PRECIPICE [h.s.]

Chapter Thirty Six

☽☽☽

I want you for worse or for better

I would wait for ever and ever

Broke your heart, I'll put it back together

I would wait for ever and ever

☽☽☽

October 25th 1997

Harry's P.O.V.

"I'm coming!" I yell, as I run down the stairs to open the door to whoever is banging on my door in the middle of the night. It's been downpouring all night, and between the darkness and weather, I couldn't make out who was on the other side of the door.

Realizing it's Alice, I take a breath knowing it's not some mysterious threat. But my anxiety spikes right back up not knowing why she is here.

"Alice? It's after midnight. What are you doing here? How did you even get here?" I usher her inside, away from the rain. She shakes off her raincoat to reveal she's wearing pajamas. She doesn't have a stitch of makeup on, and her feet are slammed into boots with her plaid pajama pants marked with her highschool's logo awkwardly folding around them. It's the least put together I've ever seen here.

"I took a cab," she says as she collapses into her chair in the studio. I pull up a stool that the kids who take classes sit on. "I didn't feel safe driving, so I called a cab and came here."

I want to chastise her over the fact that she didn't feel comfortable driving, so she decided to put her life into a complete stranger's hands, but decided against it. I cross my arms over my chest. The moment my arms touch the bare skin of my chest, I realize that I'm not wearing a shirt. It is also the same moment Alice realizes it. Her eyes go wide briefly before staring down at the floor.

I excuse myself momentarily to run up and put on a shirt. When I return, she's curled herself up into a ball and is staring out the window, watching the storm hit the streets. I let us sit in the quiet for a bit before asking her again why she was here.

"I didn't know where else to go. I'm having a bit of a dilemma. Now I'm here."

"What is this dilemma pertaining to?"

"Boy drama," she mumbles and shrinks even further.

I want to laugh at the complexity of our relationship to begin with. Now she's asking me for advice with boys? I can't make sense of us, but we have an unspoken feeling that what we are doesn't need to make sense to anyone.

"And you decided to come to me, instead of your best friend? Or any girl friend of yours?"

She plays with the tie strings on her pajama pants. "It's complicated. And I know that if I called Maddie, she'd make fun of me and yeah here I am. Not my best plan. But it was like this feeling I couldn't shake. No matter how much my brain was screaming to stay home and try to go to bed, I had to get out. I arrived here on autopilot."

I nod my head at her explanation, but don't make her discuss it further. I get it. I always do when it comes to Alice. I rub my hands together like I am about to dig into whatever boy drama she has for me.

"Alright. What's going on, Wonderland."

She proceeds to explain that she is freaking out about Jeremy, that guy she was supposed to go on a date with on the night of the dinner for my mom, was making her nervous. Not an "uncomfortable-nervous", but apparently she had overheard that he slept with another girl last year. So when she asked him about it, he was upfront and said it was true.