Redemption [h.s]

twelve

I stared at him, not really knowing what to reply to something like that.

"I won't" I whispered after a while.

He reached out for my hand. "Come inside."

I let his fingers intertwine with mine as I stepped into his house. The entrance was bare, as I had previously noticed. Not a picture was hanging on those white walls, no table or clothes hanger was between them. It was as if he hadn't even tried to make his house look homey. As if he didn't even care.

He closed the door swiftly. "Stay here, please" he said, as he saw me walking towards the living room.

I complied, and leaned against the bare wall.

He came up in front of me, putting his hands on the wall, on each side of my head, unintentionally trapping me.

I looked up at him. He was looking straight at me, as if he was just waiting for me to make eye contact.

"I like you" he said.

I held my breath for a second. "You barely know me."

"I don't need to, to like you" he replied. His voice had gone down to a lower tone, as if he were whispering a secret. "I know you'd never want someone like me. But I still like you."

I didn't know what to say. I searched for some kind of answer in his eyes, but it was almost too dark to see anything, let alone the green shades I knew his irises held by then. "I wonder how you'd know that. You barely know me, how could you possibly know that I'd never want you?"

"I just do" he whispered back, leaning towards me a little more.

"Go to sleep Harry, you're tired" I told him, gently freeing myself from his hold by taking one of his hands into mine. It was cold. I held it tighter, hoping to warm it up somehow. "Do you need help?"

He shook his head and slowly walked me to his door, his other hand on the wall, probably not to risk losing his balance again. "Goodnight, Grace" he said when we were in front of it.

I opened the door. "Night, Harry." I didn't get out right away, though. I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to decide if it was a good idea, then I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. I got out of the door and turned towards him. "Have a good night" I told him in a hushed tone, walking backwards to my house.

He smiled softly at me and closed his door.

When I got into my house, I went into the bathroom and took my eyeliner off fast.

I sighed as my eyes started to resemble a panda's. I wondered who made eyeliner so difficult to take away. I turned on the shower, waiting for the temperature to be just right before stepping in. I let the hot water run down my back in a somewhat soothing way. After having been out in the cold, it was peaceful to be warmed up. I put shampoo on my hair and rinsed it, before putting on conditioner and washing my body. I stayed under the water a bit longer, closing my eyes and allowing myself to enjoy the warmth for another second, before stepping out. I dried my hair, not really caring about the noise. I was quite sure Harry was already out like a light by then. I walked to my bedroom, and checked the time on the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was midnight and half. I put something on and went to sleep.

•  •  •

The next morning I woke up to the sunlight coming through my window, that I had accidentally left open the night before. I tried to turn around and go back to sleep, but it didn't work. I sighed as I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. I sat on the bed, looking out of the window. It surprisingly was a beautiful day, for it to be autumn in London. A somewhat cold sun shone over the buildings and the wind whirled between the avenues, making the thin branches of the plants on the windows move.

I stood up and made my way to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water. My eyes fell on the front door and I wondered if Harry had already woken up. Resisting the urge to check, I sat on the couch, just thinking. What he'd said the night before had surprised me more than I would've liked to admit. On one hand, I wondered how someone like him could've even said that. He was the most beautiful person I had ever met, he surely had to have a lot of girls at his feet. But even though he was absolutely breathtaking, he seemed to like to be on his own a lot. I wondered why. On the other, I was quite sure he didn't mean it. He was drunk, he probably didn't know what he was saying.

I sighed and got dressed fast, making my way to the coffee shop again. I bought his usual tea and a cupcake, even though I wasn't sure he would've felt like eating anything at all.

When I was making my way out of the door, someone stopped me. I turned around, glaring at whoever it was. My eyes met blue ones, and I had to resist the urge to shake my arm out of his hold and leave.

"Still hanging out with Harry, aren't you?" Louis asked me.

"What I do is none of your business" I told him, still glaring at him.

"You'll regret that. I won't even need to step in" he replied. "I saw your performance the other day, I'm sure it was his idea. Running away is so damn stupid. Delaying this shit will lead nowhere."

I freed myself from his grasp at his words. "Stay away from him. He doesn't deserve any of your shit."

He laughed at me. "I wonder how'd you know about it, doll."

"I don't think I gave you that confidence" I replied, "Now leave me alone." I made my way out of the door, leaving him there.

As soon as I got into my house, I took out a small piece of paper, wrote "I hope you aren't having a shitty morning" on it and taped it on the cupcake bag. I got out and left it all in front of his door, knocking on it and going into my house again.

After a few minutes, I heard his door open. Of course he was already awake.

I busied myself tidying around the house, earphones on, waiting for midday to come around to phone Niall. Since he was a lazy ass, he had a strict do not phone before lunchtime on Saturdays and Sundays rule, and he was really adamant in making sure everybody respected it.

After some minutes I remembered that I had left him at the club with Zayn and decided to call anyway, just to make sure that he had not been murdered.

The phone rang a few times, before he picked up.

"The fuck you want?" Niall asked groggily.

"Just making sure you did actually get home" I replied.

"Yes I did" he said. There was a brief silence. "Oh shit."

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked him, frowning.

"Yeah sure, sorry, I have to end the call now." He closed the call on me.

I stared at my phone confusedly, wondering what in the world had just happened.

I noticed that my phone's battery was almost dead, since I had forgotten to charge it during the night. As I went to retrieve the charger, I walked in front of my front door and realised that someone had slipped a paper sheet under it. Knowing it was Harry, I went to pick it up, smiling at the message.

"If it was shitty before, now it's considerably better."