PETAL | HARRY STYLES

SIXTEEN.

"So, you're telling me...Harold Edward Styles kissed you...and you didn't ride him like a Merry Go Round?"

From across the table, Fleur sends June a cold stare. June raises her hands in defense and blows out a long sigh. She returns to her cereal as Fleur opens her mouth to speak.

"You're making it harder for me not to punch you these days." She mutters, only half joking.

"Okay, so walk me through this again. You're all full of wine and ice cream and you're swimming with Harold Edward Styles—"

"Stop calling him that!"

"So you and Harold Edward Styles are swimming together. He kisses you...you supposedly kiss back as you should, but nothing else happens. Instead, you haul ass and make some dumb excuse about having to be up early and leave before he can wake up. Not only probably confusing him, but confusing the shit out of me." June pieces together, her hands moving with each word.

"Exactly."

"Why, Fleur?"

"Because we're friends! Friends don't kiss! That's just not how it is!"

June sits forward, "I think the whole "friends" status was thrown away the second you kissed back. Clearly, there's something mutual there. You wouldn't have kissed back if you didn't feel how he did."

Fleur's mouth forms into an 'O' shape before uttering, "That's not the point."

"Fleur-"

"Drop it."

"Just listen-"

"I already told you!" Her voice raises as she jumps to her feet, "It can't happen. It just...can't."

June frowns, hearing the pain in Fleur's strained voice. She sees the hurt in her eyes and lets out a long sigh.

"You can't be scared forever."

"That's enough." She murmurs before stepping away from the table.

Huffing, June places her head in her hands and shakes her head.

Fleur knows she's being frustrating. She knows she's acting like a child. That she knows. But she also knows she can't let him fall in love with her. And she most certainly can't let herself fall in love with him.

It's more complicated than anyone can understand. More than June can even understand. But it doesn't matter. Only Fleur can understand and that's just fine.

It's not like she owes her anything. The entire morning they sat there to talk, Fleur noticed the small purple mark speckling on June's collarbone. Nothing June has mentioned before.

So they're keeping secrets now?

-

For the majority of her shift, Fleur is distracted. It's as if her mind is on anything but what it should be on. Her job, that is.

At one point she dropped a whole salad in front of the customer she was serving to. Her face flushed with humiliation before she apologized and hurried to grab another.

Not to mention, 'Kiwi' started playing over the loudspeaker and Fleur swore she was going to collapse and die right then and there. Like the universe had been out to get her.

She needs to get him out of her head. Needs to rid of his stupid face that keeps appearing in her brain like a movie. That charming smile and the little dimple that accompanies it. The way his eyes sparkle and when he laughs it ranges from a low chuckle to a high pitched giggle.