The Hotel - H.S.

Chapter 31

Harry's POV

After I tried babying her, taking care of her, handling her with extreme care and caution I just ending up with a very pissed off Zoey, so I just started treating her normally. We talked for hours and finally I saw that she was in fact OK. We spent the night in bed. We worshipped each other, and I told her all about my feelings, in excruciating detail, through my love. I couldn't say the words out loud, and I don't know why. I couldn't help but feel like I was on the verge of losing something. It was slow and gentle and thorough. She showed me so much love in return, it was flooding the little hotel room in this paradise we had together for three weeks. Possibly the best three weeks of my life. I spent hours staring into those eyes, and I knew I would never forget a single detail of them for the rest of my life. Our paradise had imploded but she would be my own paradise in my head permanently, I knew that with confidence. I didn't have any idea what was coming next, but I knew that.

After a long night filled with whispers and gasps and racing hearts, in the morning I looked at my phone. I had hundreds of missed calls, missed texts and news alerts. Something had happened, I knew that. I sighed and clicked the screen off, back to black. I would face that later. I didn't care now. I looked at my hands as I prepared myself to do the right, but incredibly hard thing. Before facing the music I was going to enjoy the last few minutes I had in this room, with this masterpiece of a woman. I crawled back up the bed, to where she laid under a thin sheet, the sun soft on her sleeping face. I used my thumb to draw a line down from her ear, along her neck and down to her shoulder, before tracing down her arm to her hand. She shifted and then opened one eye at me. A smile came to her face as she saw me. She looked down and saw I was dressed, and an insanely loud sadness crossed her facial features. She looked into my eyes deeply and I saw so much pass through those windows to her soul. Hurt, confusion, then understanding. Then pain and gratitude at the same time. She nodded once, then raised her hand to my face and leaned up to capture my lips with her own. She flooded my body with her love through that kiss, it was soft and intoxicating but somehow also heartbreaking. When she finally pulled back from me, she sat up while holding the sheet to her bare body. 

"Haz...." She breathed out, reaching for my hand. She grabbed it and brought it to her heart, resting my palm against her chest. I could feel her heart racing. "I don't know how much it means, but I will love you for the rest of my life." She told me, ending on a sob. I don't know how she read me so clearly and so quickly, but she did.

I looked down at my shoes, unable to face her and still do the right thing. "Kermit, I'm not the same man I was when I met you. You're the biggest and best thing that has ever happened to me. I will love you forever." I whispered to her, hearing her cries but not looking at her. I wasn't that strong. "I will love you forever." I repeated, leaning forward again to kiss her one more time. I tasted her salty lips and broke, my own sobs coming to the surface. I quickly stood and walked to the door. I turned back, looking deeply into her eyes one more time. 

"Zoey Miller, you're the most wonderful person I will ever know." I whispered through my tears, then opened the door and left. I dragged my feet as I stumbled to the elevator, letting the tears flow as I stepped in and thought about our hours stuck there, where the flame was ignited for the first time. I thought about all the questions I would never get to ask her in elevators and I choked on more tears. Finally I exited in the lobby, beanie and hood on, as well as sunglasses, and I approached the front desk. May stood, staring at me as I approached. She had tears on her face already, which confused me immediately.

"May?"

"I'm so sorry you found out this way. She didn't know how to handle it or how to tell you. I never knew what to tell her. I wish I had had the answer for her." She nearly yelled, emotion coursing through her. "How do you tell the person that you love that you're dying?" She finished on a whimper and then a sob. Dying? I shook my head.