To be so lucky {H.S.} ✔️

Chapter 26

You can spend your whole life dreaming about a moment, wishing for it to happen with all your heart, you can plan the tiniest detail, making sure everything goes according to your own rules when it happens, and you'll still be bested by your most basic instincts.

I thought I would be able to act and talk calmly to Harry, I thought I would be able to keep my distance, to act like a grownup. I couldn't. As soon as the shock of seeing him dissipated, I was consumed by the most elemental instinct to take care of the broken man in front of me.

Jenna grabbed her shoes, before slowly tiptoeing her way upstairs, giving us the space we needed to talk. I thanked her, mentally, as I half-jogged to the door, throwing my arms around Harry's waist. There was an awkward moment, in which I could hear him sharply suck in his breath before his arms also circled my body.

As I relished in the feeling of his skin on mine, in the way my body still fitted so perfectly against his, in the familiar smell of his cologne, tiny details slowly started to bring me back to my senses. Harry was thinner, he smelled of booze and cigarettes, and he was trembling with cold from being in the rain for so long.

Gently, I stepped back from his arms, pulling him inside. Harry offered no resistance, allowing me to guide him to the room Jenna had so kindly allowed me to sleep in for the past month. I sat him on the bed and ran to fetch a towel, a first aid kit, and the largest pieces of clothing I owned. He was still sitting, his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him when I got back.

"Harry?"

Slowly, he turned to face me. I fought back the tears, at his hollow expression. His eyes were looking in my direction, but they weren't really focused. It was like his soul had left his body, and he was now just an empty shell of the man I once knew.

I spoke in the gentlest voice I could muster. "I need to clean that cut in your eyebrow. Will you let me do that?" I wasn't going to ask him what had happened, or how he had known I was in Denver. He would tell me if he wanted to tell me. It was not my place to ask, not anymore.

Harry stared at me for a moment, his expression completely blank, before he nodded. If I hadn't been so focused on him, I would have easily missed his gesture, as subtle as it was.

Steadying my hands, I approached him, starting to work on his cut. Now that the first moment of shock was gone, now that my head was clearer, it felt weird being so close to Harry. We were really only close physically speaking. Mentally, emotionally, we were as far as two people can be. There was an invisible wall between us, and it wouldn't be easy to tear down.

I was so focused on my nurse duty, and my own thoughts, I hadn't noticed the tears running down his face. Without thinking, I moved my hand to his cheek, to catch them, to stop the pain. Harry flinching at my touch felt like he'd slapped me in the face. Even if I knew I deserved it, it still hurt.

Clearing my throat, I turned away. "You should get out of those wet clothes. I brought you a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. They will probably be too short, but they're the largest I own, and it will be just until I manage to dry the clothes you're wearing right now. I have blankets too."

Again, there was no answer, but I could hear him fussing around behind me, so I figured he had taken my advice. Keeping my back to him, I stared at my own feet, trying to give him a little privacy to change. I'd seen him naked, but those were different times. Now, I had to show him the respect I knew he would have shown too.

A loud bumping sound made me turn my back on instinct. "Oh my god, Harry!"

In his drunken effort to take off his own clothes, Harry had fallen flat on the floor. My feet ran to him, automatically, my hands checking to see if he'd been hurt in any way.