A Flash of Red

Chapter Thirty-Two

Harry

It had been two weeks since I had kissed Tara and each day I found myself wanting less time alone and more time with her. The moments we shared behind walls and closed doors were the only thing keeping me going as times grew more grim.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked as she leaned against my chest. We were sitting on the floor between some stacks, she sitting between the V of my legs and leaning her back against my chest.

"You." I answered, truthfully. She scoffed.

"Gross." My stomach made a noise. "When was the last time you ate?" I thought about it for a second.

"Lunch yesterday."

"That's more than 24 hours ago."

"Somebody's good at math."

She groaned and turned around to look at me.

"Your face looks thinner." She mumbled, reaching out and lightly cupping the side of it with one hand.

"You're just saying that."

"You're not eating, Harry."

"We're running out of food, Tara."

"We can find more."

"You know we can't do that."

Containers had seemed to multiply recently, making it difficult to leave. Shower runs were quicker as there was now snow and Russian men to watch out for. With such a risk, we hadn't been able to look for food in other shelters.

Tara looked down.

"Right." She muttered.

I sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into my chest and enveloping her. She settled against me and I kissed her forehead.

"I'll have breakfast tomorrow. How's that?"

"Watery oats aren't going to do you much good."

"I'll throw some peanut butter in it so there's some protein. Yeah?"

"I guess that's okay."

"Okay then."

We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes and I felt her body relax, meaning she was starting to fall asleep.

"Hey," I said while shaking her. "Come on, we don't want somebody to-."

There were sounding footsteps and Tara shot up, nearly colliding with my chin. She scooted over so she was now sitting next to me instead of on top of me.

Lisa rounded the corner, raising an eyebrow when she saw us.

"It was getting a little noisy in there with Mrs. Adalyn yelling about being cold." Tara quickly lied.

Lisa laughed.

"Tell me about it! Scarlett is looking for you two."

"Noted." I said. "We'll head in in a second."

Lisa gave us a quick smile before walking away.

"Move a little faster next time, yeah?" I said sarcastically.

"Harry, you know-."

"Yeah, I know."

"What if Scar or Noah had-."

"Why are you bringing Noah into this?"

"Why are you being paranoid?"

"Why does Noah's opinion matter?"