Drowning

Nine;

Zahara pulled on the same jeans she had worn last night, except this time, instead of the silk cami, she wore an oversized red hoodie and some white chunky trainers, as opposed to heels.

"Time?" I ask.

"8:38am." she says.

"Shall we get a move on?" I ask.

"Okay," she smiles.

After pulling on my shoes, we made our way down to the lobby, for the first time since last night.

In the lobby, her mother stood texting someone.

"Mum, hi." Zahara says, approaching the greying, but glamorous, lady.

"Oh my goodness, Zahara! Where did you go? You didn't say goodnight to anybody! You just left!" Claire gushes, dramatically holding Zahara's face in her hands and checking to see if anything was wrong.

"I'm fine, mum." she groans.

"Oh! Harry! Good morning!" Claire smiles, releasing Zahara's face.

"Morning, Claire." I smile.

"So that's why you left! Honeymoon stages are quite something, aren't they?" Claire hums, her voice fast and enthusiastic. "I bet you just can't keep your hands off of your boxer, Zahara!" she jokes, laughing afterwards. Zahara groaned loudly, whilst I bit back my own laughter.

"Mum, is that really a very appropriate thing to say?" Zahara says through gritted teeth. I laugh.

"Oh, nonsense. Any-who, your father is in the restaurant already, with Salma and Daniel! I was waiting here for you, Zahara. What a treat it is to have Harry join us!" Jesus, this lady was more hyper and intense than I'd realised initially.

"How was the remainder of the party? So sorry that we missed it," I say, as we walked towards the restaurant inside of the hotel.

"Oh, Harry! It was wonderful, really. Omar was so pleased about the turnout! And his friends even sang a song for him," she gushes.

"They sang?" Zahara scoffs. "What did they sing?"

"I have no clue, it was so awful. But, what a great time it was!" Claire giggles. I chuckled lightly to myself. Her behaviour wasn't at all dissimilar to Zahara's, which was quite sweet.

We approached the restaurant, which was quiet except for Zahara's family. Her dad looked tired, as did Salma. Daniel just looked like a target for me to beat the shit out of.

"They're here!" Claire announces, a wide smile on her features.

"Morning," Salma smiles sleepily.

"Hey," Zahara sighs, taking a seat. I sat down beside her. Daniel and Salma were opposite on the circular table, whilst her parents were beside Zahara.

"Last night you left. Why?" Omar says sternly, eyeing both Zahara and I.

"Honeymoon phase, darling. They can't keep their hands off of one another!" Claire says enthusiastically. I felt my cheeks blush, but noticed Daniel visibly stiffen.

"Well, it won't last." Daniel says, taking a swig from his drink.

"Whiskey? At 9am?" I say, simply trying to sound observant, and not judgemental. Zahara squeezes my thigh with her small hand.

"Hair of the dog, Harley." Daniel says, holding his glass up. Salma shakes her head a little, looking down in her lap.

"It's Harry," Zahara sighs, rolling her eyes.