Amelia Chapter One

Day: 01 Week: 00

The first rays of sunlight hit my golden brown eyes, causing me to squint and finally open them. I didn't want to wake up; I was still very much tired from the night before. I turned my face into my pillow, not wanting to wake up, and was surprised to find my pillow wet. From what, I didn't know. Had I been crying? I definitely felt drained of energy, and I felt this unexplainable feeling that one is always left with when they had had a nightmare during the night. I figured that was it. I probably had a terrible dream, and cried it out. I lifted my head and sniffed, and dragged my tired hand to ruffle my brown curls. With the other hand, I felt for my phone, which was somewhere in its usual position next to my pillow. I saw Harry hadn't texted my back, by the lack of messaging notifications. I sighed. Harry must be out, working in his music store, too busy with his custumers to text back. I placed my phone on my night stand, sitting up in bed. My fingers automatically reached up to my chest, landing on a silver heart-shaped necklace that Harry had given me during the early days of our relationship. We had been dating for almost two years now, and I kept that necklace as a sign that his heart will always belong to me. So much had changed then. Two years ago, I was nineteen, living with my mom in a small apartment in New York City. I remembered I attended the Manhattan School of Music, because I wanted to major in Music Education. I also remembered the beautiful boy from England who went there that year, as part of the study abroad program. Who knew, two years from then, I'd be dating him and living with him in London? Life has a way of surprising all of us, I guess.

With a sigh, I got up and out of bed, heading over to my closet to choose something to wear. My fingers grazed a black tee shirt. Forgetting what shirt it was, I pulled it out and found it was one of Harry's Ramones tee shirts that he had worn many times, most notably the first time we met. I still remembered it clearly, because that was the day when my life changed completely.

I walked down Fifth Avenue, having just left my New York City apartment in order to get some inspiration for a poem I had the inkling to write. Those were my two loves: Writing and music. I continued walking down Fifth Avenue until I hit Central Park, finally glad to be surrounded by trees. Notebook and pen in hand, I walked about five blocks until I reached my favorite spot—a bench right in front of the lake. I sat down, surveying the environment around me at first. It was a wonderful autumn day. A bit chilly for my tastes, but my beige scarf did the job. I watched as people talking on their cell phones passed me without so much as a second look, dogs ran around being called by their owners, and ducks quacked happily looking at the murky water for fish to feed on. That's what I loved about New York City. No one ever cared, or paid attention to what you were doing. You were left alone, to your own business. Being quite solitary and different from most people my age, I appreciated that.

I sighed and looked to my right, and that's when I spotted him: Harry Styles. He was quite the popular kid back on campus, a bit of a frat boy as well. I had English Composition class with him three times a week. He was always surrounded by swooning girls, and I knew for a fact every weekend he partied like no other. Every girl wanted him. Secretly, I did too, but I knew better. I wasn't his type. I wasn't extremely pretty, and the party scene wasn't my scene. I preferred the library, or a practice room. But as I looked at him I couldn't help thinking what it would be like to date him. He was quite a ways away from me, almost on the other side of the lake, but he captured my gaze and held it there with such intensity it almost made me blush. I looked down immediately, fearing that he caught me looking at him. I looked down at the blank notebook paper, the sight of him still burning into the back of my mind. From a distance, his hair looked quite messy, but then again it was slightly windy today. I still felt his eyes on me and so I kept my head down, pretending to be absorbed in my blank notebook when inspiration hit me, and I occupied myself by writing a poem about love at first sight.

"It's a lovely day out today."

The voice was deep, and measured, sounding as if they had rolled off the tongue of the speaker. I noticed my heart pounding wildly and I didn't understand why until I registered the English accent. But it couldn't be. Sure enough, I looked up, and there was Harry Styles, standing beside me with both hands inside the pocket of his trench coat, casually looking up at the birds flying from out of the trees across the lake.

"Um, yes. Yes it is." I replied as nonchalantly as possible, after swallowing my nervousness. I immediately decided to play it cool, and attempt to show him I wasn't shy or weird, as he probably already thought.

"You're Amelia Schaller, right? You're in my English Comp class?" Harry asked, looking at me this time, and taking his place beside me on the bench. I tried to keep my heart rate down for my own sake, and prayed I wasn't blushing.

"Yes, and you're Harry Styles." It wasn't a question. It probably should have been a question. My heart began to thunder once more and I suddenly remembered my notebook and the poem I had been writing, and quickly closed the notebook so he couldn't read. I was also flattered and impressed he knew my full name. Or that I was in his English class. I didn't expect him to even pay me any mind. But then again, the Harry in my mind could be quite different from the real one.

"I'm sorry if I took you by surprise or anything," Harry began, probably picking up on my frantic notebook closing. "But I just recognized you from my class and just figured I'd talk to you, because I don't really know you."

"Do you like meeting new people or something?" I said sarcastically, looking at the way the sun reflected off his curls. His hair was just a shade darker than mine.

"Well, I'm only here for a year, might as well meet anyone I can and get a feel for good old America." Harry replied after a while, biting his lip. I found his lip biting very cute to say the least, and it took all my self-control not to melt on the spot.

"Seems like you already know a good deal of people already Mr. Twenty shots." I replied, alluding to a rumor which had circulated around campus a couple months ago, involving Harry, a party, and twenty tequila shots. Apparently he held some record for the most shots taken in five minutes. I suppose it was impressive.

