Christina's POV:

A few weeks later…

Friday morning.

I shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight that flooded in through the thin, breezy, white curtains in my room. I had absolutely no motivation to leave the cool sanctuary of my bedroom and go out into the hot humid world and solve AP trig problems. I was contemplating the idea of just not going; I mean my parents were headed to Miami to see my brother's specialist and I don't have any major assignments coming up. I weighed the options when my phone buzzed on the little table next to me. I had a couple texts. The first was from Nicole.

"It's nice out so we're going to the beach. Gia and Tay are coming but MG has an AP trig test that she can't miss so she's coming after lunch. Get your ass out of bed and come pick me up. I want Rita's."

Perfect. Now I'm definitely not going to school and know what I'm doing on my day off. Plus I could go for some bacon and pancakes. I typed back a quick 'ok but I'm gonna sleep for a while first' and went to the next one in my messages.

It was from my mom.

"Hi sweetheart, just a reminder that your father and I are taking Andre to Dr. Anderson this weekend so you're on your own. Please be safe and don't do anything to ridiculous. Love you."

I answered back 'ok love you too mom and don't worry I'll be good' and skipped down to the one that I was dying to read.

It was from Harry.

"I need help with reviewing for the sociology test Monday. I'm pretty sure you're Callahan's favorite and you have an A in the class. Could I come over tonight? Or are you Americans only self sufficient."

I read it and re read it a few times before laying back on my cool pillow. It was late September; Harry and I had been talking for a few weeks now. I liked him but I was still wary about him; he didn't really give me any reason to be that's just how I am. Actually he was nothing but a gentleman; he held doors for me, occasionally complimented little things like my makeup or shoe choice, listened to music I showed him even if he didn't like it, he got along with my friends beautifully. You know now that I think of it he was a relatively perfect guy. I quickly unlocked my phone and answered with a 'sure come by at 5ish bring your textbook, pens, highlighter and notebook.' I rolled over and fell asleep for about another hour and a half. I woke up at 9am, got up, plugged my phone into the sound system in my room and got ready for the beach.

****

I left the house and hour later and decided to take my dad's convertible black Bentley because it was literally perfect out and it went with what I was wearing today. It was just warm enough to feel the sun on your skin but not hot enough to make you sweaty and gross. There was no humidity and the breeze coming off the ocean was just enough to make the palm trees sway and it kept everything cool. I drove along the beach on A1A to Nicole's house.

I passed Harry's house and was instantly hit with the memory of driving him home after his car got towed. He was so ashamed that he had to ask for my help and repeatedly insisted that he was not parked in the tow away zone, but we both knew he was. I didn't really mind taking him home; we made jokes about the situation almost the whole time and he gave me a quick tour of his house and I briefly met his mom. She was very nice but I didn't see or hear of his dad; I guess something happened between them. I continued to think about Harry all the way to Nicole's house.

"Nicooooooole!" I yelled and laid on the horn notifying her that I was there. I wasn't worried about her parents or neighbors because her parents go to work early and the nearest neighbor is an acre away. You see Nicole rides horses and horses need space and a stable which means Nicole lives on almost 3 acres of land. Her house takes up a good amount and the stable area comes in as a close second.

She quickly ran out and we got to Rita's at 10:30ish. Rita's was a small, beachy restaurant right on the beach. After we devoured a plate of chocolate chip and banana pancakes, bacon, eggs and four glasses of pulp free orange juice we paid the bill and headed down the worn wooden walkway to the sand. We were setting up our towels when Tay and Gia showed up. We all sunbathed for about an hour before MG showed up. Then the grilling started.

"So Christina, what's up with Harry and you?" MG pried while rolling onto her stomach to look at me. Tay did the same but Gia and Nicole were in their own little worlds.

"Nothing, I mean nothing is going on so…" I trailed off not really knowing what to say. I don't really like talking about my personal life. Just then my phone sounded with the special ringtone I had set for Harry. Yes he has a separate ringtone.

