Luella

60 | everything

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note:
this chapter is written in third person (pov) point of view for good measure and to allow you to see how this goes down on either side's pov. i wanted to really let you in on what's going on and how it's affecting the both of them.
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The look on Luella's face made Harry realize he'd fucked up, even though he still had no idea what she'd overheard Poppy and her friend saying, but he knew. He knew it wasn't any good.

"Hey," he said. Said. More like called, called for her to get back in touch with reality. Her eyes looked like they were trying to figure out where she was for a second. The moment he spoke though, she looked straight at him that it made Harry gulp. "Aren't you cold? Those are some really short shorts."

His poor attempt to make her smile had failed. But he needed her to smile. He needed her smile, to reassure him that everything was not completely ruined. That his time with her hasn't ended. That everything is okay, or is going to be okay. The curve of her lips upwards was all he needed, but the only curve he couldn't decipher off her face was the dip of her eyebrows knitting together.

Luella was still trying to figure out what to say. What would she ask? Poppy could be saying some load of crap, too, anyway. She shouldn't just believe her nonsense. Harry was her boyfriend. He loved her. Poppy was just bluffing.

But how Poppy talked about an agreement -that had something, whatever it was, to do with Josie and that lady from the orphanage that was supposed to care for Luella or some shit- was something Luella couldn't wrap her head around.

When she took too long to say anything, Harry knitted his brows together as well. "Lu, what's wrong?"

So she looked at Harry, then. Really looked at him. She asked, "Harry... How... How does Poppy know about Cecilia?"

Harry's face fell. He felt a gust of wind brush his eyeballs harshly but he couldn't even blink. He stood frozen, then all he could say was, "Luella."

"So it was Cecilia?" Luella raises her eyebrows, one dot connected to the other now. But the puzzle wasn't finished yet. "And what connection does Cecilia have to Josie, Harry?"

Harry didn't know what to say. Oh, no, no. Oh, Poppy. He saw his world crumbling in front of his eyes, as did Luella. Luella was crumbling, too. She asked the question in a way that would have made Harry menace if he wasn't a frozen statue.

"Harry," She was trying out his name, tasting it on her tongue as she tilted her head at him, taking a step away.

"What did Poppy say?" Harry's jaw clenched, feeling a rush of emotions slowly creep up on him.

"What connection do you three have, Harry?" Luella repeated her question, still repeating his name like a lullaby. Like she's reminding herself that this is Harry and Harry loves her and it's okay because Harry wouldn't do anything to hurt her and Poppy is just bluffing.

"They..." He started then exhaled, as if he wasn't just breathing out the carbon dioxide, but he also felt like he was breathing her out. She was slipping through his fingers like soft, tiny grains of sand and he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't anymore.

"Goddammit, Harry, answer me." Luella's voice shook. But she didn't know what Harry knew. She was only preparing herself, although she didn't want to. She wanted to rewind time so she would've just stepped inside the damn house and never overheard Poppy's words.