Watercolour

Thirty Four

Song of the Chapter: What Happened To Us - Harbour (link above)

Harvey's P.O.V

There was a knock on the window. I looked up, letting my eyes adjust to the stream of light flooding through the glass and twisted my neck around to see who was there. It was Alana. I'd spent all morning anticipating her arrival - not knowing when she was planning on coming round and now here she was; as soon as I'd settle down on the sofa.

But as I launched my body up from where it was sat, I suddenly felt as I had when I'd bumped into Al yesterday. A sudden sense of calm and completion. The feeling of something being made right.

"Hey," I said cheerfully as I opened the door, letting her in. She smiled as she began unzipping her jacket and once she had, I took it out her hands to hang it up.

"What's this?" I asked, noticing the neatly wrapped present she'd taken out the pocket and was now in her hand.

"It's for you," she replied, looking down at the gift. "I missed your birthday because I.. well, I fucked off really, didn't I?"

"I suppose so," I chuckled. "But hey, I completely get it. Don't worry about it."

She gave a small smile before taking my hands in hers and placing the nondescript object in them. I turned it over and slid my finger underneath a piece of tape.

"Wait," Alana interjected. "You should open it later."

"Okay...?" I replied, confused but knowing there must be a perfectly good reason for waiting.

"We need to talk."

"Yeah. We do."

After seeing Al for the first time in a while yesterday, I was taking this as our chance to sort everything out. To clear the air between us. To start afresh. To get back to how we'd started off.

"I don't really know how to put thi-" she started.

"I get it."

"No, Harv. I don't think you do."

"I promise, I do. I get things have been rough and they've left us wondering where we're gonna go from here; where we can go from he-"

"Harvey," she interrupts again. "I don't want you to get ahead of yourself before I've even had a chance to tell you."

I stopped, leaving back slightly in my seat. The sudden change in her tone along with what she had just said made me doubt myself and everything I'd assumed.

"Tell me what?"

"I think... I think I want us to stop."

"Stop...?" I repeated, hoping she wasn't meaning what my brain had automatically suspected.

"You know what I mean, Harvey. Please don't make me have to spell it out. Don't make it harder than it already is."

"But Ala..." I started before trailing off again. I had no idea how I was meant to respond. "I know, it feels like something's wrong -"

"That's because there is, Harvey," she objected and I knew she was right but I couldn't give up on her.

"Al, this is the only problem we've ever had," I pointed out, longing for something that would make her reconsider.

"Yes," she admitted, giving me a glimmering sense of hope before crushing it again. "But annoyingly enough, the one problem we've ever had to face has become a make or break for me, Harv. How can we carry on, not sharing the same view on something as crucial as the future of my friendship with Alex? Neither of us can bring each other to reason an-"