Nearly two weeks had gone by since Colt’s awful accident. Two weeks of constant worry, curiosity, and speculation. We had been told he would be fine, but it was so hard to believe when the last time we had seen him, he had been bleeding profusely on the pavement. We still hadn’t gone to see him in the hospital, despite Harry’s cautious suggestion that maybe I could go alone which I had immediately declined.
What had happened with Colt was a tragedy, but it didn’t change the fact that he had said some truly awful, unforgivable things to both Harry and me. Harry was quick to forget that in his lingering guilt, wanting to be sure we did everything we could, while Colt’s nasty words repeated themselves in my head even at the mention of his name, restoking the angry fire in my gut.
No, I was not going to go out of my way to go see him now that I knew he would be okay; the hurt he had caused was still too fresh.
It was between a break in my morning classes before we went to lunch when I saw him again. Coming around the corner with Harry, giggling at something he was saying, I nearly dropped the books in my hands when I say Colt’s large, heavily bandaged figure stumbling up the hallway, accompanied by crutches and what appeared to be some kind of physical therapist.
My laughter and walking ceased immediately, causing Harry’s suddenly confused face to look away from me to quickly discover what I was staring at. I had frozen into place, Harry beside me as my jaw hung open. I could feel his eyes shifting back and forth between me and Colt as he got closer, but I could only stare at Colt.
His face was still deeply bruised, dark purple circles surrounding both eyes and radiating down his cheeks. His left leg, the one that I had seen bone sticking out of, had a thick plaster cast covering nearly its entire length. Several smaller wraps wound around various areas of his arms, sealing some of the shallower cuts. Overall though, despite the scary bruising and alarmingly large cast, he didn’t look too terrible.
As he drew closer, I could hear the physical therapist next to him talking and giving instructions for how do go about the school using his crutches, showing him certain areas he should avoid and other areas that would be more accessible.
My heart clenched in my chest when he finally noticed Harry and I standing there; it was hard to read his expression beneath the damage as he abruptly turned his path towards us. I gulped as Harry’s hand lightly touched my forearm, providing a gentle soothing feeling despite my rapidly increasing heart rate. Colt stopped in front of us, eyes flicking back and forth between us before he turned to the man accompanying him.
“Can I have a minute to talk to these two?” he asked. The man nodded, indicating he’d be down the hall waiting.
Colt stared at us both, not saying anything as his eyes quickly darted down to where Harry’s hand was on my arm.
“So,” he started, returning his eyes to my face. “I owe you guys an apology.”
I felt like I had been hit with a semi. That was the absolute last thing I expected to hear from him. I blinked at him and tried to reign in my jaw, which was probably on the floor by now. He cleared his throat before continuing.
“Before my… accident… I know I said some awful things to you guys. On more than one occasion. I don’t remember all the exact details because that’s all a bit fuzzy but I know the gist of it and I need to apologize.” He paused to let that absorb, waiting patiently for one of us to say something.
“What?” I blurted out, unable to stop myself. I could feel Harry’s scolding look burning into the side of my face at my rudeness.
“I don’t blame you for being… confused or whatever, ‘cause I know I’m a dick, but I need to say I’m sorry. I don’t know, just… the past few weeks sitting in the hospital really made me think about stuff and all the shit I’ve gotten into lately. Like I almost killed myself ‘cause I was too stupid and drove drunk. That kind of thing makes you think and I need to turn myself around so I figured apologizing to you two, who I seem to fuck up the most with would be a good place to start,” he finished his speech, looking apologetic as he slumped against his crutches.
I was so shocked by what he was saying that I was still having a difficult time forming a coherent thought. It made sense, but I wasn’t sure if I believed him. I wanted to, seeing what he had been through in the past few weeks, but I wasn’t sure. Harry, on the other hand, seemed to accept his apology.
“Hey man, I’m glad you’re okay. If this is what you need to do to fix yourself, then that’s great,” Harry said slowly.
A hint of a smile crossed Colt’s lips. “Yeah, it’s a step in the right direction. I really am sorry,” he added.
“It’s all good, man. Just don’t pull any of that shit again and we won’t have a problem,” Harry said. I felt a rush of affection for him for being so mature about this, yet not backing down completely. Colt leaned his weight on his crutches enough to allow him to stuck out his hand, offering a handshake to Harry. After a slight hesitation, Harry extended his arm to shake Colt’s hand.
He looked relieved as he turned his eyes to me.
“Joey?” he asked quietly. “I’m so sorry. I should never have said or done any of the shit I did to you, but I’m trying to turn it around. Can you forgive me?”
I stared at him some more, eyebrows furrowed along with a frown on my face. I still didn’t trust him, but I could forgive him now that he was at my feet groveling. It didn’t mean I had to like him or be friends with him, after all.
