Dealing With Absence » h. styles au

30ᵀᴴ CHAPTER

                                                   30ᵀᴴ CHAPTER 

  "There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying"

“What did you even do to your car?” she asks from where she’s fidgeting with her fingers over her lap next to him, feet tapping unconsciously on the floor as her head snaps from one side to the other, watching people come and go from their seats to wherever it is, then finally settle down.

Harry shrugs as he looks out the window, trying not to fidget himself. People keep coming into the train and it feels like it’s never going to move; feels agonising as hell, and he’s not even sure why he’s so thrilled to the idea of getting to their destination as soon as possible (which is not soon at all, he knows. They have about four and a half hours just inside this very train before they get to catch a bus for another hour and twenty more minutes, then another one, and a cab. He feels sick just thinking of it, but it’ll be worth it. It will).

“Sold it,” he answers Elisha finally, turning to look at her with bemused eyes and a private smile. She holds his glance for only a second before sliding unnoticeably down her seat and sighing, hands tangled in her clothes.

“This fast? How’s that even possible?” she honestly just sounds tired, like her brain can’t seem to catch up to the situation ahead of her, and Harry wonders what she’s been up to lately.

Mostly, he sees her daily; spends more time with her than he can wrap his mind around, but for the past weekends he’s been out due to work and it’s wonderful, yeah, that he gets to do this again and get paid for it. Even now, money is still welcome, especially with what he’s got in mind.

However, it’s kind of… boring? – and God, he feels like cheating himself even thinking of it, but. He doesn’t mean it this way.

He’s not bored of being a photographer and he’s not bored of getting to see new places each week, ‘s just… It doesn’t actually feel as electrifying as it had when he had someone to share it all with. Before rehab, there was Zayn, that usually would take him up to every single offer, even when he had some sculpture to work on with a short deadline.

Zayn would’ve always found a way to follow Harry wherever he went, less for fun and more out of protectiveness, Harry knows, but they would always have a great laugh nonetheless, and Zayn would barely ever make it clear what his real intentions were. Harry loves him still.

Now, though, Zayn’s engaged. He’s got a fucking gallery of his own (sort of), for fuck’s sake, and he’s rebuilt his life completely ever since Harry left him grasping for air.

So he drags Elisha along. Or at least, that’s the plan from now on. Not only because she’s great company, but also because he believes she’s the type to love travelling and working on her skills, which Harry has still to study more deeply. She’s seen his works, is more than time that it works the other way ‘round, too.

Except she looks exhausted and he’s not even sure she wants to do this, after all.

Harry smiles shortly at her previous question, seeming to have a hard time to reply. “I’ve got contacts,” he says after a moment, and it’s a lie, because he doesn’t. At all. He simply just got lucky enough to eavesdrop into some conversation somewhere in London whilst driving to the bank, and the guy just so happened to need a car. He offered his, and it was quick and fast after that. He shakes off the memory and looks cautiously at Elisha, the same way she seems to be eyeing him. “You sure you want to go?” he asks, then.