Playing With Trouble

Harry's POV “Pens, laptop, laptop charger, notebook, text book, cell phone charger, syllabuses, class over view, and an apple in case I get hungry.” I checked over the stuff in my briefcase and backpack for the hundredth time.

I was trying to be sure I was ready for the first day of classes tomorrow. I was nervous and excited all at once to begin my new future. I sighed, deciding to go through my stuff one last time to make sure I had everything.

“Okay, pens, notebooks, chargers…” I started.

“Dude you have everything, I promise.” Louis called from the couch. “Come watch some TV before your mental circuit shorts.”

“I just don't want to make myself look like a fool.” I ran a hand through my mop, plopping down beside Lou.

“You won’t, you never have ever looked like a fool. You’ve been the most prepared person since the day I met you.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Even when you aren’t prepared, you’re more prepared than anyone else.”

“Thank, I know, I just worry.” I shrugged slinking down into the couch, as Louis stood up.

“Want a beer?” he asked, making his way to the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’ll take one. Can I change this?” I asked, looking at the TV.

“It’s just on reruns of Friends.” Louis shouted back. “But if you need too, sure.”

“No Friends is fine.” I sighed, thinking about everything in the day to come.

I had to get up early, get everything, including myself, ready, ride the subway in, get to the lecture hall I would be teaching my first college courses in, have students ask me dumb questions, and then pack up and take the train home. I was going over my routine in my head, again and again. In between my thoughts of preparing for classes, I would also let me mind drift to April. It had only been a couple days, and I knew it was farfetched to see her again, but she did still have my shirt, not that I needed it back, but it would have been nice. It would be nice to just see her, regardless of my clothing. I sighed as Lou came back into the living room, beers in tow.

“Relax, I can see the wheels turning from here.” He said, handing me a can. I cracked it open in one swift motion, taking a large sip from it.

“Do you ever wonder about the what-if’s in life?” I asked, rolling my neck to look at him across the room.

“I mean, yes and no. I wonder what could have happened but I don’t dwell on it.” he shrugged, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, making me cringe.

“Can you at least take your shoes off?” I sighed.

“Yes, mother.” He rolled his eyes, removing his shoes with the heel of his opposite foot.

“But anyways, I just can’t stop thinking about April. I don’t know. I know the odds of finding her are slim to none in this city, she might not even live here, and she could have been a tourist. But I can’t stop thinking about the possibilities if I ever do find her. You know?”

“Yeah, I could see that. Her friend, um, Olivia? I think that was it, she was cute. I wouldn’t mind taking her for a ride on the Lou Tom express but if it never happens it’s not the end of the world.” I watched as my best friend shrugged away his worries of the girls we’d met only short few hours ago.

“How are you so nonchalant about things like this? You always have been.” I stated.

“You mean about girls?” he shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve gotten girls like it was nothing my entire life. I don’t meant to sound cocky but it’s true. High school was a breeze being a star football player and being in the frat helped me through college. I didn’t even have to try.”

“It was always easier for you and the guys.” I said.

“Harry, girls were lining up for you in college. You could have had a different girl every night if you wanted too.” Louis reassured me. “You still have women looking at you everywhere you go, you can come see me at the shop and they stare, we can be walking down the street, they stare, when we go to the gym, they stare. Ladies dig you, Styles. So if you never see April again, it’s not the end of the world. Plenty of other girls will come into your life.”

“Speaking of the girls, whatever did happen between you and Olivia?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Honestly, when we split at the diner it didn’t go so smoothly for me.” He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. “We walked around the city and she took a bunch of pictures on her phone of everything, we walked hand in hand for the remainder and then when I kissed her she got all flustered and sort of distanced herself, so when she said she wanted to head back to her place, I offered to come and she politely declined.” He shrug.

“Not used to striking out, yeah?” I joked.

“Not at all! I always seal the deal, that’s why we go out. To let go and forget about the real problems we face every day. To let some of our pent up sexual frustrations out, to feel alive.”

“Doesn’t it get tiring though? Never settling down?” I looked over at him, sipping my beer.

“What? No. I’m barely 26. I’m having fun.” But then it was his turn to sigh. “I mean, you worked your ass off for your degrees and job. That’s something that makes us different. I’m cool with running the coffee shop off my lousy business degree and you’re cool with being a kick ass professor with a PhD. Maybe going through all that school changed things for you. I went four years, asked my parents for help starting up the coffee shop, paid them back in a few years and now it’s doing okay, not great but it’s getting by.”

“I don’t mean in just the career aspect of your life, I mean relationship wise too.”

