Since the sling was disposed from that evening on, everything became a lot easier. Showering and dressing myself took only half of the usual time, which was especially beneficial this morning. Harry seemed eager to go to Louis' house and encouraged me to hurry up.
It might have been for the fact that we slept in. Normally, I woke up earlier in the morning because the bed had turned cold without Harry's body beneath the blankets. When I opened my eyes this morning, the first thing I saw was Harry's mop of curls spread out on the cushion with his face towards me. That was unusual.
I still wasn't used to seeing the short haircut compared to the long locks. While he was asleep, I couldn't stop my reflex to reach out and slide my fingers through the curls. Memories came flooding back upon the touch. The times we had been intimate, when he had kissed me and touched me. His curls had been my distraction from his touches at first; but afterwards they made me feel connected to him.
Not much had changed. The same rush of adrenaline shot through my body upon wrapping a curl around my finger. All that had changed was the volume that created more curls than ever. It made him look younger.
"Going for me while I'm sleeping?" Harry's morning voice spoke to me all of a sudden, making me jump. "Such a cliché."
"I- I wasn't" I stuttered, a flush spreading over my cheeks. My hand retreated to my body quicker than the light could show.
"You can do it." Harry opened his eyes slightly, looking at me with that typical smirk of his. "I wouldn't mind at all."
I shook my head feverishly. He was taking this completely the wrong way. The way he looked at me made me afraid for a second, like he would do it if I didn't.
He didn't.
Instead, he rolled onto his back and stretched out, making several vertebrae in his back pop. I winced at the sound and pushed the blanket a bit closer to my body.
"It's nice to sleep in for once," Harry spoke randomly, "But we gotta hurry. Louis is expecting us at two."
With these words he rolled out of bed which gave me a good look at the clock on his nightstand. It was already half past twelve in the afternoon. How could I still sleep longer than twelve hours every day? When I lived in the group-home I was lucky with two or three. Maybe my body was finally catching up, which was ironic because that meant I slept better with the man that caused the nightmares that kept me awake in the first place.
My eyes slid from the clock to Harry who was stood in front of the closet to retrieve a pair of clothes for the day, but immediately looked away when I saw the overly present bulge in his underwear. A man's morning problem that, for a moment, I had forgotten.
Thankfully, he walked into the ensuite without another word to get ready and I followed him when he was done. When I emerged, freshly showered, I found a dark-green silk dress on the bed along with some dark-green lingerie and a black turtleneck. Not once since my stay back at his house had he laid out clothes for me.
Hesitantly, I put it on. It did compliment my figure beautifully but the unease in my stomach didn't fade. What was happening? Why did he require me to dress like this when we were going to Louis's?
"Kitten, we need to go!" Harry voice echoed from downstairs, making me back away from the mirror and find my way towards him.
"Hmm." Harry hummed in appreciation, not hiding his gaze that took in every detail of my body when I entered the living room. He was seated on the couch, his arms thrown on the back, wearing a velvet black suit. The sight of him almost made my mouth fall open. I managed to catch myself just in time.
"What is going on?" I asked, my voice small. Deep down, I knew that an answer wouldn't be given. He almost never did. But I couldn't ignore the fact that he was dressed up as well and looked impeccable.
"It's New Years' Eve." He spoke, cocking his head to the side questioningly, almost as if he didn't understand why I asked. My sense of time had been thrown off a bit and despite the fact that I knew that the end of the year was nearing, I hadn't expected Harry to celebrate it.
"There's a large party at Louis's tonight. We're just going a bit earlier." Harry continued. I stayed silent for a second. Thinking back, Harry did mention that he celebrated birthdays, Christmas and New Year's Eve. But the fact that I could come surprised me. Especially since we hadn't talked about Paris once and that was the last occasion we had spent time outside of the house together.
He stood up from the couch, making me flinch, and walked towards me. When he stood in front of me, he held out a pair of black boots. The were shining new and the yellow label at the back of the shoe told me immediately what kind they were.
"Wow." The word left my mouth involuntarily. I had been dreaming of a pair of Dr. Martens for a long time but they had always been way out of my budget.
"We don't have all day." Harry told me, not unfriendly, when I did nothing but stare at the boots with an admiring gaze. Carefully, I took them from him and pulled them on. They fit perfectly.
"Thank you, Harry." I told him with a grateful smile. His green eyes scanned my face for a moment, almost expectantly. I still didn't like his piercing gaze so I looked back at my shoes instead. Once more, a smile broke out onto my face.
Harry's hand that grabbed mine pulled me out of my happy daze but I simply obliged and followed him to his car instead of pulling my hand back. It was the first time in five days he touched me besides checking my shoulder and sleeping next to me every night.
The car ride didn't take very long and I was still as amazed as the first time when we took the elevator up to the penthouse of the tall building. Harry let himself into Louis' house with a key, swinging open the door and shouting a loud 'hello'. He was clearly in his element and excited for the party. I didn't see him like this very often; he was always rather serious.
"Hi Emma." A small voice caught my attention from Harry's retreating figure. Willow stood near the door, her golden eyes ever so warm. Her hair was longer than I had ever seen, hiding the previous roundness of her face.
