Florence || H.S.

Chapter Nine: The Pool

Astoria awoke to the sound of cupboard doors opening and closing. Based on the day before, she figured that Florence was the only early riser amongst the group.

Cassiel was still sleeping lightly on the other side of the mattress so Astoria made sure to gently climb out of bed. The girl slid on her slippers and crept out of the room, towards the noise.

She stood at the entrance way, observing as Florence poured water from the kettle into her mug. Her back was turned so Astoria made sure Florence placed the Kettle down before making her presence know; incase Florence scared easily.

Despite these efforts, Florence still jumped when she saw Astoria, quickly laughing it off. She offered to make Astoria a tea or coffee but the offer was declined. The girls found their way into the living room, and sat down on the lounge in the same way as they had done the day before.

Astoria silently flicked through the many channels as Florence sipped her tea. It had taken her ages to find tea bags because of the many kitchen cupboards.

"I found the pool this morning." Florence stated to ease the silence of the room, despite the background noise.

"You went out?" Astoria asked, surprised at just how early Florence had been awake. Florence nodded her head in response to the question.

"I managed to make it to the theatre and then I circled to the pool. I know there's tennis courts somewhere but i didn't want to get lost."

"The pool would be nice today." Astoria confirmed Florence's earlier thoughts. Florence simply nodded again before they zoned back into channel surfing.

Between the girls there seemed to be a strange air even though there were no looming conflicts. As far as Astoria was concerned, Florence simply didn't have any flaws in her personality and Florence found Astoria incredibly generous.

Somewhere inside, Astoria really wanted to be mad at Florence for everything she had with Harry; even if it was nothing.

"Oli, do you think this trip was a good idea?" Harry's croaky morning voice spoke into the air. He lay on his back with his hands underneath his head, not quite ready to begin the day.

Oliver rubbed his eyes and turned so he was facing Harry. "Sure?" He mumbled, unsure as to why Harry would ask this. After all, the trip was mostly his idea.

Harry didn't say anything. All of the words he had would make his queries seem far fetched.

"You don't think it was?" Oliver filled the silence as he sat up against the headboard. He frowned at Harry. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary to Oliver.

Harry let out a sigh. "I don't know. It's kind of weird to have Astoria and Florence under the same roof."

Oliver didn't really understand what Harry had meant by this. From what he had observed, the girls got on well together, considering they hadn't had much to do with each other before.

"I don't know what it is." Harry tugged on his hair. "They're so similar yet nothing alike at the same time, something about this whole thing annoys me."

"There's only three more days left" Oliver concluded, sliding out of bed and heading to the bathroom with his towel. Harry was left to keep thinking about all of his worries. He gave up after he heard the shower turn on and decided to see who else was awake.

When he made it to the kitchen, he felt the kettle, only to realise it was still warm. He fished around for a tea bag before pouring the water into his mug. As he stood with his back against one of the kitchen counters, Harry could hear light chatter coming from the lounge room one wall away.