“Eventually I want to find a girl, but right now I’m not concerned. If I’m 40 and still single, then we can worry.” He snickered. “But I’m content, it was an odd feeling getting shut down, but I think she was just shy. The girls I usually go after know exactly what is going to happen at the end of the night and don’t expect anything else. Olivia sort of gave me an inexperienced vibe, not that I can’t get down with that, but she seemed shy or nervous.”

“April was so confident, I had never felt more sparks than when I was around her.”

“More sparks than Terra?” Louis wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“I don’t know, I think so. I mean Terra was my first love, so it’s hard to compare a mere stranger to that feeling. But I know April made me feel more alive the first time meeting her then Terra ever did.”

“That’s deep shit dude, I remember Terra and that was a whirlwind romance.”

Terra was a girl I had met my freshman year of college. She was wild, free and undeniably gorgeous. She was probably the most stunning girl on campus. We shared a class together first semester of school and I was too afraid to approach her. But when Louis rushed to join a fraternity and somehow talked me into rushing with him, everything changed. The first party we got to attend, we were still pledges. We knew the brothers liked us, but we needed to prove to them that they would make the right decision come induction time. At the party, we were drinking, dancing drunkenly, and playing beer pong all night. Lou and I were always partners in pong, and that’s still true to this day, but back at this party, freshman year of college, we were still figuring it all out. We had lost a round of pong and stepped back to watch the incoming team play, Terra and her friend. We stood by the side of the table, watching the balls sink into the cups and miss and bounce away. Terra and her partner, who I can’t remember for the life of me, my eyes never left Terra, were one cup away from the win, neither of them could make it so Terra, being the loud, attention grabbing girl she was shouted for a celebrity shot. I figured she would ask one of the cool frat brothers, who had all been hitting on her all night, but she surprised me by shouting my name. I remember the night just like it was yesterday, even though it was nearly a decade ago.

“WE NEED A CELEBRITY SHOT!” I heard Terra shout over the loud music.

“YES!” her friend shouted.

Terra looked around the table before her eyes landed on me. She smirked the most devious smirk I had ever seen in my 18 years. Her eyes never left mine as she spoke, my name sounding like sex rolling off her tongue.

“Harry Styles. We need a celebrity to bank this shot.” She threw in a wink.

I turned to look at Louis, who was smiling proudly. “Terra Newman knows I exist.”

“Dude, yes!” Louis smiled proudly.

I turned back towards Terra and strutted over confidently. She handed me the ball as all eyes focused on me. I could win the game for Terra and her friend. I would be her hero for the night. I rolled the ball around in the water cup, taking it between my fingers. An idea popped into my head.

“You know, I’m gonna need some luck.” I held the ball in between my thumb and pointer finger up in the air in front of Terra’s face. “Could you blow me?”

“I could blow anything for you, Harry.” She winked, pursing her lips, letting a light stream of air hit the ball. I felt my breathe hitch from my chest as she did everything without ever breaking eye contact.

I finally turned to the table, trying to zone in on the lone cup at the other end. It was a hard task due to the mixture of alcohol and excitement of the moment. I took a deep breathe, held my arm up, lined up the shot and let the ball flow through the air. At this point, there was a large crowd gathered around the table and the room all seemed to hold its breath at the same time. As soon as the ball left my fingertips, it was landing. Landing directly in the final cup. Winning the game for the girls.

Being caught up in the moment, I spun to Terra, picking her up, swinging her around as the entire room cheered and shouted for me, I was the hero. As I set Terra down she did something I had least expected. She grabbed my face between her tiny hands and placed the most heated kiss I had ever had on my lips. I let me hands drop to her backside as the brothers whooped and cheered as I made out with Terra in front of everyone. She broke the kiss and looked up at me.

“I’m holding you to that promise.” I whispered, arms still firmly on her ass.

“Which one?” she smirked, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Oh just that little one about blowing something. You do owe me after all.” I smirked.

“A winning night, for a winning man.” She tugged the collar of my half button shirt. “Meet me outside in 10.”

She placed a chaste kiss on my cheek before walking away, even though she had won the game and could play more. Apparently I was more important. Louis came over to me, smirking like the bastard he is.

“You’re totally getting laid tonight, aren’t you?” he said, handing me my beer back.

“I’m totally get laid tonight.” I smirked back at him.

“Thatta boy, Harry!” he smiled as my fraternity brothers surrounded us.

“KEG STAND FOR THE CHAMP!” one of our brothers, Jake, shouted.

