Love to Hate You (A Harry Styles Love Story)

Chapter 13 - Book Covers

- Autumn's Point of View -

“Who would be the main character, though?”

 I leaned forward in the passenger seat to give him a questioning look as he stared intently at the road, his brows furrowed in worry. He glanced at me, his mouth twisting into the smile that I’d come to adore, his front teeth coming into view. We’d decided that we wouldn’t let Juliette ruin our “super fabulous” (his words, not mine) date and somehow twist some of the ideas to be able to do them in the car. For example, right now, we were trying to write a fictional story on the ride home instead of at a cafe, and in the place of asking people at the cafe for ideas if we were stuck, we would ask strangers in the cars next to us at stop signs, so we had all of our windows wide open. My hair kept getting into my face from the wind and Harry’s eyes seemed to be hurting from the sunlight, because he, without asking permission, had taken my sunglasses from me and was currently using them. We didn’t complain, though. It was fun.

 “Me,” his grin widened.

 I nodded, jotting the brainstorm down in horrible handwriting onto one of the scraps of paper we’d found in the glove compartment of his rented car. 

 “What’s your story, Mr. Protagonist?” I teased, folding one of my legs underneath me.

 “Can I be a ninja?” he looked at me excitedly, waiting for my reaction, “We could call it ‘The Styles-ish Ninja.’ Fights crime with his fabulous hair.”

 I shook my head, while laughing. He’s such a childish little specimen.

 He stuck his tongue out at me mock-angrily but twisted his mouth in deep thoughts, then blew up his cheeks, looking slightly like a chipmunk, and exhaled. His eyes darted up and down, and he licked his lips. He took his hands off of the wheel at the stop sign and stuck his head out of the window like a dog.

 “‘Scuse me, ma'am!” he yelled out the an old woman in the car beside ours.

 She jumped in her seat out of shock that someone had just addressed her when there was no one in the car. She turned to us with a strange expression that evaporated into a confused one, once she realized the noise came from us. She had fading, short, blonde hair and a very clean-cut, upper-echelon look about her, it being extremely evident in her poised posture and clothing.

 “Um..yes?” she said, her voice higher than I expected it to be.

 “What do you think my story is?” Harry asked, giving a her a charming smile that would make any woman swoon, and it did.

 “I-I,” she seemed taken off guard and was slightly blushing. “Well, you seem like a very nice young man with a beautiful girlfriend. Childhood sweethearts, maybe?”

 She craned a bit more forward, leaning on the steering wheel and smiling at me courteously. I gave her a weak smile, thinking about how if I were standing right now, my knees would probably give out from underneath me. Harry turned to me, his eyes brightening in an odd way, as his fingers filled the spaces between mine.

“How’d you know?” he asked quietly, staring at me intensely.

 I looked down at my lap, as Harry placed his free hand back on the wheel and drove on, leaving the woman to go her way. Our hands were still intertwined. 

 I could feel his stare at the next stop sign, but still kept my head down. Don’t look at him. He’ll tempt you.

 He sighed and closed the car windows, then went back to staring ahead at the open road, his eyes distant. He licked his lips and took one hand off of the steering wheel, balancing it with his leg as he pushed some hair out of his face. I felt him squeeze my hand and couldn’t take it any longer.