Office Hours |h.s|

forty seven

Maude

For a second I forget where I am when I wake up, but when I hear his soft hum it all comes flooding back. The gala, Harry, the sex.

All those thoughts and memories fade away for a second though, when I feel Harry's lips peppering the softest kisses against my shoulders, trailing up my neck to my ear. I cuddle further into him, holding his forearm as he draws me in closer.

"Good morning, love. Missed having you in my bed." He mumbles, his morning voice deep and raspy. It sends butterflies throughout my body and I can't stop myself from smiling.

"Morning. And I know you're a liar, you always complain about how much I move around." I mutter back, giggling as he tickles my side. He chuckles softly into my ear, wrapping a leg around me to make sure I can't escape.

He finally lets up on tickling me. "I'd take you moving around all night over sleeping in an empty bed any day." I smile softly over my shoulder toward him, kissing him the best I can in this position.

When I pull away, I squeeze his hand that's holding me to him. "I love you." I whisper to him. It feels so good to be able to say that to him now. He smiles wistfully, still not used to hearing those words from my mouth.

"I love you, too." He hums, nudging his nose against my cheek. "Want breakfast? I'll make you whatever your heart desires."

I hum with a smirk, turning in his arms to face him better. "No breakfast yet. Did you really think we would just wake up in bed together and I wouldn't want to maybe, I don't know, talk about our relationship?" I half tease, but in reality we do need to talk about the break up. Things can't just go back to normal because we say we love each other and had sex.

He sighs dramatically, propping himself up on his hand as he looks down at me. "I guess you have a point. But I could make you some mean eggs and bacon with toast. I could also fuck you really good, that's always an option." He jokes, but when he sees the more serious look on my face, he gets serious too. "We're talking." He agrees.

I smile a bit, pecking his lips. "Thank you. And I'll take you up on the food and sex after we talk if it goes well."

"It'll go well." He flashes a smile back, but I can tell he looks nervous that I'll want to stay broken up. And I don't want that for us, but if he's not going to make changes and put us first, I can't stay.

We're quiet for a minute, trying to bask in the moment of being together again. Finally I work up the nerve to lead the conversation. "You went to the event with her."

He sighs, gently running his thumb over my shoulder. "I did. It was stupid, I'll admit, but I was desperate to make a big gesture and see you again. I figured if I went to your dad's gala even though they hate me, maybe it would show you that I was serious about us. She was my only way in and I made sure to tell her over and over we were just friends."

I nod once, biting my lip. "Did you tell her you're just friends or did you tell her you don't feel the same way she does?"

He's quiet, telling me everything I need to know but I wait to see if he'll lie to me or not. "I told her we're just friends. I wasn't planning on seeing her again after the gala, but I will make sure the first thing tomorrow when I get to my office at the university I will tell her I don't feel the same way she does. I'll tell her I'm seeing someone, too."

It's not exactly what I want to hear, but it's progress. I just wish he didn't wait for my permission to tell all this to Juliet. I wish he would just do it because he loves me. But in a way I understand his hesitation because he cares about other people's feelings, especially when it comes to people he's formed close bonds with. There's no denying that Juliet was a good friend to him in a time when he needed his friends to rally around him.