KEEP DRIVING - H.S

Chapter 42

May 4 2022, Edmonton

"NOTHING IS WRONG," Alliah insisted, pushing Harry further and further away.

Deep down, she knew it was wrong. She knew with every white lie he told him, she crossed another invisible line.

She knew that her heart was a dam, and water was building. When the time came for her to blow, the shrapnel would rip through Harry's heart.

But that was deep down.

On the surface, she told lie after lie, all of them small, hoping to protect him- maintain his peace. But eventually the small cost of keeping him safe would accumulate into a total with a price Alliah couldn't afford to pay.

"Ali, you keep getting into arguments with management, you're stressed all the time-"

"Stress is a normal part of my life. I have anxiety, remember?"

"But not this way!" Harry scoffed in indignation. "Love, you should know better than to keep secrets from me."

Alliah shifted her weight, eyes firmly on the ground.

A pit began to form in her stomach, and the temptation to reach out and let Harry give her a helping hand was right there.

"It's nothing."

Harry blinked, his expression blank and cold as he stared at her. Alliah felt his stare like a slap in the face, stinging in all the wrong places.

He always looked at her like she was the stars, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, and sometimes just out of sight, but always a constant. He looked at her like she was a universe he was looking to explore, a faraway daydream he longed to live.

But right now, he was looking at her like she was a stranger.

Just another person he stumbled onto, crossing paths for a moment and continuing on, your life the absolute same- those two seconds of shared experience locked in the back of your mind, unimportant and unacknowledged.

Harry shook his head, rubbing his face with his hands. "Love... you should know better."

Not another word was spoken, and he rose from his place on the bed of their shared hotel room, grabbing his coat and phone, ready to leave.

Harry hesitated for a few moments, looking expectantly at Alliah, almost as if asking her to beg him to stay. But she was frozen in place.

He would be better of without her.

Without her drama and controversies, without her manager, without her depression and anxiety, without the three am calls, without all the luggage she'd carried into his heart.

Without her.

Without her, he would be happy.

Harry turned, body tense with tears he was barely holding back. His fingers reached out, delicate and soft, grasping the doorhandle and beginning the twist of his wrist.

Without Alliah, Harry could be happy.

But Alliah didn't want to be happy without Harry.