I laughed as we jumped around on our way over the keg. I was feeling electric tonight, I was feeling alive. College would be a good time, if this was any indication of how it was to go. I was in with the crowd, I was banking celeb shots, and I was kissing hot girls. The guys helped me up and over the keg and I placed the nozzle in my mouth. I opened the flow and began to chug. I drank for about 20 seconds before the guys placed me back down and began to holler. With my ego inflated, I began to make my way from the party in the basement, to the calm people hanging out, finally heading outside.

I found Terra standing outside, taking a long drag off of a cigarette. I smiled at how hot she made it look, not that it’s good for anyone, but if I had to watch someone smoke, it would be Terra. I made my way over to her as casually as possible.

“You look drunk.” She giggled.

“You sound drunk.” I said, finally reaching her.

I watched as she dropped her cigarette onto the ground, rubbing it into the dirt with the ball of her foot. She looked up at me, shyly, a look I had never seen Terra Newman wear. There were few people outside at this point in the night, so it felt like we had all of campus entirely to ourselves.

“Let’s go on an adventure.” She smiled, grabbing my hand. She took off running, dragging me along until I finally gained my footing.

“Adventure to where?” I asked.

“It’s not an adventure if you know the end destination, Harry.” She chortled, coming to a halt.

She flipped around to face me, arms instantly finding my neck. I reacted quickly, by pulling her in with my arms around her waist. It didn’t matter that I was straight A, top of class, here to eventually become a Doctor of something, in this moment I was just another drunk, average freshman struggling to make it.

The look in her eye was driving me wild, and I knew she felt it too.

“I’ve wanted to be this close to you since I saw you on the first day of class.” She whispered.

“Me too.” I said, lamely, tilting her chin up.

“So what’s it going to take to get you to kiss me again?” she asked, bravery in her voice.

“Hmm.” I pretended to think about it. “A promise to the best night of both of our lives.”

“I promise, to make this the most specular semester, not just night, of your life.” She leaned onto her tiptoes.

“I can live with that.” I mumbled before catching her mouth with mine.

We stood in the middle of the sidewalk on the main drag of campus just kissing for what seemed like hours. I didn’t even care, nothing else mattered to me in that moment. We ended up stumbling around campus, finding little places we never knew existed. By the end of the night we had made it to the top of the small hill on the outskirt of campus. We laid together in the grassy meadow on the hill, Terra’s arm draped haphazardly over my waist, my arms pulling in close. We shared kisses and passionate moments all night, until the sun slowly began to paint the sky.

We made our way back to her dorm room, struggling to fit into her tiny twin bed. Her roommate had gone home for the weekend, leaving it empty for us. I knew it wasn’t a great idea to head back to my dorm, because knowing Louis, he was there, attempting the same thing. I wasn’t nervous to be in this situation with a girl. I had been with a couple girls in high school, so sex wasn’t foreign to me. But sex with the most incredible girl I had ever laid eyes on, that was foreign.
After that first, wild, crazy, immensely enjoyable with Terra, she kept her promise. We had gone out on a few real dates before I had asked to become my girlfriend. We started to date and nothing changed. The adventures and the sex were as enjoyable as the first night. As the semester ended and breaks came, Terra and I stayed together. Even with the distance between us, it worked. When we came back for classes, our relationship was stronger than when we left.

It was like this for 2 ½ years of undergrad. Terra and I were a power couple of the campus. I was one of the most successful students and she wasn’t far behind. I had started to get better and better looking as undergrad went on, and she only got more gorgeous each day. We had great grades, a great relationship, and even better friends. Everyone had us pegged as the couple that would last. We’d graduate, get married, I’d go back for my masters and doctorate, she’d go into medical school, we’d get our lives squared away, have kids and be happy forever.

Harry and Terra were supposed to be a forever thing. Until I walked into our apartment we shared together, first semester of junior year, to find her naked, on top of some kid I had never seen before. I stood in the doorway, not sure what to think or say. She tried to explain herself, but nothing could fix what I had seen her doing. After that day, I moved in with Louis, and threw myself completely into my studies. I had been receiving excellent grades but they got even better. I took extra courses I didn’t need to distract myself. I was a mess but I wasn’t letting that mess fall apart. I had so much spark and chemistry with Terra. I didn’t know what to do.

Louis was Louis, and tried to cheer me up. He and the brothers tried to cheer me up. They’d take me out and I wouldn’t even as much as look at a girl. This is where my boring state started. From junior year until graduation, I studied and studied more. I didn’t go out, I didn’t have fun like before. Louis noticed my mood swing but stuck with me through it all. After graduation, we decided to make the move to New York City, Louis had his parents help him start up a coffee shop, and I started the MFA/PHD program at Columbia University and the rest is history.

“Dude?” I heard Louis snapping his fingers. “Dude. You zoned.”

“Sorry.” I finished off the beer in my hand.

