Effortless (h.s.)

Chapter THIRTY - date

I cleared my throat and swallowed, shifting my positions to see myself in the mirror. With a singular finger I held the hem of my shirt up to see. I dropped it almost immediately and turned around with a hunched back, averting my eyes from the reflection.

Time seemingly passed by so quickly, each day was over before I could even blink.

I nervously bit my finger nails before bringing my attention to Harry's room. The curtains were drawn open so the white covers illuminated in reflection to the moon. My suitcase sat on the end of the cloud-like bed.

Once returning back to Harry's apartment, he shooed me off into his room to change and rest while he prepared dinner. The spare time gave me the ability to think about everything that was about to change. I no longer knew if I was still 'working' for Harry, our relationship was morphing into something I couldn't understand.

I plopped down onto the bed with a grunt, my lungs emptied and my eyes shut.

A creak snapped me out of my tranquil state of mind, I lifted my neck up to see the brunette boy peeping his head around the door. My stomach flooded with butterflies at the small smile he gave me, but my heart dropped as soon as he stepped around the door.

Harry was wearing an entirely black suit and even accessories with rings and a pair of black, shiny, pointy shoes.

I sat up slowly and glanced at my outside consisting of an over-sized t-shirt and baggy sweat pants.

"I'll ch-" I began, pushing myself up off the end of the bed.

"No need," His slender build was extenuated in his clothing, it was hard for me to focus on his face. My cheeks began to redden within seconds and Harry's smile only grew, "You look rather dashing, my love."

He held a hand out with his palm facing the ceiling, I hesitantly reached to him and took it. Harry enclosed my hand within his, the cold metal of the rings brushed up against my burning skin. The grasp fell to waist level as he led me out of the room.

The kitchen smelled amazing, I couldn't put my finger on it but whatever it was, was divine.

"For the first part of our date, we're going to have dinner," Harry spoke over his shoulder and shook our connected hands lightly to get my attention.

"Our date?" I chuckled, remembering all the hardships surrounding the topic prior to my little 'vacation'.

Harry hummed quietly, "We have some home made macaroni and cheese with a side salad," he stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. I nearly fell into him chest first but was able to catch myself before the tumble. I didn't notice I used my hand to steady myself, it was pressed firmly on his abs. I carefully trailed my line of vision up from there to catch his stare.

"Is that alright?" The British lad gently spoke, his arm lifted up and a singular finger brushed a stray piece of my hair off of my face. I blinked rapidly and shied away under his touch, one corner of his lip quirked up into a smirk.

"Perfect," I almost stuttered over the simple word.

Harry nodded, his green eyes didn't stray away from my dark ones until his head was completely turned to pull out a chair for me. My stomach bubbled with nerves by the sudden personality change Harry endeared over making dinner. I sat down in the seat he pulled out for me and waited until he got situated opposite to me.

I looked down to the food and my stomach gurgled on demand, Harry pursed his lips together and suppressed a laugh while he dug in.

I mirrored his actions and picked up the folk placed next to my full plate of food, I studied the plate and tried not to think about it too much. But the same thought kept coming into my head, I couldn't remember the last time I had sat down and ate a real meal.

"Thank you so much for cooking, Harry. I mean I'm the one who should be cooking and cleaning around here," I smiled down at the food and took a full bite.

Harry cleared his throat and set his fork down, I glanced up at him but continued to eat.

"I think your services are going to have to be terminated, love."

My face fell.

I furrowed my brows and swallowed my last bite in embarrassment, racking my mind to figure out what I had done to be technically fired from the job he supplied me with, "Did I do something wrong? I-I mean I didn't always work the hardest but to be fair you were quite the distraction and-"

"I was a distraction!" Harry exclaimed with a toothy grin, "Speak for yourself, it's hard to get bloody anything done with you prancing 'round here all innocent like."

I opened my mouth to rebuttal but quickly closed it when a darker shade of scarlet was brought to my freckled checks. I averted my gaze away from the handsome lad and instead shook my head while scarfing down more food.

"Don't be so shy, I'm not complaining. Rather... I think it's quite inappropriate to date your boss, isn't it?" He casually spoke, picking up his fork to begin eating again.

My jaw dropped inside my mouth along with my bulging eyes, I stared straight ahead at the satin red tablecloth lining the table in front of me. Somehow I managed to swallow the forkful of food I shoved in and took a deep breath. A slight cough arose from within me and I caught Harry's cheerful smile as he watched me uncomfortably gather what he was hinting at.

"Red's your color, ye' wear it a lot seems'," Harry jokingly muttered under his breath.

"Are you sure you want this?" I suddenly spouted out, losing interest in the delicious meal he had cooked and focusing more on him.

Harry tilted his head to the left and finished chewing before giving me a dead stare, "I don't want to be away from you, so if being official will get you to stick around, then yes," he straighten his posture out, "I am sure."

I shut my eyes and a small laugh slipped out of my mouth, "You're so forward, I... I don't know what to say."

Harry shuffled around in his seat causing me to open my eyes and examine him. His brown hair curled around the sides of his face, and in this lighting his eyes almost looked brown. I noticed his skin was darkening due to the summer sun as well. I couldn't point out one flaw about his physical appearance.

"Don't have to say a word, you can just eat and stick around for as long as you'd like," He replied with a gentle shrug.

"I'll have to get a new job though," I picked my shallow voice up, "I can't pay for my apartment without a job."

Harry bit his lip and shrugged, "Maybe we can work something out, the two of us."

The beating in my chest was so loud I was sure he could hear it, I set my utensils down on the now empty plate and rested my hands in my lap. It was a lot to process all at once. Sure, the entire way back on the train we wouldn't let the other out of our sight, rather grasp, for more than five minutes. But the entire time I thought the second we got home things would go right back to where they were before, when I cleaned his house and was insecure because of his beautiful model friend or girlfriend... or girl he found repulsive but was being followed by.

I dropped my arms onto the table and leaned forward, "I've never been fired before."

Harry slumped back in his chair with a lazy grin, he crossed his arms over his chest and squinted across the table to fully analyze me, "I think there's a first for everything, hm?"