At First Glance//(Harry Styles FanFic)

38. Reckoning

Harry's POV

It had been four months since I had left that hospital.

   Four months since I had last seen or talked to Bea. And it had been the longest four months of my life.

   School was a drag now, especially the two classes I had shared with her before. I found myself looking at the desks she used to sit in, and it never seemed to get any easier that her absence was so loud.

   I only had one more month left and then I'd be graduating. Something I had looked forward to my whole life, and now I was dreading it because that would be my last tie to the only girl I've ever loved.

    All I could hope was that she was doing better than me. She didn't remember things, so I had to believe the memories of us together weren't keeping her up at night the way they were with me.

   The good and the bad. The bad made it easier to stay away, because I knew I deserved this. I knew it was what was best for her, and could convince myself that I would be fine.

   The good though..that's when I struggled. That's when I remembered how happy we were together and would have to stop myself from going after her and making her see it. Showing her how good we could be together before everything went to shit.

    Before everyone had decided to interfere and mess up something so pure, something so genuine.

    Today was a bad day, it was a weekend, and while my friends had been doing their best to distract me and change me back into my old self, it wasn't working.

   I was driving around aimlessly, and when I came to the library where I had teased Bea in the aisles, I couldn't help but pull into the parking lot and get out of my car.

   Walking inside, I said hello to the new receptionist and went straight for the aisle where I had fallen asleep with her reading to me.

   It felt like a lifetime ago.

   I stopped short when I realized the small figure sitting on the aisle herself was Bea. She had a book in her hands and was so engrossed in the pages she didn't even realize I was here.

   Why was fate doing this to me? Why would it bring me and her here at the same time? We both could have ended up anywhere else today, and she came here. 

    I was almost ready to step back and leave the store, when she suddenly lifted her head and our eyes locked in on each other.

   "Oh.." She said. "Hi."

   "Hey." I said back, feeling lame as shit, but I could hardly even get that one simple word out.

    "Long time no see." She said, and smiled at me softly.

   And I'll be damned if I didn't feel some of the tightness that was in my chest ease at the sight of it.

   "Yeah, I know. Been going to school and everything." I told her, while trying to not make it obvious that I was scanning her body.

    She no longer had the cast on her leg or arm, and her face was clear of all the bruising and swelling. The only thing left from that accident was a few small scars on her face, and it somehow made her even more beautiful to me.

   Because she survived.

   "Yeah, I'm doing school at home. My parents weren't exactly ready to send me back into the big, bad world yet."

    "Been a little protective?" I ask, already knowing the answer to that but not ready to end my conversation with her.

    She rolls her eyes. "Protective is an understatement. More like suffocating."