SHE (bk 1)

FOUR

Clementine

A beam of light breaking through Clementine's sheer red curtains assaulted her vision and woke her from a dead sleep. Her gaze was blurry as she peeked over at the digital clock on her nightstand, it was only seven a.m. 

Rubbing her sleepy eyes she tilts her head, the sound of something clanging in her kitchen heard through the slight crack in her door. Her heart began to speed up, thinking the past week had all been a dream and her mother was making breakfast just a room away. 

Moving through her room quickly she peels the door open and springs into the small living room, eyes meeting an emerald gaze. Her lips frown at the sight of the tall man, his stomach dropping at the disappointed look on her pretty face. 

"Mornin' I was making you breakfast and coffee to thank you for letting me stay," he sends her a small, shy smile as she watches him crack some eggs into the pan on the stove. His back muscles moved against the taught white shirt she had given him last night, the gray sweatpants being a little short on his legs. "Hope you like eggs."

She breaks out of her trance and meets his gaze, the corner of his lip pulled up into a smirk. A blush covers her cheeks and she hums as her body finds the stool in front of the counter top, watching him carefully. "You're very tall." 

A small chuckle pushes up Harry's throat and Clementine gives him a happy smile as he turns to look at her. "And you're very short," he tells her matter of fact, eyes sizing up her whole body. They stop on the tiny satin, red shorts she was wearing that matched the tank top covering her upper half. 

Clementine had a thing for matching pajamas, if they weren't then she wasn't going to put them on her body at all. It was a weird ocd thing she has had since she was younger, her mother would always oblige though, telling her there was nothing wrong with liking things to match. 

She had noticed his eyes lingering on her smooth legs and shifted slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Coffee?," she finally breaks the silence and he nods, pointing over to the pot he had just made. 

Moving to grab a clean cup Harry watches her, eyes taking in the hour glass figure he hadn't noticed yesterday, the black dress she was wearing covered her body entirely. His eyes widened slightly as she stood on her toes to get a mug from her cabinet, the bottom of her shorts riding up to show her bum. Looking away quickly he feels a blush flush onto his cheeks. 

Clementine pours her cup of coffee and places her long hair into a messy bun, turning to the man in her kitchen. She had let her guard down last night and let a complete stranger sit with her and stay in the apartment she had once shared with her mother. It then made sense to her why she had let him stay, she didn't want to be alone.

"Thank you for making breakfast," she finally spits out as he places two plates down on the counter top, her body moving to sit beside him. "I haven't even eaten a prepared meal like this in years," she laughs gently as a fork full of eggs gets shoveled into her mouth.

Caring for her mother took a large toll on her well being, she worked her two jobs going straight from one to the other before sleeping at the hospital beside her mother's bed. Often times Clementine simply grabbed fast food on the way to the hospital or made pieces of toast on days she stayed home. 

But now things would be different, she had her mother's business to run. A small diner four blocks away that was doing surprisingly well considering how upscale most of the places in New York were. She would have to quit her jobs to get a handle on running a business but she would do anything to keep whatever her mother had built alive. 

"You're welcome, and thank you for letting me stay...I was way too drunk to go anywhere," a dimple appears in his right cheek and Clementine wants to reach up and poke the pit in his cheek, "Also thank you for the clothes..even though they're a little small."

Her cheeks heat slightly as she takes a sip of her coffee, "Yeah they were my ex boyfriends...um he's a lot smaller than you," she admits making a smirk pull at the corners of his lips. "Oh not like that I mean you could be ya know but um."

A genuine laugh pushes up Harry's throat as he gets the innuendo she had implied by saying her ex was smaller than him, "I wouldn't have even caught that if you didn't say anything," he admits while she hid her face from his view.

Clementine was really not used to having company or really even having genuine conversations with anyone besides her Mother. She embarrassed herself a lot at the funeral and even at the wake, not knowing what to say when people interacted with her. It wasn't something she wanted to admit but she had isolated herself from everyone when her mother needed her, and she would do it all over again easily. Her Mother had spent her life taking care of Clementine and she was willing to do the same when it came down to it. 

"I should really get going...my manager is going to kill me for being out all night...but it was well worth it," he sends her a small smile as he gathers his things from the couch made up in a bed. She didn't have the heart to offer him the room her mother used to sleep in. The door hadn't even been opened since she passed a week ago. 

Clementine nods her head, eyeing him up as he mentioned his 'manager' wondering what he meant. "Um well it was nice to meet you Harry...take care," her smile doesn't reach her eyes and neither does his. A nod being exchanged between them as he let himself out of her front door, the barrier making both of them sigh. 

Alone again.