The whole time after it started getting late, Harry stayed awake, waiting for Claire. Every one tried to convinced him to go to bed because they knew she was safe with Niall, he felt of pinch of jealousy but stayed awake anyway, waiting for her until 1:12AM.
“Today was fun! Thank you, Niall, you made my troubles go away.” Claire giggled as they entered the mansion. “You’re welcome, love.” Niall laughed, as he took off his coat and scarf he was wearing.
Harry stood up as soon a he heard the door open, he heard the whole conversation. He sneezed, startling Claire and Niall, “Oh my gosh! Is that you, Harry? What are you doing awake?” “Yes, it’s me, I was waiting for you, Claire.”, he admitted to Claire. “I’m just going to go upstairs, see you tomorrow, Claire.” Niall said and quickly ran upstairs, leaving Harry and Claire alone.
“I missed you.” He said, pulling her into his embrace. “Um, I missed you to?” Claire said, awkwardly, patting his back as he hugged her. “So, why were you waiting for me, again?” Claire asked, raising as eyebrow. “I was worried about you…” He said shyly, looking down to the ground as if it seemed more interesting than anything at the moment. Claire blushed, feeling warmth overwhelm her cheeks, “I thought you were too ‘busy’ with Naomi.” He laughed at her remark, “WHAT?!” she asked, utterly confused.
*
Claire groaned, her head was pounding and she was sweating. “Claire, are you okay? You don’t look so fine.” Courtney asked with concern in her voice. “I’ve got a huge headache, I don’t know how.” Claire sat up on the bed, leaning her head on the white headrest, rubbing her temples. “Should we all stay here to take care of you?” “No, it’s fine, I don’t want to ruin your fun.” “You sure?” “Yes, of course, Courtney” Claire rolled her eyes and reassuring Courtney. “Okay…”
After a few minutes, Courtney came in and said, “Harry’s going to stay here and take care of you, just saying…” “WHAT? NO! Why can’t Niall?!” Courtney glared at Claire, “Because he wants to go out and he thinks that if he’ll stay it’ll be awkward, due to the fact the Harry insists on staying whether you like it or not.”
Claire sighed, she did want Harry to stay, but then again she did not. When she thought about it even more and smiled at the fact that he doesn’t want to be with Naomi, but with her.
“Well, bye!” Courtney waved goodbye. Niall popped his head from the door and said, “Would you like us to bring anything for you?” Claire laughed, her head still pounding, “No, thank you though, Nialler.” “Get well soon, we’ll be back in a few hours, love.” “Thank you, Nialler. Bye.” she said in a low tone, drifting off to sleep.
*
“Morning, love. Wake up, I made you some breakfast!” Harry chirped as he entered Courtney’s room. “UGH,” she groaned, still not feeling well. Harry placed the tray near the medium sized nightstand. He took out the thermometer, “Open your mouth,” “No,” Claire whines like a baby. “Come on, Claire, stop acting like a baby.” She folded her arms, stubbornly, opening her mouth.
“Holy….” “I know, I know, I have fever okay?” she rolled her eyes, she grabs the tray and places the tray on her lap. “Hope you like it,” Harry smiled, crawling onto the bed, sitting beside her. “Thanks, Haz.” she said, looking at the maple syrup that was oozing down her delicious pancakes that were placed on top of each other. She started stuffing her mouth with the pancakes, as soon as she took the first bite, due to the fact that they were so yummy.
*
“UGGH. MY STOMACH IS DYING FROM ALL THE FOOOOD!” she groaned, leaning on Harry’s shoulder. He chuckled, “You shouldn’t have gulped it down.” he paused, and then continued, “One second.” He walked over the clear glass window, opening it slightly, and allowing the cold breeze to flow through the room.
“Harry, I’m cold.” Claire whined, blowing her nose with a white soft tissue. He smiled at how cute she was being, and crawled into the bed next to her, under the sheets. She snuggled onto him, putting her head on his chest, listening to his steady heart beat, and feeling his chest rise and fall.
She smiled, loving the moment they were having. ‘If only…’ she thought.
They laid there in silence, until, of course, Claire broke it, “So you and Naomi, huh?” “What?!”, he looked at Claire, dumbfounded. “You kissed didn’t you? Aren’t you an item now?”, raised her eyebrow. “No, Naomi…and I…no. And no I didn’t I couldn’t kiss her, so I just dropped out of the game.”
