The Strand // h.s

eleven

"Sleep well?" Harry asked me. By the likes of how I woke up, I would say no.

"No."

He glanced up at me, but quickly diverted his attention to his newspaper. I don't blame him, I probably look as horrid as I feel.

"I only remember you picking me up. What happened?" I knew I would feel a pain down there if we had done something sexual, so I wasn't going to embarrass myself by asking.
Even though he tried to hide it with a flick of the newspaper, I had seen his body tense.

"Oh no, how bad is it?" I put my face in my hands after sitting cross-legged on the settee next to him.

He cleared his throat. "So, you remember almost getting raped?" His voice was anything but soft.

I shuddered, "Yes." He folded the newspaper and turned toward me.
I waited patiently for him to talk but nothing came out of those dark pink lips. Oh god, I must still be high.

"Why aren't you telling me?" I asked quietly, gazing at his tussled curls. He must've been really stressed to have run his fingers through them enough to make them stick that way.

"I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out how a girl can almost be raped and still try to seduce someone." He said through clinched teeth, "Only drugs can do that to the mind, Elliana, make an innocent girl-as yourself-try to give me a lap dance right after being molested."

My face paled. Oh god, what have I done? "I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't, Elliana!" I flinched at his tone and looked down at my hands. "You were on drugs for f.uck sakes." He glared at me.

"He put it in my drink without me knowing." My voice is soft, trying to calm him. I feel like I've already explained this.

He groaned and put his face in his hands, rubbing them up and down, making his bottom eyelids pull down. Despite the situation, I giggled at the sight. My hand covered my mouth quickly, hoping Harry wouldn't get any angrier.

He looked at me with his hands in the same place, his eyelids still pulled down, making me chuckle again with my hand covering my mouth.
A smile finally graced his lips and he sighed after pulling his hands away.

"I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated." He looked away from me.

"I swear, I'm never doing that again. That's the first time I've ever drank and it didn't really give me the best first impression." He chuckled and shook his head, as if enjoying a personal joke.

"That's not why I'm-never mind." He shook his head again and smirked at me.

I narrowed my eyes and nodded, letting it go. "Well, this was a great morning greeting." I laughed lightly while tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear, "I probably look a massive mess."

"No, you just have a little smudge of makeup right-" Harry poked my cheek, "-there." I hastily wiped at the spot while he chuckled. An awkward silence lingered in the air for a second before Harry spoke again. "I took the liberty of contacting your father last night. I told him you were at a friends."

"He didn't question you knowing that?" I pondered, genuinely curious. Harry shook his head, leaving it at that. My parents had been acting oddly okay with me being with Harry. My dad even more so, and that was extremely weird.
It was like they knew each other or something.

"I guess I should go home now." I said quietly, secretly wanting to stay. It was weird; I found myself wanting to be around Harry and fantasizing about him more and more. I don't know what was wrong with me, but obviously there was something.

"If you must," He followed me to the door. I just wanted to shower, change, and sleep in the comfort of my own home. Harry opened his large front door for me. As I began to walk out, his voice stopped me. "Would you, uh, maybe want to accompany me somewhere tonight?"

A blush spread across my cheeks and I wasn't quite sure as to why. Harry was asking me on a date. This wasn't really expected on him, his bad boy persona totally threw me off.

"Sure, I guess." I gave an easy affirmative. I didn't want to seem too eager.

"Great, we'll leave around seven." I exited his house to hide the enthusiasm I knew was soon to show on my face. Once I got a few feet away, Harry stopped me once again. "Oh, and, Ellie?"

I turned around to see what he wanted. "Dress nice." He smirked and closed the door before I could say anything.