Rotation

Mind on a Mission

A loud, obnoxious humming noise stirred you. Your eyes were tired and it took a lot of effort to pry them open between sleep and dried makeup gluing them together. An empty bottle, jewelry, and hairpins fell to the floor as you searched the bedside table for your phone. The buzzing stopped for a few seconds, meaning your caller had given up, and so did your hunt. But the table vibrated again shortly after.

"Hello?" you croaked into the receiver, rubbing your eyes in effort to remove the sleep.

"Don't you sound lovely," Harry laughed. "Guess I don't have to ask how yeh feeling."

"God, what time is it?" you moaned. Light was filtering through your blinds, so it was clearly morning and you'd still have time to get things done, but it felt like you had only just fallen asleep.

"Almost one."

"One?" you sputter, sitting straight up in bed. So much for being productive. Blood rushed to your head causing it to swim and you noticed the piercing headache pulsing through your entire skull and the dry, cottony feel to your tongue and mouth.

"Yeah." He laughed again. It's a lovely sound; deep and a bit throaty, and, dare you think it, quite sexy. "Listen, did Tommy take care of yeh at all last night? Yeh sound like you've been through Hell, Bubbles."

"Hardly," you scoffed, gently sitting back in bed. "He left not even an hour later. Said I was a real downer with all my crying."

"Ah, he never has dealt with emotions very well." Harry toyed with his bottom lip, really thinking hard about what to say next. If he closed his eyes and ran his finger over his lips just so he could almost feel you on them again.

In truth, the crying that had sent Tommy running hadn't been about your breakup at all, but the harsh words your brother had for you. Tommy had really laid into you after Harry left, telling you that he wasn't interested and you needed to get over your crush. And you yelled back that you didn't care if he was interested, it was just a kiss and he seemed to like it just fine, thank you very much. But that's when Tommy hit below the belt, claiming that Harry thought you were annoying and that he was only putting up with you as a favor, shouting before he slammed your door, "Besides, he's not got time to entertain young girls' foolish crushes."

You hoped Tommy was full of shit, and you kind of felt like he was because Harry had just promised that he always had time for you; besides it's not like you weren't expecting a marriage proposal or even a date. Really, you didn't even expect to kiss Harry ever again—not that you'd object should the opportunity arise—but Harry was your friend too, and it hurt to hear your friendship reduced to a silly crush by your own brother. Your own brother who knew how special Harry had always been to you. And, you know, you hadn't really heard all they had said last night before Harry left and, you know, what if he had said something about you being a pest?

But here he was calling, seeing how you were after your bender...Or maybe that was just the preface to him telling you off like Tommy had.

"So...why're you calling, Haz?" You braced yourself for his reply.

"Just wanted to check in. Make sure you're alright." He sounded sincere and not at all like someone who found you to be annoying.

"I've...been better."

"Well..." Harry blocked out all of the logic and reasoning screaming at him to just say goodbye, and listened instead to desire. "How 'bout I come over and take care of yeh properly?"

Your stomach did flips. If he found you to be such a nuisance, surely he wouldn't be asking to take care of you?

"Please do." It was hard to restrain the eagerness in your voice and control the butterflies doing loop-de-loops in your tummy.