That Summer Feeling: SUMMER 4EVER [H.S.]

55. Waiting On That Sunshine

My initial reaction is to get angry. Finding out that the attractive woman who lives across from Harry left her underwear in his apartment confuses the shit out of me and makes me feel like an idiot for wearing his t-shirt and lip marks over my body while I talked to her, and above all, it makes me angry.

But I can't justify lashing out at her or Harry when I didn't know the full context. So I was forced to keep it all inside, just until I can sit down and hear her out. Then I can decide what to make of it.

I head back to the living room after putting on a pair of my sweatpants. I didn't want to have a conversation with a stranger whose underwear I just unknowingly had behind my back while half-naked. It's not like it would make this situation any less weird or awkward but still, I should be fully clothed. And I made sure to put on my sweatpants other than his clothes because temporarily I'm angry at him.

I think subconsciously putting on more clothes would contain more of my anger. It would make me less vulnerable than I already feel. Not nearly as vulnerable as I would be if I was sitting opposite my neighbor's girlfriend after picking up my underwear from his house but yes, vulnerable. And angry.

Sage is sitting on Harry's velvet yellow couch, keeping her hands wrapped around her lap like she didn't know where else to put them while she waited for me. She had already retrieved the two things she left here after she offered to give me an explanation for them. I didn't think I had another choice but to awkwardly invite her inside and take her offer. I hope I don't end up regretting this. And I hope the churning in my stomach goes away too.

"I know how this must look," Sage says after a dreadful moment of silence stretched out between us. "But I swear to you, nothing happened."

I'm forced to look at her straight teeth and perfectly applied makeup and the gorgeous blend of blonde hair that she maintains using that purple shampoo that was sitting in between Harry's body soap and conditioner that I love and have used before while I wait for a further explanation. This makes me angrier.

"Absolutely nothing happened between me and Harry."

While it's relieving to hear this, I can't immediately trust her. I know nothing about her. I didn't even know she existed until I saw her name pop up on his phone. All I knew is that her underwear and her shampoo were in my boyfriend's bathroom. I also knew I needed to hear Harry's side of this. He'll probably be back soon. I wondered if it would be while she was still here.

"Um, sorry, I don't know where to start," she speaks again after she took another pause. "This situation is pretty unique, hey?"

I silently nod. Unique is one way to put it.

"Right, so," she quietly sighs. "So I used his shower last night."

You have to be fucking kidding me.

She must have sensed the steam coming out of my ears because she immediately cringes. "No, not like that. Well, I did, but no one was home. Shit, that doesn't sound right either."

"No, it doesn't."

"Right, let me backtrack." She exhales. "The past week the water in my flat has been shit. It's the pipes or summat, I don't know the correct terminology. I just know we haven't had hot water and our shower doesn't work properly. Our landlord has been on holiday so he's been shit at replaying. He's sort of arse but that's a whole different story."

I hold back a smile recalling the multiple times I've heard Harry complain and call his landlord that and worse names last year.

"Someone was supposed to come to fix it multiple times but we've had the shittiest luck with mine and my partner's schedule. We've had so much back and forth and even tried fixing it ourselves. We used the shower at our gym, which is nice to have but it's nearly half an hour's train ride from here. Well, anyway, it's going to be fixed tomorrow morning for sure."