The Lighthouse - [H.S.]

Chapter 8 - French Fries & Sleeping Bags on the Floor

Fallon James
Wednesday, October 22, 2024

"But I don't want to leave! I'm the one who's here for work!" I hear Harlow shout back at Harry. They've been going at it since we all woke up, found him asleep on our couch, and as we read his note he tried to sneak out on us. 

Harlow is to go back to New York, and I am to stay here.

I can't even manage to muster energy to care, my headache is so aggressive so I continue to lay on my bed in defeat, having given up hours ago.

"Harlow, I understand, but you're in danger here." He responds, serious. I don't remember everything that happened last night, but whatever went down... Harry's been a totally different person all morning. Or maybe it's me who feels differently about him; something has changed between us that's for sure.

"Fallon!" Harlow shouts from behind my closed doors, and before I can even sit up in bed both doors shoot open revealing both Harry and Harlow one angrier than the other. They look like two toddlers who both want the same toy, whining about sharing.

"Tell him," she says, pointing" this is bullshit. Who the fuck does he- sorry Harry you are here, who the fuck do you think you are?" She finishes pointedly at him.

"Ouch." He says, feigning an arrow to the heart. "I understand, but haven't you gotten something you can work with? I just don't..." he begins to say before thinking against whatever was in the back of his mind. 

"Harlow, I..." I want to support her, she's right. She's an adult and she's here for work... really, I'm her guest with my own agenda but Harry...

He has a point. 

"-I wouldn't want you to get hurt because of me." I admit, wiping the sleep from my eyes. "He has a point." I admit in defeat before Harry grins, too wide, and huffs in Harlow's face.

"Get packing girl" He says, before turning on his heel back into the living room. Harlow's face is dumbfounded and I, in my hungover state, have nothing left to offer. Falling backwards on my bed I attempt to assuage Harlow.

"You'll have the whole apartment to yourself, and Rufus keeps great company! Finish the article from home!" I roll over, looking for my lost cell phone in the ruffled sheets. "Plus, I won't be staying here for the remainder of my prison sentence anyways, so it's not like you're missing much."

Harlow throws herself onto the bottom of my bed, puffing up my duvet enough that my phone appears under a wrapped portion of the sheets. 

"Don't." I say, attempting to prevent the barrage of questions as to why I took Harry's side on this before they begin. Her silence fills the space between us, allowing the faint echoes of movement throughout the suite to be heard. 

"He's been trying to pack me up all morning." She sighs. 

"You're leaving-"

"Flight was booked by the time I found him and woke you up apparently. He's a schemer."

"You know, I know you'll call me crazy - but I think he's doing all of this genuinely. You didn't see his face at that event, when the ceiling..." remembering the look of his terrified eyes in my mind's eye takes me right back to the crawling through air vents, red letters, and the secret bedroom. 

"You're crazy... but this, this is crazy so if I have to go home to keep you safe-"

"It's about keeping you safe..." I say, allowing a moment of surrender between us. "Plus," I chuckle, "if I've got to stay in London longer, who'll take care of Rufus for me?"