Savior

The Girl with the Sketch

"Thanks, Harry."

And then she turns away.

The disappointment that fills me is almost crippling -my shoulders slumping, grin slipping into a frown, and heart freezing at her dismissal. Eliza glances at me over Layla's shoulder and I can even see her confusion at the cold greeting.

She hugged Eliza and even Niall got an arm graze, but I get nothing?

My mind flashes to the kiss last night and I try to use that as an excuse for her standoffish behavior, but I can't help the gut-feeling that there is more to the story.

"How did you guys even get in here?"

Niall laughs quietly, "I promised Betsy I wouldn't smoke in our room anymore if she let us borrow her set of keys."

"That was awfully generous of her."

"It also probably had something to do with me accent. Women can't resist it. It's the luck of the Irish, right babe?" Niall turns to Eliza with a smug grin, but she only rolls her eyes in response.

"I think it has more to do with the fact that everyone knows you won't stop nagging until you get what you want –whether it's a set of keys or a date."

They continue to banter, but I am hardly paying attention –my eyes solely focused on the girl my mind is always focused on.

Besides the thank you and her reaction at the door, she hasn't glanced my way or spoken a word to me. I wrack my brain for something, anything I could've done to warrant the cold shoulder, but my mind comes up blank.

Because even with her hot and cold nature, even when we kissed, or when she was vulnerable with me, she still spoke to me. Tried to make things less awkward.

But, now it's just radio silence.

And I don't want to admit how bad it hurts. How much I miss her even though she is standing right next to me.

"So, the doctor cleared you? You're all good?"

I tune back into the conversation after we have all gathered around the coffee table, munching on pretzels and cheap beer. I've sat next to Layla on the couch, though she scooted to the far end and Eliza sits on Niall's lap on the loveseat next to us.

Layla nods at her question, finishing a pretzel before speaking, "Mostly. She said I'll probably have dizzy spells for a few weeks and the bump on my head is gonna swell up even more, but besides that I am as good as new."

"What about your old injuries? Did the doctor say anything about those?"

The question comes from Niall, who wasn't even there for that conversation, and it has both Layla and I freezing. Eliza slaps him on the arm, causing him to gasp in alarm and hiss at the pain.

Eliza glances at Layla in silent apology, but she just offers a shaky smile in return.

"She wanted to reset a few bones, but as long as I'm not in pain I don't see the point in opening old wounds."

Her words silence us and offer no explanation to how those injuries got there in the first place, and we don't ask. Just another mystery to add to her growing pile.

The conversation turns to more lighthearted topics; the café, Niall and I's boss, and some movie Eliza saw recently. But, the longer that Layla ignores me, the more dejected I begin to feel and it doesn't take long for me to find an excuse to leave the room.

As soon as I get up with the excuse to use the restroom Layla finally glances at me. Only for a split second before she quickly looks back down at her lap, but it's ridiculous how much that single peek has my heart lifting.