Harry's POV
I woke up to the sound of someone retching. Groggily getting out of bed, I pulled my shirt over my head.
"Told ya to tone it down a bit on the alcohol last night," I said in the direction of the bathroom down the corridor.
"Oh shut up, will ya Mal- urgghh."
I smiled remembering how Tom insisted on the beer-pong match with the two over-enthusiastic girls fawning over him last night.
"That should teach you to brag about your imaginary beer-pong skills, Tommy. Wait a minute. Where are the girls?"
"What girls? Oh shit-" The bathroom door was opened in a dash and Tom ran to his bedroom, leaving the tap open. I heard a loud groan and knew better than to go witness the scene in his bedroom.Or maybe I should, I mused to myself, smiling, but deciding against it, heading to the kitchen instead.
"Holy shit," I heard Tom say.
“What happened, mate?” I called over my shoulder. “Are there more or less girls than should’ve been?” I teased, my mind catching up on last night’s events. Reaching to take the milk carton out of the fridge, I froze. The girl. The broken girl. She was hurt, I thought, feeling an involuntary tug at my heart at the memory of her silver hair blown away from her face, revealing the tears silently trickling down her cheeks.
“Who was hurt? No, they’re fine. They’re just asleep,” Tom said behind me, hopping on one of the stools at the counter. Shit, I didn’t even realize I said that out loud. I pushed the image of the broken girl to the back of my mind as Tom rambled on about the day’s plans, but I couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying.
“Say, Tom, you know everyone on the island, don’t you?”
Tom eyed me suspiciously, “Yeah.”
Tom was originally from the US, but came here on his gap year a couple of years back. The enchanting island had cast its spell on him and he had never left since. I wondered if he’d ever want to go back. It didn’t seem like he would, since for the past two weeks that I’d been here, he hadn’t once mentioned any of his family. If I was to be completely honest, I sensed like something was off with Tom. But he was a nice guy, and I didn’t want to pry into his matters anyway.
Darren, Chris and William had found out about this island on an Internet forum about gap years. It didn’t take long for them to be convinced that this was the place to be, though it had clearly taken a bit longer for me. I hadn’t even thought about taking a gap year in the first place. I mean, who takes a gap year after 3 years of university? Gap years were for high school students. The plan was to try and get a job, move into a posh apartment, find a girl and just enjoy not having to study. But then I figured that since I finished my course 6 months early anyway, it couldn’t hurt to try this gap year thing for 6 months and see how it went. I could always start my job as planned if I wanted to go back to my boring self.
We met Tom the day after we got here, while we were hunting for a decent place to live after the landlord that Chris had gotten into contact with on the Internet forum turned out to be a fraud. That was how we ended up in Tom’s four bedroom penthouse for half the rent we were prepared to give the fraudulent landlord. That was also why all of us decided to use up our saved funds to enjoy the island for a couple of weeks before starting to hunt for jobs.
“Did you see that girl yesterday at the pier?” I tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, joining Tom at the counter, sitting across him, keeping my focus on making my breakfast. What is wrong with you, Mallory? Why are you being so sheepish about it? Seriously, if my mind kept taunting me like that, I’d go insane.
“Dude, I don’t even remember what happened last night,” he laughed, pointing in the direction of his bedroom.
My heart sunk at his answer and I couldn’t even understand why. Why would Tom knowing who she is make it better? I thought the last thing you needed was to get attached to the island and fuck up all of your plans? Woah, woah, woah, it’s not like I was planning to get married to the girl and settle down here. What the fuck is wrong with my brain?
“But I do know the pier girl.”
I looked up at Tom, startled. The look in my eyes must’ve confused him. He looked at me strangely before shrugging and saying, “Everyone knows the pier girl.”
“She was crying,” I blurted out, my voice thick, leaving myself confused. I cleared my throat in a desperate attempt to not sound like a complete weirdo entranced by a crying girl. Why the fuck was it bothering me so much?
“Yeah. She goes there every Sunday,” he said, referring to the pier. “I’ve never asked about what happened, nor does anyone ever talk about it. But whatever it was, it must’ve happened before I even got here two years back.”
“Oh,” I said and shrugged, acting like I couldn’t care less about what happened to the girl, but inside, I was facing a fight between my heart’s instinct to figure this girl out and to make things better for her and my brain telling me to keep away from it all, as if sensing danger.
I realized I’d been turning my spoon over and over in my bowl when I saw Tom looking at me.
“Dude, you’re a really sensitive guy,” he said and laughed. “You see this random girl crying and now you’re getting all emotional and shit. I’m guessing it’s just a my-boyfriend-cheated-on-me story,” he rolled his eyes. “She’s damn hot though. It’s a shame she has a ch-”
“Hi babe,” said a voice at the door, cutting Tom off. Tom diverted his gaze to the blonde bimbo behind me and I was glad he didn’t see the daggers my eyes just involuntarily shot him when he said that the girl was hot in a suggestive manner. I sighed, getting up and dumping my unfinished breakfast in the bin. I wasn’t even in proper control of my brain today. So what if Tom said the girl was hot? Why did you have to get protective over her all of a sudden? I put the dishes away in the sink, ignoring the messages my brain was sending me.
Tom was all over the girl by the time I turned from the sink and I took it as my cue to leave.
“You go, man. Have a good time,” I said, winking at the girl as I leaved the kitchen, sending her into a fit of fake giggles.
A/N: Votes and comments always appreciated. I hope this chapter is a bit better than the last one. I feel like this could be a good story, but this is my first time writing a full story (I usually write one shots) and I'm not very confident with the development style. I'm trying my best to make this good, so it'd be much appreciated if you could click on the next chapter to read? Pretty please? :)