“Why? You don’t like her?” Claire said, hoping she was right. “Well, Naomi isn’t really my….type?” He sounded unsure. Claire looked up at him, her head still on his chest “What to you mean she’s not you’re type, Harry?! Every girl is your type! I mean she has everything you want, especially all that big bum and breasts of hers! You just want them in your pants, that’s all. They think that they can change you, but the truth is they can’t!” “I have changed.” he simply remarked.
“Really? When?” “Every since this whole mess started.” “Really?” “Yes, and so have you.” he admitted. “What do you mean?” She asked confused. “Well, I don’t know but,… with me you’re more fun. You know, you know how to laugh and joke around. Back in England, you were always…so…serious.”
Claire came to realize that, that was the truth. She has always been more of herself when she was with him, especially when they were younger. Now, she’s grown up, and matured with the whole influence of her parents, they basically took away her childhood where you would just depend on your parents until you grew up.
“I miss the old, Claire.” He chuckled, and pulled her closer on to him. She snuggled even more due to the wind that allowed goosebumps to run down her arms, she giggled, “I’m cold..”
After a few minutes of silence, “Why do girls like me anyways?” he smiled, while playing with her hair. “Maybe because you are fit, extremely hot and buff.” she blurted, she face palmed her face and her cheeks turned red. “What?” He smirked, “Nothing…”she said hastily. “You think I’m hot, now?” “No…” “I clearly heard what you said” he teased. “Shut up!” she said, her cheeks turning a darker shade of red. “Awe, look who’s blushing!” he cooed. “SHUT UP!” she grabbed a soft fluffy white pillow and smacked it onto his face.
“You’re going to get it!” Harry said, throwing one back. They started throwing anything soft at each other. He pushed on the bed, and hovered on top of her, “Gotcha.” Harry whispered in her ear, allowing shivers to run down her spine. He started leaning in, closer and closer to the point where Claire could feel his warm breath on her lips.
Suddenly the door flew open, “HEEEEY!” beamed a familiar voice, “Shit, did I interrupt anything?” Jessica asked, blushing ferociously. Harry quickly, got off of Claire. They stood there blushing, until eventually Claire screamed out with happiness, “JESS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”
Claire ran up to her attacked her with a hug, “I was here to come to check on you and stay here for Christmas. Mrs. Tatcher said it was fine.” she smiled brightly, then whispered in her ear, “I guess the fevers gone, hasn’t it? Do you care to tell me what happened?”
____________________________________________________________________
A/N: Sorry if this chapter is boring. But I worked hard on it. Don’t worry, they’ll be more to come… Love, Jane. x
Half asleep, Claire flipped the other way onto the bed. She opened her eyes, slowly but tiredly, witnessing Harry asleep in front of her. She smiled, watching him sleep. “It’s rude to stare, you know” Harry said in his sexy morning voice that made Claire melt inside, with his eyes still closed.
Claire’s cheeks automatically grew warm, “I wasn’t the only one,” she laughs, raising eyebrow. Harry’s dreamy green eyes flutter open, and stare back at hers. They just stayed like that for a while admiring each other, until they heard giggling from the door and whispering,
“Oh my, they’re so cute together!” Courtney squealed. “I even took a photo look!” Theresa showed off her photo of them on her camera.
“Ugh!” Claire groaned, pushing the heavy covers off of her. Harry chuckled, crawling to the edge of the bed, and simply jumping off.
Claire opened the door, wide. “We just cam to tell you it’s around 12:30 PM, and that we’re going swimming, so if you want to come, join us!” Annie said cheerfully.
“All of us?” Claire asked, running her hands through her wavy hair. “Um, yeah? Is there a problem?” Theresa asked, confused. “No, not at all. I’m just not in the mood for swimming…” Claire said, looking down. “I’m going to go to the bathroom” she said, pointing down the hall, where the bathroom is. “Okay…”
*
Claire entered the room where the swimming pool was, she put her freshly squeezed orange juice, sandwich, and the latest edition of ‘Vogue’ Magazine on the table beside. She picked up the magazine, opening the first page.
“Hey Claire,” Harry came into the swimming pool room, half-naked considering that he was wearing red swimming trunks. “Hey, Haz.” Claire said, closing the magazine on dropping it on her lap and then took a sip of her orange juice. She almost spit it all out when she saw Harry, shirtless, may I remind you, he had clear visible abs.
