ok SO before i start the chapter i want to say that i am NOT promoting hopping into bed with boys. with my religion i believe that is something that happens after marriage, even if two people are just going to sleep or something idk. some of the actions and choices my characters make are not my personal choices and i wanted to let you all know of that beforehand.

  also comment a lot if u want a dedication lolz

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mia

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  "C'mere, Cat." Harry said to the small animal. She meowed and brushed herself up against him before pouncing on his foot. "Ow!"

  "Maybe she doesn't like you." I smirked, rolling over on the floor of the RV so that I was laying on my stomach. We had spent the past few hours playing around with her and I had to admit, even though I was most definitely a dog person, this cat was cute.

  "She loves me." Harry frowned. "I'm just glad they de-clawed her front paws or my foot would've been all scratched up by now." 

  "When do you think she'll get worn out from all this playing? It's almost two a.m and she's still wide awake." I yawned.

  "Cats sleep whenever they feel like it, day or night. I'm sure if we went to bed she would settle down more. Isn't that right, Cat? You want to go night night?" The small cat latched herself onto his finger and he yelped.

  "I like her." I mused.

  We both got up and began to get ready for bed with Cat trailing behind us as we maneuvered from the bathroom to the bedroom and all around the RV. A few times she had started to cuddle up into her small bed, which made me hopeful that once we turned it in she would try and sleep as well. 

  "Hey, Mia?" Harry called out from the bathroom. I heard him spit into the sink and realized that he was probably in the middle of brushing his teeth. "Who's getting the couch tonight?"

  I paused and pursed my lips. The whole sleeping situation was getting pretty tiring, and day by day as we got closer, it made me just want to give in and share the bed with Harry. It made perfect sense- none of us liked the couch and it was silly for one person to have a king sized bed all to themselves. But still, in the back of my mind I felt the need to keep my guard up. The thing about Harry, however, was that he was extremely good at taking it down.

  "Why don't we both take the bed tonight?" I suggested. The air was thick and he didn't respond. "We both slept in it last night. I was drunk, but it was still the same."

  Silence. For a few moments I thought he wasn't going to say something and I began to panic. Maybe he had changed his mind and wanted to have his space? Maybe he was just using mouth wash or something? My brain racked all the different possibilities of what could be going on in that head of his. 

  "Sure." He finally said, erupting from the bathroom. "I just... uh, I don't own any pajamas. I sleep in boxers."

  "Oh." I muttered. 

  "Oh." He echoed. 

  "Well, that's basically shorts anyways, I guess." I feebly said. "I'll stay on my side and you can stay on your side. No big deal."

  "Yep, no big deal." He said quickly. Everything felt a bit awkward now, and I guess I should have seen this coming. Neither of us really said much as we began turning lights off and Harry made sure all the windows and doors were bolted.

  I grabbed Cat's bed and sat it next to Harry's side of the bed. She bounded over to it and literally latched her mouth onto my arm. I screamed and shook her off quickly and onto the bed, where she accepted defeat in trying to eat my arm and curled into a tiny ball.

  "Is everything okay?" Harry asked.

  "She got my arm, but it's fine." I said quickly. I slid under the covers on my side and plugged my phone into the charger by my wall. My body was literally so close to the edge of the bed that I was afraid of falling off, but I didn't want to go anywhere near the middle of the bed. 

  "I don't bite, Mia." Harry chuckled. He took off his shirt and I took the time to examine his chest before he started to take off his pants. He crawled into bed next to me, as if it was completely natural, while I was as tense as ever.

  "I know." I scowled. "This just feels... weird." 

  "If you want, I can always take the couch." He offered.

  "No!" I said almost too quickly. "I mean, you don't have to. I'm just envisioning what my mother would say if she knew I was in bed with a man. She would throw such a fit." 

  "Well, what about Matthew?" Harry asked, rolling over on his side so he was looking directly at him. "I mean, didn't you guys ever...you know?" 

  "No." I answered honestly. I wished that I could explain to him about how it was all fake, but I knew that I couldn't do that. He probably thought that I was a prude now, but it was better than him finding out my little secret. "We slept in the same bed before, but we were engaged then. It was different."

  That part was true. My parents had arranged a getaway for just him and I in the beginning of our engagement to attempt to get us to become closer. They specifically only gave us one bed (which was horrifying) and I can remember on the first night Matthew tried to sleep with me and I declined immediately. I wasn't like that, not then, not ever.