“Thinking about Terra?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I was just thinking about how I haven’t felt a way about a girl since Terra until the other night.”

Louis nodded back, carefully thinking over his words. “Then we have to find her.”

“It’s not that simple, Louis.” I rolled my eyes, standing from the couch.

“You’re being a Debbie downer again.” He pouted.

“Whatever, I’m going to bed. Early day tomorrow.” I sighed, placing my can in the kitchen before heading to my bedroom. Louis called for me to wait up as I heard him clunking down the hall.

“I’m not going in for open tomorrow so I’ll still be passed out when you go to leave so good luck tomorrow dude, you’ll be great.” He smiled.

“Thanks.” I nodded, unsure of this myself.

“Don’t worry about it. Everything is set to go, and you’ll be fine.” He clapped a hand on my back. “You’re teaching two classes of lectures, the same lecture none the less, you’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, yeah. You know how I psych myself out for things that seem too good to be true.”

“Get some rest, turn your fucking brain off for a few hours.” Louis rolled his eyes back at me.

“Goodnight, asshole.”

I went into my room and did my nightly routine. I was lying in bed, doing the opposite of what Lou told me to do. My mind was racing a thousand miles per hour. I rolled onto my side, catching a faint whiff of Aprils perfume on my sheets. I should probably wash them. I let a frustrated sigh out of my nose, before rolling back over. Louis was right, I needed to relax. I closed my eyes and let my thoughts drift some paper work, to April, to Louis’s coffee shop, to memories of my first college classes and eventually landing back on April.

I was beyond prepared and qualified for this position. I was nervous, but that’s natural. My best friend was right, I was going to be okay. No matter what the students or the day threw at me tomorrow, I was going to be okay. Nothing was going to shake my day. Nothing at all. After all, I was Harry Styles, dreamy, young professor of the lovely study of English and Writing. My confidence probably would falter in the morning, but right now, Louis’ words were ringing through my brain, don’t worry about it, we’ll find her, you’ll be okay.

I felt like his words had some form of double meaning, he always knew me better than I knew myself. Life was something unpredictable and I was ready to see where mine was headed.

April's POV

You know those moments right before you ride a roller coaster? When you're in front of the line and you're starting to wonder why you decided to ride this monster. When you were so sure you could handle it, but then you start to freak out. You get that mini heart attack, that flip in your stomach, your mind going crazy. You want to run, run out of the line and never go near it again. But you can't, you know the line is too long and backing out now just wasn't an option.

I guess, you could call college the Roller Coaster of Doom now. Because that was exactly how I was feeling. No one would've guessed this, of course. I always concealed my emotions. So maybe on the outside I looked calm and collected. But on the inside, I was on the very top of a roller coaster, right before you go falling down.

A lot of people have told me it wasn't right to hide my feelings like this. That 'talking it out' helped a lot and writing it down on a journal was calming. But I didn't listen, and I had pretty good reason why. If I let myself pour my feelings out, I'd be nothing but a mess and wouldn't be landing a scholarship to NYU.
It was in middle school that I started this act. My parents were filing a divorce, and even 13 year old me understood that nothing ever lasts. It was that year that I let it all go, I screamed my lungs out, I cried until the tears would dry and I wouldn't let anyone in. Not even Olivia. And when I released all of that anger, somehow, I became stable. It became easier for me to hide my feelings and to keep my face blank when sticks and stones were thrown at me.

My family insisted I go to community college, but I had bigger ambitions. Olivia and I worked our asses off to get into New York University. We studied every night, we poured ourselves out on tests and we took every opportunity to get extra credit. Sure, it was definitely stressful and some times I did consider giving up. But it was definitely all worth it.

I wasn't sure what to expect. This was college, it's completely different from high school. Different drama, different people, different setting, different everything. It was just a whole new scene.

“You're scared, aren't you?” Olivia said, crashing right through the walls I so hardly built up in my head.

“I'd rather say no.” I responded. She had just walked into my room and started messing with my hair. Combing through a few tangled strands that I didn't bother to fix.

“But then I'd know you'd be lying.”

Olivia wasn't feeling any better than me about the first day of college. She was beyond nervous for this day. Olivia had been panicking all morning and it wasn't until she did her breathing exercises did she finally calm down. Although I didn't want to admit this, I silently did these exercises with her.

“Do you think we can do this?” She asked.

“I think we can conquer the world.” I smiled at her reassuringly.

I stood up from my dresser when Olivia finished with my hair and took a glance around my room. Harry's black shirt was hanging out from my laundry hamper. There was still a faint scent of his room left on it. I intended to give it back to him. But I never gave him my number and I couldn't think of any other way to find him in a city I barely even knew.

