Nowhere In Particular // H.S.

Thirty-Five: "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

When waking up in a room that's so dark you can barely see a few inches in front of you, it's easy to feel like you're alone. This is the case for me when my eyes open, mostly out of my own control as I yawn myself awake. I quickly realize that I'm not alone though because there's Harry with tickling hair and warm skin, limbs going every which way, on top of me. It's a comforting feeling, one that I've gotten used to as he nestles his forehead into my neck.

What "tomorrow" was supposed to consist of was put off another day. We're in New Jersey now. We're close enough to the ocean that I can hear the crashing waves if I sit by the window. But our arrival was much later than we were expecting, and once we were off that last bus we mostly just groaned about how hungry and tired we were. The thrill of traveling by bus is long gone for the both of us at this point.

We already figured that the sunrise part would have to wait because we weren't planning on arriving in the early hours of the morning anyways, but we were supposed to get here mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, nearly anything that could go wrong did.

Harry left one of his few pairs of jeans in the hotel room after we checked out, so we had to go back for that. The bus we were supposed to take in the morning was extremely late so we missed the connecting one at the next stop. I got a really bad headache when we were at lunch, so bad that the thought of food made me feel like I was going to be sick, then not eating only made the headache worse. And the last leg of bus ride was stalled for nearly an hour because of mechanical problems.

Basically, Harry and I were very eager to get the hell away from the bus station once we hit the final stop.

I asked about his friend, he mumbled something about how it was late and he'd call them in the morning, then we decided on a hotel that has a huge casino right next to the lobby, very ready to crash into bed.

There wasn't anything spectacular or life-altering about last night because we were both pretty grumpy. Not necessarily with each other... I decided to drop my annoyance with Harry for not sharing the reasons why he's upset, at least for now because even with his grumpiness there was a huge effort on his part to be happy. Last night consisted of ordering room service, eating far too many fries, then falling asleep not long after, squishing ourselves into the middle of the large bed.

Sleep is probably all we needed because even in these first few seconds of being awake, I can tell the grumpy moods from yesterday are a thing of the past.

Harry's particularly cuddly this morning after our night of surprisingly good rest. His leg is resting over my waist, his arms pulling me closer to him, and his hair still tickling at my skin as I feel his lips press gentle kisses into my neck.

"Are you awake?" he asks with a raspy voice, each word filled with sleepiness.

I groan to answer his question, moving a hand that he trapped with his arms to rub at my eyes. Waking up before the sun has even started to make an appearance in the sky is a little easier when it consists of waking up to kisses from Harry, but it's still brutal. I feel him laugh quietly, always amused by my lack of enthusiasm in the morning and then another few gentle kisses as he moves his leg from on top of me.

Harry has turned into my alarm clock by this point, since he somehow wires his brain to wake up at the time we need to get our day going. It's a mystery to me how he manages to do this but if he decides we need to be up at a certain time he can wake up without the help of any real alarm clocks.

At least that's the story he's told me. I'm convinced he sets alarms on his phone but because I dread mornings so much I sleep right through them, requiring extra motivation from him to actually wake up.