Aquarelle [h.s]

forty-two

We had just taken our things to the car when Harry's phone suddenly started ringing.

I gave him a confused look, opening the door and sitting in the car just as he did the same, staring at the phone in his hand with a suddenly serious look on his face.

He closed his door before picking up the call, and the air around us suddenly became unnaturally quiet as he brought his phone to his ear, the look on his face reminding me of the one of a deer caught in the headlights. "Hello?" He said into the phone tentatively, the tone of his voice immediately making me think that was no normal call.

I sat next to him in silence, not knowing what to do as I just looked at him as he stared at the steering wheel, listening to the other person talk.

"Why?" He then asked, sounding even shakier than before, making me worry even more. It was as if the atmosphere had completely shifted, and I didn't know what to make of it. "Okay" he said, defeated, and then closed the call, staring down in the silence for some seconds.

"Who was it?" I dared to ask, fearing the reply.

He frowned, not glancing at me. "Maura" he replied, "she wants us to go back to her house."

"When?" I asked, confused, not knowing where that was coming from. We'd just been there and it'd been a disaster, there was no reason for her to want us there again.

"Now" Harry just replied, his hand slightly shaking as he turned on the car and grabbed the steering wheel.

"Alright" I told him, staring at the way his knuckles had become white because of the harshness of his grip. "It'll be fine."

He just shook his head, not saying a word as he started driving, leaving my words to linger in the air between us, and me to wonder what would've happened and why she wanted him to come back.

I was starting to get tired of all those stressful things being continuously thrown at Harry without giving him any time to catch his breath, it left me to wonder if life would've ever allowed him to have a break and just settle, instead of having to deal with new issues every single time. I could just hope that our visit to Niall's family wouldn't have had too much of a negative impact on him when we would've gone back to London.

When Harry parked in front of Niall's house he still hadn't said a word, but neither had I, supposing that silence would've been the best way to go considering that he was considerably on edge after the call he'd got.

He stepped out of the car quickly and I rushed to follow him when he walked towards the door without waiting for me, his stress evident from the way he bit his lower lip as he hesitated in front of the door.

I reached him and he looked at me, an indecipherable look in his eyes, and I just nodded, reaching past him to ring the doorbell myself when I realised that he couldn't bring himself to do it.

We didn't have to wait for long, because only a matter of seconds after the door opened, revealing Maura on the other side.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, as if she couldn't believe that, after everything that had happened, he was standing there, in front of her house, just because she'd asked him to. "Come in" she added, moving to the side and opening the door better to allow us to walk inside.

"Where's Niall?" Harry asked, not taking one single step inside the house.

"Not here" Maura replied, observing us as we finally entered the house. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

Harry closed the door and turned his head to look at her, a look in his eyes that I couldn't quite decipher. I couldn't tell if he was detached from the situation, or if he was simply trying to convince himself not to run away. "I'd rather not."