The Hotel - H.S.

Chapter 24

Zoey's POV

Harry invited me to dinner and drinks with his band, his friends. Well, first he blew my fucking mind in the music room in less than 5 minutes and THEN he told me he wanted me to meet his friends. I was giddy with the idea that he wanted me to know some of his people outside of our little hotel world. I blushed as I accepted his invitation, and he smiled. He informed me that he made dinner late so we would have plenty of time to watch the sunset from the roof, which I had forgotten all about after my mind blowing orgasm. This might be the best birthday anyone has ever had. 

"Sunset is at 7:09pm so meet me on the roof at 7?" Harry asked as we walked down the hallway to the lobby. I agreed, my mind stuck on meeting his friends and what I should wear. We passed the reception desk and I blew May a kiss as Harry sang out "Heyyyyy Mayyyyy" in a flirty way. 

"Fuck offfffff Stylessss" she mimicked his tone and jolliness back with an evil smile, making him snort with laughter as we got to the elevator. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and mimed zipping his lips and locking them, pretending to toss the key over his shoulder. The elevator slid open and we stepped in.

"Next question!" I announced immediately, before he could. "Do you think your friends will like me?" I asked nervously. His eyes widened in question for a second and then he started chuckling.

"No," He said slowly, drawing the word out, touching my arm and then letting his fingers slide down to my hand. He took his hand in mine and looked into my suddenly worried eyes. "I think they're going to love you. You're the most lovable fucker I have ever met, they are going to adore you like I do." He assured me. I felt myself flush and bit my lip as he complimented me. 

"You adore me!?" I asked with delight, bringing my hands together, which tugged his up to my mine as well. 

"Duh." He rolled his eyes as me. "If you have to ask you aren't paying very close attention." He leaned down and kissed me quickly on my big smile as the doors opened to the elevator. 

We separated to our own rooms to shower and get ready for dinner before meeting on the roof. As I stepped into the hot shower spray and let it run across my body I sighed with happiness. I had spent the last few years feeling so alone. When I was originally diagnosed with lung cancer I pushed all my friends away. I knew it was a shithead thing to do, but I convinced myself that I was protecting them from the pain. In reality I was probably just protecting myself from their pain more than anything. I was drowning just handling my families' pain, I think I selfishly decided to spare myself the heartache that comes along with breaking other peoples' hearts in the name of preserving their feelings. 

I lost the few close friendships I did have, those people becoming what I call "Christmas card friends." You know, where you don't text unless its really important and don't see each other unless it's a wedding or you get their Christmas card. It hurt me deeply to lose the big support pillars in my life, but I did it to myself. Since then, I have spent all my time trying to take care of those still around me, like my family, as I went through this shit storm of a disease. I had stood strong through all of it, putting myself last. 

Since being here though Harry has already put me first so many times, and I have leaned on him in ways I haven't allowed myself to lean on someone in years. The support he has given me without even realizing it has made me painfully aware that this journey shouldn't be done alone. I am so much better at dealing with these feelings now that I know I have him to hold my hand when I need it. And he has no idea he's even doing it, he's just being himself. A caring, lovely human. He doesn't even know the half of how much support and help he gives me. And I have no idea how to tell him.

For tonight though, I am just going to share my sunset with him and then go have some fun with his friends. And then, if all goes according the plan, bring him back here and fuck the heck out of him. That part I was very excited about. I had hidden the sexy lingerie I had packed at the last minute under my outfit, grateful I had thrown it in the bag, and I wanted him to see. I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door, smiling.

Harry's POV

I sat on the edge of the roof, waiting for Zoey to meet me. The lighting was so beautiful as the sun was getting ready to set. I stared out at the cityscape and smiled to myself. I was looking forward to her meeting my friends. I wanted to bring her to the studio, I wanted to introduce her to my sister, even my MOM, I wanted to keep her in my life. At first these desires were making me nervous when they popped up last week, but after the last few days I started realizing that what we had going on was big, it was big enough to think that maybe, perhaps, we can make this work. I really wanted to try and make this work. I knew I needed to take things slow, I knew she could get freaked out and I also knew there was a lot I didn't know about her, but I wanted to try at make this work. 

"Penny for your thoughts?" I heard her sweet voice call from behind me. I turned and saw her standing there smiling at me. I grinned back and held out my hand to her. She looked so beautiful, I watched her take a seat next to me and look out at the city and sky in front of us. 

"Just thinking about you." I answered honestly. She smiled and blushed, biting her bottom lip but not turning to look at me. I watched her profile as she looked ahead. Her eyes searched along the tops the buildings and then went up and looked along the clouds. It looked like she was memorizing this view, as the colors in the sky started to slowly change right in front of our eyes. 

Without looking, she reached for my hand and held it tightly between both of hers. "I'm thinking about you too." She whispered so softly I wasn't sure I heard it. I smiled and looked away from her and out to the colorful sky in front of us for a little while before I couldn't resist turning back to her.

"This is so beautiful. You do this every year?" I asked.

"Yep. I make promises to myself during the first sunset of each of my years. I've been doing it since I was 7." She answered, eyes on the sky. I followed her gaze back to the colors.

"Do you already know what promises you're making this year?" I asked gently. She sat quietly for a long time as the colors changed and the wind blew. Minutes passed slowly and I turned back to watch her. Her eyes welled but the tears never met her cheeks. She was smiling but it was a sad smile.

"To survive. That's all I need from me this year." She finally answered quietly. I nodded, biting my lip to keep the 25 new questions I wanted to ask inside. I just squeezed her hand and turned back to watch the rest of the sunset, giving her some silence to enjoy it as well.