End of the Day [h.s]

three

The headlights lit up our dark surroundings as we passed by, highlighting every shedding, changing tree. The wind carried browning leaves and I watched each of them as they flew so delicately, so freely. There was no music playing, only the sound of other cars rushing by could be heard through the breeze.

Harry didn't speak to me after I gave him my address. It took him many attempts to even get the words out of me; I was compellingly insistent on not revealing my address to a boy i'd only met twice and yet, he didn't care. He assured me of his intentions, how he wasn't planning on killing me that night. Strangely I was okay with believing him. Albeit that didn't mean I was happy about it - the idea of my mother seeing that boy drive away from our house wasn't exactly comforting to say the least. After he received the information he only focused on getting me there, no further questions asked.

The blowing breeze crept through the car window, which was only cracked open a fraction. I tried to hide my shivers, luckily for me the outside noise was loud enough to mask them. I just wanted to get home and sleep, the tension had become insufferable. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, reaching my patience's end. I then turned to him with a stern look, searching his blank, green eyes for a brief second as he exchanged a peculiar look.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed and he quickly returned his stare to the road. "You're drunk and your friend wasn't going to respond" he simply responded in his usual, brief tone. He lifted a hand from the steering wheel and ran his fingers through the curls on his head, something he did often.

"So I'm supposed to believe that you're just, that nice?" I then questioned glaring at him, astonished. None of it made sense to me. Sure, the conversations we had shared were odd, but they were merely small talk. We were both looking to escape the party and we did just that, with each other. However I didn't expect anything else to spiral from those chats and then just like that, he was driving me home. What did that mean?

"I'm afraid that's your judgement to make - not mine, Brinley" he voiced with an unbothered tone, he shrugged his shoulders and ran his tongue across his lower lip as he concentrated on the somewhat quiet road. I watched as his eyes flickered between each area of the street carefully.

"No Harry-"

I could've pushed him further, I certainly wanted to. Instead I chose to sit back and wait for us to arrive at my house. My negative and worried thoughts started to settle down, once I told myself this was surely him acting out of guilt. He wasn't wrong, I was too drunk to search for Carly in that busy home alone anyway. She didn't live too far from Niall's house and I knew she had the taxi company's phone number in her phone too. Harry just wanted to make sure I didn't get into any trouble, I would've done this same; most people would have, at least that's what I believed.

The engine shut off and my eyes fluttered open to meet the front of my house, barely visible in the dim, evening light. I wasn't sure what time it was, my only hope was that my mum wouldn't be furious with me.

I groaned and I sat forward, squinting a little as the light above my head stung my pupils, not realising I'd fallen asleep. Harry was glaring at me distantly, his eyes hastily followed my movements whilst I checked whether my phone was in more pocket or not. The second I noticed it was there, I silently unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the door handle.

Before stepping out of the door, I looked over my shoulder at Harry once more. "Thank you" I practically whispered, my stubbornness fighting with my words. He only responded with a simple nod of his head, causing his chestnut locks to stir above his eyes.

With a quick motion, the engine started up once more and I didn't hesitate to make my way over to my front door, feeling awfully weird. Opening the padlock, I took out the spare key, resealing the container and letting myself inside.