"And all of the steps that led me to you and all of the hell I had to walk through, but I wouldn't trade a day for the chance to say, my love, I'm in love with you"

The Words (Head or Heart)

walked to the door subsequent to hearing a sharp knock sounding off through my apartment. My breathing was coming in sharp pants that I dared to relax. I knew who would be waiting on the other side of the door. And I knew that the moment I opened that door, my mind would be whisked away at how gorgeous he would look.

Unable to wait any longer, I opened the door, greeting Harold with an uncontrollable smile.

He took a step forward, lightly pecking my lips before pulling back to grin at me. "Hey, love."

"Ready to Netflix and Chill?" I beamed at him suggestively in a playful manner.

Pushing the door close and locking it, he brought his hands to gently grip my face. His striking eyes saw through me and for whatever it was that they saw, a wider smile split his lips. "As long as it's with you."

When his lips came down on mine, more passionate and more seductive this time around, I had to fight to make sure my knees didn't give out underneath me.

"You wanna pick out the movie? I gotta take the popcorn out," I suggested, my mind elsewhere as I tried to calm myself after dreadfully pulling away.

He nodded, giving me one last smile before turning to head to my living room. I watched him disappear behind the wall the separated the kitchen from the living room before walking to the microwave to take out the popcorn. I poured it all out onto a large bowl and turned to the fridge.

"Do you want beer or something else?" I yelled at Harold, opening the fridge door and scanning what I had.

"Water," he answered, sounding distracted.

I was expecting him to choose beer, but he did drive here so I guess he was being rational. I decided to grab a beer for myself before grabbing him a cold water bottle.

With our drinks and popcorn in my hands, I turned the kitchen lights off and headed to the living room. I found Harold sitting in the middle of the large couch, going through Netflix. He seemed so into it, deciphering which movie looked best.

I took the seat to his left and put the contents in my hands down on the coffee table. "You should put Something Borrowed or The Martian on. They're both really good movies."

"Well, what's the point of watching the two movies if one of us has already seen it?" he asked, taking a sip from his water.

"There's no point," I shrugged, crossing my legs on the couch to sit more comfortably. "Besides, what matters is that they're both so good; it'll be like watching it for the first time for me."

He grinned. "Alright, but I've seen The Martian, it's pointless to watch it," he said, clicking on the first movie I mentioned before placing the remote on the coffee table and leaning back on the couch next to me.

We were separated by mere centimeters and his inciting smell had engulfed my thoughts. I scooted closer to him and felt him raise his arms to allow me to rest my head on his biceps. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, his fingers lightly caressing my naked arms.

I forced my breathing to settle down as the movie began to play, but there was a thought that I couldn't push away. It was a promise I'd made to Holly and I knew that if I didn't go through with it, she would be disappointed in me and that wasn't something I could ever allow myself to do.

So five minutes into the movie, before any of the characters or the plot had been introduced, I pulled away from his arm, grabbed the remote and paused the movie.

Immediately, Harold sat up with me and I turned to find him watching me with curious eyes. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, fidgeting with the remote as I tried to think of a rational way to word what I wanted to say. "There's nothing wrong, but there's something that I've been meaning to tell you and I can't keep it from you any longer."

His eyebrows furrowed and he leaned in closer to me, grabbing the remote from my hands. He put it back on the coffee table before grabbing both of my hands and staring deep into my eyes. "Whatever it is, I want you to tell me because you want to not because you have to, okay?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. "I am telling you this because I want to not because I have to." But that was sweet of you to say.

He smiled and squeezed my hands. Seconds later, his eyes seemed troubled, as if he was fighting with himself on something he couldn't come to a conclusion on. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but before I could, he spoke. "There's something I need to tell you, too, love."

I blinked. "What is it?"

He shook his head fast. "No, no, no. You mentioned yours first, you should go."

"I know," I said slowly, "but I want to hear yours first."

He sighed, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Okay, how about we 'rock paper scissors' it?"

I made a face at him. "We're not ten, Harry."

His smile widened. "There's a beauty to being ten and it's called innocence. We need to learn it, come on."

After a second, I sighed in defeat. "Fine, on three."

He chuckled. "Alright, go."

We pulled our hands away and went for it. He pulled scissors and I pulled rock.

Hell yeah, I won!

"Defeated at last, Mr. Bryon," I smiled smugly, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched him shake his head at me.

"Stop gloating," he spit playfully, taking a large sip from his water, "I guess I have to tell you now, huh?"

I nodded. "Those were the terms and conditions of our agreement, Mr. Bryon."

He laughed. "Alright, well, what I'm about to say may freak you out a little, so please, just bear with me. And if you feel uncomfortable for even a millisecond, I want you to tell me immediately, okay?"

"You're not a vampire, are you?" I joked with a serious face.

He shook his head as his smile grew. "Okay, no, but I'm being serious, Elle."

I immediately knew what he was asking me to do and I pushed the playfulness aside and gave him my full attention. "I'm sorry, go ahead."

He took in a large breath and grabbed both of my hands tightly like he'd done so earlier. "I love you, Adele Mason-no actually, screw that-I'm in love with you."