Fool's Gold [Completed]

07: Green Eyes

A few days had passed and I still hadn't gotten word from Harry, let alone an acknowledgement text to let me know he'd reply when he could. While it was disheartening having to wait around for any sort of sign that he'd received my message, I had come to expect that from our efforts at communication. I had waited weeks to see him once already, so why did a few days feel like an eternity all of a sudden?

It probably had something to do with the secrecy of it all, the fact that I wanted something more out of our relationship that I knew I probably couldn't get, and not hearing anything back made me worry that maybe I'd misread all of the signs and put too much faith in the idea that what we had between us was anything more than friendship. Regardless of where I saw the potential of our relationship going, whether we stayed just friends or became something more, I knew if I had to continue this game of eternal phone tag for longer than a week, I would probably scream.

I didn't feel up to working at the club tonight, the anxiousness brought about by the waiting game having taken a lot of energy out of me, so I pulled out my phone to text Olivia and let her know I wouldn't be showing up. That was one benefit of the job. Technically, we weren't employed by the club; we were all freelancers who would pay to perform at the club, which is why we distributed our earnings at the end of the night to those on the club's payroll. Even though there were regular dancers at the club, like me and the girls, as long as we let Olivia know ahead of time - mainly so she could find other girls to take our place for that night - we weren't obligated to show up.

I knew Richie wouldn't like that I was calling out, but Olivia always covered for me. Usually it was an excuse of not feeling well, in which case he would only scoff and tell me to work extra hard when I came back to make up for the money I'd lost him, but I never felt like I had to explain myself to him. He didn't need to know more about my life outside of the club than he did. If there was one thing I prided myself on up to this point, it was keeping my two lives separate.

Harry seemed to be changing that.

"Monkey?" I heard a knock on the door followed by my mom's voice and I glanced up in time to see my door being pushed open slightly and her head poking into my room. "Oh, you're still in bed? You're usually up and about by now."

"I'm having a lazy morning," I explained with a soft smile, shifting to sit up and setting my phone off to the side. "Are you off to work?"

She nodded, though she didn't move further into the room like I expected her to. "I wanted to come say goodbye before I headed out, but I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Mom, you're never bothering me. Come here," I instructed while motioning for her to step into the room, arms held open and waiting for a hug.

She smiled before entering and made her way to me, pulling me into a warm embrace and kissing the top of my head. "You be good to yourself today. You've been working so hard lately, you deserve a nice day off."

"One of these days, I'm going to force you to take a day off with me," I mumbled into the fabric of her shirt, my laughter muffled.

"You know I couldn't sit still even if my life depended on it."

With one last squeeze, she released me and I reluctantly did the same, watching her leave my room with one last wave. I listened as her footsteps in the hall faded and the sound of the front door closing echoed through the small apartment. I was alone now, with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company. That wasn't going to end well.

I heard the text tone go off on my bedside table and quickly picked up my phone, hoping to see a new message from Harry, but was disappointed when it was only a reply from Olivia.