Dealing With Absence » h. styles au

26ᵀᴴ CHAPTER

READ THE A.M. BECAUSE IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT OKAY? OKAY.

                                                   26ᵀᴴ CHAPTER               

           “Though surely to avoid attachments for fear of loss is to avoid life”

 

The room smells faintly of pizza and Elisha's flowery shampoo, the sound of the TV in a low volume filling the room along with the sound coming from the shower and a tree branch hitting against the window. As Harry holds his napkin with a slice of pizza, he throws his head back against the mattress of the bed and closes his eyes, shoulders hurting from how he had to curve down all day for better angles in his pictures.

The movie keeps playing but he's barely paying attention to it; has nearly forgotten he's even holding a pizza he's supposed to eat, in the first place. Sometimes, he forgets how tiresome it is to dedicate your life to the images. It's definitely the only thing he can say he truly loves, now, but yet. Harry can't live of fun only, and so days like these must exist.

He keeps his eyes closed.

Leesh comes out a second later, towel wrapped around her head and upper body hidden within a woollen jumper, mere jeans shorts fitting her hips. It's not as cold as it is outside, and albeit still a bit chilly, Harry doesn't comment on her choice when he dares one eye open just before closing it again.

She stops on her tracks and bends down toward the bedside table, opening a drawer and fumbling with the mess until she finds the pictures she's snapped with Harry's Polaroid today. As she walks closer to him, the drawer remains open, forgotten, and by the time Leesha is down on the floor next to him, he's half done with his pizza.

She shifts next to him until their hips are knocking, then carefully slides her fingers up his face 'till the moment they're over his lids. Elisha dares to open one of them, and Harry growls at the disturbance.

"What?" he mumbles out, taking another bite and crumpling the now empty napkin into a tiny ball.

Leesh smiles at him, tired out and sleepy already, the long weekend showing on each of his features. She should probably know he needs some sleep for the drive back tomorrow, but he himself can't find the necessary strength to push her away. Also, he can't sleep like this. Or shouldn't, probably.

"You should see this," she reasons, shoving the pile of pictures into his lap and awaiting quietly as he comes slowly back into himself, blinking away the sleepiness that keeps weighting on his eyelids.

The moment his surroundings seem to be back in focus, he notices an unexpected amount of photographs over his sleeping pants, some fallen face-down on the floor next to his thighs. It makes him sigh, though, more for effect than at actual anger. "You've used all my films, haven't you?" he questions, curling his fingers around the paper.

Leesha bites her lip and shakes her head in a not-so-convincing manner, eyes sort of guilty in a naïve way Harry tries to ignore and fails, laughing at her. She frowns but shakes her head once more, fiercely this time. "Not all your films. I think you've still got five pictures left or something."

Harry snorts a 'or something' under his breath but looks down at the pictures nonetheless. All of them are quite dark, because the day hasn't been one of the best for photographing, but the sensations are still there and Harry doesn't feel the smile creeping up his cheeks as he keeps looking.