Inclination

Cherries, Cigarettes, Confessions

Your hands form a makeshift bowl underneath the small stream of tepid water pouring from the tap, lifting towards your face to wash the remnants of the mud mask away before returning back for another fill. The creamy seaweed green solution swirls and mixes with the water before disappearing down the drain and when you pick your head up to look in the mirror, your roommate is standing in the doorway behind you.

"Hey," the towel blots your face when you spin on your toe to lean against the sink and face him. It's around ten in the evening and you've got work in the morning, your immature dinner of Rice Krispies and sliced banana sitting awkwardly in your stomach, "what's up?"

He raises an eyebrow, "you look pretty." You glance down at your outfit; a high-waisted pair of plaid shorts with an elastic waistband and a crop top with a useless bralette underneath, your hair pulled back into a loose and sloppy bun.

"Are you goddamn fucking with me?"

He tosses his head back in laughter and shakes his head in earnest, "no I'm dead serious, it's like... all casual. Relaxed. Would be perfect for a CTND. Maybe call him over for a cuddle? Or page him with your special code?"

You smack your shoulder against his as you push by him in the threshold of the doorway and step into the kitchen, "I regret telling you about all of that." The yellow light from the refrigerator floods the black and white flooring and the countertop behind you, plucking a bag of cherries from the middle shelf and stepping back to offer one to your roommate.

He shakes his head and you shrug, "suit yourself." You stroll into your bedroom and call a 'night!' over your shoulder before closing the door behind you, a cherry dangling into your mouth as you flop into your silken sheets. You sit up with a gasp when a blatant thud strikes your window, chewing the fruit slowly in your mouth and staring at your curtains in confusion.

Another tap percusses against the glass and you're jumping to your feet to cross the room in a three steps, pushing your sheer, cotton curtains aside and looking straight out into the apartment building across the street from yours. You scan the streetlights and the tops of trees for a clue as to what the sound came from when a rock unexpectedly hits the glass directly in front of your face.

You scream and jump back, covering your mouth with your palms and then glancing down at the sidewalk for the source. Two arms swing wildly in an effort to get your attention and your fingers are digging into the lock on the pane before pushing the window up as far as it will go.

Your head and shoulders poke through the empty frame to squint at the sight below you; Harry stands in the footway outside of your building, a slack suit hanging informally from his lean frame. The neon honey tip of a cigarette illuminates in the darkness as he pulls a drag from the filter, his feet stumbling below him as he tries to look up and keep his clearly intoxicated body in check.

His voice is somewhere between a whisper and a shout when your name desperately crawls up his throat, the heels of his hands rubbing into his eye sockets, his cigarette held loosely in his fingers. He clears his throat and yells in a hushed voice again, trying to keep his voice down for the sake of your neighbors but not actually succeeding, "Ace! Can I come up?"

You hush him and lean through the frame farther, resting your elbows on the sill to reprimand him from three floors away, "are you fucking smoking, Dr. Styles?"

He shushes you loudly, pressing his index finger to his lips with an obvious look of distaste cutting across his features, "s'just one! Please lemme up, pretty! We gotta chat!"

Your roommate appears behind you and prods his head over your shoulder to take in the scene below you. He's quiet for a few seconds before he mutters, "I'll be damned." You look at him with an eyebrow quirked in curiosity and he shakes his head in disbelief, "that right there is a motherfucker in love. You have him whipped. I can't believe my own eyes right now."