My Beloved ~ H.S.

Chapter Twenty: Winning

"Ok", I whisper, only because I no longer have a voice. "I'll work on that", I add, a little more solidly. My eyes drop to the floor, unable to look at him. He squeezes my hand before placing his other hand under my chin to tilt it up so that I find his eyes again.

"Hey, cheer up buttercup. It'll be ok", he adds, repeating my own words back to me as he finally lets me go and gives me a soft smile.

"Ok", I agree, granting him a tiny smile in return.

"Good, now do you, um...need to get ready?" He asks, eyeing my attire dubiously again.

"I still don't know if I'm ready to go there Harry", I reply cautiously. After what happened yesterday at what's supposed to be a happy place, I really don't know how I'll handle a solemn one, and one that holds even more memories.

"Nope, not taking no for an answer. Not after I risked pap pics getting you coffee", he says with a smile, but I don't find the humor.

"I didn't ask you to do this Harry. And besides, what happened to you wanting me to have a choice?" I add with a trace of humor.

"I still stand by that...except when you're making the wrong one", he adds, cocking his head to the side and giving me a sideways smile.

"Harry..."

"Come on, in all seriousness, I think you need to do this for closure...for your mum."

"Man, you really know all the right things to say huh?" I tell him, thinking that this is definitely not fair of him to come to my hotel room and persuade me to go with him. Not when I have such a difficult time telling him no.

He apparently can see that I'm still not convinced so he adds, "Tell you what, let's just take a walk and see what we see?" I watch him closely as his eyes dart between mine, his lips parted, his jaw flexing. God why is he so pretty?

"Ok, just a walk for now", I reluctantly agree, well maybe not that reluctantly. His features relax into a winning smile and I get up before I agree to anything else. "I need to shower first."

"No problem, I'm not in any rush", he says as he rises from the table with his coffee in hand. I don't pay much attention to him as I walk over to the bathroom door, but before I slip into the en-suite, I turn around again to find him stretching himself across my bed, grabbing the remote from the beside table and pointing it at the tv. I just watch him for a stolen second as his arm goes behind his head against the headboard and his fingers press the buttons on the remote. His eyes flick to me when he senses me watching him and I feel a flush creep over my cheeks. "What?" He asks innocently, as if he has no idea what feelings his simple movements create.

"Nothing", I say, shaking my head at him and disappearing into the bathroom.

After my shower, I feel much more like a human and less like a troll who slept under a bridge. I brush my teeth and comb out my hair, then realize I forgot to bring a change of clothes in here. Shit, I guess I'm not used to having a hotel-mate where normally I would just walk into the room in my towel to get my clothes. I open the bathroom door a crack, feeling the rush of the cool AC air hitting my damp skin and hearing the slight hum of the tv.

"Harry?" I murmur.

"Yes?" He calls back. I can barely see him still perched on my bed from the crack of the door.

"I forgot to get my clothes...can you like, cover your eyes or something?" I hear him chuckle under his breath before he responds.

"You have a towel on right?"

"Yes..."

"So what's the problem?" Does he really expect me to come prancing out there in a towel?

"Umm yeah...can you just cover your eyes please?"