Nightmare {h.s | au}

1.36

I saw him Monday in the same place as always in homeroom. He hadn't come to the middle school this morning to work on the mural. It was fine by me. There was a lot that got done without him distracting me all the time. But, it wasn't fine because he looked like he hadn't slept last night and there was a nasty bruise forming on his jaw.

Harry gave me a forced smile as his sorry excuse for a hello, and that was the moment I knew things weren't what they once were. If anything, Harry and I were no more. I wondered if I could actually handle that, but I knew I couldn't. Harry had dug his own hole finding and trying to keep me.

"Eden, what are you doing after school?" I looked away from Harry to see Nicky and Angelina staring at me expectantly.

"I'm hanging out with Harry," I said even though I knew I'd only get fifteen minutes of his time.

"You're missing practice?" Reece asked, tugging at Harry's shoulder.

I saw the hesitation in his green eyes before he decided. "Yeah...I've got to go to an appointment and Eden's taking me."

Relief flooded through me, but I saw the exact opposite in Harry. If anything, he was a bit tenser than he was when I had sat down next to him this morning. This needed to be settled. I couldn't be angry at Harry and he was only doing what he thought was right, I'm sure of it.

"Does coach know?" Bennett asked.

"Yeah, it's just with the chiropractor, so he was cool with it. Said I needed to be in good shape to play worth a damn," Harry responded before shifting around in his seat. There were papers on his desktop that I hadn't seen before, and it looked as though he was incredibly busy with them. I tried not to bother him again as I turned around to chat with everyone behind me.

This felt like the Eden I used to be – the one who talked amongst her peers as if nothing were wrong. And, it felt good, natural even. I wondered how long it would last or what would come in to break it all up. Would it be my confession to Harry or my own undoing?

I was starting to be phenomenal at ruining my own happiness.

*

I stood outside under the afternoon sun as the breeze pulled my hair away from my face. It soared through the loops in my sweater and the holes in my jeans. Today was just a day I hadn't been able to give one single shit about how I'd dressed. I was pretty sure Dad wasn't too happy with how I'd dressed either, but he had kept his mouth shut this morning.

Minutes had passed since the last bell of the school day had rang, but still there was no sight of the curly haired brit. I could only stand out here, leaning against his car for so long before I'd either grow impatient or give up on the cool wind talking of falling leaves and oncoming snow.

"Sorry I'm late." I looked away from the front doors of the school to my right to see him standing there in all of his glory. His cheeks were tinged pink as he breathed deeply from obvious exercise.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

"Just a class. It doesn't matter," he replied without an ounce of care.

I walked around to get in his car only to come up short. There were blankets in the backseat all tangled up as if he'd slept in here last night. This would explain why it looked like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. God, how long had he been doing this? Was it my fault?

"You slept in here?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."