skinny || h.s. au [Rewrite Now Up!]

fortyfour

She tried not to cough on the cloud hovering in front of her face. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not little girl." her mother said. Only then did Marley realize how slurred her words were. "Give me your hand."

She didn't move. Frozen in fear and confusion.

Her mother snatched her hand by the wrist. Held it tight in her grasp. And smashed the lit end of her cigarette onto the center of Marley's hand.

Marley screamed in pain. Trying to yank her hand free from her mother.

"Now you'll think before you steal from me!" She yelled over her daughter's screams. And released her.

She remembers sitting in her room. In the dark. Crying after her mother stumbled back to her own room. It stung worse than anything Marley had ever felt before. Scraped knees and paper cuts were nothing to this.

Jax came in not long after. A cool pack from their freezer and a dishcloth in his hand. He didn't say anything. Just sat down next to his little sister on her bed and wrapped the cloth around the ice.

"Sh-she bu-urnt m-me, Jax."

He takes her hand, careful not to touch the fresh burn. An almost perfect circle in the center. And places the cool pack on it.

Marley shuts her eyes tightly. It stings even more when the fibers of the cloth touch her skin but the chill brings a bit of relief.
_________

Harry wakes up before she does. Her hair messy and sprawled across the pillow next to his.

Marley fell asleep during the movie last night and Harry couldn't bear to wake her. So he carried her to his room. When she stirred in his arms, he just whispered for her to go back to her dreams.

And now here she is. Contently asleep.

And now here he is. Smiling at the sleeping girl he's fallen so hard for. Fallen so fast it finally makes sense...

Why they call it falling.

Because he is head over heels, falling into the void, a total goner for this girl. Her eyelids are closed as they flutter in a dream, but behind them is the most beautiful eyes he's ever known.

He sort of wants to wake her. Just so he can see those eyes staring back at him. Those eyes that, he's sure, can see right into his soul with their crystal blue luminosity that reminds him of icicles and frost-bitten noses.

Marley hums in her sleep. Her arm reaching out for Harry as she rolls a bit closer to him. He freezes for a moment. His breathing still. As if an intake of air would wake her. But she settles again, her nose nearly brushing his shoulder. And her cold fingers clinging lightly to his grey t-shirt.

He smiles. Her breath hitting his neck softly. He could stay here for hours.

"Harry." There's a knock on his door. It's his mother. And the bubble of bliss previously surrounding them is suddenly popped. "I have your laundry from yesterday."

He panics. Knows his mother most likely won't approve of the girl in his bed.

"Harry?" She knocks again.