LANA MASON
For someone who could barely open her left eye a couple of weeks ago, I'm amazed by how invisible the damage is now with just a few dabs of concealer under my eye and over my cheekbone. The purple hue has almost faded completely and the swelling has been gone for days.
Harry has also been such a sweetheart ever since he came to see me and we had our conversation about my anxieties and his lack of motivation at work. He's been home every single night in the last two weeks to put Jane to bed when it's his turn with her, and even when it's not, he still makes it home to go to bed with me. I know he's still not happy at work, but he seems to be happy to come home and see me and his daughter.
And tonight, believe it or not, we're having our first official public date. He's helping his team prep for dinner service and he'll be there until 7:00, after which he'll come home and change so we can go to dinner together. I genuinely can't remember the last time I was this excited for anything, except for maybe when we first started secretly seeing each other and I could feel us getting closer after every interaction. Those same butterflies are still tumbling around in my stomach even now.
In a little black dress with sheer sleeves, all of which was made by me, I gather my hair up into a strategically messy ponytail and pull the front pieces out to frame my face a bit. My makeup is done to natural perfection with just a dusting of brown shadow on my lids, warm pink cheeks, and glossy lips to match the latter. I feel so pretty and I can't wait for Harry to tell me the same thing.
I'm already stepping into my shoes and packing my clutch with only lip gloss, my ID, and my debit card when Harry texts me to let me know he's walking back from the restaurant now. All ready to go, I sit on the couch and scroll on my phone until he arrives, and my heart plummets in a good way when I hear his key turn in the door.
His smile instantly appears as he sees me sitting here, and I feel weirdly so nervous and giddy simultaneously. I guess maybe that's because we've known each other for over a year and we've never gone out to dinner together like this. We've gone to a bar and ordered food, but never an actual restaurant.
"Hey, you," he lets the door close behind him and walks over to the couch, bending at the hip to kiss me where I'm sitting. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you," I purse my lips for another kiss, which he's happy to give me before he excuses himself to quickly change.
A few minutes later, he comes out of his bedroom in a pair of black trousers and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms. A few of the buttons are undone to show the tattoos on his chest and all I can think about is taking the top off of him later. I hope we get to that point.
"You look so hot," I shamelessly say, earning a blushing laugh from him.
"Yeah, you're not so bad yourself," he holds his hand out to help me up from the couch with my clutch. "Let me see you."
I feel myself getting lost inside his eyes, like two pieces of green sea glass, as he holds my face to inspect my bruise and the healing scar from my stitches. The second his gaze meets mine, I tilt my head to kiss him and hope he feels how much I love him as I hold the back of his neck and breathe him in. After the shit our relationship has suffered over the last two months, it's amazing that we're standing here like this, but I'm grateful.
"You ready?" He mumbles over my lips. "We don't wanna be late for our reservation."
"Mhm," I kiss him once more before he leads the way out of the apartment.
I must have asked him a dozen times where we were going, but he kept playing the "surprise" card on me. It's not like I don't trust him to pick a fantastic place, what with how picky he is about everything, but I'm just so curious because he's picky about everything. Whatever restaurant is good enough for Harry Styles has to be the most pristine establishment I've ever stepped foot into.
