HARRY

'Emily really did all that?' Ashley asks, as we are sitting down by the swimming pool. We decide  to isolate ourselves from people. I tell her everything that happened for the past three days. 

'Yeah. I am not shocked, to be honest. She was a cloud which rises above the horizon. I am glad she's gone..' I tell her. She comes a bit closer, filling the few centimeters of space that we kept. 

'I am kinda cold..' She trembles and shivers. Winter is apparently lasting longer than it should be.

"Come here then" I open my arms for her and she gets in, her head resting on my chest. 

'How did you live, without me, for three days?' She smirks and looks up at me, as I form a cheeky smile. 

'I couldn't. I was dying inside.' I tell and rub her shoulders.

"What a bummer....how are you gonna handle it when we are far away from each other for a good amount of time?' she mocks me and I shake my head.

'That situation won't arise in the first place.' I tell her. She gets up and cups my cheek, moving a strand of my long hair.

'Quit talking about me. What about you, miss? How did you live without me?' I ask her back, taking her hand from my cheek and intertwining it with mine.  

'Boy, if only you saw me...you would forget that you were obliged.I was so emoooo, like??? I literally drank so much tonight as if the world is going to end in seconds. And then I threw up on a freaking bush,  all because of you and your obligations, Mr Styles...' she says firmly and softly pinches my neck. I can't help but chortle at her response.

'Awww how adorable...' I say and bend my neck a bit to kiss her temple, but Ashley moves it away to tease me of course.

'This ain't funny..' she whines and sits in an upright position now, letting go of my hand. Her stare remains fixed on me.

'No, I am just glad that our love isn't one-sided.' I tell her and a smile starts forming slowly on her face. She nuzzles against my neck adorably, causing me to chortle again. 

'Can we go back to my place? I'm so knackered...' she muffles and looks up at me again. I rub her face gently, moving all the strands of hair that was covering it up.

'Let's go then...' I raise myself up and offer my hand to help her get up. She doesn't let them go, though, and holds it until we hop in to my black Maserati. 

-

We exchanged amazing conversations while on our way back to Shawn's apartment. I get to learn a lot about her now, more than before. I can't quite comprehend the fact that she's technically my girlfriend now. Little did I know this would've been possible four months ago. I pullover near the back gate because Ashley wanted me too, for some reason. I turn off the headlights and stop the ignition.  At that very second, her phone begins to ring. She takes it out of her bag and looks at the name, getting slightly worried. She answers it though.

'Hey brother...' she says casually as she talks to Shawn.  She mutters a few "yeahs" and "no's", before getting into the actual topic.

'Oh you're not coming home today? Why not?' she asks, looking concerned. It automatically gets transferred to me, as I look at her intently.

"Oh, okay then. It's fine, Shawn. Yeah don't worry about me. Yeah I am at home...some kind person offered to drop me off so no biggie...' she looks at me and winks, causing me to giggle under my breath.

"Yeah, goodbye, love you...' she says and hangs up. 

'What happened?' I ask out of mere curiosity. 

'Oh, Shawn's gonna sleepover at Liam's house today and Mary's joining him too. So he just wanted to inform me so that I don't get all worried...' she speaks and I mutter an "oh", although I am a bit concerned she has to live all alone in their huge apartment.  I unlock the doors and step out of the car, heading to the front passenger door. I open it up for her and offer my hand. She takes it politely and gets out, slowly shutting the passenger door, whispering a 'thank you"subtly. 

"Bye love, I'll see you tomorrow...' I let go of her hand and turn around to leave. She catches me by surprise when she holds  my right hand tightly, stopping me on track.

'No, please wait..." she says, causing me to turn around.

'Stay over with me? I don't wanna be alone tonight...' she asks, her dark brown eyes completely locked with mine. I bite my lip and get closer to her, now holding both of her hands. I was not expecting her to say that. 

"Of course..." I mumble and a huge smile forms on her face again. She's been smiling like this ever since an hour ago. That's all I ever wanted since I saw her for the first time. And that's all I want to see. 

-

"Um, why are we using the back door?' I ask as she directs me to different way.

