Dealing With Absence » h. styles au

42ᴺᴰ CHAPTER

He feels judged under her gaze, too misplaced to do anything but shake his head no. Not a lie, though. Because ever since her knows, Elisha’s been fine. At least until the day before, that is.

Dorothy hops out the chair with Harry’s help and eyes him for a little while before patting him on the shoulder. “Okay, go home, young man. I’m boring you and I know it. Go have some rest.”

He considers it. Even though it hasn’t been tiring at all, he’ll call it a day. His bed doesn’t sound too bad, after all.

“’Night, Dora,” he manages to mumble out, nodding slowly as his goodbyes.

“Goodnight, dear,” is all he hears before he’s taking his hand away from the handle and letting the door swing shut little by little.

He never thought those fifteen minutes of walking could feel so much like hours.

--

It’s still disappointing when he knocks on her door for the third time, and for the third time, all he gets in return is silence.

The thing stares back at him almost derisively, yelling the words how could you be so stupid to believe she would still be here right at his face.

He kicks it as to say shut it.

Harry heads for his room next, not bothering with switching on the lights because one; they’re too dim by now and barely serve of any function, at all. And second, he’s adopted this theory that the less he spends, the better. He doesn’t need light, he’s a dark person. Ha.

He’s got to brush his teeth, but the thought itself feels almost exhausting, so instead he drops the stuff from his pockets and the extra jackets by the table next to the stove and throws himself down on the mattress, hearing a loud humpf coming from underneath him, as well as moving limbs.

What the fuck?

“What the fuck?”

“Listen, I’m okay with several things but I never said it was okay for you to sit on me,” Elisha speaks out breathily as she simultaneously tries to push him away.

Harry moves enough to adjust them both to the restricted space they’re given, and once he does, he starts pulling the covers over both of them.

“Yeah, of course,” he snorts out sarcastically.

“Kinky,” she accuses, but moves closer nonetheless, eyes scanning over his face in the dark. When she speaks again, her voice is soft and nothing more than a whisper, a small smile stretching over her lips. “Happy 28th, by the way.”

Harry’s eyes widen and then squint like something’s wrong, and next he simply smirks. “You remembered.”

Elisha only smiles wider at that, nodding fiercely as she slips her hands under his shirt, locking her digits over the small of his back and pulling in closer. Harry can feel her toes twitching idly, the tissue of her socks sliding over the jeans on his calves and causing friction.

He closes his eyes and lets her scent fill in his senses, stronger and more present that the other times. Which denounces she’s just left shower. As he breathes in and out, he lets his words slid out along air.

“Dora told me you’d gone to Leeds,” he says, his tone slurred by the sudden need to sleep that hits him.

Leesha breathes out on his neck and digs her nails slightly into his skin, shaking her head. “I lied.”