10 HOURS AWAY | Harry Styles AU

chapter 13 - broken promises

10 HOURS AWAY | Harry Styles AU

chapter 13 - broken promises

Mia showed up at my apartment an hour after we got back from the supermarket. We hadn't talked about Harry on our way home, but I knew she wasn't going to put it aside.

After I heard a loud clicking noise behind me, Mia appeared in the reflection of my dirty bathroom mirror – there were some toothpaste splatters on it I forgot to wipe away this morning.

She rested her slim body against the white tiles while looking at me. "Do you want to tell me what has happened?" she asked in a silvery voice.

Slowly I put my mascara wand down. "Harry and I kissed." I said to her.

"Oh." Mia mouthed.

"Yeah." I breathed out and continued to apply make-up.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"I feel like I've made a mistake." I admitted gingerly. "I should've known better. I should've said goodbye when he dropped me off at the end of the day."

"Have you talked to him yet?" she questioned me cautiously.

"No. There's just silence between us." I told her as I searched for a Q-tip to remove the mascara underneath my eye. "After he said he was sorry for kissing me, I told him to leave my apartment. Once he was gone, that was it." I explained in a mirthless voice.

"Now I feel horrible for saying yes to Dylan's invitation." Mia said. "I'm sorry." she looked up at me.

"You didn't know." I waved her off.

"I should've known." she objected promptly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"In all honesty, I felt ashamed and stupid. I didn't understand we kissed. It was like a daydream that had turned into a nightmare, and I was only waiting to wake up."

"Does someone else know about this?"

I pulled at the zipper of my make-up bag before putting it in the wooden cupboard underneath the sink. "I told Carter." I let her know. "He came by not long after Harry left. We talked about it and then we ended up playing cards." I said, turning to her.

"I'm glad you talked to Carter." Mia pointed out. "I'd have hated it if you had kept it all to yourself."

"I think I would have if it wasn't for him knocking on my door."

"Really?" she lifted an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't want to make a fuss about it." I explained shortly. "I prefer to keep a lot to myself." Quickly, I smoothed down my denim skirt.

"I've noticed that since the day we met." Mia confirmed softly – clearly trying not to hurt my feelings by her choice of words. "But why?" Mia wondered as her eyes narrowed.

I bit on the inside of my cheek – maybe too hard. When Mia entered my apartment, I thought we were going to briefly discuss what had happened. However, right now, I acknowledged we weren't going to forget about it so easily. She wanted to talk about it in-depth because both the situation and my feelings were extremely relevant at this point.

"It's a long story." I warned her. Perhaps it would make her think twice about it.

"I've got time, Liz. You've got time, too. Hell, we're in New York for eleven more months so we can talk about this long story of yours." Mia said emphatically.