Begin Again [Harry Styles Fanfic]

Our Sanctuary

"So, you're trying to tell me that after two years of living in America, you still haven't dated anyone?" Harry asked, twisting his swing so that he was facing me. The wind was blowing lightly in his curls, making them stick up in a million directions.

I shrugged my shoulders and cuddled deeper into the jacket he'd convinced me to wear. It was warm and snuggly. Plus, it smelt like him so I wasn't really complaining. We'd run away from the fans that were waiting persistently outside of Carmine's, into this hidden little garden/swingset area. It was nice and quiet and peaceful. Only people who were searching for a place to hide would've found it. It was still strange though, that in the middle of this busy, hustle and bustle city that a place as beautiful as this could possibly exist.

I looked over and saw that he was still staring at me, a small smile playing on his lips. "What?" I asked, covering my mouth. "Is there something in my teeth?" I tried to do that thing where you use your tongue to wipe at the front of your teeth but I couldn't feel anything.

He just laughed and shook his head. "No, it's just that I don't believe you. Don't try to spare my feelings. The entire world knows my track record with women," he muttered back with a grimace.

I sighed heavily and pushed my swing to lift me off the ground. I guess it was only fair to let him know my terrible history with guys and dating. He was right after all, I knew all the girls he dated and all the ones he didn't. "There was this one guy," I said slowly, starting to laugh to myself. "His name was Danny. We'd been dating for like six, seven months, maybe when his mom decided that it was time to invite me to Sunday dinner to meet the family." Harry groaned loudly, digging his feet into the ground. "No, shhh, shhh. Let me finish, Curly Bitch."

"Did you just change that into a pronoun?" I stared at him blankly, waiting for him to take the hint. "Oh, right, sorry."

"Like I was saying, it was bound to be bad because, you know, ew, people. Ew, social interaction. Ew, social interaction with people. So I get to his house in what can only be described as my Sunday's best, but then again, I've never been to church a day in my life so I could've totally been dressed like the trashiest whore in Jersey Shore.  And his mom opens the door and she's standing there dressed in a too small cami and ripped jeans. I clearly did not get the casual Sunday memo."

"And that's the worst of it?"

I laughed loudly, throwing my head back and even snorting a bit. "Oh, dear God, do I wish it was. I was helping his mom chop some carrots because I am a professional carrot chopper, if you did not know, and she turns to me suddenly and goes 'Why do you keep calling my son Danny? Is it some kind of inside joke?' and I kinda just stared at her like she was the stupidest bitch in the entire world.  And I'm like 'I call him Danny because his name is Daniel. Duh. Danny equals Daniel'. And then we sat there for thirty minutes staring at each other. Apparently his name was not Daniel at all. It was Chris. And he thought Danny was some kind of cute British petname. Americans are idiots."

Harry was hunched over in his swing, tears streaming from his eyes and gasping for air. Anyone who happened to stumble upon us would assume that I just beat the shit out of him -- which I wanted to, oh so badly did I want to punch him in the face -- but in reality, he was just laughing too much for any sound to even attempt to escape his body. If I didn't find him laughing to be one of the most attractive things in the entire world, I would've probably pushed him into the dirt and stolen the money out of his wallet. What can I say? New York City changes a girl. I didn't choose the thug lyfe, the thug lyfe chose me.

“Are you done laughing at my pain? Because this is pretty hurtful,” I mumbled, trying to make myself pout and look innocent.

He struggled to reign in his laughter and gave me an apologetic look. “It can’t get much worse than that, love. I mean, you dated the lad for six months and didn’t know his name. It’s all up hill from there, right?”