'There are CCTV cameras in the front and Shawn checks the footage every now and then. So, I just don't want him to know. He might misunderstand...' she informs me and mutter an elongated "oh".  We reach the back entrance of the building, after walking through some trees.  Ashley takes out a card and swipes to unlock the  door. There's an elevator labelled "For emergency purposes only"  just opposite the entrance. 

'People use it everyday so they should really change the label..." Ashley mumbles to me and I nod. 

'So technically,if you're using this elevator on a normal basis, you're kinda violating the rules.Never knew Ashley Mendes was up for rule violation...' I mock and she narrows her eyes on me.

'Shut up, as if you've never broken rules before...' she says as a comeback and I cock  my eyebrows while smirking. We get inside the elevator and it takes us up to Level 8. I've been here before, so naturally, I walk towards the main entrance of their apartment.  However, Ashley pulls me to her before I do so. 

'Always the back entrance.' she whispers into my ears and leads me to another door.

'You have a back entrance to your apartment as well?' I ask, surprised by all the astonishing details of these opulent and classy edifice.

'Yup! And thank God we do..' she says as she scans through her cards to take out one. She swipes another card to unlock this door as well. Damn, this building is technologically advanced.  The door opens up to their enormous kitchen. I close the door behind me, which gets automatically locked. I walk to the living room and take off my suit. Ash  closes the curtains of the gigantic living room window with a remote control. I am getting more and more impressed every time I discover new things about their home. 

'Let's go upstairs to freshen up...' she suggests and I nod. She quickly takes off her heels and carries them. I follow her to the stairs. However, she groans in pain and drops her heels to the floor, causing me to hold her.

'Oh God, an ankle cramp...' she mutters and I kneel down. I hold her ankles to check.  They're stiff as fuck right now. Most likely a minor muscle twist.

'Try to move your heels' I instruct and she follows but grunts again.

'No, I can't, urgh. It happens whenever I wear heels for too long.' she says while holding on to my left shoulder. No wonder why...
There's only one thing I can think of right now. I get up from the kneeling position and carry her, bridal style. She low-key gets shocked by my sudden actions. I begin to climb up the flight of stairs.

'Harry, you didn't have to-'

'It's fine. We just need to get upstairs...' I tell her, which forms a smile on her face. She pats my shoulder softly as I soon complete the stairs.

'You can put me down now. The stairs were the only issue but now it isn't anymore...' she suggests and I shake my head in disagreement.

'I don't want to. I realized I like carrying you. Now, tell me which one's your room..' I state as matter of fact, and she rolls her eyes playfully.

'That one, mister..' she points and I follow. We reach a classy red wooden door which has 'A' and a '24' right underneath the letter.

'Why 24?' I ask as she pulls the hinge, opening the door.

'It's my lucky number...' she tells me and I nod, entering her room. I finally put her down on the edge of the bed, and I kneel down again to check.

'You sure they're fine now...?' I ask, sensing for any possible problems.

'Yeah, they're fine. It usually takes a few minutes for the pain to go away naturally.' she informs me and I nod, finally standing up. She gets up and goes to her wardrobe, to most probably change into something comfy. I look around, exploring her room for the first time. It's not bland and way beyond than what I've expected. She has three different tripods stood on the floor, 2 MacBooks, a video camera , a Polaroid camera and a normal camera near her wardrobe on a table. There's also a fancy blue guitar lying near her nightstand. Her walls are painted golden and white. Her study and vanity table are near to the window. She also has a huge shelf at the far corner, filled with books and some historical artifacts. I spot a renaissance style wall clock, making me excited on spot.

'I have the exact same clock!' I say as my mouth drops at it sights. I have this unusual obsession with historical stuff. And by the looks of it, Ashley does to.

'Oh my God that's insane! Do you also collect them whenever they're on sale?' she looks at from the corner of her wardrobe door as she speaks, seeming as elevated as me.

'Yup... I am obsessed just like you...' I tell her. She soon takes out a white t shirt and blue pajamas, which is clearly over sized for her physique. No, wait. The cutting is for men that's why.

