bare [h.s.]

Bye Bye Bye

The ride has been silent,
except for the brief taps of
Harry's fingers against the wheel
and the occasional "turn here"
from me.
And even though I'm sitting
close enough to smell his light
scent of cologne,
my mind wanders off to Elijah.
I wonder what he's doing now
and if he would be jealous that
another boy took me home.
Or if he feels anything toward me.

"I love this song!" I shriek,
knocking myself out of the
trance Elijah has put me in.
Without hesitation I reach for the black knob on Harry's radio,
and his hand meets mine.
"Sorry," we both say in unison.
He lets out a quick laugh
and I look away to avoid embarrassment.

"I didn't know you were
a fan of boybands," he grins,
slowly spinning the knob between
his index and thumb.

"I'm not, usually," I huff, "except for N Sync, of course."

"I mean, who doesn't love a good noodle-haired Justin Timberlake?"
Harry smiles, glancing over at me.

"Do you know the lyrics?" I ask,
tapping my foot against the floor to the beat of the music.

"Do I know the lyrics?" He scoffs, "I could sing this in my sleep."

"Okay, you're on Styles.
Are you ready?" I ask, raising a brow. He furrows his brows
in determination and nods.

"It's now or never," he says,
trying to fight a grin.

Our mouths open together,
lips moving at the same speed.
"I don't wanna be a fool for you,
just another player in
your game for two.
You may hate me
but it ain't no lie,
baby bye bye bye,"
we say together,
and even do the same hand
motion to the rhythm.
During the second half of
the chorus, Harry messes
up the words completely and
I gasp dramatically.

"I can't believe you totally
threw off our game!
We were doing so well, too,"
I sigh, shaking my head at him
in disappointment.

"Would you say we were,
in sync?" A shit-eating grin
is plastered on his face as he
wiggles his brows in my direction.

"You can pay for my medical bill
because that pun was so lame
it nearly killed me," I laugh,
lightly pushing his shoulder.
He throws his head back in
hysterical laughter,
entertained by his own joke,
and I can't help but join him.

Harry continues to tell awful
jokes the whole way home
and I pretend to hate them.
When his car pulls into the
driveway, I don't want to get out.
And it almost hurts me to.
Almost.