“Yeah… just… what Harry said. Don’t fuck up again,” I answered cautiously. “And we’re still not friends,” I added stubbornly. I couldn’t deny that I was still angry about everything he had done to me. To us.
He nodded his head earnestly, widening his eyes at me. “Yeah, I know, of course not. Thank you, though.”
I just nodded, pursing my lips tightly as I continued to watch him skeptically.
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat somewhat awkwardly. “I better go, Hank will be waiting,” he said, referring to the physical therapist hovering down the hall. “See you guys around.”
He gave a small wave before heaving himself off the floor, swinging his crutches forward as he started to move away from us. My eyes followed him, watching his figure until he disappeared around the corner.
“Wow,” Harry said quietly, his eyes also trained down the hall. “Didn’t see that coming.”
I shook my head slowly, turning my gaze back to him. “Me neither.”
“Do you think he actually meant all that? That he wants to change?” Harry asked, meeting my gaze. I pinched between my eyes, pondering that exact question.
“I don’t know. He didn’t used to be like that, so maybe. He used to be… normal, I don’t know. Not such a dick. So maybe he really did?” I said, my last sentence coming up as a question in my uncertainty. Harry shrugged at me, wrinkling up his face as he did so.
“I guess we’ll see,” he said, taking my hand gently in his. “Ready for lunch?” he asked.
I had almost forgotten we were heading to eat when we had intercepted Colt. I nodded, squeezing Harry’s hand as we maneuvered our way through the hall toward the library, where we still ate lunch every day. Haley, Lydia, Jack, and Will had invited us on several occasions to eat with them, but I enjoyed spending my lunches alone with Harry too much to accept.
It made me happy how much they had changed in their attitude towards us being together since the party. It was as if in their uniform stance against Colt, they had bonded together. I think seeing Harry hanging out and drinking like the rest of them made it easier for them to accept him as my boyfriend instead of the strange, mysterious boy that they hardly knew. Harry told me how they would say hello to him in the hallways, walking to classes with him and making casual conversation even when I wasn’t around, which absolutely warmed my heart.
As we climbed the stairs to find our little book cave in the library, the quiet of the place settled over and calmed me. I didn’t need to stress out about Colt now, because clearly he really was going to be fine just like everyone said. More than that, he had apologized, which was a step in the right direction even if he didn’t know if he could keep it up. I vowed not to think of Colt anymore for the day and simply enjoy my time with Harry.
After finding our spot, undisturbed as always, we sat down to eat. Harry never let go of my hand, letting his thumb run across my knuckles, which hindered both of our abilities to eat considering we only had one hand. It didn’t matter, though; we were so used to always being connected in one way or another that we had started to adapt to doing things this way. It struck me how ridiculous that could seem- purposely making things harder on ourselves just so we could hold hands, but his constant touch was something I craved, so it was an easy sacrifice to make.
Once both our meals were done, Harry pulled me to lean back against his chest, laying me sideways on the couch we shared so my legs shot off perpendicular to him. My head rested on his shoulder as my back stretched across his chest, his arms looping around me as his fingers tickled against my skin. He pressed a quick kiss to my shoulder while I sighed happily.
Stolen moments like this were some of my favorites- hidden away in a public place yet still in our own world all at the same time, his arms wrapped around me comfortingly so tightly I could feel his chest expanding and contracting as he breathed. My skin tingled as he pressed another kiss to it, this time a little higher against my neck. I could feel his soft breath washing over my throat from behind me as I let my fingers pad over his arms.
“Harry stoppp,” I whined as his lips tickled against my skin again, heating my entire body. He knew how sensitive my neck was to him, and he often used it to his advantage.
“Stop what,” he whispered as yet another kiss landed on my neck.
“You know what,” I grumbled, attempting to pout despite the pleasant feeling radiating through my body.
“Not doing anything,” he mumbled against my skin. What had gotten into him?
“We’re at school,” I said quietly, tilting my head away from his lips to offer more skin to his mouth, contradicting my protests.
“And I’m not doing anything,” he insisted cheekily.
“I’ll run away from you,” I threatened as his lips closed over a vein in my neck, causing my back to arch into him.
“No you won’t.”
“I will,” I insisted, attempting to lean forward away from him only to have his arms pull me flush back against his chest. His teeth tugged lightly on my ear, and I could feel my breath becoming more ragged as his palm flattened out over my hip.
“Who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend,” I asked breathlessly. Harry had never, in the entire course of our relationship, pulled something like this while in public. He was barely doing anything yet he had my entire body worked up. I knew if he didn’t stop soon, I wouldn’t be able to even think straight for the rest of the day, because there was no way we could really do anything about it while at school.
