Deception - H.S

Chapter 55

Trigger warning - possible self harm behaviors

Hope Whitlock

"Ahhhh!" A loud piercing scream wakes me up with a jolt. Harry's arm pulls back from underneath me while I see Kiara with her hands covering her eyes. I quickly sit up straight, pushing Harry to get further away, "I don't want to see my brother's junk!"

"Jesus! Stop being so dramatic." Harry groans, rubbing his eyes while sinking back on the couch.

My cheeks burn red in embarrassment, "I wasn't- We weren't- nothing happened." I shook my head, standing up on the couch and looking at Kiara who was peeking through the slit between her two fingers. "Harry has his clothes on?"

"Yes!" Harry rasped.

"Okay, well..." Kiara brought her hands down to her side, grinning widely at me, "Hi Hope!" She takes her shoes off quickly, jumping on the couch to stand up and hugs me tight.

"Ki, it's too early for your bullshit..." Harry tosses his head back. I hug her back, mumbling, "Hi Kiara." I love hugs.

"Ri, it's almost 1pm..." I pull back, inspecting her face to see if she was serious and then at Harry, "We are late! We have to be at soundcheck by 1:30 and I haven't even showered yet. Harry, are you okay to perform? I mean, because of your heart, I thought you were supposed to rest. Don't forget your pills please-" I remember the doctor saying he should take rest for a couple of days, I don't understand why we couldn't have postponed the show or something.

"I'm fine to perform. Are you worried about me, Whitlock?" he smirks.

"I was just- the doctor said so..." I climb down from the couch, running my fingers through my hair.

"Aww... Can we keep her Ri?" Kiara makes a pouty face at Harry, his reaction being an eye roll as he gets to his feet to go towards the stairs. I hope she is joking but even if she was, her suggestion was never going to happen.

"So, you guys are together, right?" She whispers, looking down at me.

She was adorable and it was cute that she wanted Harry to be with someone but he doesn't do relationships, "Kiara, I don't think Harry and I will ever be a thing..."

She frowns, falling onto the couch, "I think you're wrong. You can go get ready now..."

"I'm sorry..." I give her shoulder a sympathetic squeeze before going upstairs, "You can use anything from my room if you want!" I hear her scream when I was at the top of the stairs.

I felt sad that she was holding onto a sort of hope about me and Harry. I'm not sure why she chose to do that but all I know is she will be disappointed. We are completely different people with different lifestyles, he tolerates me and is trying so hard to be nice to me. How would anything between us work if had to think about being nice to me?

His heart is in the right place with wanting to earn my trust and go against his rude nature to be kind towards me but it would never go anywhere in the long run. Besides, I am not even in a place to be with anyone, love is like a paper dream.

I got ready as fast as possible without washing my hair because I didn't have time to let it dry. The moment I was done putting on my lip gloss, I carried my purse along with my gloss, phone and my shoes in my hands while rushing down the stairs. "Let's go!"

When I get to the living room though, Kiara is lazily bundled up in a grey blanket watching TV while Harry is scrolling through his phone. I can see that he has changed because he was in his black skinny jeans now with a blue flannel draped over his shoulders and a black bandana holding his curls away from his face.