I squinted my eyes a mere second after I opened them, white sunlight piercing into my line of vision. I blinked a couple of times, shifting onto my back and adjusting my eyes before realisation sank into my veins, and the events of last night came flooding back into my mind - the dance, Vic, Louis.. Harry.
"Hello, you," the low, familiar voice sounded beside me, and I turned to face him; he was sat up straight, glancing down at me. A grin spread onto my face.
"Hi," I returned, moving to sit up and wincing silently as I felt a slight ache in my lower abdomen and a little pain directly between my legs. I bit my lip to stifle my reaction, but Harry caught my expression and extended his arm to cup my face in his hand.
"You alright?" he asked, rolling the pad of his thumb over my cheek. I nodded sincerely, sending him a soft smile. The events of last night flashed through my mind, bringing heat to my cheeks as I silently recalled how it had been to be with Harry like that - I'd given him something I'd never be able to give anybody else, and I'd never forget it. He'd been so gentle; so loving - squeezing my hand and kissing my knuckles when he sensed my nerves, murmuring diligent reassurances into my ear when I'd hissed in the slight unavoidable pain.
"Good." He leant over, curling his palm around my head to bring it towards his own, pressing a kiss to my temple. I shuffled closer to him, watching a smile pull on his lips before I kissed his shoulder blade lightly, before resting my chin on his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" I asked, peering down at his lap, noticing a familiar board and wooden pieces. I laughed quietly, "You're playing Scrabble by yourself?" I bit back a smile, suddenly transported back to New Year's Eve, when I'd met Harry for the first time and caught him doing the very same thing. I liked looking back on it - thinking back to how I'd felt at that time, without a clue where I'd be with Harry a month and a half later.
"I play a mean game," he mumbled in playful defence, as I pressed a kiss into the crook of his neck. I was clad in one of his t-shirts as I watched him lay out some letters onto the board, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, even without an opponent to face.
"I beat you.. not even a few days ago," I pointed out, as he tilted his head to meet my eyes, squinting at me.
"You most certainly did not," he sent me a trademark smirk, turning to nudge his nose against my own, "I always win.." his voice lowered, bringing a flush to my cheeks, "because I have you."
Our lips connected, gently and lovingly, with no intention behind it - just a warm, unitive movement - and I was certain I'd never been happier.
I think in the back of my mind, I must have had my suspicions of who he really was. I must have. How could I ignore what Vic had said? Even though, then, I was sure the facts I ruled as coincidences, and Vic's determination to make me understand her view had been pushed from my head - it hadn't been. It was in there, truly - but I was far too preoccupied, and maybe subconsciously defiant to acknowledge such. To me; in my mind, he couldn't do a thing wrong.
Harry had become my happy place.
"I feel, slightly," he paused, breaking our kiss, his forehead pressed to my own, "like I should take you home. Reluctantly." His hand fell to my bare thigh, as I sighed in quiet acknowledgement that he was right. I didn't want to break out of our little bubble of content just yet.
My hand shifted to the side of his face, my fingertips grazing his hair as he leant his cheek into my hand, allowing his eyes to flutter shut. I gazed in admiration at the sight of his face in such close proximity; his skin with a beautiful, golden glow; his long eyelashes brushing over the heights of his cheekbones, those very cheekbones sharp and defined, much like the line of his jaw. He looked almost angelic, his face erased of much expression as he seemed to revel in the moment with as much serenity as I did.
He rubbed his hand from my outer thigh to my knee, "C'mon," he murmured, opening his eyes and sending me a soft grin. "I dunno about you, love, but I need a shower."
"Why? Is there somewhere you need to be?" I teased, but he hesitated to laugh. His gaze seemed to shift for a moment, and he swallowed. I frowned in confusion. "I was kidding."
"I know," his signature smile suddenly returned to his face before I could second guess a thing, as he grabbed my hand in his own and squeezed it. He stood up from the bed, carefully slipping around the Scrabble board to make it to his feet. His back to me, he raised his arms, interlocking his fingers above his head to pull himself into a stretch, the muscles in his shoulder and back made prominent before my eyes as he did so. His sweatpants hung low on his body, his chest bare as he turned back to face me, a smirk on his lips. "This is an invitation for you to join me in there."
I left Harry's house in a state of euphoria, the smile quite simply unable to leave my lips as I buckled my seatbelt and leant back in the passengers' seat of his car. His hand gripped firmly on the steering wheel, the other entangled with mine upon my lap.
As Harry drove, I glanced absent-mindedly over my shoulder - my overnight bag in the backseat where Harry had placed it for me, and beside it, was his duffel bag. I narrowed my eyes - I hadn't seen him pick it up, or pack anything into it. As far as I was aware, he was dropping me off at home, and then heading home himself.
"You're always thinking," Harry caught my expression, lifting his hand from my lap to rest against my hair, messing it up with a grin, "so much going on in just one head, petal," he chuckled, sending me a glance as his other hand remained on the steering wheel.
I bit back a giggle of my own, as he pulled up and parked against the curb directly outside of my house. He leant back in his own seat turning his head to face me with a lopsided grin. His prominent green eyes burned into my own, his lips a dark pink, his face full of colour. His chocolate curls framed his face as if they were crafted specifically and intentionally in that manner.
