Anchor {h.s}

two

A typical Saturday morning.

Waking up early to go to work, serving the usual clients and some new faces, taking their orders, bringing the plates to the customers and cleaning up the tables once they were done. Today was no different, even the fact that I had woken up with Harry tangled up around me wasn't unusual. The fact that I let him sleep though, that was uncommon. Most of the time, I would wake him up as I was leaving for work, but today as I was about to, I couldn't bring myself to do it. He looked so peaceful that it felt wrong waking him up.

Those moments were so rare to see, I sometimes felt privileged to be able to see him that way. The fact that I was one of the few, if not only person that got to see him for who he really was meant a lot to me. Generally, Harry would wear this hard mask that didn't let any feelings out, or in for that matter. However, he trusted me enough to let it all show when he was with me, not always, but sometimes.

My shift started at 8 o'clock this morning and at 7:30, I went into my room to make sure he was still peacefully sleeping and wrote a quick note, that I left on my pillow, informing him that I had left for work.

The morning weather was chilling me to the bones and I tightened my coat around me. I hated the cold weather more than anything in the world, especially when I had to go to work. I didn't have a car and had to make all my travels on foot or by bus. I also hated the bus, but today it was a welcomed transportation, since it allowed me to close my eyes and fuel up for fifteen minutes. The night had been too short and I needed to have some energy if I wanted to get through the day.

I had been a waitress at The Crown for over a year. It was a job that I really enjoyed and that made me feel valued. I was good at it, customers liked being served by me, and the pay wasn't too bad. When I first started to work here, it was meant to be temporary. I had took the job, thinking that I would only work full time for the summer and that when school would start, I would either work part-time or quit. But it turned out that life had other plans for me and when fall came around, I ended up not going to school. Even if I had been accepted into the law program, as the first day of school neared, the anxiety I felt towards it made me postpone my studies.

I arrived ten minutes early, like always and went into the staffs' room. As I entered the room, I crossed Niall's path. Niall had just started to work as a cook at the Crown. This was our first Saturday shift together but I had no worries, from what I knew, he was a really sweet guy.

"Hi," he said with a warm smile as we faced each other.

"Hey Niall," I replied, trying my best to be enthusiastic but my lack of sleep made it hard to accomplish, and it didn't go unnoticed as Niall started to chuckle lightly.

"Long night?"

"You have no idea," I shook my head with a friendly smile before heading to my locker.

"Do you want me to start the coffee machine now? You could drink some before we open," he suggested.

"That would be really nice, yeah." I put my coat inside of my locker before looking at Niall who nodded before heading out.

I took in a deep breath, getting myself ready for the day that was coming.

Typical Saturday morning, and yet focusing on anything seemed to be impossible. I was on running on little to no sleep, but thankfully the coffee that Niall had prepared for me earlier was starting to kick in. Still, as I waited the tables, I couldn't help but to think about Harry. As much as he was comfortable with me, it had never been enough for him to tell me exactly what was going on with him. Whatever hints he had given me had been vague, never enough for me to figure it out. I knew something had been going on with his family for years now, but what it was exactly, that I didn't know. It was from the moment that he left his parents house that his life went into a whirlwind.