for the large coke that sat in the cup holder between our seats and took it as an excuse to leave my arm a bit closer to my body when I put it back on the armrest, now a little less than an inch between our arms, but still not enough space to prevent the hair on my arm to stand up straight. I scolded at myself for reacting like this, it wasn't like me to get so... involved. So lost in my own feelings. I glanced sideways at Harry, who didn't seem to be bothered by our contact, his eyes focused on the screen, which left me even more frustrated. Why was I getting so worked up by this?

I tried to forget about the tingling feeling in my arm and the flutters in my chest and concentrated on the film that was playing. After another thirty minutes, I actually succeeded, and was pleased to see that it was actually a very good movie. The ending was fabulous as well, so we sure had something to talk about on our way out. We were still discussing if the lead character had taken the right decision in her love conflict when we reached the car and Harry asked me where he should drive me. I glanced at my phone, no missed calls and no messages, and it wasn't even that late, so I decided to be bold and tell him to take me out for a drink somewhere. His grin threatened to split his face in half as he looked at me. "How very brave of you mister Payne!" I slapped his leg playfully as he drove off, steering us to a nearby pub he thought was nice and quiet enough to talk some more. 

I got into the boot halfway the round table, across from where Harry was sitting, offering him his beer. No matter how hard I tried, my leg seemed to gravitate to his all the time, so our knees were touching the slightest bit. I blushed a little when I first noticed, but he didn't seem to care, or even notice, so I stopped caring too. We just talked about random things, I loved this, it was all just casual, even natural in a way. A slightly awkward moment was avoided when he dodged out of a compliment I gave him about his new songs, I suppose it was kind of weird, as most of them were about me. We even talked a bit about David, although it wasn't as much as he had implied last time, but I supposed telling little bits at a time would be good. The worst part was already out with the long and hard letter I had written last week. Harry went to get us another drink, and when I glanced at his watch I was surprised, and slightly disappointed to see how late it already was. I kind of regretted it, but if I wanted to make it through the rest of the week I really should head home. He agreed, and said something about an important meeting at his management's office the next day, so a few minutes later he was driving me home. 

He was just telling me a story about a girl hitting on him and one of his friends while they were on holiday, sniggering at her embarrassment when they said they were lovers, just to get rid of her annoying behaviour around them, when he turned into my street. I fell silent, regretting even more that the night was really coming to a close now. He turned the key and the motor as well as the radio stopped, leaving us in complete silence. I stared hard at my hands fumbling with my house keys, not knowing what to say or do. 

"I loved tonight Harry." I finally whispered, shyly looking up to meet his bright green eyes that shone even in the dark. "Thank you." He smiled and leaned in as I did the same. It was a bit of an uncomfortable one armed hug, with the handbrake between our bodies, but it didn't matter. I turned my head so I faced his neck, secretly inhaling his familiar scent before I pressed a lingering kiss on his cheek. I looked back at my hands as I sat up straight again, trying to say something but no words came out. He picked up on it and took my chin between thumb and index finger, making me lock eyes with him.

"It's okay Liam, take your time."

I nodded and smiled, both happily and sadly, again it didn't make sense, but none of my feelings seemed to make sense tonight, pressing another quick kiss on his cheek before getting out of the car and opening my front door. Once again I waited for the red lights of his car to disappear around the corner to go inside, the house all dark and quiet as it should be.

Thousands, no millions of feelings and thoughts were still swirling through my head and body when I was in bed, covered with the cool, silky sheets, gazing up at the ceiling when I received Harry's text, notifying me of his arrival at home. I smiled at his sweetness and bit my lip as I turned to my side, too exhausted to give it another thought.

I know you're waiting for me to tell you I got home safely, so here goes. And I really mean it, it's okay. I'll be here, waiting. Forever if I have to. X Haz