evergreen ↠ harry styles ✓

+39

"Pardon?"

"Just come up, and spend the night here."

"I would much rather go home tonight, and spend the night at home," she declined. Harry was not in a good mood, and she didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it. The issues that haunted him were closed off to her, he made sure of that, and she was not looking to be blamed for any of it.

"Fine," he mumbled, and slammed the door shut.

River sighed, and indicated for Anthony to start the engine, and move forward. Harry's hissy fit was not going to end her, most certainly not for a few hours of what remained of the night.

+ + +

The following day, River was beyond exhausted. Loaded up on caffeine, she sat down, and got to work since it was the only way she could distract herself. Regardless of how much she tried to convince herself that Harry's problems were of no interest to her after he declined to talk about them, they were on the forefront of her mind.

Harry was upset which meant River was upset.

He closed her out of his personal space, and she didn't like it. The space between them felt like the beginning of their relationship, the constant push and pull of their differences. It wasn't ideal but River also wasn't a mind reader. She certainly wasn't one to push when specific obstacles were put in place to keep her out.

River asked her best friends if they had any time for her, but they were busy, and while she understood, she couldn't hide the hurt she felt. Why was it that they never had time for her anymore? She always dropped everything, for everyone, and it seemed no one—

She stopped herself.

Why was she feeling sorry for herself? In the grand scheme of things, she had no real problems. River needed to get herself together, and focus on what mattered.

Except that her answer was Harry.

Harry mattered.

Gosh, Harry mattered so much that she found herself back at the Clubhouse, waiting for him to finish a meeting. Now that he had a personal assistant on hand, River knew of his every move since she could turn up, and someone would be aware of his whereabouts.

She was offered a drink, and some biscuits, and she nibbled on it to calm her nerves. The constant jitters in her foot didn't leave, though, so she had no idea what else to do until Harry came back.

"Clear my calendar for the afternoon, would you? I need to handle some business off-site," she heard the instruction, though it wasn't meant for her. The voice belonged to Harry, calm and deep. Comforting.

River stood quickly, and as she turned, Harry came face to face with her. Surprise sat on his features before he smiled. The gesture quickly faded from his lips when his thoughts caught up with him, but River kept hers in place.

"Hey," she said softly. "Do you have a moment before you have to leave? I heard you had some business to take care of."

Harry nodded, and headed to his office. Unlocked it, and walked inside, River following behind him. She closed the door as he sat down in his chair, and started putting things away. He remained silent which meant she needed to say what was on her mind.

"I'm not sure what happened last night but we need to talk about it if it will continue to be a problem for us," she told him. River felt unheard as Harry continued to focus on his belongings, and goddamn it—it pissed her off.

When the silence became too much, Harry gave in. "It will always be a problem for us, so if we talk about it now, we might as well break things off between us."