Artwork [h.s]

twenty-four

I looked at the time on the alarm clock on my nightstand, it was already half past six, my mum would've been home soon.

"Are you done for today?" Harry asked all of sudden sitting up on the bed and crossing one of his legs under the other.

I nodded and he stood up, passing his fingers through his dark curls to make sure they weren't messed up, before bending down to put on his shoes and straightening his shirt, that was all crumpled up in the back, giving me an eyeful of the leaves tattoo right over the dark waistband of his boxers as he fixed it.

"Goodbye" he said lowly before exiting the room, not even giving me time to say it back.

I lay down on the bed with a sigh, careful not to ruin my drawing or dirtying my clothes with colour, listening for the sound of the door being shut. When I heard it I stood up and took all the things that were with us on the bed and brought them back into my studio, momentarily putting them on the floor to unlock the door.

I put them over my light coloured desk and turned on all the lights in the room, to make sure that it was as bright as possible. It was almost impossible to draw decently in the dark.

All of sudden I heard the front door open and went down the stairs to find my mother in the entrance, two shopping bags in her hands.

"Sierra, would you mind getting the third bag? It's in the car" she said as soon as she heard me come down, and I nodded, putting on the shoes I'd left next to the door and exiting the house to get the bag from the boot of the car.

I walked back in, taking off my shoes and bringing the bag into the kitchen.

"Is pasta fine for dinner?" My mum said while she was putting the milk in the fridge. "Dad's gonna be late again, so it's just us."

"Sure" I said, about to leave the kitchen when she spoke again.

"Would you mind giving me a hand? I feel like we never talk."

I nodded, walking back into the kitchen and washing my hands.

I helped around while making dinner, chatting to my mom about many unimportant things. We waited a bit to see if my dad would've come home, but when the clock showed half past seven, we knew it would've been way easier to just save up something for him to eat later.

After dinner I went in the studio again, spotting my unfinished drawing on the desk and walking towards it before stopping in my tracks as a thought crossed my mind.

I'd totally forgot to ask Harry to come the day after again.

I rushed back into my bedroom, my eyes widened, spotting my phone abandoned on my bed. I took it and typed a text, sending it fast.

To Harry: Could you come to mine tomorrow again?

I exited the room and went back into the studio, not before having taken my earphones with me, closing the door and sitting at the desk, leaving my phone in front of me so that I could've seen if he'd replied.

I put my earphones on and chose a playlist of calming songs I'd made for when I drew on my own. I'd discovered some years ago that I drew better when I was relaxed, and listening to music was the fastest way to achieve that. Other than that, it also made me feel as if I was in my own little world, and no sound coming from outside could've bothered me.

My phone buzzed on my desk, the screen lighting up, and I scrambled to get a hold of it.

From Harry: Ok.

I bit my lower lip, deciding what to reply to him.

To Harry: You don't need to dress in the same way again

I left my phone on the desk, but I didn't even have time to take a pencil before another text came.

From Harry: Sure.

I put the device, unlocked, down, staring at the screen and leaning against the back of the chair. I took it again, starting to type a text, but deleting it right away. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, taking a deep breath. Come on Sierra, I told myself. He'd been the one to kiss me first. He'd been the one to kiss me twice. If he'd done something like that, I could find it in me to initiate a conversation with him over text. I took another deep breath, starting to type again.

To Harry: What are you doing?

My breath stopped in my throat as soon as I sent the message. What if he didn't want to talk? Even worse, what if he thought it sounded weird? That was a stupid move.

I almost threw the phone on the light coloured wood of my desk, every minute that went by without a reply making me more and more nervous. I also wished I had a sibling so that I could've told him they'd been the ones to send it, and not me. It was getting ridiculous.

I shook my head after five minutes had gone by, realising that he wouldn't have replied and taking a pencil again and going back to the drawing.

About twenty minutes after my phone buzzed again, and I spied the screen from where I was sitting, scared of picking it up in worry of what I would've read.

From Harry: Reading. You?

I took it and I unlocked it, a little smile on my face. I hadn't expected him to reply, if I had to be honest.

To Harry: Reading what?

I typed the message fast, but waited around five minutes before sending it, not wanting to look too eager, especially because he'd replied after almost half an hour.

I sent it and went back to my drawing, that time more relaxed than before after discovering that Harry didn't seem to have any plans to ignore me that night.

The reply came about two minutes after, thankfully. I didn't think I could've waited another thirty minutes without overthinking everything single second of them.

From Harry: A book.

I pursed my lips at the lack of information he'd shared.

To Harry: What book?

That time the reply came so fast that I didn't even have time to put the phone down after locking the screen.

From Harry: You know, you ask way too many questions.

My breath stopped in my throat for a couple of seconds before I replied

To Harry: Sorry

I scrolled up our small conversation, just then noticing that he'd asked me what I was doing too. I typed another text fast, sending it to change topic.

To Harry: I'm drawing

I put the phone down and resumed my actions, looking up again only when the phone buzzed again.

From Harry: If you can do it when I'm not there what do you need me there for?

The question seemed somewhat innocent, but it made my heart drop nonetheless. What if he thought I only had him around to try to make him hit on me or something like that? I took a deep breath to avoid panicking and decided to reply with the truth, hoping that he would've believed me.

To Harry: To make sure I'm not messing it up

The reply came sooner than I'd expected.

From Harry: Nicely put.

I crossed my legs on the chair, smiling to myself when I realised it was one of the longest conversations we'd ever had.

I looked at the drawing, that was waiting in front of me. I knew I wasn't in the right mindset to even think about continuing it that night, my heart beating a little faster every time a new text came.

I stood up and left the studio, my phone in my hand, shutting the lights behind me and locking the door.