Heartbeat

Dinner; Chaste Kiss

Alex-

After spending hours on end attending the library's front desk, I get let off work. Before I know it I find myself walking up the staircase which leads to my apartment, my earphones in my ears which had occupied me for my walk home.

My gaze is diverted as I take them out, unplugging them from my phone to stuff them in my purse, and tucking my phone into my pocket. I absentmindedly walk up to my apartment door, retreating my step as I hear something I had stepped on. I look down to the floor, the little white board Louis had given me this morning set on the ground. There's familiar handwriting in purple marker, giving me the times for something. I pick it up to get a better look.

"Come to Calvin's Diner at seven? -Harry"

I read over the sentence about four times, surprised that he actually wants to hang out with me again. But this isn't considered a date is it? I brush the thought aside as I unlock my apartment door, dropping my keys back into my purse and hanging it on the hook. I turn to my record player, setting the needle down for some music. A tune starts to play as I work my way into the kitchen, pulling a pop tart box from my pantry and taking one out.

I munch on it as I glance at the time, seeing its 5:30. I find myself lying on the couch, taking a rest before I need to get ready.

Harry-

I tried paying attention to what everybody was saying at the dinner table, but kept getting distracted from checking the door every five seconds. I eventually gave up on the idea of Alex showing up, guessing that maybe this whole thing was too much for her or something. Or maybe even Lou's whiteboard suggestion this morning got her thinking that maybe this whole thing was too complicated.

"Hey, it's Alex!" Lou's cheerful voice made my eyes spring up, and who's there? Alex.

She waves, her light brown hair pulled up, her cheeks pink, light blue eyes sparkling under the lights, her black dress coming to just above the knee. And I notice something clasped under her arm, the whiteboard. She takes a seat, nodding hellos to everyone around the table as they greet her. And then, she waves to me, patting my hand with her own that rests on the table beside me.

"I didn't think you were coming." I tell her, making her smirk at me as she shrugs her jacket off, revealing her soft shoulders and collar bones.

"And you brought the white board." I sigh, nudging towards the object which she had set on the table in front of her. She nods, and I think she knows that I don't really like the whiteboard. We don't need it to communicate.

"Alex, this is Brianna and Candice." I hear Liam speak up, gesturing to the two girls across the table sat with Zayn and Niall. She waves politely to them.

Alex-

I mostly just listened in on the conversations being made around the table, and when a question was aimed towards me, and it couldn't be answered by just the nod or shake of my head, or the shrug of my shoulders I would write it down. Harry made me feel a little more comfortable though, excluding the others and talking to only me, telling me things that made me laugh. But I got distracted mid laugh when Brianna calls my name from across the table, diverting my attention from Harry.

"So you live across from the boys?" Brianna asks me, her mid-length blonde hair in perfect waves around her face, her blue eyes almost exactly as Nialls which I observed when I'd arrived at the table.

I nod my head with a smile, ducking my head bashfully as she compliments my dress, also telling me I looked pretty. When Harry nudges my side in almost agreement I blush more, hiding my cheeks by letting my hair curtain around my face as I grasp my whiteboard.