“Do you have everything ready?” Olivia asked as soon as I walked out of my room.

“Probably not.” I shrugged.

“April.”

“Liv.”

“I'm serious.” Olivia whined.

“No, you're Olivia.” Luckily enough, I caught the pillow that Olivia unsuccessfully threw to me.

“Just because they're called throw pillows,” I put the pillow back to where it belonged, “doesn't mean you have to throw them.”

Walking over to the kitchen, I grabbed a granola bar and my keys. “Let's go, Liv.” I said and she grabbed both of our backpacks.

We made our way to the front door, down the stairs and into New York. As every morning was in my two weeks here, my breath was taken away by simply walking out of the apartment. The morning air, the rush of the taxis, these people walking down streets who all have different stories, the little bakery down the street. Everything was beautiful and it was right for Olivia to take a picture of the city right then and there.
The walk to the subway wasn't too far from our apartment. It was the fact that Olivia and I kept getting lost that prevented us from going there. Eventually, we had to ask someone for directions.

“Tourists?” The man we walked up to asked.

“You could say.” I replied, laughing lightly. I looked around for Olivia who had wandered off to take a couple of pictures.

“Left to Lexington Avenue.” He smirked.

“Thank you so much.” I gave him a smile and saw Olivia heading towards us.

“Could I have your number?” He added with his voice full of hope.

"I-uh-I'm."I stuttered. How do you politetly tell someome to fuck off?

“Babe! Where had you wandered off to? Who's this?” Olivia gave a fake smile towards the man and linked my elbow with hers.

“Oh, you have a girlfriend. Sorry about that.” He said apologetically and disappeared into the crowd.

“You are a lifesaver.” I thanked Olivia for the little stunt she pulled earlier.

“I know. By the way, how do you manage to grab a guy's attention in the span of 5 minutes?”

“I asked for directions!” I defended, hands up in surrender.

“Whatever you say. Now, where's that subway?” She asked with eyebrow raised.

“Next left.”

Olivia and I talked about random things on our way there and she showed me the pictures she took on her camera. I saw the staircase that led underground and a sign that read Lexington Avenue, that meant we weren't lost.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the train to Astor Place Station is boarding.” A speaker voice announced.

“Is that ours?” Olivia nodded to my question and we boarded the train.

It wasn't too packed but there was quite a number of people on it, each of them minding their own business. It was oddly quiet in the train but, then again, these people might not ever see each other again.

We reached our stop and got off the subway. Making our way up the stairs into Broadway, the noises only got louder. People talking, the footsteps, the honking, it was all overwhelming.

“Are you good?” Olivia asked.

“Of course.” I let out a sigh and kept walking south of Broadway, where Olivia and I would part ways.

“This is where I leave you, buddy.” She rested her hand on my shoulder and I chuckled.

“Shut up, I better see you when I get back home!” I raised my eyebrows.

Olivia and I had different majors so we both went to different parts of the University. I would have to walk a little farther than her to get to my part of the school.

“Don't count on it.” She winked and gave me a hug, “You'll do great, April.” She whispered into my ear.
“You too.” We let go of each other and she started walking away.

The walk to my part of the university shouldn't take long. If I kept up my current pace I could make it there in 15 minutes. But some part of me wanted to slow down. Some part of me wanted to run away and hide, that part of me was the one that I hid deep in a corner. It was that part that was too scared to walk into that university. I shook off the thought and continued walking, trying to keep my mind other things.
Boy, that didn't help at all.

I saw the familiar brown hair, styled and slicked back with curls hanging out. It was a stupid idea but I started walking towards the person, I wasn't even sure if this was the right person.

“Harry?” I tapped the person lightly on those shoulder.

My face fell when it wasn't the green eyes I was looking for.

“I'm sorry, I think you got me confused for somebody else.” The man said and started walking off.
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.

The rest of the walk went by with a couple of smiles to strangers and me thinking about Harry again. I hadn't realized I was in Washington Square Park until I saw the water fountain in the middle of the scenery. There was a gigantic stone archway with intricate designs, it was simply beautiful.

The university wasn't far from here now. With every step I took, I became more nervous. What if the professor was mean? What if he didn't like me? What if I fail the class?

Shut up, conscience.

A few minutes later, I was here. I was in front of the one place that would change my life. With a deep breath, I let all of my worries go and walked into classes.

Notes

Hey guys! So I'm the other author for this story! I haven't written fanfiction in a while so take it easy on me. Also, Harry's POV is written by the ever so wonderful i_heart_1D, I only wrote April's POV. But how do you like it? What do you think about Terra? Leave your thoughts below :)

Cara x