Legendary // H.S

17.

'She's a restless spirit on an endless flight'

*

Evenings out in this warehouse are peaceful. There's never as many people around, the only sounds you can normally hear are the winds outside that bustle against the trees surrounding the area. Driving through it is mesmerising, only the car lights illuminating the fields. Sometimes you see deer out here, once I saw a badger. You never find wildlife like that in the city. At home in Suffolk I did a lot, I missed the tranquillity of it sometimes. Being in this area, though, seeing the beauty of the landscape and having the silence envelope me, it brought me some comfort.

It had become a routine for me to come out to the warehouse two evenings a week, and then one full day on a weekend. I didn't need to be here that much, most of what I did could be done elsewhere, but I liked the security these four walls gave me, especially since Hugo had shown his face.

Ever since he approached me in the café, I'm always looking over my shoulder, looking for any sign of someone following me. It's like I can feel eyes on me all the time, watching my every move, examining whatever it is I do with my days. I wonder if they knew about this warehouse, its location, the work that went on inside it. If someone is following me then the answer is probably yes. Harry had to be aware of that.

He hadn't spoken to me much since that night in the flat. Other than a few check ins to see how my work was going. I'd been catching a ride with George instead. It's not like I felt awkward about it, I just didn't want it to be something that lingered around us, defined how we acted around each other. While I never normally act like that with a man, I didn't regret it. How could I when the pleasure I experienced was euphoric, unlike anything else I've felt?

Whatever it meant for him, he needed to tell me. The silent treatment was annoying me. If I could be mature about it then so could he. Though, I hadn't been able to get the memory out of my mind. It would appear at the most inappropriate of moments, when I'm working, eating, walking down the street. I get flashes in my head of him pinning me against the wall and circling his fingers around the most sensitive part of my body. The words he whispered play on repeat in my mind. His lips on my neck still linger. I'm losing my mind.

I thought that if I got this out of my system, something that we both clearly thought about a lot, then I'd be fine. In reality, it was the opposite. I am not ok.

George and I have been sat at a workstation with nothing but a small desk lamp lighting the area for the past hour. Since he met me he's been asking me to teach him how to properly assess other jewels, help him refine his skills. Not that he had the skills in jewels to begin with, but I appreciated the fact that he was trying. He's been the only person in the team that frequently talks to me. Zayn will every now and again, but I always feel Babz's eyes on me after. She's very possessive, that much is obvious. Louis is quiet, perhaps too quiet. I've only seen him talk to Harry and George. George is always around him.

In front of us are rubies, some fake, some real. A few are synthetic. Synthetic rubies are still real but have been created in labs. They're identical to natural ones, though, and can sometimes hold the same value. Imitations are usually red coloured glass but can sometimes be garnets or tourmalines. I'd been explaining this to him for a while, he's been ardently taking notes like a student. In many ways it feels like I have a little brother with me. I've always wanted a sibling.

'You need to look for miniscule flaws under the microscope, ok?' I tell him as he leans forward to place his eye over the magnifying glass. 'Natural rubies are prone to inclusions and debris because they grew in erratic and dangerous conditions below earth. If it doesn't have that then it's either synthetic or fake.'