I woke up a few hours later, still feelings like crap but my headache was gone, so it was manageable. I sat up and looked around the room. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Did he leave? I turned to look at the clock: 7:45 p.m. I got out of bed and headed out to the living room. Nobody. I headed into the kitchen to find Harry leaning over the stove, cooking, and Lizzie rubbing against his legs. He turned to me when he heard me enter the room, “Hey. How are you feelings?”

I smiled. So he didn’t leave me. “A little better. My headache is gone but I still can’t breathe out of my nose.”

He smirked at me and turned back to the stove. I went and sat on a chair at the small, round kitchen table. I watched Harry as he looked for things in the kitchen cabinets and continued cooking, “What are you making?”

Harry continued cooking, “Homemade chicken and noodle soup.”

My eyes widened a little, “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Most people don’t,” he said while looking back to smile at me.

The soup was done about ten minutes later and Harry took out two bowls and filled them. He brought them to the table and sat down beside me, “You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” I said quietly. It smelled amazing! I grabbed my fork and began to eat, “This is sooooo good!”

He grinned at me, “Thanks. Just think of it as our second date,” he winked at me.

I giggled lightly and continued eating. When we were finished, Harry took our bowls to the dishwasher and turned to me, “Let’s go talk.”

I nodded and he took my hand and led me to my bedroom. We crawled onto my bed and got under the covers and I cuddled against his chest, with his arm around me. Lizzie jumped up on the bed and laid by my side, “I didn’t know your pussy was so furry.”

My eyes shot up to his face in shock. He was grinning from ear to ear, showing off those dimples. I lightly hit his chest and he laughed and kissed the top of my head. I sighed in content.

“So,” Harry said softly, “are you ready to meet my mum?”

I was NOT content anymore. Meet his mom? What the hell? “Um… What are you talking about?”

He laughed, “You’re going home for Christmas with me so you’re gonna have to meet her.”

I facepalmed, “Duh. I didn’t think about that… Now I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. She’ll love you. So will Gemma.”

“Gemma,” I asked confused.

“My older sister.”

Ahhh. I get to me the whole family! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about this before! Oh yeah, I’m stupid, that’s why. “Oh,” I managed to choke out.

He rubbed my arm, trying to soothe me, “It’s gonna be alright.”

I laughed. Yeah, easy for you to say. Did they already know I was coming? What is going to happen? We will just pop in and he’ll be like, Mum this is my girlfriend who is trying to get all my dirty secrets so she can put them in a magazine? I shook my head. I used the word girlfriend. We weren’t anything. Were we?

He leaned in closer to me, “You know, meeting you was one of the best things. You are different. There are so many words that does no justice when I try to describe you to my mum.” So he HAS told her. He continued, “You’re beautiful, and sweet. Even a little mad at times. But you’re you and you’re not afraid to show me you. Not many people will do that anymore, they all just try to be something their not to make me like them. But not you.”

He smiled at me and I just looked at him. I didn’t know he was like this. I should have never started this whole thing. There were so many things going through my head: the job and him and how I was afraid to get into anything serious after what had happened with my ex. I still to this day have not told anyone about that night.

“I want you to know I care about you a lot, Ari. I want to keep you to myself and not have to share you with the world. I want to be able to call you mine and mine only. I want you to be my girlfriend.” He just stared into my eyes as tears began to fill them.

He just practically asked me to be his girlfriend. I wanted to but trusting guys wasn’t easy for me anymore and he telling me about all the fakes, hurt. He thinks I’m real but I’m far from it.

Tears began to fall down my cheeks and his eyes softened. He began to wipe the tears but I pulled away.

I couldn’t do this. He doesn’t deserve the pain that I am going to cause him. I began to pull away and got up but he grabbed my arm, “Ari, are you okay?”

I just shook my head. I jerked my arm away and stood up, facing the wall.

“Aria please talk to me.”

I turned around and sat on the bed. What am I supposed to say? I just kept quiet. He came over and sat by me on the bed, “I just basically asked you out and you’re saying nothing.”

I looked at the ground. The tears silently kept streaming down my face. “I just told you how I felt about you and you can’t say anything?”

“I can’t do this,” I whispered.

He shot up and I looked at him. His face was a mixture of things: hurt, sad, angry. “You can’t do what, Aria? Tell me how you truly feel? I know you feel the same. Or are you just leading me on?”

I began to shake my head, “It’s not that…”

My sentence trailed off. Harry’s voice became higher, “Then what the bloody hell is it? I’m not the type to just throw my feelings out there.”

I looked up at him again, “I know that, Harry. I never asked you to do that. I never asked you to feel anything for me in the first place.”

His accent made the words he said sound harsher, “Why can’t you just admit how you feel, Aria? Why can’t you just say you want me, because I know you do.”

I laughed without humor, “You don’t know shit, Harry.”

His eyes widened and then he smirked, “That’s not how you acted last night. You wanted me. You needed me.”

With those words, I became pissed, “I didn’t anything! You or your dick, for that matter.”

He began to shake his head, “Why can’t you just see that I truly care for you! Why can’t you fucking comprehend that?”

He got on his knees in front of me and grabbed my face and looked into my eyes, “Aria, please. Just let me be with you. Just trust me.”

The tears came faster and I began to sob, “It’s not that I don’t trust YOU. I don’t trust men in general.”

He wiped away my tears and looked into my eyes, like he was looking into my soul. His words came out into a whisper, “You’re broken.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

I closed my eyes and nodded my head. He took me into his arms and let me cry. I cried hard. All the hate and resentment I had inside of me came out. He brushed my hair back and let me cry. I pulled away and looked at him, “I’m sorry.”

He smiled at me sadly and wiped my face with his hand, “It’s alright, love. You can tell me.”

Could I tell him about that night? Should I tell him about my assignment? I took a long, shaky breath. He deserved to know.

Notes

Omg Directioners!

Ahh!! What do you think Aria is going to tell Harry? About that night she was raped or about her job?? Or both?