Cold Truths | H.S.

15

I left first thing in the morning once I woke up. I managed to slip downstairs and out the door without Harry noticing. He wasn't on the couch where I'd left him so I assumed he had finally made his way upstairs and was still asleep. I knew I had a lot of explaining to do for Caroline, so on the way back to her apartment I tried to make up an elaborate story in my head. One that didn't include a certain underground fighters apartment that I showed up to to make sure he didn't jump off his balcony while he was coked out. A plan that didn't involve him in any way at all.

"Wait...say that again?" She asked leaning forward closer to me on the couch.

"I spent the night at Chris's last night. We've been seeing each other..." I lied.

"You sneaky bitch!" She whined playfully hitting my shoulder.

"I thought you were done with him after your last date." She pressed.

I was, but only because of all of the horrible shit I had gotten into. I hadn't heard from him since.

"It's nothing serious we're just sleeping together." I shrugged as I took a sip from my coffee cup.

I paused and looked at her to gather her expression. So far she seemed to be believing it.

"Um-I'm actually gonna meet up with him tonight too. Don't wait up for me or anything. Probably won't be back till the morning before work." I added before getting up to put my mug in the sink.

"Ok, well be safe, use protection!" She called out as she escaped into her room to get ready for the day.

Shortly, I did the same and began getting ready for work. I had scheduled my day so I would have no late meetings or anything unnecessary come up before the fight tonight.  I wasn't as nervous for tonight as I was last week. There was still that same pit in my stomach that I hadn't seemed to go away lately. I hadn't witnessed the actual fight that night so I was still nervous about that but I was slightly more at ease knowing that I had interacted with these people before.

I managed to ignore the pit in my stomach mostly all day but on the subway ride back to Caroline's apartment, it reappeared, and was even harder to ignore at this point. When I returned to the apartment I instantly made my self dinner and ate as much as I could stomach before deciding to lay in bed and read for a bit. I had barely had any time to myself in the past few weeks and it felt nice to just unwind and escape into a book for a few hours. My phone buzzed snapping me out of the page I was reading. When bookmarked the page and replaced the book in my hand with my phone, I saw 3 missed messages from Harry.

Harry 7:45
I'm picking you up at 9

Harry 8:00
Hello

Harry 8:05
Will you fucking answer????

I looked down seeing it was now 8:07. Jeez someone clearly didn't get enough sleep last night.

8:07
Okay. I've been staying at my friends place. 3423 W 7th.

I simply responded and placed my phone back on the charger and slipped out of bed. I didn't even question the time considering last time he picked me up at 10. I shrugged it off and began getting ready for the night. I settled on the same small skirt that I wore last time but a more modest top that didn't show my cleavage this time. I really wasn't in the mood to be catcalled today, even though I'm sure this wouldn't stop them.

I finished my makeup at around 8:45 and was sitting in the living room playing with the hem of my skirt until my phone buzzed again around 8:50. I opened the message from Harry which simply said—Here.