'Why do you have men's clothing with you?'  I ask, sounding as casual as possible.However, deep down inside,  I am a bit too nosy about this.

You just got together and you're already insecure, huh? Damn, Harry. 

An unknown voice echoes in my head out of nowhere. 

'These are Shawn's but he doesn't wear them anymore, so I took them from his drawer. I like wearing over sized stuff indoors,but I haven't worn these in a long time.' she informs me, causing me to blink and sigh in relief under my breath. Thank God.

'Yeah, this may seem odd and people tend to misunderstand in a lot of ways. ' she goes on. I almost did myself.

'Anyway, make yourself comfortable..' she says and hands me the clothes and a towel. I take them kindly and unfold them. While I was at it, I could feel her gaze on me, causing me to look up. 

'What?' I ask while smirking slightly.

'Nothing...the bathroom's that way.' she changes the topic and bites her lip. 

'Fine.' I say and pull her, to plant a kiss on her forehead. She cups my cheek and I let her go, before entering the restroom...

ASHLEY

It's still hard to comprehend that everything that has happened tonight is real.  As Harry's in the bathroom, I take this opportunity to slip into a pair of pink shorts and a white T shirt. I begin sorting things out in my room. I put away the tripods, and I put back the Macbooks in their respective bags. I fold the clothes that were lying on the ottoman of my vanity table. I pick up the guitar and keep it against the bookshelf. I take the clothes and the Macbook bags, and open my closet door again.

 I squeeze in my stuff in here for now, and while at it, a sleeve of a coat slips out from underneath. I furrow my brows, and pull out the entire thing to have a look. It's none other than the coat  that I've cuddled myself with for the past three days. It has been with me for over 3 weeks now, and it still smells like Harry. I stare at it intently, thinking that it's time to return it. A smile slowly forms on my face. At that moment, Harry comes behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. He soon  notices that I am holding his coat.

'Wow, I forgot I gave it to you..' I chuckles and presses his chin against my shoulder. I cock my eyebrows and purse my lips.

'And I forgot to return it, so here you go' I slowly turn around to face him now. He does it take it for me when I hand it, but instead of just keeping it, he puts it around me, causing my eyes to widen.

'I think...a piece of me should be a part of your possessions now.' he winks at me and I chortle while shaking my head. I approach him and give him a long, sweet hug.

-

'Let's see what we can watch tonight.' I say while pressing on the remote to scan through all the options on my living room TV. Meanwhile, Harry adjusts the sofa so that it becomes a bed and places the fluffy and cozy blanket. He soon comes and takes the remote from me, making me look at him with my lips parted.

'Um, I choose what we're watching on Netflix tonight..' he exclaims and looks through the options myself. I shrug and lay down on the sofa-cum-bed, getting under the blanket. It's freezing like the Arctic, even though I turned on the electric heater. I sip some warm earl grey tea from my thermos flask. Harry comes and lays down beside me, and I place my head on his lap instead of his shoulders.

I look at the TV screen to see what he has chosen.

'Friends?' I question like a little kid. Even though I've watched it before, I refuse to complain..

'Yup, that's the only thing that's suitable out of the list...' he says and rubs his hands through my hair. He chose Season 10 and episode 2 and it soon begins to play. It's kinda quiet between the two of us, as Harry's watching the episode intently. I don't blame him though. I don't know, but I just get bored, even though Friends helped me when I was going through my saddest hours of life. 

Out of boredom, I start playing with Harry's rings. Damn, I never realized he has this many. They feel extremely heavy and I wonder how he wears them all day, without taking them off. He has a rose, a ruby, a lion, a silver which has a quote curved on it and a normal black one on his pinkie. Soon enough, I reach for his arms and analyze the tattoos. He must've went through so much pain, I thought. I touch his arm, and see how properly inked it is. Definitely it is. He obviously went to a good parlor to get them. 

'Do you have an arm obsession?'Harry winks and asks out of the blue, and I look up at his bright green eyes. 

'Nah, I am just...bored. So, I am just looking at your tattoos..' I tell him casually.

