Meet Me in the Hallway (HS AU)

forty three.

"My Dad's dad, Pa, he is my best friend. He is the best cook I know. Mum and Dad worked until late most of my childhood, so everyday after school I would walk to their house and hang out there until someone could pick me up. Every single day, it didn't matter whether they knew I was coming or not, my Pa would always have something in the oven cooking. The house always smelt like casseroles or cookies or soups, anything and it was always different.

When Nan and Pa moved to Sydney, Pa gave me a gift. He called it a 'Staying Put Present' as opposed to a 'going away present'. He had spent years making me this huge recipe book with every recipe that he had ever made me that I enjoyed. He also gave me a vintage casserole dish because 'Jose, everything tastes better when it's cooked in an old dish'."

I paused and took a moment to calm my racing heart, Harry reached across and placed his hand on mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Ever since the incident on the beach, I have had horrible anxiety attacks when I'm faced with ocean scenarios. My Pa used to always say to me during them, 'Breathe, Josephine. The only thing we can control in life is the air that enters our lungs, so just focus on that.' I quite often find myself repeating that phrase to myself. If it gets really bad, sometimes I'll say it so much that I can only hear his voice playing in my head.

It's been a while since I've seen them, they're getting old and don't like travelling down from Sydney and I wasn't able to go up and see them with Will..." I trailed off.

Silence fell over the car again. I prayed and pleaded with any god that would listen to make Harry say something, anything. It would be so embarrassing if I had just spilled my guts about a huge part of my life and ruined the mood.

"Jo," his voice was soft, "I really want to kiss you again but if you don't want that, I completely respect that."

My palms became clammy and my jaw dropped slightly, allowing room for air to pass through into my lungs. I swallowed harshly before nodding shyly, I could feel my cheeks heating up with every passing second.

An earth shattering smile broke out across his face, his tongue snuck out to swipe along his bottom lip before moving the hand that was holding mine to tangle in my hair at the base of my neck. In hopes of not backing out again, I closed my eyes. It seemed to work last time so what's the harm in doing it again?

His breath was almost as shaky as mine, I could hear him exhale before shuffling in his seat. His grip on my hair tightened slightly, pulling me closer to the centre console.

Lips pressed slowly to my cheek once, then my forehead, other cheek, the point of my nose before there was a pause. A suspenseful shiver ran down my spine and my lips parted. Although I was 90% sober when we kissed the first time, I was still scared that the drunk 10% of me had hyped it up so much in my head and I was going to either disappoint or be disappointed.

His lips certainly didn't disappoint. They were soft, almost silken as they brushed over mine tentatively, before backing away. I was genuinely waiting for my heart to break through my skin and land in my lap by how hard it was pounding in my chest. His proximity was dizzying and the anticipation was sitting heavy on my eyelids, forcing them to remain closed.

"So beautiful." He whispered, more to himself than me. A shy smile spread on my lips and I let out an airy laugh.

My forehead met his and our noses rubbed together. The rain was starting to lighten up outside, still heavy but not as heavy as it was earlier. The heater had been pushing out the hottest possible air at the highest pressure, the windows had started to fog, blocking all the outside light from entering the car.

After making me wait for what felt like an eternity, his lips so close yet so far away, his lips fully enclosed around mine. So gentle yet overwhelmingly powerful in meaning. There was a universe of people existing outside the two of us but at that very moment, there was only one. Him. All I could feel was him and it was infectious.

All too quickly, he pulled away and slumped back against the driver side door. He had a childlike grin on his face, shaking his head and staring at his lap. 

"Is it hot in here?" I panted, using my collar to fan my skin, looking anywhere else but him. A stupid smile was cemented onto my face as well, cheeks sore and face flushed.

Harry let out a loud laugh before putting the car into reverse and pulling out of the parking bay and starting the trip home. While it had only been a few minutes, I already felt myself missing the closeness. In an attempt to close the gap, safely of course, I reached over and threaded my fingers through his curls towards the back of his head.

He hummed in appreciation and continued the road home.