Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

It seemed like when I wanted time to pass, the days trudged by on their knees, crawling from hour to hour. Yet when I wanted time to slow down, the days decided that they were going to hurl themselves forward as if they were doing a loop around the sun.

That was how the current week had felt. The days were long, but the time in itself felt much too short. Somehow another full week of classes and work had gone by, only allowing me to breathe once or twice, before I was standing at the edge of my bed glaring at my suitcase and realizing that the weekend was upon us.

The weekend of my sister's wedding, to be exact.

Gnawing on my lip, I put a hand on my hip and the other on my forehead. There was less than an hour before I had to leave and my suitcase sat in front of me, empty and doing no more than wrinkling my comforter. But something in me was just preventing me from filling it.

I was going to a wedding with Harry Styles. My sister's wedding. The craziest thought that I hadn't once allowed myself to actually sit down and ponder over.

Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I cursed at the time and threw it onto my bed with an inward groan. No messages from Harry, but I had barely spoken to him all week. It wasn't that I hadn't wanted to, but we had both just been so busy that there hadn't really been an opportunity. Part of me also believed that the anxiety building in me about this exact few days to come played a hand in preventing me from reaching out.

I hated now that whenever I was feeling stressed or anxious, I wanted to talk to him. Because all I had wanted to do this week was call him. All I wanted was to tell him how nervous I was to go back home and see my family, yet somehow, I still found myself avoiding the phone the few times his name had popped up. I knew that the more I talked to him, the more the realization would set in about what I was doing in bringing him to my hometown to my fucking sister's wedding and my anxiety would have me cancelling the minute the line was connected.

The one conversation that we did have wasn't a great one either. He called me to ask what time he should get to my place today and I had told him that we could just meet right at the bus station. He seemed positively appalled that I had thought he was going to allow the two of us to take the bus and said that he was driving, end of discussion.

Needless to say, my incessant pleas and barters for us not to drive up there had fallen on deaf ears and I only found myself hanging up out of frustration. He hadn't called me back but texted me thanking me for my complacency which only made me even more angry, to which I fired back that he'd better leave me the hell alone for a bit to calm down before I blocked his number.

Yeah, he didn't do that either. But I also didn't end up blocking his number.

"Putting off packing?" a voice from the doorway spoke.

I jumped, putting a hand over my heart, before spinning around to face Isaac. He was leaning against the doorway, grinning. I narrowed my eyes at him, before turning back around to face my empty suitcase with a huff.

"Aren't you supposed to be gone already?" I asked with my back to him. "I mean, that's the whole reason why you aren't coming with me in the first place."

Isaac stepped around me toward my dresser, which he pulled open and started grabbing clothes from.

"I'm waiting until you leave," he said, tossing a shirt in my direction. I caught it, dropping it unfolded into my suitcase. He turned away from me to rummage through the drawer.

"Mm," I hummed with a roll of my eyes. "Because you want Harry to know that you were here when he picks me up, right?"

"I'm not... That isn't why-" Isaac stammered to form a response as he threw some more clothes as me.