Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1

Chapter 27

Finley

I watch Harlyn sleep for a while, pulling back just a bit so I can see his face. It's gone all soft, and it makes me happy seeing him so relaxed after how stressed he's been the last week. I stay in his bed until I'm sure he's asleep enough that I won't wake him by pulling myself from his arms. Thankfully, he stays asleep, and I hope he sleeps well tonight. He needs it. When I get back to my bed, I resist the urge to pull out my phone again. Instead, I bury myself in the blankets and try to sleep.

I'm woken up early the next morning by Harlyn, who's squatting next to the bed and smiling.

"Morning?" I say.

"Morning," he says, voice gravelly. "Max is already in the shower. We should probably also shower soon if we want food."

"Oh, right." I prop myself on my elbows, blinking the sleep from my eyes. "Did you sleep ok?"

He smiles softly at me. "I did. Thanks to you, I think."

"Oh, I didn't do anything."

"You did," he says. "Just by being you."

I scoff. "It's too early to be sappy."

"Never too early to be sappy." He gives me a peck and gets up, wandering over to his duffel bag.

I pull my phone out and find a text waiting from Mom. But when I swipe my phone open, it lands on what I was looking at last night - what I've been looking at since I got it on Thursday - the email from ISU saying that they received my application. I submitted it the night I talked to my parents, still mostly in an anxiety haze and needing to do something about it. It helped for a bit, but now I'm second guessing literally everything.

Now that we're in France, I don't feel the same pull that I've gotten from England for months now. So maybe it is England and not just the desire to get away. But then there's Harlyn. He doesn't know I submitted the application. I can't seem to find the words to tell him, mostly because he's now part of the craziness going on in my head. Is he skewing my choices now? But it's not just him, either. I thought about moving to England long before I thought there was even a chance to be with him. This is just a cherry on top.

I shake my head and throw my legs over the side of the bed. These thoughts have been running circles in my head for days now. I'm here to enjoy Paris with the boy I like and my best friend. I can do that. And then I switch to Mom's text.

Mom:

I'd like to call you when you get back from Paris. Talk about next year.

I bite the inside of my cheek. Of course, she does.

"Everything ok?" Harlyn asks, staring at me with his head tilted to one side.

"What? Oh, yeah." I turn my phone off and shove it back under my pillow. "Just...my mom."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she...wants to call when we get back from Paris and...talk. Pretty sure I know what that means. She's going to fake apologize and then just say the same thing again, everything she and dad said the other day." I rub my face, trying to keep the thoughts from taking over again. "I don't know if I can deal with that."

He sets his pile of clothes and toiletries on his bed and squats in front of me again. "Then say no." A stroke of actual fear cuts through my entire body. It's silly. I shouldn't be afraid of my parents. I'm an adult. I don't need to listen to anything they say. But the thought of outright saying no to my mother... Harlyn must see the panic in my eyes, because he grabs my hand and tucks my hair behind my ear. "You can say no, Finley."