Harry POV

Harry tucked his chair in, drumming his fingers along the underside of the table. He felt Niall nudge his leg and stopped, clasping his hands together on his knee and crossing his legs. The scent of coffee lingered in the air and he took a deep breath, breathing in the rich smells of the cafe.

"So, what have you boys been up to?" Kristen asked, leaning forward.

Niall grinned at her flirtatiously and Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, choosing to exchange a look with Emma.

"Nothing much since our break started. You?"

"Just working at our crappy jobs." Emma cut in.

"Mine is more crappy than yours." She turned to Harry and Niall. "She works at Tesco, I work at KFC."

Harry shrugged. "It's not so ba -"

Kristen cut in with: "Yes, it is so bad. We got our degrees, but that apparently counts for nothing. Because we need experience to get a job..."

"And we need jobs to get experience." Emma finished. She was twirling her hair round her finger, the brown strands seeming darker against her pale skin. "It's so annoying."

"More than annoying."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry?" He didn't quite know how to reply to something like that - he hadn't had money problems since the age of 16.

Emma laughed, her eyes crinkling. "Don't sound so nervous. It's not your fault." She paused, and glanced at the counter. "We should probably actually get something."

"I'll get it." Kristen said, standing up. "What do you want, Emma?"

"Hmm... I'll have one of those cupcakes over there, please. And a latte."

"Harry?"

"Please can I have asome tea - no sugar, please - and a chocolate chip cookie? Thank you."

"Niall?"

Niall jumped up. "I'll come with you."

A smile slowly spread across Kristen's face. "Okay."

They walked off, and Harry watched them go before glancing at Emma, only to see she was already looking at him. Despite himself, a smile tugged at his lips so he quickly bit down, rubbing his nose.

"So I hear you were born here?"

"Yeah. I grew up here, didn't really go anywhere else 'till I was 16. I never saw you around - did you recently move here?"

"Yeah. Me and Kristen were born in London, and we moved here once we had graduated, because it was cheaper. We've lived here almost a year now, but our flat's up for sale at the moment."

Harry nodded. "I'm gonna stay here for a bit longer than go to my house in London. I might go to my house in L.A. for a bit, maybe pop to New York or Miami or -" Seeing the look on her face, he broke off, blushing. "Sorry, that sounded obnoxious."

She giggled, leaning forward a little. "It's fine. You're probably used to being around mega mega rich people."

He began to protest when Kristen arrived, carefully holding a tray. Niall followed, though his hands were empty.

"Thanks, He said as she set the tray down on the table "What did you get?"

"A slice of carrot cake and some mango juice."

"I got the same as Kristen." Niall said her name like he was testing it out, milking it and seeing how it tasted on the tip of his tongue.

"Niall, you don't even like carrot cake." He protested, though when Niall shot him a dirty look, he snapped his mouth shut and got his tea.

The mug was hot and he nearly dropped it, much to Emma's amusement. He rolled his eyes though he could feel a grin rolling onto his face. "What? It's hot!"

She just laughed and pulled her chair in a little closer, her green eyes bright. "For the 16th most influential person in London, you sure are a dork."

"How did you know I was the 16th most influential person in London?"

"I have a younger cousin. She adores you. She would kill me if she knew I was with you now."

He laughed and as he did, his bandana came undone, his unruly hair tumbling down, his ringlets tickling the back of his neck. "Oops."

Emma grabbed the bandana and pocketed it, wriggling her eyebrows. "It's mine now."

Shrugging, he plucked a sprinkle off her cupcake and ate it, his eyes never leaving hers. "This is mine now, too."

"You are the worst at retaliations." She said, though Harry noticed she brought her half-eaten cupcake a little closer.

Harry glanced over at Kristen and Niall, who seemed to be very close together. He could see their legs sliding against each others underneath the table and he pointed to them, causing Emma to cover her mouth in an attempt not to laugh. It was in vain, as a little giggle escaped and both Niall and Kristen stopped what they were doing and went red. Well, at least Kristen went red.

Harry finished off his biscuit in one big bite, savouring the chocolate chips as he chewed. He sipped his tea a bit more, putting out one pinky. It wasn't that funny, but Niall started laughing very hard nonetheless. He checked Niall's plate, and not to his surprised, found the slice of carrot cake uneaten. A part of him wondered how Niall had thought eating the same food as Kristen would warm him to her.

Gently, he put his mug down, the last of his tea still burning a little in the back of his throat. Almost simultaneously, everybody began to get ready to leave. Harry and Niall said they'd split the bill, and while the girls protested, Harry and Niall suggested that they could pay next time they came here, which meant that they ended up arranging a second double date. Nobody actually said the word date, which made Harry a little worried about whether Emma even viewed it as a date.

"Bye!" Emma chirped, Harry's bandana tied around her wrist. He leaned into hug her or kiss her cheek, then hesitated and just squeezed her closer for a second. She seemed a good hugger, though he couldn't tell because it was quite an awkward, fleeting hug.

He blew a kiss to both the girls before getting back in the car, ruffling his hair out as he did so. He watched them go as they walked down the street, Emma glancing back at him one last time as they turned a corner, one lip pulled up into a smile.

Notes

Who do you think I should do next Kristen/Niall or one of the other boys?