Plant New Seeds | H.S.| AU

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Normal

Trigger Warning: Mentions of/allusions to physical and mental abuse ahead.

H A R R Y

Talk.

Drop the jaw. Push air through the lungs and into the voice box. Move your tongue and teeth around in different positions to produce different sounds. Let the words travel from the top of the brain to the tip of your tongue.

"Whenever you're ready, baby," Her sweet voice echoed through the quiet of the loft, "What happened that night?"

My Wildest Dream sat across from me on my overpriced couch, wearing my sweater and pearls better than I ever could. And all I could do was sit in my astonishment, talking being the last thing on my mind.

She was here. She actually stayed.

Five minutes had come and gone and there she sat, tirelessly waiting for me to speak a truth that I never intended on even admitting to myself. One foot tucked under her thigh whilst the other swung off the edge—short little munchkin, she was—and a sweet-sincerity gleamed in her chocolate brown eyes.

But that was the thing about my Nia—she just had an unprecedented feat of invoking the need to be the best, most honestly-vulnerable version of myself possible whenever she was near.

All lies seemed pitiful, every wall I had built was penetrable with a miniscule whistle of breath, and life was nothing but a dream. There wasn't much room left to hide myself as much as I had anymore.

Real life was approaching, our quaint bubble punctured little by little everyday. The Poconos trip with my friends (that I originally planned on skipping this year), my visit back home with my family (decision still pending), and our future, whatever it was willed to be.

Or if there's any future at all, huh?

I had no idea where I would be in the next five months, let alone the next five years. All I knew was that I needed Nia there with me. Friends or lovers, it never made a difference to us. Pushing her away was the last thing I had any intention of doing.

I just needed her.

Watching her walk away was perhaps the scariest thing I had ever experienced. After walking out the door, off into the night all alone, things between the two of us would have morphed into an unfathomable sort of ugly I wouldn't have been able to stomach.

So here we were.

Slightly tipsy on wine, bellies full of strawberry cheesecake, with a brooding fear of what came next. All it took was one look in her molten chocolate eyes, the savoring of her soft hand that refused to leave mine, and a giant inhale to ignite the match.

"I forgot to take my medication." I winced at the bitter taste the words left as I spoke them and prepared for the bizarre reaction awaiting me when I reopened my eyes.

Medication was such a broad word. People got medicated for all sorts of issues, right? Maybe I could pin in it on a rare form of cancer that left me with only weeks to spare.

For fuck's sake, I was being absolutely ridiculous.

There was a small pause before Nia finally responded, her voice just as rocky as mine when she asked:

"You mean the pills I found in the bathroom earlier?"

Like a catapult sent straight into orbit, my eyes snapped open in an instant.

I turned to face her on the other cushion, noticing the panic hop-scotching in her irises as she waited for my own response.

There wasn't a strong enough word to sum up the power of the emotional-whirlwind stirring its way inside. A pinch of confusion, a dash of embarrassment, and a splash of shame; all translated by the way I stared back at her blankly.