cardigan [h.s.]

Chapter 33

Harry

I wake up alone.

My hand flops to the other side of the bed and expecting to feel the warm body of my girlfriend, but instead it finds only the empty spot where she was laying. The space still warm from her body.

I sit up in her bed, squinting my eyes from the rare shine of the sun creeping in through the drawn open curtains. The sun being out for once on this December morning, and I can't help but wonder if it maybe means something. Like everything is going to be okay.

I push the comforter off my legs and swing them over to land on the carpet of Diana's bedroom floor. And I finally pick up on the scent of bacon and eggs floating up the stairs and into her room. My stomach growls from the delicious aroma and it's what pushes my feet to get my ass up and walk downstairs.

I find Diana in the kitchen, laughing. A beautiful sound escaping past her lips and floating along the backs of the sweet pancake aroma. The sound hitting my ears and making my chest grow all warm and gooey on the inside.

And then I see her face while she's laughing, her hair wild and untamed and she tilts her head back. Her nose scrunching up in the cutest way. My heart beats wildly at the sight.

She's mine. That's my girl.

"Hey." Her sweet voice says and she smiles at me. I'm too entranced by her to even notice the purpling mark on her cheek. She speaks through her dying laugh. "Do you like blueberries or chocolate chips on your pancakes?"

I walk more into the kitchen and I see who she was laughing with, even though I think I already knew the answer. Ivy stands on the end of the counter, her own matching smile on her face. And I can only hope that the two finally managed to patch things up.

I take a seat at one of the stools on the other side of the counter and prop my elbows up. "How about strawberries, you got those?"

"We sure do," Ivy is one the to reply, and she walks to the fridge to pull out a package of strawberries. She quickly washes them and cuts them up for me. Ivy being distracted by cutting up strawberries is the perfect time for me to ask Diana.

"Did you guys fix things?"

She looks up from the pan after flipping a pancake, and her head swivels to quickly look at Ivy and then back at me. She shrugs, "I think we're getting there."

The conversation ends there, as Ivy comes back with cut up strawberries and Diana starts plating pancakes for all of us. And we all dig in pretty quickly.

The atmosphere during our breakfast is nice. We aren't even talking really all that much. Only sounds of praise for the pancakes Diana made. But it's nice and I've never really realized how different the breakfasts at my house fair to over here. Usually my dad sucks the energy right out of the room.

Here, it's lively and warm.

"What are you two up today?" Ivy asks when we all clear our plates and we're all just now sitting around the kitchen counter. She looks between Diana and I.

"I should probably go home. I have a long talk ahead with my family," I say.

A lump forms in my throat at the thought of having to go home. I don't want to leave the warmth of this kitchen, but I have to. I have to get back the messy disaster that is my family. And it's all my fault it's falling apart.

"Let me drive you back to your car." Diana gets up from her stool at the kitchen counter.

I wave her off, shaking my head. I stride over to her and press a quick kiss to her forehead, being mindful of her aunt being in the same room. "I'll just walk home. It's fine."