Hitlist | h.s

Eleven

"Fuck, Luke," I breathed, gasping for air as we finally neared the steps to my house. "How do- why-"

"That run wasn't even bad, you wimp" he exhaled, taking a hearty swig from his dark blue water bottle, condensation beading on the outside of the translucent plastic.

"I'm out of shape," I wheezed, wiping the sweat that had collected on my forehead. A loose hair fell into my face as I clumsily struggled to unlock the door.

"You aren't though," he replied, his words rushed from exhaustion. "You're fit, Arielle."

"Oh shut up." I playfully pushed him back, watching the tree-of-a-boy stumble slightly before pulling on a fake look of shock. "You dumb fuck," I laughed as my eyes unintentionally rolled towards the back of my head. "I'm never running with you again!"

He scoffed, pulling me in for a stinky hug as the odor of our perspiration mixed. The muscles of his arms felt stiff and moist as he wrapped them around my neck. It was really quite disgusting, but I purposely ignored it.

"Thank you for coming with," Luke shyly interjected, stepping back before scratching the back of his neck, his eyes warmly looking into mine. I watched his lip ring slide effortlessly between his teeth.

"I had... fun?" I smiled, mock enthusiasm embedded in my voice.

"Liar."

"Yeah, you're right," I smirked, throwing a clean towel around my neck and painfully pulling out my hair tie. Golden brown waves cascaded down my back, slicked in place with wetness from the intense workout.

"Bye, mate," the blonde boy smiled, twisting around and jogging his way back down the steps, almost tripping over the flowers lining the walkway.

"Run boy, run!" I howled after him, seeing his shoulders rise and fall as he chuckled, shaking his head while he trudged onward. Closing the door quietly for no particular reason, I searched around for Calum in the spacious living room before stumbling breathlessly up the stairs, an intense burn spreading over my thighs.

The house was unbelievably quiet, almost eerily so. I hummed quietly to myself to avoid the deafening silence. A blue piece of paper was taped crookedly to my door with Calum's chicken-scratch written on it. The note read that he'd be back later with the no time in particular mentioned.

Ripping the paper off the door on the way by, I sluggishly dragged myself into the bathroom, stripping off before stepping into the steamy warmth of the shower. The soothing water exhilarated my skin and washed away some of my anxiety, whirring it down the drain and out of mind, but a feeling of uneasiness had been clouding over me the past three days like overcast skies.

It had been two nights since Harry arrived at my window and being completely honest with myself, I was a little disappointed he hadn’t come back. I knew I had told him to leave me alone, but for some reason, I didn’t want him to stay away as much as he didn’t want to. I didn’t like Harry in the least bit, but I couldn’t get his image out of my head of when he grabbed my hand – the softness that had coated over his usually demonic eyes.

Everything about him was shockingly horrifying and mysteriously striking.

And as poisonous as it was, I couldn’t help but want to know more about him and I despised that.

I finished my hygiene routine, showering off my worries and brushing my teeth, before sulking into my room, stumbling over a pile of laundry. I made my way to my underwear drawer and slipped on whatever my hands managed to find first.

“Shit,” my lungs caved in while I reluctantly glowered at the clump of dirty clothes in the middle of the floor.  I could usually convince Calum to do my laundry, but I had barely seen him the past week aside from the small conversations we would have when he got home from work or wherever it was he would scurry off to.