The Timeline [h.s.]

79.

February 28th, 2019:

Out of all the weird things that had happened in Claire's life - and, trust, she had had many weird things happen to her in the course of a relatively short life, compared to other people's - having to explain to Sam Claflin that Harry Styles wasn't the biological father of her baby, Theodore, probably took the number one spot.

The cherry on top.

The star on the Christmas Tree.

You couldn't make it up, even if you wanted to.

The way Sam's face had fallen and his expression had morphed, the way Claire spoke and spoke more. Claire realized she could've simply left it at the "No, he isn't Theodore's father", obviously. She didn't owe Sam any type of explanation about her personal life, since he was nothing more than a coworker - a possible one, at that.

But Harry had crashed their dinner party, and he had been pretty rude to Sam, and he had said offensive things to him in the hallway, not caring for a second if the man could hear him or not.

And Claire felt like she had to make up for it, to try and right the wrongs Harry had left in its wake, all the crooked pictures he had tried to drop from their hooks.

So, when Sam's confusion at Claire's admission had painted itself on his face, Claire had gone on to explain that Harry was - had been? - a friend of hers, someone who had been very close to Theodore since the day he was born and that Theodore was very fond of him - as it had been clear from the moment he had walked into the house, wrapped around him like a koala.

Of course, that description didn't line up at all with the way Claire had acted with him, with the things they had said to each other right before Harry had left and Claire had walked back inside the dining room on shaky legs, clearly upset.

And Claire could read the confusion on Sam's face even more now. He was holding himself back from asking her more about him, curious despite his politeness and discretion.

But at the same time, she wouldn't have known what to say to him about Harry. How could she describe him, exactly? Her best friend she may or may not have had some lingering feelings for ever since she had been a teenager? The same feelings she had tried to repress over and over, to varying degrees of success, until the moment they had all bubbled up to the surface and burst through the lid she thought she had secured over them? The man she had slept with, giving up all pretenses of self-control, thinking that everything was going to change between them? The same man who had then subsequently abandoned her, after promising her things would change, leaving her to wake up alone and wonder for weeks what she had done wrong? That same man who had then, proceeded to show up at her house, holding her kid, and make things awkward for everyone before storming off and accusing her of moving on from him and having dinner with another man, as if he was blameless in their whole predicament?

That must've summed it up quite nicely, but there was no way in hell Claire was going to get into any of it.

For starters, it was far too personal, and for as much as she liked Sam and enjoyed his presence, she didn't feel like they had reached that stage of their friendship (the one stage where she could open up about all of her traumas and problems like that).

Then, she knew that if she started talking about Harry, she'd end up monopolizing the conversation once again, because if she was given the chance to talk and bitch and moan about what had happened with him, she'd go on and on and on and on. And that night wasn't about her problems with Harry; quite the opposite, in fact. That night was supposed to be about her future achievements (or the ones she was 90% sure she'd be getting soon).