Masterpiece [h.s]

twenty five

Carter hardly gets any sleep. Her heart is confused and hurt all at once and it keeps her up until exhaustion takes its hold on her body. It's been about a month since she's heard from Harry and she feels a deep twinge of regret because he's never given up so easily and she thought that he'd at least try, even when she told him to leave her alone.

Instead, there were no phone calls, no voicemails, and no texts. She's starting to think about her decision so much more and she thinks that she's going to try one more time. But will he still want her when she comes back?

The competition is near it's end and there's a final three now. Carter's going home tomorrow morning to get started on her final piece.

Where she should be overjoyed about how far she's made it, she can hardly think about being excited because Harry still haunts her mind every second of every day.

Carter decides that she's not going to tell him that she's coming back and that she'll make up her mind about giving him another chance on the plane. He's certainly made a tremendous effort after he screwed up and he listened when she told him to give her some more time and some space, but is he truly invested in her so much that it won't happen again?

After weeks of thinking, she's decided that she'll be able to let him try again one last time. But she isn't going to be able to forgive him just yet. It's happened to her so many times that she just can't fathom forgiving him, even if he genuinely did have too much to drink and thought that it was her that he saw.

She makes up her mind before she leaves the hotel room.

* * *

The rain falls in heavy sheets and thick drops, soaking everything in sight and sparing nothing during its onslaught. Most of the city is asleep and the hum of the rain hitting the roof and the windows helps to lull them into a deeper sleep.

Harry's wide awake and comparing the rain to Carter's tears.

He's felt nothing short of awful since the incident and not talking to her or knowing where her mind is at only served to make it worse. Carter has a fragile heart and he's certain that she's still hurting and wide awake by the time that he falls asleep.

Every week he watches her on Everlasting Ink and he can tell just how much he's gotten to her even though she masks most of it from the cameras. Her tattoos suffered for a brief period of time and she was almost sent home because of it, which only made him feel a hundred times worse than he already felt.

Meanwhile, on his end, his art has suffered and he isn't doing very much anymore, so his money influx is suffering in return. At one point he even covered everything that involved Carter because it hurt him to look at his work and know that he hurt her.

There's only a slim chance that she'll find it in herself to give him another chance and he's beginning to lose hope with each day of radio silence that passes between them. His mind torments him every moment that it's not occupied, and for once, it's inspired him to get it out of his system.

It's three in the morning and he's up, painting the same letters over and over again on a pristine white canvas that's no longer pure.

"I'm sorry," sums it up and around thirty minutes later his canvas is filled with the two words in endless patterns, the final result being an anatomical heart that bleeds the same words that it's made from.

After he's finished and set the canvas aside to dry, Harry feels better in some way and his mind finally relaxes.

He's still thinking about Carter as he gets comfortable in his bed for the first time since he's come back home. The rain still hasn't let up at all and he focuses on its steady rhythm to lull himself to sleep just a little bit faster in case his mind decides to strangle his heart again.