Intent [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 9

Emma

"Get out!" I scream pointing to the door staring down at the 6ft tall bookcase they have manage to bring the the floor. My blood is absolutely boiling I just cannot believe how this night turned out. Looking up at them they all seem perplexed by my simple request.

"I mean it, if you don't live here get the fuck out..." They still look at me mouths agape, honestly how did they get into this school?

"Now!" They finally, and lucky for them, get the message as the first and second years scurry out the door or down the hall or up the stairs to where they belong.

Honestly I still don't know why I allow myself to continue living here sometimes. Ya, I love being here and running this house but then there are fuck ups like tonight, when I let the party go to late, end up with broken glass all over the floor, and I regret my life choices and want to just turn my world upside down and start again.

Then again this job is isn't all bad, sure it is a pain in the ass sometimes, and this feeling is especially prominent as I stand stock still watching students leave the house. I suddenly remember that on the best days I love it. The privacy, the power, and authority it brings me, this job is honestly a dream.

Finally alone with the mess that is the bookcase I grab the dustpan, brush, and bin and begin picking up the glass that now covers the floor and no matter how hard I try I still manage to cut the bottom of my feet, just another thing I need to clean up later.

As the dust settles, broken glass off the floor, music off, and students in their rooms the only thing I have any energy to do is fantasize how I am going to get all my lovely borders back for this. I must say it is fun planning on the torture I am gonna ensu on those living here. Making them clean up early tomorrow morning will be my own kind of perfect reward for throwing such a good party that they were drawn to breaking university property.

Once I am sure everyone's out or in their room and I head to bed, my little oasis from this shit storm of a night.

My room is very un-Oxford for being an university living space. It's white and bright with large windows overlooking the courtyard and polo field, trees lining the pathway below. I nabbed it second term in my first year. This being my last year here is bittersweet but tonight I'm just thankful to get through another of these sometimes raucous first year welcome parties.

I finally find momentary relief as I plop down on my bed and snuggle into the pillows on my bed. My thoughts suddenly go to the moment I had with Harry just a little while ago throwing off my sense of calm and serenity. I have never felt so attuned with someone else's body as I was with his and he was only leaning against me. I don't know about him but when I realized it was infact Harry that pulled me into the room I became simultaneously calm and nervous standing with him, his hands pressed into my hips, musky cologne filling our air, lips intolerably close to my own.

Harry, from the outside perspective, is really the perfect catch. He is intelligent, talented, kind, generous, not to mention unbelievably attractive. Sure he was covered in tattoos which I don't normally find attractive in any way but on him? God it is like that black ink is meant to be on him, they just suited him like no other I had ever scene. It might be because each one has meaning, a story behind them making them deep and matter to him. He is deep and emotional that way, sensitive to the people around him. Really the kindest guy you'll ever meet while also being the cheeky charming womanizer he is to the people who know him best. Haz is this mix of beautiful contradictions that just drew everyone in.

I don't know how long I have been thinking about him when I hear a tap on my window. It is only now that I realize I have no idea where Harry ran off to after I left the tight accommodations of the pantry downstairs.