  "I see." Harry sighed. "Well, technically we already are parents." He laughed.

  "True." I giggled. "But our kid is a cat that we randomly adopted on a spur of the moment decision, I didn't actually pop a kid out of my-"

  "I know, I know!" Harry hoarsely laughed. He hit me with a pillow and I began to laugh as well. There was a small meow from Harry's side of the bed and he rolled over to go see what Cat wanted. I was beginning to loosen up to the idea of sharing this bed with him.

  A few moments later, Harry had turned back around. This time he had company with him as well, Cat. She was cradled in his arms and he gently laid her down in the bed. Cat wasted no time in curling up in a ball and closing her eyes.

  "What is she doing up here?" I asked. 

  "She was lonely." Harry explained. "And she wanted to sleep up here with us."

  "She told you all of this?"

  "Yes." Harry said firmly. "She's part of the family now."

  "Fine, fine." I mumbled. I didn't mind having Cat in bed with us. It made everything a bit less awkward because she was in the space between us. If I ever accidentally rolled onto Harry's side in the middle of the night, Cat would be like the barrier to stop me and I was perfectly fine with that.

  "I sent a picture of Cat to my mum." Harry said sleepily. "You were in it, too."

  "What?" I asked in a panic. "When?"

  "When we were playing with her. Don't worry, it's a good picture. My mum says that she likes Cat and to tell you hello. I had to explain to her that you were on this road trip with me. She thinks it's a good idea that I have company." 

  "Good." I sighed. "I was afraid she'd say something bad about me."

  "No, she's not like that." Harry chuckled. "She also sent me a picture of Dusty."

  "I'll have to meet that cat sometime." I said, closing my eyes.

  "Hey, Mia?" Harry said. "I know where we can go to next." 

  "Where?" I asked.

  "Well, I want to definitely go to Disney World. But I also want to go to Seaworld. We can go there and protest about animal cruelty. They're both in Orlando, so I thought that we could start heading down in that direction." 

  "I love Disney." I smiled sleepily. "But why are we protesting?"

  "To save the dolphins, of course!" Harry said it like it was obvious. "And Shamu. I was thinking that we could get poster board and take signs into Shamu's exhibit."

  "And then ride away on Shamu into the sunset?" I teased.

  "If she's feeling up to it, yeah." Harry taunted back. My eyelids were already growing heavy after our long night. I couldn't believe that I had stayed up until two in the morning. I was the type of person who needed to go to bed at a decent time to get their sleep or I would be grouchy in the morning.

  "Mm, okay." I slurred.

  "You're falling asleep, aren't you?" Harry asked.

  "Mhm." I mumbled. That's all I remembered before sleep overtook me. 

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  The next morning, I woke up to Harry laying next to me with Cat lying on his bare chest. He was scrolling through his phone and didn't notice me waking up until I let out a loud groan while I stretched.

  "Morning." He said. His voice was always incredibly deep in the morning, something that I still wasn't used to. "Sleep well?"

  "Yeah." I mumbled. "How's Cat doing?"

  "She's good. Likes to cuddle a lot, but I don't mind." He chuckled. Cat stretched on his bare chest before pawing her way through she sheets to rub herself against me. I smiled and scratched her behind her ears, remembering what Harry had told me about where they like to be pet.

  "How long have you been awake?" I asked, resting my head in my hands.

  "Not too long, maybe twenty minutes." Harry shrugged. "I've just been on my phone the whole time. Liam says hello, by the way. He's one of my bandmates." I nodded as I pondered what he had told this guy about me.

  "I think today can be a driving day." Harry said as he stretched. "We can start heading South and stop at some places on our way to Florida. I thought it would be nice to spend a day at the National Mall."

  "I've been there before, but just for my dad's business trip." I said. "I was ten years old, and I can remember begging my mom to take us to the Air and Space museum and she wouldn't let me." I laughed at the memory. 

  "Well, I can take you to Air and Space, then." Harry smiled. "We can fulfill your childhood dream."

  "At the time, I wanted to be an astronaut." I reminisced. "I would watch all of these NASA documentaries and for Halloween I dressed up as an astronaut, too. My parents hated it. That's probably why we didn't go."

  "Why would they hate it if it was something you loved?"

  "That's just how they are." I sighed. "All my life, my parents had pretty much mapped out everything for me. They wanted me to get married to someone they liked, settle down in a big house, and have kids. Whenever I talked about college with them they would kind of just shut me out."

