Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Needless to say, Isaac was ecstatic about the job offer. Exactly as I had expected.

Harry had called him the next morning and told him that he was willing to have him work at Everett. He had even gone as far as to say that they were excited to have him. That surprised me considering I had only asked for cordialness and here he was going the extra mile.

Something about it made me happy.

But even with how happy I was for Isaac; it could barely distract me from what loomed. My date with Harry.

Or could I even call it a date? I wasn't even sure at this point.

Every time I had thought about it during the week, I felt ill. I had tried to remind myself that it wasn't a big deal, that I had been out with Harry a few times now. I kept reminding myself that we were just going as friends.

Only... two friends who had kissed in his car and had a confusingly tantalizing meetup in a club hallway.

Whenever I thought about that night and then our phone call afterwards at 4:00 A.M., my entire body relished with an undeniable heat, an undeniable craving of sorts that I couldn't put my finger on. I couldn't figure out if it was some sort of internalized want to be Harry's friend and to connect with him on a deeper level than I had already come to know, or that I simply just wanted to have sex with him.

Unfortunately, the latter almost seemed the better option of the two. Sex was a hell of a lot easier than wholly opening yourself up to someone.

I hated that I was feeling this way toward Harry when almost all of our interactions had had some sort of unwanted meaning behind them. He had basically unwillingly coerced me into going out with him and getting Isaac a position at his company... so why couldn't I find it in myself to be upset with him?

The part of me that wanted to hold a grudge against him had decided that I needed to leave it at the curb at least until I had gotten through whatever he had planned for us tonight. I had to go one way or another, so I might as well try to make it enjoyable.

Harry and I hadn't talked since Tuesday night, save for one text message where he told me that we would be going out Friday and to be ready for him to pick me up from my place at 6:00 P.M. I didn't object, though my anxiety did almost convince me to cancel a handful of times.

"You're so lame," Amelia sneered. She had her elbows rested on the kitchen counter and was eating directly from a box of Cheez-Its. "You're telling me that you're going to do a project somewhere with one of your classmates on a Friday night? Couldn't you do that shit on a weekday?"

I shrugged at her as I sipped at my tea. It had sat out for a few minutes too long and was now almost cold. I craned my neck past her head to look at the clock to see that it was 5:47 P.M. The butterflies in my stomach started to swarm at an untameable speed.

"Sorry, Ames. I just-"

"I wanted to go out," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest like a child.

I smiled at her. "You always wanna go out, crazy."

"I haven't seen you this week either, what have you even been doing?" she mumbled. She made her way around the counter to sit at the stool beside me, turning herself until we were facing.

"Actually, I read a really good with an ending that I did not expect. It made me cry and-"

"Ugh," she waved her hand in front of my face. "You know I don't care about that. Guess what I did!"

"What did you do, Ames?" I said to her with a small smile and took a sip of my tea.

"Okay, do you remember Michael? The guy that I hooked up with a few weeks back and who would not stop texting me, asking to buy me shit and that he wanted to see me again?" she chimed.