It was as if I were waking up. No amount of caffeine could possibly compare to the jolt of electricity that coursed through my body when Harry’s lips touched mine.

The reaction was immediate. I stepped forward into the kiss, standing on tip toe so I could wrap my arms around his neck. His dropped down to my waist, pulling me in closer and even lifting me up a little bit. It was like we were fused together, almost one complete being.

For one fleeting second, everything was bliss.

Then the phone rang.

Immediately, we pulled away, laughing nervously and unsure of how to react to what just happened. The ring on the phone was a basic one, not any of the custom tones I set for people who called me most often, or even the Cantina theme. I grew irritated by the fact that a telemarketer might’ve interrupted this moment, but I answered the phone anyway, Harry’s arms wrapped around my waist.

“Hello?”

“Carlineae.” A deep, familiar voice echoed over the line. I felt cold and tensed up, dread building up in my stomach. No. No. Why is he calling me. Why does every happy moment have to be ruined by something?

I swallowed. “Dad.”

“Would you care to explain to me why your face is plastered on magazines everywhere?” Disappointment rang true in his voice.

“Carah, she introduced me to some of her friends. They’re famous, she’s their assistant.” I was playing the blame game already. I shouldn’t have even mentioned Carah’s name at all.

“Shouldn’t Carah be focusing more on the business aspect of her position than the social side? And shouldn’t you remain separated from that part?” I could feel myself withering from the condescending tone. No one in the world could make me feel worse than my own father.

He was the main reason I came here.

“I… I guess…” I stuttered, tripping over the words.

“Now what is this that Owen is telling me about you two breaking up? He’s an upstanding young man, and his parents are very important contributors to the community. Or have you forgotten that with your little trip to visit old friends?” Sarcasm dripped like poison.

“He cheated on me, Dad,” I whispered, and Harry’s arms tightened around me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could hear every word being exchanged.

“Well what did you do? I’m sure you had to have given him a reason. Did you even bother to listen to his reasons?”

“I didn’t need to listen to his reasons, I shouldn’t have had to!”

“Useless,” Dad muttered. “First, you opt out of going to college right after graduation, and now you ruin the only relationship you’ve ever had. We can’t keep playing this game, Carlineae!” His voice was rising.

“Stop yelling at me,” I whispered.

“I will yell however much I goddamn want!”

“Stop it,” I said again. A film of tears was beginning to coat my eyes, blurring my vision.

Dad went off on a torrent, yelling things at me I was no longer hearing. I was tuned out, drifting into a world where things were imaginary.

Suddenly, the phone was plucked out of my hand, and I turned slightly to see Harry speaking into it.

“Hello Mr. Gordon. You don’t know me, but I’ve become good friends with your daughter during her stay here. It seems she’s become a little busy at the moment, so she’ll have to let you go, now.” He paused; keeping a solid expression on his face as my father probably reamed him out. He showed the slightest flicker of emotion only at the end of the conversation. “My name?” He said. “My name is Harry Styles.”

Then he hung up the phone, set it down gently on the counter, and wrapped both of his arms around me again.

“That is not,” Harry said, smiling a little bit, “how our first kiss should have went.”

I laughed a little, a chuckle bubbling up from no where. “So you’ve been planning this?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He paused, a pensive look on his face, as if he were searching for words. “Are you alright?”

My face fell. “That bad?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Please talk to me, Carly.”

I took him by the hand and pulled him over to the couch, sitting cross-legged and facing him I fumbled around in my pocket for my iPod, pausing it so the battery wouldn’t wear down. My gaze was concentrated onto my hands.

“So the thing is, I read a lot of books, right? It’s one of my favorite things, getting a new book filled with new things. I like being able to look around me and see a story in everything; I can see flaws in people and begin to understand why they exist, I realize that without them, there wouldn’t be the same person in front of me. It’s a bunch of little things that create people, and that’s what I love about them. I’ve fallen head first into stories that sometimes I forget what’s real.” I swallowed, still looking down at my hands. “But the thing is, all of my favorite books, the ones that I reread over and over again, they don’t have happy endings. People die, people get hurt, people get destroyed. They’re my favorite books because they seem most like real life, and in real life, people get destroyed.” I chuckle darkly, a lump forming in my throat. “I’ve abandoned the real world for a world where everything is just as painful, but every once in a while, right when I think I’m ready to come up, something happens and I’m afraid again. That’s how I’ve lived my whole life; afraid and constantly looking for distraction so I don’t have to focus on what’s real.” I shudder. “And I think it’s beginning to destroy me, too.”

Harry brought one of his hands under my chin, pulling my face up to look at him. There was some indescribable emotion in his eyes; I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was, but it was strong.

“I’m here for you, Carly. You know that, right? I’m up here, in the real world. So are Carah, and the lads, and Danielle and Eleanor. We’re up here, and we’re happy, mostly. That’s how life works; you get good things and bad things, and sometimes the bad outweighs the good but you gotta have hope that it’ll be alright in the end.” His voice was soft and gentle, his green eyes that resembled emeralds smoldering. Never in my life had I thought I’d be able use that word in a way that wasn’t sarcastic.

“It’s not that easy,” I murmured, shaking my head. Some hair fell into my face, and Harry brushed it away with a lingering touch.

“I’ll help you, I promise,” He said, and something occurred to me.

“Why?” I asked, and Harry’s face scrunched up in confusion. He wasn’t expecting that question, who’s ever expecting someone to question them when they offer help?

“Because everyone deserves some happiness. I try to give that to everyone. I love doing shows because there, we make thousands of people happy. I like you, Carly, I really really like you, and I want you to be happy.”

Without thinking, my brain barely had time to process a thought, the minute he stopped speaking I pulled him forward and pressed my lips to his. He reacted immediately, his hands sliding down from my face to my hips. I ran my fingers through his hair, which was soft and smooth, the kind of hair any girl would kill for.

I began to fall back into the couch, Harry falling with me, and he deepened the kiss. Electricity began to replace the blood that was coursing through my veins.

Then the door opened loudly, banging into the wall beside it, and we both shot up like two little kids that got caught doing something they weren't supposed to be.

“Oi! Lads! You owe me! I got it right, it was the couch!” Louis said smugly, and my face burned red. I buried it into Harry’s neck, and he laughed; the sound vibrating throughout his whole body.

“Always, always interruptions,” he mumbled, before bending down to whisper something in my ear. “Speaking of happiness, would you like to go on a date with me, Carly Gordon?”

I looked at him incredulously, almost not believing what he was asking. But as I took a moment to process the anxious and nervous expression on his face, I knew he was serious.

“Yes,” I replied, smiling so wide I was afraid it might pop off my face. “Yes, I absolutely would.”