A Flash of Red

Chapter Sixteen

Harry

The next morning, I found myself sitting at the breakfast table by myself. I was trying not to fall asleep in my bowl of oatmeal, having not slept well last night. Between hearing Niall's voice on the radio and upsetting Tara, my mind couldn't rest.

I swirled my spoon in the bowl when a flash went off in my face. I jumped and blinked, waiting a few seconds for my eyes to adjust before looking for the source. Scarlett stood in front of me with a digital camera and I struggled to find words.

"Uh, w-what is that?" I spit out.

"A camera." I looked at her, silently urging her to explain. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I had it with me when shit went down. I've got the charger and everything. We use it down here sometimes. We document our stay at Hotel Biblioteca." I nodded slowly. "So now there's a beautiful picture of you eating lumpy oats. Welcome to the roll." I shook my head.

"I'm honored." I said. She flashed me a toothy grin and sat down across from me. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 9:45AM. "I guess Tara's sleeping in." Scarlett looked at me confused.

"No? She's sitting over there with Noah and the twins." She nodded behind me and I turned around to see the four of them sitting at a small table towards the corner. Tara was sat next to Lisa, wearing the same green sweatshirt she had worn the day I met her. She fiddled with her left sleeve, listening to Ella rant about something, her chin resting in her right hand. Lisa looked bored beyond belief and Noah was staring at Tara. I bet he wouldn't know what the conversation was about if you had asked him.

"Oh." I said, turning back around. She usually sat with us. My stomach suddenly didn't feel well and I dropped my spoon into the bowl. Scarlett looked like she was about to tell me something, but then stopped. "What?"

"She's probably still upset with you from yesterday." I sighed. I didn't need Scarlett to tell me that. Tara being mad at me didn't seem to sit right with me. "In your defense, you didn't know about it so I'm not sure how she can get mad but-."

"Know about what?" She sighed and looked down at the table.

"Tara's brother-."

"Lucas." She blinked.

"Um, yeah. Well, he-."

"I know." Her whole face contorted.

"You know? You knew and you still said what you did last night? Never mind, you're an asshole. I'm not defending you."

"I didn't mean to! It slipped out! I had just found out that my best mates were willing to risk their lives to come find me and I was upset and pissed off that I couldn't do anything about it." She stared blankly at me.

"Go talk to her." I scoffed.

"She obviously doesn't want to talk to me if she's sitting over there."

"She does."

"Does not."

"Does, too."

"No, she doesn't."

"Then why does she keep looking over here?" She caught me off guard with her question but I quickly recovered.

"She's probably waiting for me to leave so she can sit here with you." Scarlett let her head fall onto the table and groaned. She whipped it back up.

"For fuck's sake, Styles. Go talk to her, you idiot." I blinked at her, my mouth hanging open. "Go!" I stood up from my bench.

"Fine, but you have to clean up my oatmeal." I saw her roll her eyes I turned to walk towards the other table. I caught Noah's eyes first and her quickly tried to start a conversation with Tara who was still listening to Ella. She held up a finger, signaling for him to give her a second. He kept talking and I saw Tara growing aggravated. I stopped in front of the table.