Meet Me in the Hallway (HS AU)

forty nine.

I followed him into the elevator and we were joined by eight other people who were in line behind us. Harry had pressed himself into the back corner of the elevator, hands gripping the handle and eyes closed.

The others filed in behind me and to accommodate the amount of people, I stood as close to Harry's front as I could, chest to chest, while still maintaining a comfortable distance between us. The doors closed, Harry's breath hitched and the lift jolted as it started its ascent to the 88th floor.

As soon as the lift started shooting upwards his hand instinctively shot out and gripped tightly at my hip, tugged me in towards him and put his face on my shoulder. The quick movement scared me slightly, enough for me to freeze up.

"I'm sorry, I'll let you go in a second but I just, yeah, shit sorry-" He whispered so the rest of the elevator wouldn't hear and started to loosen his grip which caused me to finally snap back to reality.

I reached my arms around him to silence his rambling. We stayed together until the soft elevator ding signalled we were at the top. The other occupants exited the lift first, we detangled our arms and cautiously stepped out onto the observation deck.

With never being up the Skydeck, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. But the second my eyes met the windows and my brain comprehended the view, I was near-sprinting towards the glass. My jaw fell open in pure awe, the skyline looked stunning. The rain didn't even seem to be impacting the beauty of it, merely adding to it by amplifying the lights it was reflecting.

I just stood there. I needed to take it all in, every angle of every building and every light within them. I just stood there admiring the city lights.

Oh fuck, Harry.

My eyes quickly detached themselves from the lights and shot towards the lift I had just left. He stood against the wall, leaning his back on it with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were fixed on me and a suppressed smile sat on his lips.

Avoiding the groups of people between the two of us, I crossed the deck towards him and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"I am so sorry, the excitement sort of took over. I shouldn't have left you in there, are you ok?" My tone was hushed, to not draw attention from any other visitors passing by.

"You know, I'll be very honest. When you ran away there was a moment of fear, purely because I almost shit my pants. But when I saw the way your face lit up as soon as you saw the view, suddenly I wasn't as scared. Of course I am still shaking in my boots but I think I can tolerate it for a bit if it means I can watch your face glow like that again."

My head tilted to the side to hide the bright red colour it had turned and my lip was caught between my teeth to contain the grin that was fighting to appear. His hands found their way to the sides of my face and directed it to face his. The pads of his thumbs traced gentle lines on my cheekbones as we stood in silence.

"Come get a picture with me, beautiful." He whispered, tilting his head towards the view.

"You don't have to get close to it for me, if you're scared please don't force yourself to look."

"What, and miss capturing the memory of the two of us looking pretty in pink? I don't think so." He started towards the wall, walking backwards the whole time, "Besides, I'll just keep my back facing it."

An airy laugh left my lips as I followed him towards the glass. He swiftly pulled his phone from his back pocket and pulled me closer to him.

"Excuse me, would you be able to take a picture of the two of us please?" The woman looked well into her 30's and was definitely falling for his charm. She quickly responded yes, fumbling with the phone in her flustered state before taking a few pictures stepping closer to us.

"You two make a stunning couple." She praised as she returned the phone to Harry.

"Oh thank you, we're not a couple yet though. The boss here still hasn't asked me to be her boyfriend." He responded, throwing a cheeky smirk in my direction.

He was the first to look at the photo, his eyes filled with such adoration it made my heart flutter. He looked at me briefly before returning his gaze to the picture. In an attempt to look at the picture, I took a step closer to him only for him to turn the phone off and put it back in his pocket.

"Hey, I want to lo-"

His lips pressed to mine in such a rush that the impact made me stumbled back a few steps. I quickly responded, applying the same amount of pressure and portraying the same amount of urgency that he was showing me. But all too quickly he pulled away from me, spun me around and wrapped his arms around my shoulders so I could admire the view.

"Is it selfish of me to not want to go home and see my sister so I can spend more time with you?" He whispered, pressing a kiss to my temple.

"Hmm, maybe a little. But I'll keep your secret, Clem's gentle but she scares me sometimes."

His chest shook against me with every burst of laughter. His arms tightened comfortingly around me. Once the laughter stilled, we just stood there. I needed to take it all in, every sensation of his body pressed against mine and every word he had spoken since this morning echoing around my head. We just stood there admiring the city lights.

The next time I looked towards my watch, it was 9:45pm. We had been standing here for over a half hour and the observation deck closed in 15 minutes.

"We'd better get going." I broke the silence between the two of us, noticing how empty the observation deck seemed. People were slowly but surely making their way towards the downward lifts, in no time the deck would be empty.

"Yeah, I suppose we should. I wish I could say I had more tricks up my sleeve, but this is it. It's home time." He pouted, causing me to roll my eyes and pull him towards the elevator.