Deception

Chapter 18: Swept By the Tempest of Your Love

It must be about ten at night when I hear a knock on the door. I feel as if I have been sucked into an infinite slumber but somehow I manage to rise from the bed and walk to the door. I don't hesitate opening it because somehow, I already know who it is.

"I told you to go back to your dorm." He grimaces. He looks so frustrated, delirious almost. I realize I am in my underwear and a tee but I don't bother covering my bare legs, I am too tired for that.

"I went here instead."

"Well, you shouldn't have." He mutters angrily and bumps pass me into the room. I close the door behind him and sigh, rubbing my forehead.

"You worried me. I went there and no one was in the room, not even Joana." He sighs, crossing his arms and giving me a hard look.

"I'm sorry." I whisper sincerely but he shakes his head.

"You're tired. Go back to bed." His eyes soften in the darkness. I nod and walk over to the bed and lift the sheets, slipping under. Harry stands there watching me with such an intense stare that I wonder what he's thinking.

"You don't have to stand." I whisper, snuggling deeper into the sheets.

"I want to make sure you fall asleep alright." He says.

"I'll be fine."

"You have nightmares." He states and my eyes slightly widen.

"How..."

"Who else would stay up siting on a balcony in the middle of the night?" he slightly smiles as if he knows it all. I hope he doesn't.

"They come occasionally, nothing too big." I lie.

"You are a terrible liar." He whispers, stepping closer to my bed.

"And you are an asshole." I smile and he rolls his eyes.

"I hope I am more than just an asshole to you, Charlie." He whispers and my heart freezes for a moment. What am I doing? I have this boy who frightens the fuck out of me, standing two feet from my bed in an isolated bedroom. He could... he could do anything.

But he wont.

He can't...he can't do that to me.

As I am thinking, Harry pulls a beanie out from his jacket pocket and slips it on. "You go to sleep and I will be here when you wake up and we can go to class okay?"

I nod and watch him walk to the door, and then he pauses.

"You can stay, if you want." I whisper, regretting the words as they spill out of my mouth like some sort of stampede.

He turns around to face me and his eyes have blackened. "I frighten you." He says bluntly.

"Yes, but you can stay." I keep firing.

He looks around the room hesitantly and then back at me. His eyes study my face and lock with my eyes while he chest slowly rises and falls.

"Harry?" I whisper, wondering what he is thinking.

"Yes Charlie?"

"Stay." This time I demand it, not in the mood for a NO. He nods slowly and walks over to the bed, slipping off his shoes. He removes his coat and then his shirt. My eyes follow the lines down his stomach, the toned muscle of his one tatted arm. The way his v-lines glow in the darkness.

"You're staring." He says, pausing at the buckle of his jeans.

"You stare at me all of the time." I whisper shyly.