Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 55

Sherry - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
She's Always a Woman - Billy Joel
Honeybee - The Head And The Heart
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Chapter 55

I didn't believe in an afterlife.

No, I definitely didn't believe in the idea that your soul travelled out of your body and on to somewhere else once you were dead. No one had yet tried to convince me otherwise either. And I probably wouldn't have given them the time of day had they tried.

Until today that is.

Because if there was a heaven, I was sure I had woken up in it.

I was convinced that I had died and come back to life, that I had been plucked out of reality and placed meticulously back into something that could only be considered heaven. A sort of heaven that felt a lot like a lazy Sunday, despite it being Monday.

A heaven where I was awoken at 12:30 in the afternoon to the familiar scent of vanilla, a trail of kisses, soft touches up the side of my body and hushed murmurs pulling me out of my sleep, greeting me with the ever-familiar face of my boyfriend.

Harry Styles was my heaven, I was sure of it.

"Happy Birthday," I grinned sleepily, eyes locked on his. His face was flushed, cheeks pink and glowing like cotton candy. Harry, who was grinning back, leaned in to place a kiss on the tip of my nose.

"Is it really still my birthday?" he teased, tightening his grip around me and pulling me to his chest. He nuzzled his nose down my jaw and into the crook of my neck, his curls grazing my skin just enough to tickle. "Felt like I had celebrated enough for ten birthdays just this morning."

"It really still is," I affirmed with a giggle, "And I have a certain promise to uphold to you if I remember correctly."

Harry pulled his face out from where it was buried in my neck to look at me. "Yeah? What's that?"

"I promised to skip class and spend the day with you."

The corners of his lips twitched upwards before he glanced to the clock on the nightstand. "Seems you've already upheld that part of the bargain."

"So you're saying you want to go then?" I asked with another stupidly wide grin, feigning shock and giving his shoulder a light shove. "Fine. Leave. Be my guest."

Harry caught my wrist, using it to lightly tug me forward until he was able to place his lips on mine. When he pulled back, he mumbled, "That is quite possibly the last thing that I want to do. And if I remember correctly, the second half of that bargain was that we spend the whole day together in bed. Being lazy."

The front door suddenly slammed, causing both of us to jump. I glanced once at my own door, before back at Harry where a sudden wave of guilt and anxiety came at me full force. Raising my hand gently to his face, I ran the pad of my thumb over his nose and lip, over the remains of dried blood and fresh-blooming bruises thanks to the events of last night.

For a bit, I had almost forgotten. I hadn't wanted to, but I did. I wasn't quite sure where I even wanted to stand on the matter. On one hand, a small part of me still felt really upset at how it had gone down between Isaac and Harry and wanted me to keep my distance from both of them in order to clear my head. On the other hand, it was Harry's birthday. And I knew why he did it. Not that it was excusable in any sense but... in a fucked-up sort of way, I understood.

Harry, as if sensing what I was thinking about, let out a short breath and averted his gaze, drawing my hand down from his face.

"That must be Heather leaving," I said quickly before he could say anything. "And as much as I would love to stick to our original plan and spend the entire day in bed, we, unfortunately, have things to do."