matchmaking for experts || h.s au

five

A/N: hii, everyone! before we get into the chapter, i would just like to take a moment to address what's been happening. i wasn't sure if it'd be a good idea to update my fic(s) during this difficult time but then i realised that some of us, including myself, turn to fanfictions when we look for an escape so i thought that i should update as usual. that being said, at the same time, we should also keep up to date with what's happening and constantly educate ourselves. wattpad won't let me include links here but if you go on tumblr, please go through the #blacklivesmatter tags and posts as you'd find a lot of ways in which you could help. to my black readers/followers: i stand with you. 

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Harry has been racking his brain for the right words to say that could make Laura go easy on him and not have his head when he tells her that he doesn't want to go on another date. He knows she won't be happy about it, especially since she's the only one who hasn't set him up yet, but he's made up his mind.

He doesn't want to do this anymore. He'd rather go to his family brunch than go on another date — that should explain how much he doesn't want to do this because he has always thought that attending his family brunch is the last thing he'd rather do. But to his surprise, he's found another activity that he dislikes more than the weekly brunch.

See, it's not the act of going on these dates that he finds unable to tolerate. It's the way he feels when he sits in front of the girls that his friends assumed are the perfect match for him that he just can't bring himself to go through again.

Harry recognises the heavy feeling that settles in the pit of his stomach as him realising the wrongness of it all. He's being unfair to these amazing girls because no matter how hard he tries, he can't get one particular person out of his mind.

It sucks because he really did think that going on these dates would get her out of his system, would get his head out of his arse and make him realise that he and Maia could never happen. But instead, these dates only make him realise that getting her out of his system isn't as easy as he thought it would be. It'd take more than going on dates and he's scared to find out what he has to do to get over someone who's not even his to begin with.

"Hey."

Harry snaps out of his thoughts and stops pacing in front of the bookshelves when the door opens and Laura steps inside the brainstorming room.

He asked her to come up here when she's done eating her lunch in the kitchen with the others so he could talk to her alone and he didn't think much about it but now that there are just the two of them in this room, he's starting to think that maybe he's making a big deal out of this. He could've just talked to her downstairs like a normal person and not summon her up here.

In his defence, though, he thought that it'd be best if they talk about this without everyone else around them.

Laura takes one look at him, taking in his dishevelled hair, and raises an eyebrow. "You alright?"

Harry nods once and swallows the lump in his throat before he speaks, "Yeah."

Laura doesn't look too convinced by his answer — not when there's a slight crack in his voice. Making her way to one of the armchairs and taking a seat, she squints her eyes at him and asks another question, "What'd you wanna talk about? Do you need help with your client?"

"No," Harry answers with a shake of his head. He takes a deep breath — it does nothing to calm his rapid heartbeats — and continues, "The date. My date."

When he doesn't offer an explanation, doesn't give her more than those four words, she probes, "What about it?"

"I don't... I don't wanna do it anymore. I know there's only one date left but I don't wanna do it. I can't do it anymore," Harry says, forcing those words out in one breath, knowing full well that he'd lose his nerve if he so much as takes a breath in between those words.