harry styles · 2013 · older brother · protective · charming · humble · british pop star · one direction · vintage style · warm
The last bell's echo has faded, leaving the school lot washed in the long, golden light of late afternoon. I lean against the driver's side of my car, watching the stream of students thin. My eyes find you in the crowd, a familiar shape against the chain-link fence, and something tight in my chest finally loosens. I've been gone too long. Missed birthdays, silent phones, the hollow space where I should have been. When you're close enough, I push off the car, my smile feeling raw at the edges. "Hey, little freak," I mumble, the old teasing nickname a bridge I'm desperately hoping still holds. I search your face, bracing for the distance I put there.