pact (2021)

                                    

                                          


                          
a/n: hiiii! hope you're all doing okay :) just a little idea i had in my notes that kind of grew into this. follows on from the previous drabble, 'maybe'
                          
stay safe and comment/like if you want!
                          
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She did keep in touch., like she'd promised to.
                          
He'd half expected them to return to dead silence after she'd left his house that morning. That was always what happened with the two of them. Like, the pressure of speaking to each other was just too much to carry.
                          
Taylor sends a joke here, or a song recommendation there. Not much further than that; but it was more than before, and they could carry out a semblance of friendship. 
                          
So, that mid-morning, when Harry slowly blinked his eyes open and reached for his phone to check the time, he was only half surprised to find a text from Taylor. There was no context outside of the link she'd sent him; and he rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes as he clicked it and it redirected him to a recipe. He chuckled and exited out of the page, fixing to text her back.
                          
Text to: Taylor Swift
                          
> oh you think you're funny
                          
> who gassed you ??
                          
He laughed again and locked his phone, contemplating a shower. He'd been out the previous night, and just collapsed in his bed when he got home, leaving him feeling gross and sticky. Taylor had messaged him over two hours ago, and he didn't expect her response to buzz in his hand as he carried his phone into the bathroom with him.
                          
Text from: Taylor Swift
                          
>  What, the guy who makes spinach brownies isn't interested in zucchini cookies?
                          
He rolled his eyes and quickly shot back a "you just wouldn't get it" complete with a sad emoji, and cracked on with his morning routine, picking his toothbrush out of its holder and pressing play on a podcast to listen to while he got ready.
                          
It was almost half an hour later when he got the notification that she'd liked his message, and he assumed that was that. He and Taylor spoke, but it didn't happen particularly often or go on for very long. He was surprised to receive the follow up text of, "BTW, I saw you out yesterday! I didn't know you were in town."
                          
He didn't know she was either. And he really didn't know where she had seen him yesterday that he hadn't noticed being noticed. Sure, the bars that he'd been at most of the night with his friend was dark and loud, but he was sure he'd have realized she was there. When Taylor arrived anywhere, she floated into the room on a cloud, and eyes gravitated to her – she had an insane aura that caused everyone's eyes to snap immediately towards her and had people buzzing with excitement. He wouldn't have missed her. Harry had acknowledged that were some pretty girls out with him last night – but none of them were her.
                          
Taylor stared at her phone after she'd pressed send. She doesn't know why she sent that, really. He'd been stepping into the back seat of a waiting car when she happened to pass by in her own dark-tinted Mercedes. It was barely "seeing him" when it was only a glimpse. However unexpected.
                          
But she felt like she had to share the serendipity, and she knew Harry would understand. But when he didn't reply for almost an hour, she stopped jumping at every notification that came through, and got busy with some baking she had planned on doing. That was what she was planning on doing when she'd found the recipe that she'd sent to Harry that morning.
                          
Harry, freshly showered and fully dressed in his outfit of choice for the day – a bright, colourful jumper, jeans, and a pair of matching rainbow Nikes – finally opened up their conversation, after mulling over it for most of his morning.