"Who is that?" Taylor noticed the separate ringtone. I shrugged and pretended to not give a rat's ass about the text. Mary Grace grabbed my phone and swiftly stood up.

"Just a reminder I'm coming over tonight. Don't worry I'll bring all my stuff. Thanks." She read the text out loud and put extra emphasis on the word 'stuff'.

Nicole and Gia had come out of their sun induced coma and now everyone was listening. I jumped up and wrestled my phone away from Mary Grace but the damage was already done.

"Excuse me? Is he sleeping at your house tonight? I thought you said nothing was going on." Taylor sat up on her knees. Nicole and Gia looked confused but still intrigued.

"Nothing is going on. He's coming over at like 5 and I'm gonna tutor him for our AP Sociology test on Monday. That's it, nothing else." I tried to be as clear and blunt as possible. I didn't want them to doubt that something was actually going on.

"Ok yeah sure." Gia piped in. I glared at her which ended in her laughing.

"Yeah let me know if you need help studying with Harry. I can get to your house in like 5 minutes if I speed." MG laughed before we all returned to our towels to finish tanning.

The next 3 hours were spent listening to an extremely broad spectrum of music, the occasional joke about me and Harry, Nicole giggling about something cute Nick texted her, Taylor venting about Jacob, and brainstorming where we should get food on the way home. We all decided on Jersey Mike's. We packed up all of our shit and left to go get our subs.

****

I pulled back into my driveway at 4pm, sub, towel and beach bag in hand. I threw my food in the fridge and went upstairs to shower and get changed into something comfy.

I came back downstairs 45 minutes later, with damp hair, yoga pants, a loose tank top and a sports bra on. I put some make up on and flipped my hair around trying to make it look a little better. I sat down to eat my sub but was interrupted minutes later by knocking on the door. Was he early? I jogged to the door and looked through the peep hole. Yep, he's early. I opened the door and looked him over, he looked good. He always looks good though.

"Hey!" He smiled before walking past me, like he had been here thousands of times. I got a quick smell of his deep cologne, it smelt really good.

He was wearing a plain white shirt under an unbuttoned black dress shirt with tiny white dots scattered around it. The sleeves were rolled, revealing his strong forearms and his biceps were stretching the fabric ever so lightly. He paired it with a black belt, dark wash skinny jeans and white converse. His eyelashes lightly fluttered open and closed, accenting his green eyes beautifully. His hair was messy and pulled over to one side and he had a black jansport backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Tell me you have everything." I closed the door and walked back into the kitchen. He followed behind me and told me he did in fact have everything we needed.
"Ok I'll be right back. I'm gonna go grab my textbook and some other stuff, just stay here. Can you do that for me?" I talked to him like he was 5 years old, trying to get the point across. He tilted his head and gave me a snarky look.

"Anything for you, babe." He smirked sarcastically. I ran up the stairs not wanting to leave him alone for too long. I replayed him calling me 'babe' the entire time.
"Ok so what do you want to start with? Mass media, education or pover- what the fuck Harry?" I stopped in the entry way to the kitchen. He was sitting there, half of my sub in his hand the other half gone, eyes wide and a guilty smile on his face.

"Italian subs are my favorite." He put the sandwich down and I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"I guess so."

"So are Italian girls." He smirked as I sat down next to him at the island. I felt my heart race a bit and my face heat up. I looked away from him and into the pages of the textbook.

"Mass Media it is." I flipped to the first page of the chapter and told him to do the same. We highlighted, took notes, answered mock questions and goofed off for three and a half hours.

"Ok what are the negative effects of mass media on today's young women and are society's views altered by mass media as a whole?" I asked him a mock question and waited for his dazzling answer. Every single question I asked him, even if he didn't know it he would look it up and answer it correctly and intellectually.

"Ok so the negative effects of mass media on young women include the idea that being thin is the only way to be beautiful, men will only love you if you're thin, being pretty is the only way to get anywhere in life and overall teaches girls to be ashamed of who and what they are. Society is absolutely influenced by mass media; from major decisions to tiny, insignificant ones…society is always a part of that." There it is. The beautiful and intelligent answer I was waiting to hear. He looked to me; hopefully, waiting for me to confirm that he got it right.

