The Flat

16

"So you do what again?" Harry's voice echoed from the living room. He was interviewing roommates. I'd offered to help, but he insisted he wanted to do it on his own. He was the one who would have to live with them after all. I heard a mumbled response and a tell-tale sigh from Harry. He had been having rotten luck.

As the interview wrapped up, I continued to pack my boxes. Aaron had offered to pay all the costs and let me stay with him in the meantime. I only came to the flat to meet with the landlord and pack my belongings.

Later that night, I began to move the boxes out of my room and into the hallway for the movers. Harry sat in the living room, watching me struggle.

After I nearly dropped a box on my foot, he finally said, "Do you need help?"

"No." I replied, pushing a box of books across the floor.

I felt his eyes on me while I loaded box after box into the hall. After awhile, I decided on a break, bending over a box to plug in my phone. As I searched the wall for the outlet, I felt Harry behind me. He ran a finger on the skin between my shorts and my shirt, prompting me to straighten up.

"Are you fucking serious, Harry?!" I snapped and whirled around to face him.

"Honestly, I can't help it," he grinned, "Your arse is perfect."

I frowned at him. He refused to back away, instead leaning into me, putting his hands on either side of my body and backing me against the wall.

"Stop it," I said, holding my ground, "That's how this whole mess got started. Neither of us could keep it where it belongs." I gestured to our crotches.

"Really, Vivian?" he whispered as he tried to kiss me. I turned away and slid away from him on the wall.

"Yes, Harry," I said and sat on a box, watching my phone charge. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair.

"So," he started, "That was all it was. Sex?"

"Yes," I quipped, "Great sex, but just sex." I added, refusing to look at him. I felt him perch on a box next to me but I continued ignoring him.

"Vivian, look at me, please," I put my phone down and glared at him. He flinched, but continued, "Can't you see what you do to me? What you've done to me? I feel like its so obvious."

"What's obvious Harry?" I asked, genuinely confused. I rarely saw him like this. His eyes were soft, his body was hunched almost like he was afraid that I was going to hurt him. I lessened my glare. "I'm listening," I said, letting myself open up to him.

"I want you," he confessed.

"What?" I asked, I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"I want to be with you and only you," he said simply, I could feel those words pierce my heart. I looked away.

"Why?" I mumbled.

"I don't know why. But I do." He said as he searched for my face, "You have to look at me Vivian, I can't say this to your back."

Carefully, I looked back at him and asked, "What happened to friends with benefits? And not doing relationships?"

"I knew you wouldn't leave Aaron for me. You'd never date a guy like me. So, if sex was the only way I could have you, I'd take it." He looked heartbroken.

"Harry," I said as I let my hand rest against his, "if you felt that way you shouldn't have done that. You should have just asked me out."

"You're intimidating, you're hot and smart—" he rambled as he interlocked his fingers with mine, content that I was letting him touch me.