Harry however, didn't seem to think so. He turned his head to the side in an embarrassed manner, effectively hiding his face from me. I quickly wanted to take back what I said, and I became extremely guilty. "Sorry." I added after a while, to which he turned to me and smirked, shaking his head.

"Well I don't know you." Was his reply and attempt to getting back on track with the conversation. I cursed internally because I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks, and so it was my turn to turn away, failing to hide the smile on my face.

"You want to get to know me?" I asked, a bit embarrassed. This was ridiculous. This wasn't happening this was a dream.

"Yes. I'd like to. You're um. I don't see girls like you often."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means let's walk around, see the town." And then Harry was up. He cocked his head to the right, indicating that we walk in that direction, and I eagerly stood as well, placing my notebook in my purse and taking my place by his side.

I immediately found myself feeling a bit cooler, being out in public with the popular frat boy, and I almost wished for the snooty popular girls to catch a glimpse of me now.

"What's in the notebook?" Harry asked, after a few steps. I found his stride easy to keep up with.

"Oh, uh… I like to write. So. Yeah." I replied awkwardly. I didn't like to mention to others that I liked writing. Then they would ask what I wrote, and after I explained they would want to read my stuff and that was a huge no for me. No one ever read my private work.

"Like what?" He asked, and I internally groaned. Here we go.

"Poetry." I replied simply, already formulating my response for when he asked to read it.

"Nice, I like to compose music." His reply took me by surprise. I had expected him to ask if he could have a read but instead, Harry shared what he did. I pictured him in a desk in the middle of the night, crumpled papers all over his desk, writing lines under a small desk lamp. I had no idea Harry had any inclination toward music, and it was nice that he had something private too.

"Instrumental or vocal?" I inquired as we crossed the street. We were headed out of the park.

"Mostly vocal, I'm not great at playing instruments, though I'm learning guitar."

Having left the park, we turned down 5th avenue and then Harry asked if I wanted to stop by the Starbucks at the corner and get a cup of coffee. I agreed. I absolutely loved coffee. The smell, the taste… We ordered our coffee and he offered to pay. I politely refused him, to which he insisted even more. I think we annoyed the cashier, because we stood there for about three long minutes fighting over who was going to give up five dollars to pay for a cup of coffee. In the end, I won, and got to witness Harry Styles pout, which secretly made my day. We sat down by the window, watching New Yorkers walk by with their shopping bags, dogs, or children. We talked for about hours about anything and everything, and I was surprised how easy he was to talk with. I found he told the silliest stories, most of them weren't even funny, just pointless but I loved hearing him talk and so I listened.

By the time we were done, it was growing dark, and I had to be home for dinner, as I did not live on campus. Being close, I commuted every day to save money.

"Where do you live? I'll walk you there." Harry offered.

"Oh no, that's fine, I can manage, but thank you." I said hastily, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of Harry Styles walking me home. Especially the fact that he'll know where I lived.

"No way, it's dark out, I'm not letting you go alone. Let me accompany you." Harry insisted.

I let out an exasperated sigh, and walked in the direction of my house. Harry followed.

"So how old are you, Amelia?" Harry asked, attempting to strike up conversation.

"Amy." I corrected. Amelia sounded so formal from his lips. I didn't know why I hadn't corrected him earlier. "I'm nineteen. You?"

"Twenty." He said simply. "My birthday is in about three months."

"Happy really early birthday Harry." I said in a light tone. I placed my hands in my coat to avoid getting my hands cold from the November air.

"Thank you." Harry said, smiling at the ground. We walked at a relatively slow pace, which would have been annoying for me if I hadn't been with Harry. I was used to walking at a quick, brisk pace when I was on my own. No New Yorker walked slowly. "So what music are you into?" Harry added, in an attempt to strike up another conversation.

"I like a variety of music. I'm not into today's music, though. I like to listen to movie scores, and classic bands like The Beatles, and some underground stuff. Indie music is good too." I spoke, watching my breath condense in front of me.

"The Ramones?" Harry asked.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, practically jumping mid-step. That was a great band I listened to, and was happy to know Harry listened to them as well. I suddenly felt cheerful and elated because of the band Harry mentioned. Harry opened the buttons on his coat, revealing a black Ramones shirt he was wearing underneath. I smiled widely. He then asked my for my favorite song by them, and I in turn did the same, talking about indie bands all the way to the steps of my apartment building on Fifth Avenue.

"This was such a fun day, thank you so much." Harry said earnestly on the foot of my stairs.

"Same for me. Sorry I have to go, it would be awesome to hang out with you again." I replied, blushing a bit for being obvious I wanted to hang out with him. I was blushing very easily lately, and that bothered me.

"Definitely! Hey—here put your number in here so we can keep in touch." Harry said, pulling out his iPhone from his coat pocket. He handed it to me, and I entered my phone number. Then he gave me a quick hug and said goodbye.

"I'll text you soon, good night Amy!"

"Bye Harry, good night!"

With a great sigh, I put on Harry's black Ramones shirt, taking in the lingering sent that was imbedded in the cloth. Essence of Harry Styles. My hands went to the collar of the shirt, pulling out my heart shaped necklace from inside the shirt. Then I rubbed my eyes and headed down to breakfast.

Author's note: It goes by slow at first, but trust me it gets interesting. Thank you for reading so far and please leave a review!