All Too Well [H.S]

Fourteen

Lilah Green

Los Cabos, Mexico

4:46 AM

December 3rd, 2024

The knocking on my hotel room door was so forceful that it could have hurt someone's knuckles. Oddly, Marianne, who had always been a light sleeper, didn't stir. I groaned, got out of bed, and smoothed out my wrinkled silk nightgown with my hands. I made my way downstairs to answer the door, though I had a sinking feeling it was the last person I wanted to see.

"I'm coming, quit it!" I yelled after another hard knock. It seemed like the person was on the verge of breaking their hand. I unlocked the door and opened it, squinting from the bright light outside.

There stood Harry, his face filled with anger. He didn't even ask to come in; he barged in and slammed the door behind him.

"We need to talk," he said.

"About what? And keep your voice down; Marianne and everyone else in the resort is sleeping," I replied rudely as we stood in the kitchen.

"You crossed a line today, Lilah," Harry snapped, walking past me and sitting on the couch. He looked tense and upset. I followed him and stood in front of him, my arms still crossed.

"How so?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

"You had no right to tell my mom that I hadn't quit. That's none of your business," he said angrily, shifting in his seat. "It was disrespectful."

"Does it bother you that you lie to the people around you all the time?" I said, taking a step closer. "Watch it," he warned through clenched teeth.

"Does it, Harry? Because it looks like lying comes easy to you," I said, getting angrier by the minute.

"I said watch it!" Harry stood up, towering over me with his height, his nostrils flaring.

"You're trying to intimidate me, but it's not working," I smirked, showing him I wasn't scared. "And what are you gonna do about it?"

"Lilah, I mean it. You're ticking me off. Watch your mouth," Harry's face was inches from mine, his expression stern, his eyes unblinking.

"There are boundaries, and you are crossing them. I understand that you are hurt, but—" I began, but he cut me off with a scoff.

"Hurt? Is that how you label it? Hurt?" I fired back, taking a step back.

"You didn't have to out me like that at dinner, that's all I have to say," he sighed and sat back down on the couch as if we had more to discuss.

I looked down at the ground, shaking my head. "I know. I'm sorry that I did that. It was wrong of me, and I'm sorry," I said, surprising him. He didn't answer, just nodded reluctantly.

"Is it not hurt?" Harry asked softly, fiddling with his rings. I didn't say anything, looking out the window while biting my lip. "What is it then? Tell me," he pleaded.

"Please," he added softly.

"I loved you," I finally made eye contact with him.

"I know—" he began.

"No, you don't know, Harry."

"I loved you. I was in love with you. And deep down, you knew that all this time. What I felt for you was real and rare. I kept it close to me. You knew it when I told you in the car the week before my birthday, and you pretended it was just a friendly thing. And then you showed up at my door and had sex with me like I was nothing to you, like I was just a way to make yourself feel good. You knew how I felt, and you used that, Harry. You used me. Next thing I knew, you were gone. You stand here now, having the nerve to ask me to come back into your life, like I haven't spent the last four years wondering what I did wrong. I didn't deserve that. I was so in love with you, willing to do anything for you, to feel you in ways I never got to before. What you did was mean. You took advantage of a girl who was desperately in love with you. You stole something from me. It was cruel, Harry. So, no, it's not hurt. It's a deep, painful burden that will linger in ways I don't want it to. It burned me, like being set on fire. It was pure misery. And standing here, looking at your face, it still feels like an open wound," I confessed.