Twenty-Two (Harry Styles)

Chapter 23

.... Ember's POV....

Two days had passed since H and I had our first proper kiss and I still couldn't get it out of my mind. In a matter of hours I had gone from complete and utter sadness to feeling euphoria with H and then back to sadness again.

When we had gone to the mess hall it was obviously very late so no one else was there but H had made us both sandwiches and then he had walked me back to my hut. As much as I wanted to stay with H and let him comfort me, Willow needed me. When I got home she was cuddled up in bed with Avery, for which I was glad she wasn't alone and very thankful to my best friend for looking after my sister, so I crawled in beside them and we all cried together. 

But now two days later I hadn't even seen much of H, he always seemed to be busy. I was starting to think he might have been avoiding me, he didn't eat breakfast with our group this morning so I was hoping he would be there for dinner tonight so I could talk to him, admittedly I was actually missing him. I cleaned up our hut, did some laundry and then Avery and I had gone for a walk around the compound, it was nice to stop and chat with people passing by and to see the younger kids playing.

"I'm gonna take my book and read in the hammock outside Cruze's room if you need me" I said to Avery when we'd got back from our walk, she acknowledged me with a nod of her head and went back to painting her toenails.

It was a nice day outside but there was a slight winter chill in the air as the days were getting shorter coming into winter so I wanted to savour all the sunshine I could. As I walked over to the secure boys side of the compound I ran into Ash, well he literally ran into me.

"Shit sorry Em" He apologised after he bumped into me. His hair was all floppy and wet with sweat and he didn't have a shirt on, just loose basketball shorts.

"It's fine" I waved him off. I picked up my book I had dropped and brushed the dirt off it.

"Where ya heading?" He asked.

"The hammock to read" I replied holding up the book.

"Ah, nice, have fun" He said taking off running again. 

I rounded the corner and entered the code on the gate that gave me access to the boys area and I made my way over to the hammock that hung outside Cruze's hut. As I approached I could see that there was already someone in it, damn. I must have accidentally sighed out loud because the figure started to move, shit. 

"Oh hiya there love" Jax said popping his head up. Oh thank god it was only Jax. 

"Hi Jax"

"You wanna join?" He asked.

"Yeah I was gonna come read but I can find somewhere else" I shrugged.

"Nonsense, come here" He gestured for me to get in beside him and I obliged.

"This is giving slight deja vu" I pointed out and we both laughed. 

"I have a joint if you want some" He pulled out a rolled smoke from the pocket in his jeans. It was a little tempting because of how much fun I had last time but I didn't want it to be a regular thing and I wasn't too sure about doing it without H.

"Not right now, I'm okay, but thanks" I replied and he nodded.

"How have you been anyway?, haven't really see too much of you or H to be honest, since you both just skipped dinner the other night" 

"Yeah, umm... sorry about that" I said rubbing my neck.

"Why are you sorry? What happened" He asked curious.

"Well something kinda happened with H and I and now I think he's avoiding me" Yeah of course something kinda happened, something major happened, it wasn't just a quick kiss, it felt like way more than that so of course he was avoiding me, he probably didn't like it and felt bad.