Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"What are you doing here?" I seethed, my nostrils flaring. I glared at him from across the hall.

"You never told me that you were in university," Harry said casually, looking down at his fingernails. His nonchalant attitude was enough to push me off the edge.

"You never asked." I crossed my arms over my chest, and he flicked his eyes up and down my body, stopping at my hands.

"Your bruise is gone." Harry's words came out as more of a statement than a question.

"It's covered up with makeup."

He chuckled, nodding his head and looking up at the ceiling. "I guess maybe I should have thought of that,"

I didn't reply, still refusing to move any closer.

"Aren't you going to go in?" His voice is low, hoarse and part of me shivered. I wondered if he had strained his throat from talking at the presentation. Clearing my throat, I shifted on my feet to rid my body of the uncomfortable sensation coursing through it.

"I don't think I'll go in when my stalker is standing right outside, thanks."

Harry eyed me, a small grin on his face. I tried to ignore the way that his stare felt like he was looking directly through me. My brain knew that it was impossible for someone to read our mind, but that doesn't stop the two of us from being scared shitless at the prospect that maybe Harry was immune to that impossibility.

It wouldn't surprise me.

"Ah, I don't think a stalker would come here to return clothes. I think maybe they would just park in the lot opposite your window and stare at you with a pair of binoculars."

"My clothes? You've brought them back?" I suddenly saw a small plastic bag in his hand and wondered how I hadn't noticed it earlier. I must have been so busy trying not to shy away from his gaze that I hadn't bothered to look anywhere other than his face.

"I said I would get them back to you."

"You could've told me that's why you wanted to drive me home," My irritation at this interaction has reached a new high. Now that I knew he was only here to return my clothes, all I wanted to do was yank them right out of his hands and run inside for a nap, bolting the door shut behind me.

"That isn't the only reason I wanted to drive you home. It was also pouring rain out," Harry paused. "Plus, I'm pretty sure my shirt is still here also."

Again, I didn't reply. He was right about the shirt; I had almost forgotten. But how do I answer that? Thank you for trying to force me into your car when I made it very clear that I was fine to walk? Yeah, no. Why can't he just give me the clothes and leave?

If there was one thing I've learned in the small amount of time that I have known this man, it's that he was stubborn. Too stubborn for his own good. If he wants something bad enough, he won't stop until he's got it.

"You never told me that you were interested in Data Engineering," Harry spoke after a beat and I wet my lips, wishing that Amelia was here to lend me some more lip gloss and to steer me away from this awkward conversation. God knows the minute that she had seen Harry in the hall, she would've had him out of here before he even had the chance to utter a word to me.

"I'm not," I said to him, wishing that we could have this conversation anywhere other than the hall where my neighbours could all hear but also not wanting to invite him inside. I wondered if they were all looking through the peephole, rooting on who could be the most annoying. He would win by a landslide but was I certainly trying my hardest to make it up to his level.