Invisible String || H.S

Chapter 24

I wake to the sound of a page being turned. Blinking away the sleepy haze clouding my vision, I slowly rise onto my elbows and turn and see Harry reading in bed beside me. 

"Morning," he says while slowly shutting the book and placing it beside himself. 

"Good morning," I respond, a sleepy smile spread across my face. Harry reaches over and brushes a curl back; a shiver starts from where he touched me and races down to the bottom of my spine. 

"How'd you sleep?" he asks, and I curl up next to him before responding and saying like a baby. Harry lets out a small laugh and wraps his arm around me. Pressing my nose against his neck, I notice that he now smells like a mix of my fabric softener and warm cologne. The thought of him smelling a bit like me makes me smile. 

"What should we do today?" he asks as he rubs lazy circles into my back. I think for a moment debating on whether or not just to forgo studying all together today to spend my time with him or actually being responsible and passing my finals. 

"I sadly do have to study for a bit if I want to do good on my finals, but maybe we could do something this morning, and then I can just spend the afternoon studying," I respond, my voice rising into a question at the end. 

He nods before throwing the blankets off of us and jumping out of bed. 

"Alright then, I have an idea of something we can do, but it requires you to get dressed like right now." I follow his lead and hop out of bed too and head for my closet. 

"Is there a certain way I should dress or ...?" he gives a shake of his head and responds, dress warmly before he starts putting on his clothes from the night before. I throw on some jeans and a jumper before reaching for some socks. Going into the bathroom, I quickly brush my teeth, and Harry follows suit and starts to brush his teeth as well. 

I try not to laugh too much as he keeps bumping his hip with mine and pretends to have a full conversation with me with his toothbrush in his mouth.  We go back out to my room and grab our coats before heading to the living room and leaving. 

Harry blasts the heat in his car as he turns it on, and I rub my hands together to try and regain some of the warmth from the apartment. Harry begins to pull out onto the road, and as he does, I gaze out the window, taking in the snow falling from the sky. It looks as though the chunks from the clouds themselves are falling down, and for a moment, I'm transported back to my childhood, remembering the days when I would run outside when it would snow like this and try to catch every single snowflake that fell onto my tongue. 

I'm brought back to the current conversation when Harry rests his right hand on my thigh as he drives with his left. We drive for about fifteen minutes before Harry pulls into a small parking lot, a restaurant connected to it on the right. I lean forward and read the rusting sign Mar's Bed and Breakfast. 

"Have you been here before?" I ask him, brow raised, seeing that there's only one other car in the parking lot beside ours. 

"I swear on my life that they have the best pancakes I have ever had, and trust me, I've had a lot." 

A laugh escapes my lips as he turns the ignition off and opens his door to head inside. I follow suit and head for the restaurant too. A small ding can be heard as we step inside, and looking up, I see a bell above the door, altering everyone inside of our presence, but that just happens to be an elderly couple sitting in a booth towards the back.

"Well, I was wondering when the next time I was gonna see you would be Harry," an older woman says to us, and I presume her to be "Mar." 

"Evelyn meet Mar, Mar, this is Evelyn," Harry says, a pink tint on his cheeks that I don't think is from the cold.