Evening the Score // Book One

Chapter 33

The silence in Elena's house was deafening. No matter what time of day it was, being alone in that house only served to remind her of Harry. Around every corner there seemed to be some memory of him. She couldn't escape.

And she didn't want to.

Chrissy had come over to stay a couple times, knowing that Elena was having a hard time being alone. But Elena couldn't ask her to keep doing that. Chrissy had her dad and the house and school and she needed to focus on those things.

Most nights, Elena slept in the guest bedroom. Harry's pictures still dotted the walls, his art installation was still her most prized possession. It was the only thing keeping her connected to him since he'd gone radio silent since she left his mother's house in London a week ago.

She must have stared at the screen of her phone for hours at a time. She debated on calling him only to talk herself out of it. If he was disappointed in her still, she couldn't handle hearing that in his voice. So she moved to texting him only to talk herself out of that. Knowing if she saw the Read receipt come up with no response, it would break her heart. She knew emailing him was a lost cause, his email was like the Bermuda Triangle.

So this room, these pictures, this place where he'd worked so hard just to make sure she kept a smile on her face...this was the only connection she had left.

That and the hoodie she'd stolen from him all those months ago in the studio. It still smelled like him.

Elena's insistence that she wasn't good at relationships was only further solidified by the fact that she could not gain any footing in her emotional state since leaving London. One moment she was fine. She went to practice, focused on her craft and she was what everyone expected Elena Bennett to be. But then she came home to the silence and it was all she could do to drag herself out of bed. She couldn't remember the last time she ate a decent meal that hadn't been provided for her by the team.

This was her heart breaking.

All she could feel was the coldness of his words when he seethed at her in front of his whole family. All she could see was the hurt on his face when she said she was leaving. It followed her everywhere, mostly at night, behind her eyelids when they closed.

Elena never expected they would end up in this spot. Not after where they'd come from. The quickness of their relationship, the comfort she felt in just a few short days, the insane pull towards him was all exciting and new and she loved every minute of it.

But this, this was a crash of epic proportions. The equivalent of coming off of a sugar high the likes of which she'd never known.

Some days her chest felt tight and she was sure the tears would stick around forever. But they would pass, giving her only a moment's rest from the intense pain that flooded her whole body whenever she thought of just how badly she'd hurt him.

He was right. His chosen form of expressing his anger might have been a little harsh, but there was nothing he'd said that wasn't true. She had pushed him to the side in order to focus on the fight for her team. She had missed cues and stopped asking questions like "Do you need anything?" and "Are you ok?". Such simple things that would have made a world of difference between them.

Knowing that she'd caused him any kind of pain was suffocating.

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Harry followed Jeff into his office building, glancing back one last time to wave at the crowd of female fans waiting outside. He smiled when they squealed with delight and pounded on the windows. Jeff shook his head,