Red Volkswagen || h.s.

I'm Only Me When I'm With You

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well, you drive me crazy half the time, the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true

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BROOKLYN'S POV

Two days have passed. Since I met Harry, specifically.

I kept my promise to Stevie a couple days ago and came into the cafe early and stayed all day, and despite her telling me to go have fun, I stuck around and made several mean lattes and wiped a lot of tables.

Harry did end up coming in, and he simply sat at one of the tables practically all day and just did his own thing. At certain points I saw him writing stuff down in a little journal, he brought his guitar inside, he sat at the piano, and I saw him reading. So it's safe to say he was occupied, and it was kind of fun to just watch him in his element. It was kind of...cute.

It's weird though, because I've been at the cafe almost all day today but Harry hasn't come in once. I haven't seen him at all today, actually. It's almost eight-thirty so closing time is approaching, and I'm secretly hoping he'll at least pop in to say hello.

I sort of...miss him.

When you suddenly spend a lot of time with someone, the thrill of having a new friend and someone new to talk to makes you excited to see them all the time. At least that's what it does to me. So now that all my skepticism and confusion about him has passed, I really like hanging out with him. A lot. So when he doesn't show up all day, I start to wonder why.

Maybe this is what I was worried about. Why I was so insistent to Devin, Reagan, and Hadley that I wasn't sure about this guy at all. I was worried that he would suddenly realize what the hell he was doing, that he was in a small town with a nobody and realized he had better things to do. The red Volkswagen bus I've been watching for all day is probably halfway to Los Angeles by now.

I guess that's the reality of it. That's why I was so insistent that absolutely nothing would happen between us because I'm just me and he's–

I whip my head to the door when I hear the jingle of the bell.

He's here.

Oh thank god.

Except, he looks exhausted.

"Hey." I say softly from the other side of the cafe, dropping my rag on the table I was cleaning as he comes into the room with a solemn look on his face. When he hears me and finds me in the room, he starts walking towards me. "Where have you–"

He hugs me.

This is the first time he's ever hugged me. He doesn't say anything or make any sudden movements. He simply wraps his arms around my waist and hugs me. I freeze, but only for a moment before I carefully wrap my own arms around his shoulders.

I have no idea where this is coming from.

When I fully wrap my arms around his shoulders, he squeezes my waist a little tighter. I don't say anything as we simply stand here in the quiet of the cafe, hugging. Hugging someone I've known for four days like my life depends on it.

I don't release him first, or at all– I wait until he makes the first move. And he doesn't for what feels like a long time, but after probably about a minute, I feel his arms loosen.

"Sorry." Is the first word I hear him speak all day. Weakly, too.

"You're fine." I say softly as my brow furrows. "What's wrong?"