Karma ||H.S||

Chapter 7

"No," I answer, too quickly, looking to the ground.

He takes another step closer to me to stand right in front of me. When he puts his hand under my chin to tilt my head up to look at him, I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. My heart feels like it's going to explode if it beats any harder. "Please look at me," he whispers.

When I open my eyes, his face is inches from mine. His green eyes flicking back and fourth between mine again. He moves his fingers from my chin and puts both of his hands on the side of my face, gently rubbing his thumb across my cheek.

"Trust me, Paisley," he whispers, repeating his words from the night in the studio. I feel like he's going to kiss me as his eyes look down at my lips before returning back to my eyes. He is the most heavenly human being I've ever laid my eyes upon. I don't want to be afraid to be this close to him. I don't want to withdraw from his touch. I want to be able to wrap my arms around his perfectly toned body and press my lips against his and trust him like he's asked me to, like any normal girl would. But as much as I've known since the first day that I met him that I can trust him, that little bit of trust that I do have in him just isn't enough. Not when I still have these moments of fear, cowering from a simple touch of his hand.

One day I will be able to trust him. I can feel it in my bones that one day, that day will come and I wont be afraid. I wont have any fears and everything in my past will be just that-- The past. But it's only been a few months and it hasn't been long enough for me to get passed it all. But just having Harry here, standing almost too close for comfort, I know that one day I will be fine. I just need more time.

"Do you trust me?" Harry asks, repeating his motions with his thumb caressing my cheek. He looks concerned and I can tell he is thinking somehow we've taken a step in the wrong direction even considering our close proximity. "Please, Paisley. Please tell me that you trust me. I need you to trust me."

"Why?" I finally speak.

He finally releases his hands from my face and takes a small step back away from me. "Because we're friends. And you should be able to trust your friends. I don't know why you don't trust me and it honestly kills me when you do this." With the way he was with me a few moments ago, I thought maybe he wasn't drunk anymore. That somehow the way I evaded him sobered him up a little, but with how he's speaking his mind now, a little slur to his words, I know that I was wrong.

"Do what?" I act innocent, like I have no idea what he's talking about. I want to hear what he thinks and how he really feels. If he's still drunk, he's surely going to say whatever he wants.

"Act like you're afraid of me, like you're nervous to be around me," he answers, loudly. I can tell by his voice that he is now irritated. "I don't understand how one minute you're fine and the next you're afraid of me. I don't fucking understand! I've been trying so hard to figure you out. I've been doing everything I can to make you comfortable around me, and still this! I don't get it!" He pulls his bandanna off his head and rubs his hands through his hair as he paces around the grass in front of me, frustrated.

His loud voice only seems to make things worse for me. My hands start to shake and I try to swallow the lump in my throat. I knew he had been trying to figure me out. I could tell every time he looked at me long enough that I could sense he was trying to understand me. I have to be stronger. I have to stop showing how afraid I am. I just need to be brave. I take a few deep breaths trying to calm myself back down as I watch his pacing before me.

"I trust you, Harry." I decide that I need to answer his previous question this way, even if it's not one hundred percent. I need for him to not be frustrated and just go back to being Harry. Not someone who yells in frustration, no matter how short lived it was. "Come on, lets just go to bed."