This Love

Chapter 56

SETH PARKER

Three Years Ago

Walking into Harry's apartment, the first thing I noticed was the smell of spoiling food in combination with beer and weed. There was an old pizza box on the counter and a tipped-over fast food bag on the coffee table, and empty bottles scattered about the place.

"Harry?" I hesitantly called out.

When I didn't get a response, I trod lightly down the hall to his room and opened the door to see him laying on top of his duvet with his jeans and shoes on, but no shirt. His head was resting straight on the mattress rather than on a pillow, and his blackout curtains were drawn. The only reason he even had those curtains was because Scarlett hated being woken up by the sun, but she wasn't there to wake up with him at all anymore.

"H?" I walked around the foot of his bed to see him still passed out cold.

Rather than waking him up when it seemed like he clearly needed the sleep, I left him alone in his room and went back out to start cleaning his small living room. Taking the trash out helped the rotting smell a bit, but I had to open the windows to really make a difference.

After doing all his dishes, I quietly moved about his room to get the empty bottles and pick up his dirty laundry to throw in his hamper. As long as I had lived with Harry in school, he rarely even left his shoes out. That's how I knew this was bad.

"You don't have to do that," he muttered, startling me slightly as I turned to see him lifting his head from the mattress and rubbing his eyes.

"Dude, I feel for you, but you've gotta get out of this apartment already," I tossed the last pair of jeans in the basket and pulled back one side of the curtains to partially let the sun in.

"Have you heard from her?" He responded, making me feel even worse about the situation.

"Not really," I told the truth. "She's been spending a lot of time with Emma."

He nodded with tired, borderline lifeless eyes. "Is she seeing anyone?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea, but I doubt it. You've only been broken up for a week."

He forced some kind of laugh as he laid his head back down and turned it away from me. "We can't be broken up. We never fucking dated."

I winced at the sad truth in that statement, internally cursing my sister for being so heartless. "She just has commitment issues, dude. I told you that from the start."

"I love her," he exhaled, almost cutting me off like he wasn't listening to my excuse anyway. "I'm so in love with her."

"Yeah, but...there's other fish in the sea, right?" I coughed a laugh. "Just gotta get out of bed and shower to find them."

"It has to be her," he muttered softer like he was falling back to sleep. "I don't want anyone but her. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my fucking life than be with someone who isn't her."

That would have been the time for me to remind him that I already told him this would happen, but I wasn't about to do that to my best friend. The problem was, I really couldn't trash talk Scarlett to try and make him feel better like I would if she was someone else.