Unexpected

7. Helen

I don't know if it would've been worse to go home and piss off Jade for letting him take me or if it's worse that I'm at his house and we're going up to his room. I already know that Jade will tell me something for sitting on his lap and the rest of it, but at that moment I wasn't thinking and I just needed to sit down.

The house is empty, it's just me and him.

His room is pretty large, he is also lucky enough to have a bathroom all to himself. On his desk there are some photos of basketball games immortalized.

"Is this you?" I ask him, pointing to a photo.

He runs a hand through his hair and then opens his closet. "Yup."

"Are you no longer in the team?" I sit on the bed and take off my shoes. My God, my feet are literally gone.

"Nope," he says, and throws a college sweatshirt, gray sweatpants with laces, and white socks on the bed.

I glance from him to those clothes and back to him. I don't know what to do and I don't understand if—

"You can put these on to be more comfortable," he explains to me, while he takes a shirt and pants for himself. "The sheets are even clean; I'll sleep on the sofa in the living room. Good night, Helen."

"Thanks, night," I tell him, giving him a shy smile.

He exits the room with his head down and his clothes in his hand, he tells me not to lock the door because then I won't know how to reopen it. Well, I wouldn't have done it anyway.

I take off my clothes, go to the bathroom and then I just put on the sweatshirt and socks, the sweatpants are too big and the hoodie comes up to mid-thigh, so I think it's okay.

I get under the covers and text Jade that I stayed with Daniel and I'm not coming home tonight. I feel guilty about it, but I can't do otherwise. I put the phone down and put it to charge using Harry's charger. I turn off the light and try to sleep.

I'm tired, physically and mentally, but I can't stay calm. I'm afraid that Jade may find out that I'm not with Daniel and that I'm here instead, I don't understand why Harry rushed me away from him, why can't I get his deep blue eyes out of my head? I can't sleep knowing that he is on the sofa and that he is probably uncomfortable too.

I look at the time on my cell phone: only half an hour has passed, it is 02:43 a.m. I sit down and start making a mental list of pros and cons if I go below.

Pros: I could drink a glass of water, realize that Harry is actually comfortable and find him sleeping like a log, my guilt may lessen.

Cons: I could fall down the stairs while going down in the dark, find him still awake in the living room and have to explain what I'm doing downstairs—

Helen, it's not necessary, it's just that asshole Henry Davis, the one who used your friend to fuck, the little voice inside reminds me. Well, she's right, it's nothing special.

I decide to go downstairs, first of all to drink some water. I go down the stairs carefully, shining light on my cell phone.

There is only a burning lamp that emits a soft light and Harry is sitting on the sofa. He has papers on his legs, a pencil between his teeth and earphones, he also wears glasses and I must say they look great on him, he seems more bearable and less asshole.

Um... there is a problem. I have no idea where the glasses are and I don't feel like rummaging through their things, I'm forced to get his attention. "Harry?"

He's focused on his stuff, he probably didn't even notice I'm here.

I move, so he can see me. From a distance I see that the lyrics of my song and Jade's are printed on the sheets; he is writing the chords.

He notices me and looks up. He looks me up and down as he holds his lower lip between his teeth. He pauses the song and takes off his earphones. "Hey," he simply says, looking into my face, but immediately afterwards his eyes fall back on my perfectly shaved, smooth and slender legs.

"I am thirsty. Where are the glasses?" I ask him immediately.

He leaves the papers on the sofa and gets up. I follow him into the kitchen. I sit on one of the high stools of the counter, he takes a glass from a door and fills it with drinking water from the tap. He puts it on the table in front of me and stands in front of the sink, gripping the edges of the kitchen with his hands. He remains silent and stares into space.

I sigh and, without looking at him, to make a minimum of conversation I ask him, "What were you doing?"

He shrugs and tells me he was doing just what I saw a while ago.

"Why did you decide to do it just at this time?" I tell him giggling.

He shrugs again. "I'm not sleepy, and this sofa isn't very comfortable."

And here, just what I was hoping not to hear.

I remain silent while the guilt eats me alive. Why?

After a few minutes of silence, nodding to me, he goes back to the living room. "We need to buy a more comfortable sofa. This fucking thing breaks my back," he says complaining .

I rinse the glass and put it back in the door where Harry got it from. After that, I start to go upstairs but I stop before putting my foot on the first step.

"Harry?" I call him hesitating.

"Yeah?"

I hope I'm not doing something stupid, but I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't even propose it, so... "If you're uncomfortable, you can sleep upstairs. It's okay for me."

Again that surprised expression is painted on his face. "Are you sober? Where did the original Helen go?" he says with a chuckle, and a bloody beautiful and contagious smile appears on his face.

I find myself smiling too. This is all weird and wrong somehow. I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't laugh with him, and I shouldn't have asked him to sleep upstairs, in the same bed with me.

"Well, I'm going. If you decide to go up, I'll already be asleep. Good night."

Arriving halfway up the stairs, he says to me, "No, I'm too uncomfortable here, I'm coming with you." He turns off the lamp, takes the papers and the cell phone and climbing the stairs two by two he has already joined me at the top.

I don't know why, but a small part of me is happy that he's decided to sleep with me.