Neighborhood ➳ h.s. au

Seventeen

It had been a week since Ann and Harry had spoken to each other. Ann was humiliated, but she didn't know how bad Harry had felt about the whole thing. He beat himself up about it everyday. He told himself he was stupid - that he broke this girl's heart.

He hated himself for it.

Harry sat on his bed as he stared ahead at the computer screen in front of his emerald eyes. His fingers shook slightly as he looked at him and Ann's empty chat room. The green dot next to her username meant that she was online, but he couldn't bear to even type one thing to her. He could barely say anything in person, so how could he say anything over text? Ever since Harry and Ann had met, Harry had bugged her to create an account on IM, and just before everything fell apart, she finally did.

You busy? He typed nervously.

Ann jumped at the sound of her laptop going off and she walked over, her eyes widening when she saw a message from Harry. He hadn't IM'd her in since the incident, so what was the deal with it now? She dropped the t-shirt that she was folding before going over to her laptop and sitting down criss-crossed on her bed.

No. She replied before cracking her knuckles. Need something?

Harry sighed and shook his head before looking over, seeing Ann sitting on her bed with her laptop sitting on her legs. He felt his stomach tie in knots and he typed back quickly. Just wanted to talk.

Harry's eyebrows narrowed when he saw Ann shut her laptop and sit for a moment with her head in her hands and her toes curling. She looked so stressed out - had he caused this? He turned his head and looked away for a moment before looking back again and seeing that she had suddenly disappeared. He should've known that she didn't want to talk to him after what he had done. It's the most painful thing in the world to put your feelings out in the world and then be shot down so suddenly.

He should have known that.

Ann sat in front of Harry's front door with her hands shoved in the pocket of her hoodie, her eyes looking down at her shoes as his mother opened the front door, a surprised look on her face when she saw Ann standing there.
"Ann! It's so good to see you, darling." She opened the door wider and motioned Ann inside. "Come on in. Harry is up in his room. I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you."

Ann nodded and walked up the stairs, her mind spinning once she reached the top. She couldn't focus on what she was doing by the time she had reached his door, and her hands were shaking as she reached for his doorknob and turned it slowly. Harry's head quickly turned as he saw her walk in and his eyes widened slightly.

"Ann.." he trailed off before standing up. "I'm so sorry. Please, don't hate me. I've missed you so much. I-"

Ann held her hand up to hush him and shook her head. "I didn't expect you to say it back," she mumbled quietly. "I never expected you to."

Harry shook his head quickly before walking up to her and grabbing her shoulders quite forcefully. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know you didn't." She grinned sadly up at the beautiful boy and shook his hands off gently. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Harry's head tilted to the side as she sat on his bed and bounced a little. "Just..this, I guess." He motioned between then and Ann sighed.

"Let's just forget I even said anything. It was stupid and absurd. I should have known you still love Marie."

Harry's eyes widened at the mention of Marie's name. He had completely forgotten about her until now; he hadn't spoken to her in weeks.

"Me and Marie.." He trailed off, his long fingers running through his shaggy hair. "I haven't talked to her in a while, actually. I don't know what's going on between us."

Ann sat as she took everything in and crossed her legs before lying down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Oh," was all she could say.

"Ann, can we-" he cut himself off before sitting down in his chair by the computer. He turned and typed in a few words on his computer before turning the screen towards her. She sat up and grinned slightly at the sight of the picture. It was a picture they had taken just weeks before. Harry's arm was around Ann's shoulder as he was laughing at something she had said, and Ann was looking up at Harry like he was the only person on the planet. "Can we go back to this?

Ann's heart tightened at the sound of pity in his voice, and she nodded slowly. "We can try."

The smile that spread across Harry's lips made Ann's heart leap into the air and Harry stood up before attacking Ann in a bone crushing hug on the bed. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear quietly. "Thank you."

Ann felt like kicking, screaming, crying even, but she knew that this was what Harry wanted. He only wanted to be friends, best friends at that, and that broke Ann's heart.

But, being 'just friends' was better than nothing, right?