Sycamore Tree // H.S. (HIATUS)

five

    It has been a week since you kicked Noah out of your apartment and you haven't talked to him since. You want him to know that you're upset and that you deserve to be treated differently, he probably was with Riley anyway, working on their project.

Besides, Harry has kept you good company at The Queen's Inn every other day while you studied. Rebecca has been ill, which is why you haven't told her about your reliance on him sliding onto the opposite bench just a couple of minutes after you'd arrived.

The two of you always kept the planning of your meetings in an old-fashioned way, every time you'd part ways after spending two or three hours together you would agree on a day and time you would see each other again, never questioning what the other one was doing on the other days.

You have the habit, or the ambition, to always arrive five minutes prior to him, but each time he stepped a foot into the dimly-lit pub, you feel his presence, his aura. Even if you're not looking at him until he sits directly in front of you with his arms resting on the table or his fingers playing with his chunky rings, waiting for you to look up.

You talked about everything and nothing. Harry seems to be most interested in your lectures; he asks you about the professors you like and the ones you hate, he asks what the subject of todays homework is and what your fellow students are like, while you try to dance around questions regarding his job- instead you find yourself asking him trivial questions but he doesn't seem to mind it.

Today is one of those days that he is the one that's too busy to meet you, so you joined Rebecca in her last hour of the shift before she sat down in Harry's usual spot and looks at you with a piercing glaze.

''What are you hiding from me?'' Her voice is stern but you can see the way she tries to hide a chuckle, what makes you laugh.

''What? Rebecca, I'm not hiding anything! I'm innocent," you laugh, making her laugh as well.

''We haven't talked all week! I've missed you.''

You decide it is best to tell her everything that has happened the past days; you never hid it from her on purpose anyway, but as she just said, you just haven't talked all week.

The more you tell her, the wider grows the smile on her face.
''Where is he today?'' She asks with excitement sparking in her voice. Instead of giving her a proper answer, you shrug and she smiles even wider, if possible.

Rebecca rambles on about the possibilities that could eventually come from those meetings. She adores the way you strictly meet each other at The Queen's Inn; you don't know where he lives, he doesn't know where you live, you can't call him, he can't call you. You rely on each other and trust each other to always turn up at the arranged time.

Somehow your conversation drifts off, Rebecca begins to tell you about the book she's reading and you start wondering how she manages working at the pub, studying and reading approximately five books a month. And all of that while never forgetting about you or the other girls.

Rebecca and you have been friends since your childhood. You've met her just after you and your family had moved to London; she and her parents lived at the other end of your street and while your parents were busy moving into the new house and starting their new jobs, you and your sister ended up playing in the small gardens of the houses everyday and while your sister starting making her own friends, you and the girl next door grew up to become best friends.

You went through nearly everything together, celebrity crushes, your first crushes on boys in your school, when first your parents got a divorce and then hers, heartbreak, school, when your dad met his new girlfriend and when her mom moved in with her new boyfriend, finishing school, moving out, university.