Artwork [h.s]

twenty-two

"You have four days" she said as last thing before sitting down again.

The bell rang and I stood up, putting on my coat, taking my things and leaving the room. I exited the building, looking up as I went down the couple of steps in front of it, noticing that Harry was sitting with his friends on the bench in front of the street again.

I sighed and slowed down, realising that I would've had to ask him to come to mine that day. Since we only had four days and I knew it would've taken ages to find the right colours, I wasn't willing to risk my chances.

I slowly walked towards them, dreading the simple thought of having to talk to him. Especially while Janette was sitting on his legs again.

All of sudden, right when I was about to reach them, I remembered the phone number I'd left on my desk. Before even realising it I made my decision, walking past them in the direction of my house.

I just hoped he would've agreed to come to mine despite being asked to only some hours beforehand.

As soon as I arrived at home I walked upstairs without even taking off my coat and entered my bedroom, leaving my bag on my bed as I walked towards the desk. I took the piece of paper and saved the number into my phone. I hesitated a bit before typing down a message.

To Harry: Hi, it's Sierra. Would you mind coming to mine today?

I stared at it for some seconds, afraid of sending it. It was Harry, after all. What if he'd regretted giving me the number? Or even worse, what if he didn't mean to? What if it had just slipped from his pocket while he left? I sighed, knowing that I was overthinking it way too much. I closed my eyes and hit send, locking the phone right after and throwing it on the bed, staring at it from a few feet away as if it was about to explode.

A few minutes after the screen lit up and I slowly walked towards it, spying what was written on it.

From Harry: Ok.

I released the breath I was inadvertently holding, the message being enough to tell me he hadn't accidentally given me the phone number despite it being just a couple of letters followed by a dot. I locked the phone before giving myself the chance to overthink that dot. Who even put a dot at the end of their texts? Was Harry mad at me, or did he always do that? I shook my head and moved the phone to my desk.

If Harry really was about to come, I had to make some adjustments. I stripped the blanket off the bed and dropped it, together with my pillow, on my couch. I changed the sheets fast, going for a pale shade of grey, almost white. I took a new blanket out of the wardrobe but I just put it over my desk, feeling like the sheets would've worked better for the purpose of the drawing.

I went into the studio and took all I needed, bringing it into my bedroom.

All of sudden I heard the doorbell ring and I glanced at the time on my phone, realising that it was already four. I gave one glance at my room to make sure everything was fine, taking the piece of paper he'd written his number on and shoving it into the first drawer under my desk, before walking downstairs and opening the front door, scooting to the side to allow Harry to walk in.

He did and put his coat on the hanger, barely glancing at me.

I started walking upstairs, hoping that Harry would've understood and followed me. I opened the door to my bedroom and lingered near the entrance, allowing Harry to walk in first.

He did and stopped in the middle of the room, subtly glancing around.

"Uh... the teacher wants this drawing to have a bed in it" I said faintly, already damning her decision. It would've been hard enough to be in his same room for so long, so being on the same bed as well definitely was way too much. I would've drawn him from the couch, but I'd always found that angle awful, so it wasn't an option.