'Yeah I know. First my rings, then slowly my arms..you're really bored, aren't you?' he tells me.  He has been noticing my actions,instead of watching Friends. God knows how much I love this man.

'I was always interested in seeing your tattoos closely. So now that I have the opportunity, I make use of it...' I come up with a good reasoning so that it doesn't seem like I have some sort of arm kink or something. I don't. I am still naive.

'You know what, fuck this shit, let's go to sleep..' he takes the remote and switches off the TV. I bite my lip a little too much, causing me to squint my eyes. 

'Get up, babe, come here' he signals me and I get up from his lap. We properly get under the covers and I rest my head a little bit above his chest. I wrap my arms around his torso, causing him to giggle slightly.

'I thought we are going to sleep?' he asks while smirking and I hit his chest softly.

'We are, you pervert.' I mock him. 

'Heyyy...' he exclaims and I chortle. He puts his arms around my back, and I've never felt this much warmth ever in my entire life. I stare at him with awe, and soon begin playing with his hair.

'I couldn't have asked for a better birthday than this...' he whispers and rubs my back.

 'You're welcome.' I state. I put my arms around his neck and he adjusts his position. We are face to face and eye to eye,now. Soon enough, our lips brush against each other and our grips slightly tighten. He pulls me over him as we kiss, causing us to giggle in between. I let go of him and fall back to my original place, still tittering. I rest my head on his shoulder as we finally decide to go to sleep. I shut my eyes as I could feel him breathing against my temple. 

'I love you....' his slow raspy voice echoes into my ear.

'I love you too..' I reply and before I knew anything else, I doze off to sleep....

Next morning

My eyes blink slightly as I feel the rays of sunlight hit the carpet. I open my eyes completely now, and I realize I am faced on the opposite side.Harry's arms are around my waist, so I cautiously roll over. He is still fast asleep and I can hear his slow, slightly inaudible noises of breathing. I cup his cheek and rub his clear face vigilantly, as I fully enjoy my morning sight.

I didn't even wake up once in the middle of the night which is a very rare case. It was just so cozy under Harry's arms that anyone would've had a sound sleep. I pick up my phone, and the clock reads 11:00am. Damn, this is the longest I've slept in so long and I am also aware that Harry's an earlier person than me. Over the past three days, stress and anxiety overtook our emotions in every way possible, causing us to have very limited, or no sleep at all. Last night made up all the hours that we lost and I am extremely thankful and appreciative..

 I check my  inbox to see if there was any text messages. Apparently, there were a few, one from a group chat and one from Shawn. I decide to open Shawn's chat first, to see if he has something to let me know.

Shawn: Good morning sis! I hope you slept well last night since it must've been extremely tiring for you.

Anyway, the sleepover was beyond amazing and I could've overslept, but I miss you too much. So Mary and I will come home at around 1pm and we'll go out for lunch and shopping. Hope that's okay with you :))

1pm? Fuck, we haven't had our breakfast yet and Harry's still sleeping. I decide to quickly text him back. 

Me: Good morning brother! I am extremely happy that you had a fantastic night and I'm not just talking about  the sleepover ;)

Anyway, I.Miss.You.Too. And I just woke up btw. But it's fine and I'll definitely love to go out for lunch! See you soon...

I put my phone away and go back to Harry. I move his hair strands away to get a clear sight of his face. 

'Harry? Baby, wake up, it's 11am..' I whispers subtly into his ear, causing him to move. 

'Mmm?' he groans softly as a reply and I cup his cheek. At that moment, a bit of guilt takes over me as I know that he wants to sleep more, but I am not letting him. What can I do? I share this house with my brother, and he definitely cannot know about us. For now, at least...

'Shawn and Mary's gonna come at 1pm..' I finally spill and his green eyes shoots open immediately. I sit in an upright position now, and he gets up. 

'What? Shit, we gotta wrap things up quickly..' he says,while rubbing his eyes.

'Yup, let's split the work equally. I am gonna go, freshen up, take a shower and prepare myself. In the meantime, try to clean this place up. After you're done