Adore [H.S.]

55

HARRY

Her hair fell in her eyes. Every few seconds she was pushing it back in frustration. Isabella's focus was held by the application in front of her. The pen that she held in her strong grip was being pressed into the paper. She huffed in frustration for the fiftieth time this hour.

We were sitting in my living room. Chinese take out boxes scattering the floor. For the past hour, Izzy has been working on her business. Setting up appointments with potential investors and distributers, solidifying her business plan, and researching ways to fundraise. It was clear to me that she was getting tired of doing this and that she was ready to give up. I couldn't let that happen. I knew how important this was to her. How starting this meant she was finally living her life for herself and not her parents. I couldn't be more proud of her.

As she wrote, I ate my chicken fried rice. My eyes glancing over the fading pages of my old copy of The Fountainhead. All of last night's insecurities and Chase's demeaning words were still screaming in my mind. It was hard to believe that everything was going to work out for me. After losing your first love to death, it was fucking hard to bounce back from it. Chase knows my past and I'm pretty damn sure he is using it to toil with me. I had to find something... do something... to show him that I'm better than he ever will be. Isabella chose me. Not him. There had to be some fucking reason for it and I was going to stick around to find it.

"Why is this so hard?" She whined, breaking me from my thoughts. I held back my chuckle. Seeing her this frustrated was cute.

"What is, love?" I fold down the page I'm on and shut my book. I run my fingers up and down her back gently. I can feel her shoulders automatically relax at my touch.

"These stupid questions. Everything. Why did I think it would be a good idea to do this on my own? I should get a business partner or something." She turned towards me. Her eyes widening.

"What is it," I question her; hesitating to hear what she has to say. She begins to squeal.

"You like books! You should be my business partner."

"No," I laugh. "I'm not going to be your business partner, Isabella."

Her face falls. Shoulders beginning to slump. "Why?"

"This is your thing. Not mine. I like books. I like reading - but being a business partner is out of the question." I shake my head.

"But-"

"No." I say firmly, "This is final. No discussion."

She huffs, "You know how hard this is for me." She begins to say softly, "You're so smart. You'd do so well with this."

"No Isabella," I warn.

"Oh," she sits up straighter. Her hand placed gently on my knee. "Your mom said that you used to write. Have you ever thought about writing a book?"

I begin to shake my head, knowing where she was going with this. "No. I haven't and I'm not. Writing a book is not for me. I told you- I like reading books, not writing them."

She scoots closer to me. Her petite frame leaning into my shoulder. "You are so smart. You can do so much with your life if you just put yourself out there." My body stiffens. Chase's warnings start resurfacing, but I quickly shoot them down.

"I like my life, Izzy. Don't try and change it." I argue back, clearly defensive.

She takes notice of my defensive tone. Shaking her head slightly, she runs her fingers through my hair. "Honey," she coo's gently. "I'm not trying to change your life. I'm not going to be that girlfriend. That's not me and you know that. I'm only saying this because I don't want you wasting your life away. You can do some amazing things in this world if you wanted to. Your brain is fascinating. You could write a novel if you wanted to. You could do anything, really. I see so much damn potential in you, Harry. I don't know why you are settling for less than what you deserve."