skinny || h.s. au [Rewrite Now Up!]

twentyeight

Harry stayed by the fire with his elbows on his knees. Marley sat by the lake with her legs up to her chest.

Their loud argument obviously woke everyone up. And after a few minutes, Xander yawned and sat next to Harry on the log.

Tried to talk him into going after her.

"She doesn't want to see me right now," Harry insists, "you didn't hear what she said."

"Actually, I think everyone heard." Xander tries not to laugh. "You guys were yelling."

"She yelled first. I don't understand why she got so pissed." Harry says in aggravation. "All I did was kiss her."

"Maybe she doesn't like you." He says.

But Harry knows that isn't it. If it is, he can already feel the ghost of the pain that would settle over his chest. "I've kissed her before. And this hardly even counted. It was like, on her neck."

"Steamy."

"Can you be serious?" The boy with the troubled kind of green eyes snaps. Because he can't stop running his hands through his hair and bouncing his leg in aggravation.

"Sorry." Xander puts his hands up in surrender. "If you ask me, you should just go apologize. Girls like it when you take the blame for a fight."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"You basically told her to leave, bro. You hurt her feelings." He says. "She seems like a pretty shy and closed off person but for some stupid reason she likes you. If you don't go fix this now, she could shut you out, too. And it's damn obvious you're crazy about her so be a man and go say you're sorry for getting angry and saying stupid shit you didn't mean."

Harry sighs. Because his friend is right. And he's kind of pissed about it.

Maria is always one to speak her mind.

And she has no problem doing so even as her constant companion is broken like cheap glass and fake flowers on the floor of her kitchen. Maria is a sadist at heart, purely enjoying other people's pain for the sake of her enjoyment.

This is why we don't get close to people. They do nothing but hurt others. And you're an idiot for not listening to me! This wouldn't have happened if you had just listened!

Marley stopped trying to see through her teary eyes a while ago. Her forehead found its place on the tops of her knees. With her arms wrapped around her legs.

The wind blows harshly at her in gusts that feel like they're trying to push her over. And each time she thinks she might just crumble and be taken away with the breeze.

Marley hates this feeling. She hates feeling fragile. But sometimes you just can't help it.

"Marr..." His voice is soft. She didn't hear him walk up.

Marley lifts her head from her knees and quickly wipes at her eyes. Harry is still behind her but she refuses to turn around. Just looks out over the water. "What?"

"I didn't mean what I said." The words slip out in a sigh. Harry sits down next to her on the dock. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't." She says. "Just don't."   

Mere hours before, Marley and Harry were sitting in the same place. But now it's as if that were days ago. There's holes in their chests from the sharp words they threw at each other. The sky is too bright and only getting brighter as it gleams in their faces a morning orange glare, casting too much light on their own insecurities. The morning fog is thick with the words they can't force back down their throats no matter how many times they swallow.