Evie | H.S |

113. Tough

A/N: hey angels! Sorry for the absence - I've had a lot of personal shit going on and I've just been so unmotivated to do literally anything. Please accept this lil update and I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.
Ps. This Hrought is killing meeeee

"Eve?"

After a click of a button there was a teeny fraction of a second before a dim lamp lit up the corner of the bedroom. My sister sat up in bed, rubbing at her tired eyes. I didn't want to wake her and I especially didn't want to explain the baggage I'd bought home with me.

"Sorry, Zig" I whispered, skimming a drawer of clothes in the dresser. "I'll come to bed in a second."

"Mhm" she nodded, flopping back down under the burnt orange linen bedding. She pulled the sheet up over her eyes and her muffled voice continued from underneath it. "What are you doing?"

"Just grabbing some clothes for Harry" I said quietly, cringing as soon as I heard the sheet shuffle back down as she sat upright within a split second.

"Harry?"

"Harry" I confirmed, looking over my shoulder with a wry smile. "Go to sleep, I'll be coming to bed in a second, alright?"

With a pair of pink and beige plaid pyjama pants tucked under my arm, I closed the door of my old bedroom gently behind me. To save for getting a hotel or worse, shacking up with my parents all the way in Olinda, I was staying with my little sister at my old share-house. She'd taken over my lease in my absence on the proviso I could come back to it whenever I needed.

"Pillow, blanket, PJ's..." I audibly checked off the mental list in my head, throwing the soft cotton pants to Harry who sat on the edge of the couch. I'd usually be apologetic about having someone sleep on such an uncomfortable sofa but he had a perfectly good hotel room to go back to, I was sure. "Do you need anything else?"

"I think I'm good" he murmured, standing to unfasten his suit pants. "Thanks, Eve."

My lips pressed into a firm lined smile as I nodded, hands folded across my chest. "What time do you fly out tomorrow?"

"Late morning, I think" he confirmed as he stepped into the provided pyjama pants that he had no issue fitting around his narrow waist.

"I'm not doing anything, so I can drive you...I'll take Zigs car" I told him, the awkwardness brewing between us becoming more and more evident. I stepped forward to fold up his pants for him, draping them over an armchair. I think I just wanted a distraction of any sort.

Harry fluffed at the pillow I'd left by the armrest as his long body laid out on the sofas length. I quietly moved to the back door, double checking the lock as was habit. Returning to the small lounge room, Harry's bare feet comically extended past the chaise extension of the sofa, his height far surpassing its size.

"Alright" I sighed, reaching for the switch of the last light left on in the house. "Comfortable?"

"Trying to be" he chuckled but there was a solemn humourlessness about his response. I couldn't help but think he was speaking in a general sense but I chose to ignore that bait.

"G'night, Harry" I told him, flicking off the light. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Night" he murmured as I padded back down the hall towards the bedroom.

Despite the long, emotionally up and down day - and the absolute oceans worth of alcohol consumed, my mind wouldn't switch off.

People who knew me well often found it peculiar that as someone who would be considered a right-brain thinker, I was often fighting with that overpowering left side that relied on logic, linear thinking and fact.