#im getting her a special harness so it works better for her since shes missing a leg

[captnbarnesrogers]

9,445 Miles From You - honesty is the best policy

Pairing/Characters: Bartender!Harry Styles x Waitress!Reader Warnings: virgin talk, catching feelings, a bit angsty Summary: Harry takes you out to get some food after work and you both get into discussing things Word Count: 2.1k  A/N: Just wanna say that this story will get fictional later, everything else thus far is non-fictional lmao my dumbass really did that

As the days passed by, work seemed to get a bit easier but of course, you still had anxious thoughts filling your head. What if you screwed something up? What if you get fired? What if you’re not good enough? You couldn’t help it. It came flowing in like a running river.  

You sat on the staff room couch, mindlessly chewing on whatever food you’d retrieved from the kitchen. You hadn’t noticed Joe’s presence in the room until he tapped you on the shoulder.  

“Deep thoughts?” He asked. You nodded, “About?”  

“Um, I don’t know, I wouldn’t want to bother you with my bullshit mind.”  

“Please,” he shoved you playfully with a smile, “bother away.” Joe was welcoming from the first moment you met him. You couldn’t help but develop a little crush. Like Harry, he always felt the need to check up on you. The only difference was, you couldn’t see Harry the way you saw Joe. Joe had this sweet essence to him, like you could make the worst mistake in the world and he’d still see you as this precious angel who could do no wrong. It had only been two weeks since you started and in that short time, you felt a familiar bubbly feeling in your stomach every time you saw him.  

“Well, I just- I feel like I’m gonna screw up so much, I like it- I mean, I love it here, you guys make me feel loved and I love my job.”  

“Y/N, you’re new to all of this, right?” You nodded, “This is your first job, you can’t be perfect straight away, you have to make mistakes or else you won’t get better.” 

“I guess, it just stems from coming from a family who expects everything from you but your everything isn’t good enough.” He rubs your back comfortingly, something that, so far, only Harry had done. For a moment you forget that it was Joe comforting you. 

“Look at this way, here you can make mistakes, you can fuck up and not be thought as if you’re not good enough, in this place, you can improve yourself, use it and abuse it.” He chuckles, “Seriously, if you need to talk whenever, pull me aside and we can hide out somewhere and talk, I’d rather you waste your time talking to me than be stressed and panicked while you work.” He stands up.  

“Thanks, Joe.” 

“Anytime.” Harry walks in with a goofy smile which made you laugh. Joe nods at Harry as he exits the room. You felt, from what you’d observed, Harry wasn’t exactly fond of Joe. Every flirtatious comment Joe would make, Harry would butt in with a snarky comment which would make you laugh but feel guilty about later. Within the last two days, you had scolded Harry about it five times. Five times out of the two days.  

“Wha’ was tha’ about? Yeh new lover?” Harry jokes.  

“Shut up, I just needed a bit of reassurance, I guess.”  

“About wha’?” Harry takes a bite out of his food and turns his body to face you.  

“Work.” Harry hums in response, “So, what’s going on with you? You’ve looked a little out of yourself lately and you’ve been snapping at the customers.” It was true. Harry’s appearance was not as clean as you were used to. His eyes were darkened, more than usual due to working late hours at the bar, they were sunken in and his bright smile had not made an appearance in a while. His hair was dishevelled and his glasses were streaked which he had yet to clean, 

“So, what’s the go, Styles?” He sighs and looks at you, setting his food down.  “I guess I could use some female wisdom ‘bout this.” You nodded, “M’kinda goin’ through a tough break up.” Your eyes widened, you didn’t even know he had a girlfriend. 

“Break up?”  

“With Camille.” Camille? She even had a pretty name.  

“Oh.” You pouted but fixed yourself up before he could notice, “Well, what’s happened?”  

“She couldn’t take th’ fact tha’ I’d be gone fo’ two years, I jus’ wanna live m’life, y’know? But I do love ‘er, I do, I jus’ wan’ ‘er t’wait fo’ me.”  

“Then she’s not worth it, Harry, let her leave, don’t drag this out, don’t hurt yourself.” 

“I love ‘er, Y/N.” He leans forward and rests his forehead on your shoulder.  

“Let her go, Har, if she loves you, she wouldn’t have minded the distance.” He pulls away and looks at you with a soft smile upon his lips.  

“This is wha’ makes me no’ believe tha’ yeh’ve nev’a had a boyfriend, yeh too smart, too wise.” You laughed and shove him playfully just as Joe did with you.  

“I’m just waiting for the right guy.”  

“He’s prob’ly righ’ in fron’ of yeh and he’s a lucky guy, m’tellin’ yeh.”  

“You must be a lucky guy then.” You take a sip from your water bottle, smiling. 

“Wha’?” 

“You know, coz you’re right in front of me?” He laughs, his smile widening, the same smile you’d been missing for the past week.  

“Yeh too fuckin’ cheeky fo’ yeh own good, lovie.” He pinches your cheek, making you roll your eyes, “Now, don’ go rollin’ those eyes a’ me, do yeh wanna get some food aft’a work?”  

“With you?” He nodded, “I’d be honoured!” You got up and held your hand out for him to take in which he did. He laughed as you pretended to be wearing a dress, “I’d gladly take your hand in marriage!” You said dramatically in a 50s southern accent, your other hand resting on your head. He twirled you around and you laughed, almost forgetting you were in a messy staff room.  

“Yeh so silly.” You nodded, and he checked his watch, “Time fo’ us t’get back t’work! Yeh an’ me, Burger King, three-thirty a.m.”

