Hurt

Chapter 7

Niall has nodded off, so I'm the only one awake in the room. I just look at the back of Claire's head, watching the blankets she's burried under rise and fall with her breaths.

Her breathing is silent, but she's so still I can tell that she's not completely asleep yet. She's still partially awake.

I get more comfortable, linking my hands behind my head, and crossing my ankles in front of me. I still have my coat on, but I don't have the energy to take it off at the moment.

Claire rolls over so that she's facing me. She moves her head around on the pillow a bit, trying to get comfy. Her eyebrows have drawn together, and her eyes are squinted tight together. She's adorable.

I shake my head. I cannot possibly like her. She's not my type. What am I doing?

Claire sighs a bit in her sleep. Her hand rests on the pillow, beside her head and her hair has fanned out on the pillow behind her. One leg sticks out of the mass of blankets.

And it's not like she likes me either. I mean, this girl has it all. Beauty, brains, confidence...why would she need me?

I cannot like her this much. What would happen to my life? My friends? I only see Niall staying as my friend if I change the way I seem to be. The others would ditch me, and I would look undesirable. I can't let that happen. It's my biggest fear.

I down look at Claire's face, imprinting it into my mind. Her nose that turns up slightly at the end. I never noticed the freckles splattered across her pale cheeks, and the bridge of her nose. They're the colour of hot chocolate mixed with a little bit of milk. Her cheeks are rosy red, and her lips are wonderfully pink. Her eyelashes brush her cheeks, and look thick and dark. I can see some slight scarring on her cheekbones, faint white lines, almost like silken spider webs, stretched across her beautiful face.

How can someone so small have this big an impact on me?

One thing is for sure. This girl is unwinding me, whether it's on purpose or not. She's managed to wiggle into my locked up heart and find her way into my cloudy soul. She's taken hold of my mind and spun it like a ships wheel. It's reeling round and round. I can't think straight anymore.

She is dangerous to me.

What if I do something that can't be undone? What if I hurt her? What if she hurts me? What if we hurt eachother?

The bed starts shaking and I hear small whimpering noises beside me. Claire has curled up into a ball so tight it's like she's trying to fold into herself. She's crying almost silently, and she looks frightened. Her eyes remain closed.

I scoot over beside her and scoop her up into my arms. I hold her so that the arch of her back rests in the curver of my arm, and her head is nuzzled into the crook of my neck.

She trembles against me, and I can tell she isn't the tough and confident girl that she makes herself out to be.

She slowly relaxes as I rub the palm of my hand in slow circles on the small of her back. She nuzzled into my neck and little bit, and shifts so that she is pressed up against my chest and torso. Her legs had previously rested on the bed, but she draws them up, and rests them on my own legs. I slide down a little more on the bed so that I'm nearly lying down.

Her body his warm, and it seems to be pulsing in my arms. Or maybe that's just me being nervous and excited.

I can feel her cool breath tickling my jawbone and her nose barely rouches my neck. I'm completely happy in this moment.

I wish we could stay here, freeze this moment, live in it forever.