Two Hearts {H.S.}

Ch. 4

She by Harry Styles

And he's thinking of you

Like all of us do

I had managed to escape the lion's den too many times the past three days. Always making myself busy whenever Harry and the rest of the band would come in to set up and darting away like a frightened animal each night at closing.

Fate had been too kind to me.

I was lulled into a false sense of security. Like when a puppy gets tricked into going on a wonderful car ride only to end up getting his balls cut off at the vet. That's how I was. Just waiting for the knife to drop.

And drop it did.

Multiple times.

In one night.

"Hey, Gumdrop!" Jess shouted across the riotous crowds in the dimly lit bar. "Could you be an absolute angel and take these waters over to the stage for the band when they get here. In between taking care of your tables, of course. Thanks, you're a doll!" Her incessant rambling not even allowing for my rejection or lame excuses.

The only true reason I didn't fight too hard was because they weren't even here yet. What could go wrong, right?

I glanced up at the forever journal of time crookedly hanging above a Bob Marley silhouette light and began the mental countdown of when it would be unsafe to deliver the waters to the anticipating stage.

8:43

Ok, 17 minutes. I can definitely have time in the next 17 minutes.

Sure enough, there was a moments rest between delivering drinks and greeting new customers to jog to the back and snatch an armful of ice cold bottles.

Focusing entirely on not dropping the beverages and attempting to blow the rouge strand of hair from my left eye, I hadn't even bothered to look up and notice the four bodies littering the stage.

I had come just far enough that it would've been noticeable to turn around, even though they hadn't seen me yet. An awkward purgatory that ended in two entirely different, but equally humiliating, circumstances. Feeling more risky than usual, or maybe it was the secret desire to be noticed by him, I slowly trudged up to the side of the stage opposite the band members.

Now regretting my decision, I prayed that I could discard the waters on the empty ground without being acknowledged, however, it seems my luck was taking a turn for the worse.

"Need some help with that, love?"

The hairs on all parts of my body stood on end as nervous swarms of butterflies swirled in my empty stomach. The combination enough to make me feel slightly nauseous and slightly like I was floating.

I stood from my contorted, bended-knee, arms-still-full-position and slowly turned around still juggling the frosty items slipping from my arms.

I didn't have enough dignity to not blush when he was suddenly so close I could feel the warmth radiating from his sinfully gorgeous upper body. A peak of solar warmth through thin clouds.

His one large, warm hand lightly grabbed ahold of my shoulder to steady me, burning an imprint there I knew would stay like a tattoo. The other hand reached just under my struggling arms to grab two bottles from their dewy bottoms, fully palming them both like it was the easiest task he had ever completed.