He winked, “Why don’t come swim?” “Eh, I don’t…want to…” “Why?”he asked, while sitting at the side of the pool, allowing his feet to dangle in the cool water. “I’m just…I guess…I’m kind of inse-” “Harry! Good morning!” Naomi interrupted, coming in, dressed up in a bikini, which was practically showing most of her cleavage. ‘Wow, that desperate?’ Claire thought. She rolled her eyes, “Hey, Naomi….” Harry said his eyes still on Claire. “Well, I’m just going to go….leave you two alone.” Claire hurriedly got up off the sun lounger; she put the magazine under her armpit, and held the glass of orange juice and her sandwich. She couldn’t watch them flirt, or anything like that. ‘Get over it, Claire, doesn’t matter. Why should I even be jealous, I don’t like him? Right? Yeah, I don’t like him.’ she thought, sighing, she knew that she was in denial.
*
“Hey, Claire! Are you going to play ‘Spin the Bottle’ with us?” Annie and Theresa asked. Claire shook her head ‘no’ and said, “It’s just another excuse to let teenagers snog.” “Snog?” Annie, Alyssa, and Naomi raised their eyebrows. “It’s British slang for make out or French kiss, you idiots.” “OOOH…”they chorused, feeling stupid.”Guess I have a chance of kissing Harry tonight.”
Theresa rolled her eyes, and Claire showed no emotion, but on the inside was hurting. The only person who could see what was wrong was Courtney and Niall at the moment. She put her arm around Claire and rubbed her back gently and soothingly. “Are you okay?” she whispered in her ear, as the others formed a circle around the bottle in the living room. Claire looked down, on the verge of tears; she bit her quivering lip, “No…” “It’s going to be alright, okay? You don’t have to play, Niall with keep you company, right Niall?”
Niall, who was busy eating his sandwich, as always, looked up and nodded. He looked at Claire with sympathy in his big blue eyes.
“Are we going to play, or not?!” Harry winked. “Yeah, are you two playing or not?” Jude repeated Harry’s question in a different form.”I’m staying with Niall,” Claire said pointing at Niall, who was at the moment, stuffing his face. Harry’s face dropped, but he quickly brushed it off.
Claire sat beside Niall, and watched them play. After a few minutes, it was Naomi’s turn to spin the bottle, and whoever it was pointed to would be the one to kiss her. And just as she expected, it landed on Harry. As Naomi started coming closer Harry and their lips started brushing against each other, everybody chanted, besides Courtney, and Niall, “KISS, KISS!”
“Niall, can we please go, on a walk or something?” She quickly faced Niall, tearing up. “Yes, of course, I’ll just grab your coat, and mine.” He got up quickly, grabbed the coats, and shouted, “CLAIRE AND I ARE GOING FOR A WALK, WE’LL BE BACK IN HALF AN HOUR!”, before they ran out the door. Claire started bawling her eyes out, several tears escaping her eyes and rolling down her cheeks as soon as they walked out the gates. He pulled her to his embrace, gently rubbed her back repeatedly, until she finished crying. She pulled away, “I-I, why do I like s-someone that h-hurts me so much?” she stutters, taking deep breaths. “Because you care about them, your heart does… How about we get a coffee, and try to relax and forget about it for a while?” he suggested. She bit her lips that were still quivering, and nodded repeatedly. “Come on, let’s go,” he held her hand as they walked to the nearby Star Bucks.
*
“No way!” Niall gasped, chuckling. “Yes, it’s true! Stop annoying me about it!” Claire laughed, she felt like she hasn’t laughed in years, and the best thing for her right now was having Niall around. “I don’t think that’s possible, how could a beautiful girl like you not have their first real kiss yet?” He gushed, causing Claire’s cheeks to turn crimson red. She rolled her eyes, “So what’s with the Irish man living here in New York?” “Oh, no, the boys and I don’t live here. We come here so very often, we stay at my aunt’s house. We actually are living in England at the moment.” He informed. “Really?” “Yeah, I guess so,” “That’s great! I could always come visit you all!” Claire smiled, brightly. “There’s that wonderful smile, I’ve been waiting for.” Niall chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee. “Really? Is it that wonderful?” Claire said, feeling quite flattered. “Yes, very much.” He confessed, and took her hand, and caressed it with his thumb, “And, by the way, Harry is lucky to have a girl like you in love with him, Claire. You two are perfect for each other; he just doesn’t realize it, yet.” His blue eyes sparkled.
She smiled warmly, finding it hard to believe. Is Harry really the perfect person for her right now, or could it be….someone else?
A/N: How was that? Sorry if it sucked butt. But it’s like, 12:37 AM. I’ll probably update the Friday that’s coming up! *Yawn* Team Harry or Niall? ;)