Harry waited for you after work. He doesn’t really like the idea of you walking around the streets of the city by yourself. He’d rather wait a couple of hours for you to finish than for you to end up in a ditch somewhere. Of course, not only was the benefit seeing you safe but also, he could get a couple of drinks in. The managers allowed a maximum of three drinks but only limited them to beer and cider which was enough for Harry to feel loose but not over intoxicated - still remembering that he wanted to hear you talk and he wanted to have a nice conversation with you over some greasy food.  

You came down, wrapping your scarf around your neck and zipping up your jacket. You smiled at him and waved, exhaustion almost taking over your body as you walked over to the booth.  

“Yeh ready t’go?” He asked. You nodded, and he stood up and hung his arm around your shoulders. You both walked on the wet pavement of the city in silence. It was only a seven-minute walk to the 24-hour fast food restaurants but of course, Harry being the chatty lad that he was, decided to make small talk, “How was yeh shift?” 

“Exhausting, I worked eleven and a half hours tonight, Har, I’m so tired!” 

“M’sure yeh are, we’ll grab summat t’eat and I’ll wait fo’ th’train with yeh, okay?”  

“Okay.” You both sat down on the red leather seats of the Burger King restaurant after ordering and grabbing your food. Drunk people surrounded you and the floors were covered in mud and dirty serviettes. You let out a huff.  

“Wha’s with all the huffin’ an’ puffin’, lovie?”  

“Well,” You awkwardly began, popping a nugget into your mouth, “I- I think I like Joe.”  

“I knew it!” He took a bite out of his burger, “Yeh always givin’ ‘im eyes.” 

“I don’t give anyone eyes, Styles.”  

“Bu’ yeh do, they’re like lovey dovey eyes, I see it all th’time! ‘Specially aroun’ Joe.”  

“Okay, maybe I do.” You couldn’t help but notice the way his body shifted. He moved over slightly, his body now not facing you as straight as it was before, and he looked down at his food, a short and dishonest smile made an appearance. He looked back up at you, “I-is there something wrong with that?”  

“Yeh jus’ no’ subtle ‘bout it, everyone kno’s.” Your cheeks flushed pink and you were so embarrassed it was like your throat closed up. You took a sip of your drink to drown down the food that you had popped into your mouth.  

“Am I really that bad?” He nodded. 

“M’sure he kno’s.” God, he was being brutally honest. You found a change of tone in his voice unlike his usual sweet one. He sighed and smiled at you, probably noticing his actions, “Why don’ yeh test th’ waters, lovie?” You knew what he meant. See how things go with Joe but from conversations you’ve had with Joe, you knew he was not a relationship kind of guy. 

“I can’t.” 

“Whaddyeh mean? ‘Ave some fun with it.” You placed your drink down after taking a sip. You looked at him with wondering eyes as if you were saying, you don’t know? 

“Harry… I’m a… virgin.” You said quietly, shyly watching people walk past you, “I’m kind of saving myself a-and Joe’s not exactly the relationship type.” 

“I ge’ yeh, lovie, nothin’ t’be embarrassed about.” He smiled at you, “I lost mine quite young, I don’ regret it but I kinda wish I knew wha’ it felt like t’do it with someone I loved.” 

“That’s my thing, I wanna do it with someone I love.” 

“Tha’s good, Y/N, keep yeh innocence fo’ as long as yeh can.” He smiled sweetly at you and let out a breath. Almost like he was relieved, “Yeh’ve musta had a lo’ of guys chasin’ after yeh.” 

“You would be surprised how short the line is.” 

“M’sure they’re there an’ yeh jus’ no’ lookin’ prop’ly coz yeh too busy goin’ after th’ wrong guy.” He sneakily took one of your nuggets, laughing.  

“Har, I’ve never even kissed a guy!”  

“Yeh jokin’!?” He exclaims after almost spitting out his drink. You shook your head.  

“I honestly wish I was, but no one wants me.”  

“He’s out there, lovie, jus’ be patient.” He takes your hand in his, “Yeh don’ have t’rush int’everythin’, like I said, he’s prob’ly right in front of yeh and yeh jus’ too caught up on th’wrong guy bu’ yeh kno… yeh can’t help bu’fall fo’ th’wrong guy.” 

“I hate when you’re right.” 

“An’ I hate when yeh get hurt so if Joe’s no’ int’relationships, don’ do it.” You nodded, “Yeh’ve got a train t’catch in ten minutes, le’s go, lovie.” You sat up on your bed all night, thinking about what Harry had said but your eyes decided to shut when the clock struck eight-thirty a.m. When you woke up, just in time, the text tone of your phone went off.  

From: Harry Mornin’, lovie, wanna grab smth to eat?  

You unlocked your phone and began to type back.  

To: Harry Could use some coffee right about now :/ 

From: Harry Amazing! Get up and get out of bed, we’re having brunch 

You couldn’t help but smile and giggle at his texts. Mornings weren’t really this happy before he came along.  

To: Harry Be there in 45 minutes  

From: Harry I’ll be waiting, lovie! 

You found that Harry preferred to be the one with the last say. He never left you on read. His texts were always to be the last text of the conversation but he did, however, more often than not, take the longest to reply. Suddenly, your text tone went off again when you picked up your jeans off of the floor.  

From: Joe Busy? 

Unusual. Joe never really talked to you outside of work unless the conversation was about work.  

To: Joe Why? 

From: Joe Wanna come to my basketball game? Would love to have someone to cheer me on. 

Your heart skipped a beat. What did this mean? Was this him asking you out? You didn’t know. 

To: Joe Okay, sure!

You exited out of the conversation, clicking on Harry’s text message from before. 

To: Harry Sorry, babycakes, something came up, rain-check? 

Harry waited by the steps of the train station, somewhere he usually dropped you off. He held your favourite drink in his hand. He tapped his foot excitedly on the steps. His phone goes off and his heart drops. 

That was the first time Harry had ever left you on read. 

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