Breaking Loose [Original]

8

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Eight
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AWKWARD.

That's what the moment felt like.

Asher wanted to disappear instantly, she wanted to be the invisible girl the world had made her seem all her life.

She didn't ever think meeting someone could be that unwieldy until, well, until then.

Harry returned with two steaming cups "Here," he grinned as he handed her hers.

She nodded lightly and took a sip, it felt like it should've calmed the tension but it didn't.

"So, I suppose, I can start?" The Oren guy went again.

She could recognize that English accent anywhere.
The tone, the thickness, it was hard to miss.

He was hard to miss.

And had her thinking... wondering if he, like...you know, knew her...

"Of course..." Harry smiled, his eyes seemed to search the room for a moment before landing on them "Just one other person-but it doesn't matter. She'll never come" he finished with a dry chuckle.

Asher met his eyes, a knowing in hers.

She knew the she.

Karen.

" Oh, are you certain then? Or we can wait... "

" No no, don't mind me, son. Please...get this going "

Asher watched Harry's countenance dim slightly. She hadn't known him like forever, she didn't need to but if she could genuinely feel for anybody, it would be him.

When she met his eyes again, his browns had thinned, his face seemed paler as he unconsciously gripped the edges of the counter he stood against. When he'd gestured to a seat for her, she actually didn't refrain. She let him lead her.

He'd told her that night would be special and though she highly doubted it, she couldn't totally give it off. Harry was the kind who was considerate, he was like the 'always there' kind of person, even when no one was there for him.

" Saved you this spot, yellow" he smiled when she eased into the seat that most definitely faced the high stool the blond guy was getting onto.

Her gaze may have lingered some seconds longer, for she had never seen such brightness in anyone's eyes. It felt a though the eyes trapped all of the sunlight and carried them throughout the day. His head was slightly bowed as he readied his guitar, making his blond locks hang down loosely.

"Nice young man, ain't he?"

She blinked, and tore her eyes away to meet Harry's suggestive grin.

She instantly frowned, not because she was unhappy, but because it had become a way to conceal that flaming redness in her cheeks.

"Far from it" she blurted and dipped her head to drink her coffee, partly because she was unable to look in those eyes without having disclosed her true mind to them.

Harry, he had a way of scooping out all atom of truth from you.

She heard him chuckle.

When she looked up again, he was staring at Oren. A lost stare. The one with slightly narrowed eyes.

His fingers were fidgeting now and then, shredding a paper towel onto the table.

"Er..." She started awkwardly. She hadn't really talked like that with anyone but she figured, she might as well have given it a chance.
"I'm sure she still...loves you" her voice was too low she actually wondered if he'd heard her.

He turned to her with slightly raised brows "Who?"

"K-Karen" she swallowed.

He just watched her and she probably regretted talking then.

"I don't think so," he shrugged and returned to watching Oren. "She never comes around anymore, she should be sitting there, giving me that one beautiful smile she lights my world with"

Asher glanced at the spot he'd nodded at. It was particularly empty-it always was but that night was different-part of it was hidden in the shadows. It was the far end of the shop.

"I go to see her every so often, sometimes she wants to talk, other times...bleh"

Asher looked ahead again at the bear sized man whose heart betrayed his appearance. There was grief written all over that face, an unpleasant stain that smeared the area around his eyes, trailed down his jawline and dripped onto his cream shirt.

She wasn't a type to visit cemeteries but she did feel the aura was nice. For him to do that often... must've been a lot. A lot of courage. A lot of love.

"Oh just start the damn song boy..." She heard him grit desperately through his teeth.

Almost immediately, a string was strummed.

It bounced off the walls, enveloping the room in a strangeness, something foreign, something Asher didn't know, something that forced her to look and never take her eyes off.

She watched the guy with the guitar glance up nervously, a smile pulling at his lips, a shy one. Before he whispered into the mic, something that sounded like 'here it goes'

He started playing something.

It was a gentle tune that pulled the wind towards it. A sound the elements of the universe relished, a sound that left all eyes glued and hearts struck.

Asher watched those long fingers glide smoothly, she watched them pull and swipe here and there, she wondered how such a melody could come out of a stringed box and amidst her slight confusion, he started to sing.

Somehow it made the room look ten times smaller, somehow it drowned out everything but them. Somehow, when he looked up and met her eyes, it felt as though every word was directed at her, specifically for her.

It was a glance, then it lingered, his eyes held hers, he wasn't saying anything other than the lyrics but it felt like he was... And what were those lyrics? She wasn't even listening.

Inner Asher was fumbling, thrashing around. A very unusual feeling at that moment. It felt as though something in her died and decayed that very second, it felt as though he was peeling her open, layer after layer, by just sitting there and staring across the room...

Perhaps, like she was his favorite town.

It was like he was saying 'I know you'

Three words with the deepest meanings.

It was as though everything he was saying, every tune he was making whispered something over and over again.

Stay.

Half an hour must've passed, she didn't know... Her phone sat in her back pocket but she couldn't pull it out. Her coffee had gone cold yet it never mattered-Asher was smitten.

Smitten hard.

***

Author: So I felt a lot writing this chapter, and revealing a little more about Harry's life. Also, finally... I got those two in a room together, phew... Now the story really begins.

Please don't forget to hit the star button and comment!

Love,
Kairos.