Out of the Ordinary

Chapter 5

"Take your hat off." I demanded.

Harry did as I asked, smiling a little as he removed the large-brimmed hat and flung his curls around, tugging at them with his fingers to achieve an attractive, mussed up look.

Taking a large gulp that had nothing (everything) to do with how cute he was, I looked away from him, out the window at my building, relieved to see that there were very few people around. In the ten minutes it had taken for us to make our way back downtown, I had grown unreasonably nervous about bringing Harry Styles to the dorms. He'd avoided a scene this morning for a scheduled interview, and I hoped I could provide the same calm at an unannounced visit to a college dorm. The hat, I thought, in all its fashion statement glory, would attract attention.

I let out a breath, feeling Harry shift around behind me on the seat, and realized that we had to be quick.

"Okay," I said, breathing deeply, "You ready?"

I turned to look at him, and he smirked, "Now that the giveaway hat is gone? Yes."

Giving him a pointed, unamused (but, amused) look, I turned and opened the car door, ready to sprint to the entrance of the building several feet away. My insides were on high-alert, tingling in awareness of the people around us - and of the boy just behind me. Looking both ways, as if I were crossing a busy street, I let my feet land on the sidewalk, and turned slightly to make sure Harry was following me.

His face was glowing in amusement, his green eyes bright, and fixed on me from the open door of the car. My stomach lurched as I realized something: of course, he would be noticed. Maybe I imagined it, and of course, I was attracted to him, but there seemed to be a sort of brilliance about him that I was suddenly sure others would see. As if, by simply existing, he couldn't help but attract the attention of strangers.

I had another moment of complete self-doubt at the thought. Why the hell was he with me? I spun around, ready to run to the safety of the door and hope he was keeping up, but I felt a warm hand grip my arm, just above my elbow, and turned to find Harry standing close behind me, his back straight and his stance bold, seemingly at ease with the very real possibility of people noticing his presence.

There was a moment of exciting realization and novelty - this was the first time we'd touched at all - and I stared at his tattooed hand in excitement and wonder, feeling the way the warmth of it seemed to spread through the length of my arm.

Harry tilted his head down a bit to meet my gaze, a confused look in his eyes, "Are you alright?" he asked, a note of concern mingling with his obvious enjoyment of my flustered state.

Taken aback by his question, I pulled away a bit, and his hand fell from my arm, much to my unexpected dismay, "I'm fine."

After another moment of staring, as if he was waiting for me to implode, or explode, or do something equally as weird, Harry nodded, "Alright then. Let's get inside, shall we?"

Walking the same route I'd walked for a year up to my room felt completely new to me. The doors were the same heavy doors I'd had to push open with my shoulder, my toes gripping the ground for purchase, but the weight of them lessened with Harry's arm bracing them next to mine. And the walk through the lobby felt different, too. The white linoleum floors looked impossibly filthier, and Patrick the security guard actually looked up as I passed, taking in the sight of Harry Styles behind me before disappearing once more into the world of his comics without so much as a brow raised in question. The elevator, which had always sounded like a spaceship to me, but now even moreso, landed and took us up to the third floor, taking its time the whole way as usual, causing me to wince with every hitch in the ascent. But we didn't bump into anyone as we might normally have, and as I unlocked the door to my room with shaky fingers, I said a silent 'thank you' to whatever force was working in my favor.