"Perfect." I smiled and looked around suddenly realizing it was dark outside. It was just after 8pm and I had no idea where the time had gone. I think Harry picked up on the look of subtle shock on my face and piped up. "Shit it's getting late, we've been at this for a while." He stood up and started to pack his things up.

"Oh you don't have to leave. I was just confused on where the time went; I'm not kicking you out Harry." I put my hand on his arm and tried not to audibly gasp at how strong his arm felt under my hand. He smirked at me, probably because I sounded extremely desperate to keep him here with me.

"Where are your parents?" He was almost grinning and I couldn't help but feel like he was planning something.

"They're down in Miami with my little brother…why?" I spoke cautiously like if I said something wrong he would disappear. His eyes lit up with my answer and in one smooth motion he pulled his phone out of his pocket and was speaking to someone on the other line in minutes.

"Yeah hi mate, it's Harry…yeah I need a favor." I didn't get to hear what this 'favor' was because he walked into a different room and I couldn't hear him anymore. Minutes later he came back and the smirk on his face had tripled to a full on cheesy smile. I didn't mind though; he had a relatively perfect smile.

"What was all that?" I stopped in front of him and he was consequently very close to me. He looked down at me due to the height difference and his eyes burned into mine. We stood there like that for a few seconds in silence before he dipped around me and walked backwards toward the kitchen.

"Oh nothing…I hope you don't have dinner plans. Oh and hopefully you like pizza and pasta. Now where do you keep the movies? Is there some huge movie theatre in this castle of yours?" He disappeared into a hallway that led to the backyard.

"You mean the media room? It's upstairs…that's the backyard." I yelled then waited for him to come back but he didn't. I slowly walked out into the backyard and saw him lying in the grass motionless. I walked over slowly and stood over him, he didn't even acknowledge me. It was amazing how he could go from full force to laying in my backyard in such a short amount of time.

"Harry? Are you ok?" He nodded and patted the grass next to him. I hesitated before lying down next to him and looking up at the sky. We didn't say anything for a good 5 minutes; I listened to his breathing and was suddenly very sleepy.

He rolled over onto his side so that he was facing me; this also closed the space between to two of us. He put his head in his head to keep it up and he just kind of looked at me for awhile. I turned only my head to look at him and realized I couldn't look away. His green eyes were dark due the surroundings, his hair was puffy and fell to one side of his face, his smile causing deep dimples to form on either side of his mouth. Our eyes stayed locked on each other and I was the one to break the tension.

"We should probably go inside…the food will be here soon." I turned my head and pushed myself off the cool grass. He followed suit and that was about it for the romantic moments between the two of us for the remainder of the night.

His mom called and said she needed him for something, he tried to argue out of it but I insisted that he go. He reluctantly left after making sure I would be okay alone in this 'massive and easy to break into' house; little did he know my house was basically a fortress thanks to my dad's security precaustions. I told him I would be fine and he made sure he left 20 dollars for the food he had just ordered. I walked him out to the driveway and watched as he smoothly slid into his car.

"Thanks for helping me with that. I'm glad you were the one to do it. Hopefully I wasn't to annoying." He laughed as he turned the car on. It roared to life and he revved the engine.

"Oh it was nothing, plus I got free pizza and pasta out of it. Now go your mom needs you." I started to walk away from his car and made it to the front door before he stopped me. He yelled out my name causing me to spin around.

"You're a great girl." That's all he said, nothing more before he back out of the driveway and disappeared behind the concrete wall and bushes in my front yard. I closed the front gate, walked inside and smiled to myself. I liked how he complimented me; just simple and natural things.

I replayed almost every minute of the studying/goofing around/giggling/flirting until the minute I fell asleep. He was a bit confusing; I didn't know if he was a good guy or bad boy or a flirt or a sweetheart. That worried me, but it wasn't enough to make me not want him. In fact it only attracted me more.

~THE END ~