“I am your boyfriend, babe,” he cooed in my ear. “Can’t you tell?” he whispered as he let his tongue slide along my neck, tracing a line down to my shoulder before biting down gently.
It took every ounce of strength I had, physical and mental, to pull myself away from him, ripping his arms off my waist and practically launching myself into the air.
“No, Harry, no,” I scolded, frowning deeply at him for getting me so worked up when there was nothing we could do about it. He smirked at me from his seat.
“Baby, come back,” he said, reaching his arms out for me and wiggling his fingers, reaching just far enough for them to graze against my hips. I shook my head adamantly.
“No, that’s not nice,” I said, taking a step back somehow when all I wanted to do was launch myself into his arms.
“I’m always nice,” he protested, pouting out his lower lip innocently.
“Not right now, you aren’t,” I said, stifling a giggle as he suddenly lunged forward at me, somehow managing to dart out of his way before sprinting into the stacks and stacks of books.
I heard him hastily get up to follow me, knocking something over in the process as he quietly hissed at the loud crash. I quickly turned down one of the aisles created by the bookshelves, which were so tall that he wouldn’t be able to see me until he hit my row. I crept quietly down the aisle until I reached the end and pressed myself into the end of the bookshelf, hiding me, hopefully, from his sight.
I could hear his feet padding softly down the main carpeted hallway, surrounded by bookshelves on either side. He hadn’t seen which way I had turned, so I knew he would be looking closely for signs of me.
“Joooey,” he called softly, voice barely above a whisper. I peeked out from behind my hiding place just enough to gaze down one of the aisles before quickly drawing my head back when the toe of his shoe appeared in my line of vision. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to giggle as he called for me again, this time sounding like he was farther ahead of me rather than behind.
The next time he called my name, he was much closer than I had anticipated, sounding as if he had turned down the aisle directly past the one I had. As quietly as I could, I left my hiding spot on the end of the bookshelf, where he would surely see me if he came to the end of the row. I slipped into the aisle, careful not to make any noise, and pressed myself into the books standing in the shelves. I could hear his footsteps just on the other side of the bookcase I was leaning into, and I held my breath, squeezing my eyes closed again.
I jumped as book fell to the ground three feet to my left, having been pushed from the other side by Harry. A squeak escaped my lips before I clamped my hand over my mouth, eyes widening at the quickening footsteps on the other side of the bookcase. He had found me.
I pushed myself further into the bookcase when he appeared in my aisle, rushing toward me with a victorious glint in his eye. I bit my lip guiltily, trying not to laugh as he approached me. Once he was near enough, he placed both hands on either side of my head, resting them on the shelves behind me as he pressed his hips into mine, pushing his body weight against me.
I instantly stopped laughing as he lowered his face to mine, mischievous glint shining out through his eyes.
“Found you,” he whispered before crashing his lips into mine, instantly parting them with his tongue and allowing it to delve into my mouth. I sucked in a gasp as he pulled away for a split second only to slam our lips back together. My hands flew up to tangle in his hair as he pressed himself tighter against me, the pressure of his hips causing me to nearly pass out.
One of his hands left the bookcase to slide down my side before gripping my hip tightly, his thumb circling firmly against my skin. His teeth sunk down gently on my lower lip, tugging it back before releasing it and ducking his lips down to my neck once more. His hand on the side of my head slipped on the shelf, slamming into a pile of books that practically flew off the shelf and landed on the floor behind us in a loud clang that resounded through the entire upper level.
“Shit,” he said harshly as he pulled back from my neck, observing the damage behind the shelves. That was the second loud disturbance we had caused, and there was no way someone hadn’t heard it. Sure enough, heels could be heard clicking on the steps, rushing up to see what the issue was.
“Come on,” he said, kissing my lips one last time and tugging on my hand, pulling me off the shelf and down the aisle hastily, winding around the long way until we found our usual lunch spot. Quickly, we both threw ourselves down on the couch, sitting on very opposite ends and just managing to smooth our clothes when the librarian rushed through our space, barely even looking at us in her haste to find the disturbance.
We held our breath until she was gone, releasing it in a sudden gust of laughter when she was out of sight. I raised my hand to Harry, which he quickly high-fived before clasping his hand around mine and pulling me to scoot closer to him.
“I love you,” he said, laughter still evident on his face as he beamed at me.
“I love you, too,” I returned, unable to reign in the ridiculous grin on my face. “Even when you torture me.”
He smirked at me, green eyes glowing as he pressed a kiss to my temple, wrapping his arm casually around me neck.
“Good, love. Good.”
Hi everybody!! I hope you all had a good weekened and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting, it means the world to me :) x