red herring [h.s.]

40.

Stella.

Harry didn't keep his promise.

About ten minutes after he got into the bed after his shower, I heard his breaths steadying which signalled me he fell asleep. I was wide awake and staring at the closet but apparently his short nap in the car hadn't perked him up enough because he was exhausted.

The makeshift barricade that I had made in the middle of the bed was long forgotten when he sleepily pushed all out of the way and spooned me quickly. He was asleep, I knew that much. He always did this when we slept. I spooned Miss Shark, he spooned me. The three of us in a row. The bed squeaked under his weight as he rolled over and draped an arm around my waist, his breath hitting the back of my neck.

I stiffened up and tried to wiggle out of it, continuing to scoot to the far end of the bed until Miss Shark dropped to the floor and I had no more space to crawl away from him. Harry's body simply followed mine.

Shudders ran through my body when I felt his shin against my calf, his stomach against my back and his lips about an inch away from my shoulder. The only difference between this and he night before, was that we were wearing clothes. I was in shorts and a shirt, Harry in his boxers and also a shirt.

It was warm here, too warm. We actually struggled with the radiator for a bit. But I refused to sleep in anything less than this if I didn't have a bed to myself.

"Harry." I whispered, softly elbowing him in trying to wake him up. I already knew there was no way I'd close an eye tonight, and this wasn't making it any easier. My heart hurt upon feeling him subconsciously snuggling up to me. Probably a habit he picked up in his months of acting. I'm sure at first he had to force himself because I was a cuddler. And then he just adapted to it overtime and here we were.

Silent tears trickled from my eyes as I couldn't take it anymore. The warmth of his body against mine was too much, it was too painful. Nothing felt the same. I threw the covers off and slipped out of the bed, my bare feet making contact with the hardwood floor. I picked up Miss Shark and turned around, seeing Harry now spooning my pillow. He looked tired, boyish and innocent when he slept.

Innocent.

What a joke.

I grabbed the flannel I wore earlier and quietly exited the room. I knew Mike and Dominic had said I couldn't be unsupervised, but they hadn't warned me for Harry who completely disregarded the pillows I popped up between our bodies. They didn't warn me that when he wasn't conscious, his body was drawn to mine like a magnet. They didn't warn me about the heartbreak it would bring me to sleep in the same bed as him. After everything.

Even though they said they'd take turns in staying awake, I heard the brothers snoring the second I was in the hallway. Both of them fast asleep.

The house was dark and empty, but my eyes quickly adapted and I took the stairs to head into the living room, the stuffed toy underneath my arm. I tried to forget about the backstory of this shark. I tried to see it as just a plushie to give me some comfort. Lord knows I needed it.

With a sigh, I sat down on the couch. Goosebumps covered my legs now that I was no longer in the warmth of the bedroom or pressed up against Harry. I leaned my head back against the old leather sofa and stared up at the dusty ceiling. A thick swallow later, I knew the tears were bound to come.

I hadn't cried in a while, not in a few hours. The whole time at Matt's house, the drive here and us installing everything in the house had occupied my mind for long enough that I could push it to the back of my brain that I was in an unknown house in an unknown location with two people that I didn't know. Well, three.