Harry's face changes, sweetens, brightens.
I do not know how this is going. But I do not care.
I love Harry. And there is nothing I can do about it. I am feeling this stronger than ever. And I have been letting go of everything wrong lately for the sake of enjoying my time with him, of being there for him, of loving him. And it makes perfect sense now that I do that one more time. That I set myself free.
The door to the room opens, Claire walks in.
"You guys making out or something? Or can I come in?" She jokes.
Oh Claire, if only we were, I would have hated you a little less now.
Harry offers me his teasing smile and tells Claire to come in.
"Lucky for you Claire, we're not. Not that we did not spend the past minutes doing so." He says.
"Is it okay if I punch him while he's in the hospital?" I ask Claire.
She laughs at both of us.
"Better, Harry?" She asks.
"Much better. Thank you Claire."
"So how did you know?" I ask Claire.
"I met with Conall in college, he was rushing and he looked worried so I asked him. He was here since they brought Harry, wasn't he?" She asks Harry.
"Yeah. He left few minutes before you came." Harry answers.
"Does Conall know about you two?" Claire asks.
"He doesn't." Harry answers.
"You're afraid you'll hurt his feelings?" Claire asks him.
"Of course not. It is not like he was in love. Conall simply wants someone in his life. And he has been taking many wrong decisions lately to achieve that. Lauren was one of them."
"You think I was a bad decision?" I joke.
"Of course you were." He is not joking. "What was he thinking asking my roommate out? What if things go wrong? How awkward would that be?"
"What were you thinking asking your roommate out? How awkward would that be?" I joke again, pointing out that Harry should not be mad at Conall for doing what he did.
"It is different in that case." Claire says.
"Different how?" I ask.
"In this case, things will not be going wrong." Claire speaks with a confident tone. Harry and I exchange looks. Both of us thinking about what happened one second before Claire came in. Harry squeezes on my hand. And that one little gesture, makes me feel like I own the world.
"Anyway," Claire breaks the silence. "Get better fast, Harry. We have plans for the weekend. And we are not canceling them."
Harry nods. She stands up and leaves. When Claire closes the door, I am waiting for Harry to say something. To mention anything about the fact that I told him I am in love with him. But he does not. He speaks of many other things. Like how he should be careful when he is playing football. And that he needs me to remind him of his medication because his too busy schedule might be a problem.
He does give me his love and desire looks between now and then. He does look at me in his own way; the look that I can translate to any language. But he does not speak of it.
The nurse then comes in. He tells him that he can leave in a couple of hours after they finish preparing his documents. I leave the room to the cafeteria and bring us something to eat. Harry gets dressed afterwards. I order an uber. And we leave.
When we get home, it is around midnight. Harry opens the door with one of his hands and keeps holding mine with the other. When the door is open, Harry gestures for me to go in and I do. He enters behind me and closes the door with his back to it, still holding my hand in his. He does not lose eye contact.
When we get to the end of the corridor, Harry grabs me by the waist and pulls me closer to him. And as he hugs me tight and brings my head to his chest, he says
"You will be sleeping here, Lauren. You will be sleeping home."
Every time Harry does something or says something, he is so sure and certain and confident. Like always, he knows what I want. And he has no doubt about it.
"Come on, Lauren." He says, walking me towards the room. A flashback of when we sat on the bench comes to me. How he reached out for my hand and said "Come on, Lauren."
"Let's go home."
And indeed it is home, where Harry is taking me.
****
16 September 2014.
I leave to work early in the morning, while Harry is still asleep.
Today is his first meeting with one of the couple of companies that responded to him last week. I hope it goes well for him. I do not know much about how hard he has worked, except for what he told me. And I am not in a place to judge or assess how innovative and worthy his idea is. But I do know that Harry is ambitious. And he is living a life that does not resemble everyone else's his age. And for that, I truly hope that he gets what he wants, and for him to be appreciated.
And as for me, I work hard one more day with Steph and Marcus. Most of the day, I am contacting people from different sectors to agree on everything for the photoshoot on one hand, and for the stocks of clothing on the other. This part of the job is not my favourite. But it is something I need to do.
When I am about to leave work, my phone rings. I say bye quickly to Steph and Marcus and close the door behind me, looking at my phone's screen. An unknown number with an unknown country code.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Is this Lauren Ellenberg?" The voice on the other end asks.
"Yes. This is her."
"I am calling you on behalf of Bradley Evans."
Bradley Evans. Where have I heard that name before?
I feel my head about to expose from excitement as soon as I remember. Who would have thought?
YOU ARE READING
Under This Roof
RomanceI thought that I can tell a lot about someone's character as soon as I meet them. In fact, I bragged about that to my friends, especially when they make me meet their significant others. I didn't think of it as prejudice. I thought of it as good ana...