"Willow." I smiled. I hadn't seen her since Paris and even though our bond wasn't as strong as Nova and mine, she was still very nice.
"Wanna help me make some food?" I nodded eagerly. It would do me good to be in the presence of someone else besides Harry, especially when he wasn't around. I still felt like I had to move on my tippy toes around him.
Willow guided me towards the kitchen. She was wearing a long silver dress full of glitters with a high leg-split. She looked more than posh, her golden eyes complimenting the silver wonderfully.
Inside the kitchen, my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Instead of one fridge, there were now six, covering a whole wall. Against another wall stood several crates of beer and the counter was stacked with bags of chips and other snacks.
"We still need to move the snacks to the spare room. The catering will put all the other food there as well." Willow said, totally obvious to my astonishment. This was going to be a very large party. I wondered when Harry would give me his usual instructions. Or whatever else was awaiting me. I couldn't gauge him anymore.
"Let's just make some grilled sandwiches. They'll probably order some food later, before the party starts." Willow said and she started moving all the bags of chips from the counter. There must have been at least forty. Once the counter was clean, she started collecting the utensils and requested me to grab some ingredients from the most-left fridge with the words 'be creative'.
I ended up with several cheeses, some turkey, chicken and some veggies such as onion and tomato. Luckily, Willow was a much better cook than me and she created three different sandwiches without any trouble. We started cooking right after.
"Hello ladies!" A loud voice interrupted my concentration on the food. The flash of red hair told me more than enough. Nova had arrived. I didn't even have enough time to greet her and turn towards her, because her arms engulfed me in a big hug.
"You look good, Ems." She whispered in my ear. Her hand caressed my shoulder softly only to notice that my sling was already gone. "I was so worried but Niall told me I had to leave you and Harry alone. He said he was keeping an eye on the situation. You gotta tell me everything."
She then let go of me and engulfed Willow in a hug. Nova was wearing a dark red, velvet dress that hugged her figure perfectly. The sleeves were off-shoulder and the dress had a deep v-line which showed off her boobs. I could almost imagine what Niall was thinking.
"I'm so excited for tonight, jeez." Nova spoke enthusiastically after breaking up the hug. "After you girls have finished making the food we gotta do out make-up! Ems, can I do yours?"
I could do nothing but nod along with her enthusiasm. And so it went. Willow brought the food to the guys who were apparently setting up the room and doing other preparations. We weren't allowed to go into the living room until five in the afternoon for some reason. Those three hours went by quicker than expected while having lunch with the girls and doing our make-up.
Nova had even snuck a bottle of cranberry-flavoured alcohol which we shotted every now and then. It made my cheeks glow and my belly tingle. Although, the tingle might be the unfamiliar feeling of happiness.
"It's been weird." I mumbled, my cheeks becoming even redder after Willow asked me how it was to be back with Harry.
"After he mistreated me, I stayed a night at Nova and Niall's," I paused for a second to look at Willow her reaction. It confirmed me that she knew that this happened. "I came back to the mansion and he had sort of organised a Christmas day?"
I wasn't sure how to explain it. Somewhere, I was afraid of Nova her judgement. She saw first hand what Harry did to me the day before. She might despise me for sort-of forgiving Harry as quickly.
"What do you mean?" Willow questioned, urging me to explain anyway.
"Well, he had created a comfy space on the couch, we watched a movie and he gave me Christmas presents. He got me chocolates, a key to my own room in the mansion and a trip to Martinique." I mumbled, receiving gasps from both girls. Saying it out loud didn't make it feel any more real. It was still absurd to me as well.
"We even talked which, uh, I hadn't really ever done with Harry. Uhm.." I wasn't sure how to fully explain all that had happened to the girls. Harry's lips against mine made my stomach turn and I wasn't sure if it was disgust or longing.
"Afterwards he made me sleep with him in a bed but never touched me. Actually, he has been rather distant. Not rude, just keeping his distance and not touching me." I decided to skip telling them what we talked about. I had to figure that out for myself first. "It isn't that bad to be honest."
Nova was about to react to my words when the door of Willow's make-up room swung open and Louis stood in the door-opening with a large grin, cutting off our conversation.
"It's time to party." He grinned, fisting a bottle of beer in the air before taking large gulps and chucking it within seconds. A giggle escaped me at the sight. This apparently was a very big happening and everybody seemed to let their guard down on this day.
We followed him to the living room which had totally transformed into a club. There were flashing lights hanging from the ceiling, the furniture was gone as was the door to the kitchen.
My eyes bulged out of their sockets, but I didn't get that much time admiring it. In front of me, Liam appeared with a tray full of shots.
"Let's get started, shall we?" He spoke with a large grin, offering us all the bright-green liquid in tiny glasses.
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Wooohooohooho
I know that Docs don't fit perfectly the first time you wear them and you get the most painful blisters but its fiction so don't judge!
I wrote some very interesting scenes in the future, hihi.
Keep supporting me by leaving a like, I'd appreciate it!