  "What parent doesn't want their kids to go to college?" Harry laughed dryly. 

  "Mine." I admitted. "They have the money to give me to sustain me for a lifetime and they didn't want me to raise a pretty little finger, I guess. I'm their only child and they wanted me to grow up and live my life according to their plans."

  "Guess that didn't really work out."

  "Nope." I grinned. "And I have never felt so free in my life. This road trip is like a breath of fresh air."

  "Until our RV starts smelling like cat piss." Harry teased. 

  I glared at him and tossed the small kitten onto his chest. She paused for a few seconds before diving under the covers, causing the both of us to laugh at her. "We can hang out for a bit and then start driving around noon. Maybe we can go to a club tonight?"

  "Eh, maybe." I shrugged as I sat up. "Dear Lord, my back hurts."

  "Probably from the haunted house ride." Harry noted. "It even jerked me around a bit, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why your back was hurting."

  "Probably. I should take some Ibuprofen or something to ease the pain." I rubbed at the base of my neck, attempting to get a knot out, but to no avail. I was always terrible at back massages and giving myself one was practically impossible.

  "If you want, uh, I can give you a back massage." Harry smirked. "I'm pretty good with my hands."

  "Um." I bit my lip. "Sure, I guess."

  Harry snatched Cat from under the covers whilst I grabbed the television remote and played a rerun from some random prison show. He cracked his knuckles and pointed to a spot in front of him to sit at.

  "Uh, not to be weird..." I giggled. "But, like, can you put some pants on? I'm trying to make his as un-awkward as possible." Harry started to laugh as he glanced down and realized he wasn't wearing pants still. He got up and put on a pair of shorts before sitting back down.

  "Sorry, I have pants now." Harry grinned. "Now, to start off the massage, I have to stand on your back. Are you okay with this?"

  "What?" I asked, looking at him with bewildered eyes. "Are you serious?" 

  "No, I would probably break your back then." Harry chuckled. "C'mere, watch your prison show." 

  I scooted up in front of him as he began to rub my back. I had to admit, he wasn't bad. If it weren't for the fact that I had just woken up five minutes prior, this probably could have put me to sleep. The moment was incredibly soothing if you weren't counting the background noises of prison inmates shouting obscenities at the camera.

  "Those men are vile." Harry said in disapproval. "Why do you watch these shows?"

  "It's entertaining." I admitted. "Plus, if I ever got in jail I would know how to escape."

  "Should I be concerned, Ms. Rodent?"

  "Probably." I yawned. "Did you just say rodent?"

  "Maybe." Even though my back was turned to him, I could hear the smirk in his voice. I reached my arm back and tugged on one of his curls before he could swat my hand away.

  "I'll have you know that some rodents, such as guinea pigs and little hamsters, can be cute." I fought back.

  Cat hopped into my lap and curled herself into a ball. I pet her and she purred lightly, eyes shutting almost right away as I came up with a sudden epiphany. "Harry! I know where I want to go on our trip!"

  "Where?" Harry laughed.

  "Alcatraz island! It's in California and it's this huge prison island. I think it would be my dream to see it." I said. "I've seen probably twenty Alcatraz documentaries on Netflix, no lie."

  "I can look into it." Harry promised. "We'll definitely be going to California, so I don't see why not. I'm just not sure that I'm fond on the idea of going to a giant prison island."

  "If I agree to go whale and dolphin protesting with you at Seaworld, you can definitely tour a giant prison island with me. We can make it a deal." I said as he began working on my shoulders. "Oh my gosh, get my shoulders please."

  "I've got you." Harry chuckled. "I'm a great masseuse, right?"

  "Give me ten more back massages and I'll get back to you on that one." I grinned. "But seriously, if I agree to go whale protesting with you can you go to Alcatraz with me. That's our deal."

  "Should we swap spit now?" Harry said. "Wait, shit. I didn't mean that the way it came out. I meant that we would spit shake on it, not, shit." I laughed at him and turned around for a brief second to see him looking at me in half horror half embarrassment.

  "No, we're not going to spit shake. That's disgusting."

  "How about the alternative?" Harry joked.

  "Give me ten more back massages and I'll get back to you on that one." 

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a/n: so much drama in the fandom but HEY i've updated three times in one week holla at me plus this is almost 3000 words holla at me again

  -delilah