Let Me Go

- Chapter Twenty-Eight- Elora -

"Here."

"This is a water." I reply dryly as I take the glass from Harry's outstretched hand. I sit in Erin's living room surrounded my our class mates, music pounding so loudly in my ears I can barely focus on what Harry is saying to me. 

Erin's living room is huge, a portion of it had been remodled when her father and her had first moved in, turning the space into a pop-up movie theater. She'd gotten the projector going and a horror movie of some description was playing loudly, competing with the music coming from the kitchen. A few people were huddled around watching, some yelling at the screen, while others behind them ignored it and danced instead. People stood around the room talking, not a single person had their hands empty, either holding a beer or a plastic cup. Some even just had large bottles of straight alcohol. Lord help us when we needed to get people to go home, people would end up camping out in the grass at this point. After giving me my glass, Harry sits beside me and talks directly into my ear.

"I'm not saying don't drink tonight. But take it easy, for me." he says and I pull back to look at him. Worry fills his eyes and God I feel like a dick. Harry is always the one taking care of me, especially when I go overboard drinking. He is the one that makes sure I get home safe, that I get into bed rather than passing out on the floor somewhere. It must be an awful job, if it were the other way around I'd be pretty pissy about it. But yet here he sits, worried for me instead.

"I can do that." I reply, resting my head against his shoulder beside me before looking around the room. Erin was long gone already, she must have started drinking at an ungodly hour and Harry had to put her to bed which meant I was now in charge of making sure her house wasn't destroyed. Ruby was sitting in there with her to make sure she was okay, even Gracie had a hard time leaving her but ended up coming back out to meet some of the people here while she had the chance. I'd sat with Erin for a little while before Ruby pushed me out, telling me to enjoy the party that I missed most of already.

I look around the room before my eyes land on Matt. He looks laid back wearing a pair of black sweatpants that cling to his legs, my eyes get caught there for a moment looking at the outline of his lower body. He has a dark long sleeve tee on and one hand in his pant pocket, while the other craddles a beer. He's talking to one of the guys on the basketball team, not really laughing or looking like he is having a great time, but at least he isn't looking like he is about to rip this guys throat out.

His eyes snap to mine as he takes a sip from his beer bottle, his eyes finding mine like I'd personally called out to him. They are their usual deep blue, his long eyelashes fanning them briefly as he blinks and I feel like he has locked my eyes onto his, like I can't look away. He brings his beer back down, looking at me with an expression that I can't pick, before turning his head and going back to talking to the basketball player. I blink a couple of times before turning to Harry, but he seems oblivious to what had just happened.

"Any word on you know what?" I ask him, and he looks to me before nodding his head.

"Friendly." he replies and I breathe a sign of relief. Whatever weird thing was going on with Matt, at least he wasn't going to rip me apart. At least I could hope..

I take a deep breath, before standing and turning to Harry. He pulls himself forward so that he is sitting on the edge of the seat before his hands move up to grab my hands and pull me back down onto his lap. I laugh as I awkwardly fall, and a couple people closest to us all stop to see what just happened. Most people were used to Harry and I, but then there were still some that watched to see if something would finally happen between us. Maybe brother was the wrong word, it felt like it wasn't big enough to describe my feeling for him, he was more like a part of my soul. Like my body was happy when he was around because it felt safe, it felt understood. So the idea that people thought something was going on with him just made me feel sick.