I was so in love with him that it hurt. My heart physically ached for him; yearned for him, and I was unable to force that from my mind - I wasn't sure anything could persuade me to feel differently.
"I'll call you," he watched me as he spoke, his expression soft.
"Please," I returned, with an equally soft grin, inching forwards to meet his lips with my own. My hand lay against the side of his face, as his hand drew upwards to lay over mine. As our kiss broke, I eyed the rings upon his fingers, more specifically, the one embellished with the miniature heart designed to slot into the charm that hung from my neck. My eyes softened and my heart warmed at the mere sight of it; the reminder of it.
His hand pinched lightly at my hip in a silent goodbye as I slipped out of the car, closing the door behind me. Harry rolled down the window only a split second later, sending me a signature grin, before speeding away.
My stomach fluttered as I turned and headed into my house, where my parents were seated in the kitchen. I did my best to disregard and mask the dull ache between my legs, not even wanting to tempt the humiliation I would feel if confronted about some kind of limp.
"Darling, are you alright?" my mother spoke as soon as I entered the kitchen, and then reality set back in.
I sent them both a reassuring smile, "I am. You know I'm safe at Harry's," I reminded my mother as she stood up to hug me tightly. I exhaled a gentle sigh, the weight of last night's events back heavily on my shoulders.
"I know, I just.. I simply can't believe this," my mother shook her head in dismay, "we really are a murder town. This is horrifying."
My dad pursed his lips. "We can't let it bring our daily lives to a halt.."
"How can we not?! We need to start by being more careful - I'm starting to think that school may not be such a sanctuary.."
I bit my lip. She had a point - in fact, at this rate, my life was at risk every time I left the house. I was sure I was safe - especially with Harry by my side, I felt safer than ever - but in the grand scheme of things, I'd be stupid to feel certain that was enough. I wasn't sure who was doing this, and how much further they would go.
"I'm going to head upstairs," I told them both, as they descended into a gentle disagreement, "I have a project I need to finish by Monday."
I went upstairs, setting my bag down beside my bed and flopping down onto it. A deep sigh left my lips, my mind shifting between elation and exasperation as I thought of what our town had descended into, while at the same time, everything with me seemed only to improve, solely due to Harry's involvement in it.
I pondered my thoughts for what felt like hours, but only could've been a short while, before I stood up. I smoothed my fingertips over my dress, fidgeting absent-mindedly with the hem, recalling how Harry had nipped my ear and whispered how much he liked it when I'd pulled it on this morning.
I then pulled the work for my project out and lay it across my desk, twiddling a pen between my fingers. Perhaps an hour had passed, before something that felt a lot like defeat began to settle in the pit of my stomach, to the point where I simply couldn't ignore it - usually I'd have the phone in my left hand, Vic on the line as I put half-effort into my work and I listened to her complain about whatever was on her mind that particular day. I sighed.
I should call her. I knew I needed to try and talk things through with her, but I couldn't stomach the accusations she'd hurled around last night. It made me uneasy that she could even say such a thing, and I couldn't push the final image of her face I'd seen last night - the way her eyes had shifted to me in dismay, and her face screaming something that I couldn't quite pinpoint to specific emotion.
I set my pen down, blowing out a breath between my lips. I was growing irritated at my own reluctance - Vic had been my best friend for longer than I could even remember, and now I felt as if I'd turned my back on her. It was easy to rule it out as jealousy, but now all I could replay was her face in my mind - it was easy to call it jealousy, and with the distraction of Harry, it was easy to ignore it all - but now I sat in silence; alone with my thoughts, and I had to recognise it. I was losing my best friend.
"Blair?"
My mother's voice sounded in my doorway, and I spun around in my chair, shaken from my thoughts.
"I forgot to mention it when you got home; a letter arrived for you in the post, this morning." She placed a rectangular envelope into my palm, and I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn't often receive post, but I then figured it was most likely a distant relative sending a card, as it often was in the days leading up to my birthday. My birthday - in all the chaos, I'd forgotten it was only a few days away.
I thanked her as she left my room, shifting to run my fingers under the seal, before I paused, my heart plummeting to the pit of my stomach. My eyes scanned the neat scrawl upon the envelope which my name and address, and I studied it only for a mere moment before I could identify it. This wasn't the handwriting of some distant relative, it was most definitely, and undoubtedly, Vic's.
I withdrew my finger from the seal and stood up. I held it tightly in my hand, as I reached for my jacket and headed down the stairs.
A letter wasn't sufficient - I had made a mistake, and I couldn't risk leaving her for even a moment. Vic was my best friend; my sister, and I needed to take it upon myself to fix things. I needed to straighten things out before it was too late, and so I slipped out of the front door and headed in the familiar direction of Vic's house.
-
hello my angels !!!
i'm so sorry for being so inactive on this book, and it means a lot that so many of you were waiting for updates, but i apologise for making you wait at all, but as compensation, this chapter is slightly longer than usual
however: as this book is a short story, there's only a few chapters left, BUT that means i'll be able to start concepts for a new fic soon, so at least there's an upside dkfkdj
thank u sm for being so so patient. and thank u for all the support on this book and my others. i love u !! :) <3
xoxo