Between the Lines

Chapter 8

Harry grunts in exhaustion, and clenches his eyelids tightly closed before slowly opening them. He doesn't make an attempt to get up, he just lays in bed for around five minutes, trying to adjust his eyes to the sunlight that streams through the room. The taste in his mouth is vile, and he can feel the blood pumping through his entire head, but he has no motivation to do anything.

He slowly lifts his head, in which he immediately discovers a very sore neck, but before he can internally complain Harry suddenly spots a note on his bedside table. He squints, and reaches to grab the notepad. 

Call if you need anything

-Sutton

At the bottom of the pad, she had scribbled her phone number. 

Memories of the previous night hits Harry like a ton of bricks, and he mutters a quiet "Shit" into his hand, which slowly moved down his face until resting upon his jaw. Sutton had taken care of him, he remembered her right by his side while he vomited into a bin on the street, how she made sure he got to his room before she left. Harry truly appreciated her efforts, and for some reason the idea that she had spent half the night taking care of him made Harry realize how good of a person she must be. 

He began searching for his own cell phone, and when he found it sitting on the counter in the bathroom, he ignored all the texts he had received since last night, and opened to a new message. Harry copied the number written on the notepad into his phone, and tapped the message bar. 

Thank you for last night. Sorry you had to see me like that. I really appreciate it & I owe you one. -Harry

He sighed as the message delivered, and he set his phone onto his bed, not bothering to check any of his new messages. He saw that his bottle of Advil was also on his bedside table, and he grabbed the container and swallowed three pills consecutively. 

Harry trudged down his stairs, and proceeds to start a kettle for some tea. The idea of a meal sounds repulsive to him at the moment. Once he makes his tea, and adds a little sugar, he sips on it in the kitchen until the mug is nearly empty. He finally returns upstairs and decides to check his phone messages. 

He responds to the ones he thought necessary, then grabs the remote and turns on the large T.V, falling in and out of sleep as the program continued. 

This was basically Harry's life, whenever there isn't a party or event going on, he sits around his house and mopes. Sometimes he will pull out his guitar, and maybe try and write, but for the most part he doesn't really do anything with his life anymore. He always contemplates what things would be like if he had made different decisions, and he always finds something new to regret. 

Harry's boredom was common, days like this are the days he hated going through. He often wondered about his old band mates, and what they were doing with their lives. Sometimes he even goes as far as wishing the band was still together, for the sole purpose of having his best friends back. From time to time Harry would find himself wondering how they were, if they had all married, maybe even had kids. He realizes that he could easily find this information on the internet, but Harry doesn't feel that he deserves to know what's going on in their lives. Whenever these thoughts cross Harry's mind, he almost laughs at the possibility of being friends again. For the most part they all hated him, and every time Harry caught himself thinking of his old band mates, he tried to reason with himself. They aren't thinking about me, why should I think about them?

Harry's current friends did enjoy his company, but lately he hasn't been brought up in conversation when it regarded any daytime plans. James knew Harry's lack of activity other than his occasional binge drinking was starting to get concerning, but if Harry's friends were being completely honest, sometimes he brought down their mood, and they were beginning to get to a point where they didn't know how to cheer him up anymore. So, they began cutting back on their contact with him, and even though they weren't exactly sure what to do, giving Harry more time alone was possibly the worst thing to do.