Ardent ; h.s.

029

Robin

Considering Harry is playing at a smaller venue, apparently a secret show is what he referred to it as, the stage is left open and unguarded.

I guess you can consider that mine and Harry's first mistake, we had not taken into account the amount of people that would be outside by the time we arrived. A line extended outside the venue, fans going through a process of security. Fortunately, Jeff answered his phone on the first ring, Harry not daring to touch the speaker button.

I only imagined a red, angry elf on the other end.

"Hey, yeah we're outside - no one has seen us yet".

Shockingly. The man is a walking sculpted statue.

Following Jeff's directions through the phone Harry and I end up in a dark alleyway, one of the only visible lights being through the door as Jeff opens it, his head popping out.

"Jeff, my friend, surely you can forgive me. I overslept", Harry takes ahold of Jeff's face and plants a wet kiss on his cheek, Jeff wipes it off as we all step in to the building.

Immediately Harry is crowded by people, all in need of his company to tousle his hair and change his clothes. I'm pushed away from him, Jeff follows Harry into one of the many rooms he was dragged into.

My mouth closes as if I had wanted to say something and just wasn't given the opportunity to. What was I going to say?

Out of a quick habit I mess with the silver pendant Harry gifted me. A picture of him inside, a piece of him in how I dress and when I go about my day.

Nearby is a pastel yellow couch, lightly decorated with plain pillows. I sigh as I sit back on it pulling a pillow over my body, I click the tips of my shoes together and take in the environment around me. There wasn't much of anything, people backstage or space back here.

I feel fine alone honestly, although the unsettling feeling of physically being pushed away had made the uneasy feeling pool in my stomach, the feeling so heavy it tickles the tips of my fingers.

As if she knew I needed entertainment, just a sprinkle of company, my phone vibrated with Violets name on it and a picture of us at a park with her family dog.

I also missed her. I didn't even know how grand I missed her company until now.

"Robin, hey".

"Violet, god I miss you. I just told the same thing to Ernie today, I know I haven't called enough but-".

"It's alright, don't worry about it. I'm unforgettable", she gave a weak laugh through the receiver, I can imagine her picking away at her nails. They're always polished.

"Everything okay? We usually call each other if it's an emergency", Violet and I had a habit of texting or FaceTiming during work or when we were simply away from one another. The sounds of our voices only was rare over the phone. I have known her long enough to tell something was occupying her mind that usually was not so stressed.

"That's what I um called you about, listen-".

"Safstrom, we're on in 5!", I hear from the halls, it's Harry, his loud footsteps getting closer by the second.

"Sorry Vi, what were you saying?".

She pauses, a sniffle is all I can hear, I furrow my eyebrows awaiting her news.

"Ernie's in the hospital".

I tense, my fingers gripping the pillow I held against me for comfort, "what's wrong?", faintly upon knowing Ernie he had asked me to test him for several conditions his family carried, all negative.  My head racked itself trying to figure out what could have gone wrong, he seemed perfectly fine when I left.