Graphite || h.s

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Harry, I hate to lower the tone, but what about the girl that you said you liked?" That was the only thing that I'd been able to think about in the past twenty four hours.

"You're quite slow, aren't you?" Harry chuckled, hoisting himself up from the sofa and heading towards the kitchen. I remained still for a second, allowing his words to fully immerse themselves into my head.

"What do you mean I'm slow?" I questioned, following him through the kitchen door.

"I mean what I say Sadie, you're slow on the uptake." He replied, continuing to raid through the cupboards, scouring for food.

"What am I missing then? What am I somehow not managing to see?"

"It was you." Harry closed the door of the cupboard he had been looking through and instead focused his intent watch onto me.

"What was m-" It was me. "Oh."

He couldn't have been describing me. He just couldn't. Jane sounded nothing like me. She sounded perfect.

I wasn't beautiful, nor was I eccentric and my smile definitely didn't light up a room. There was not one description that fit.

"Harry, seriously, what are you going to do about her?" I stretched my arms across the counter, leaning most of my weight against the marble surface.

"I already told you. There is no Jane. It was you." He sighed, positioning himself on the opposite end of the work top.

"Fine, whatever." I resigned, holding my hands up in surrender.

"Have you found a college yet?" Harry inquired, spreading a thin layer of butter on to a piece of bread and taking a bite.

"Yes, I have," I answered. His eyes peered into mine expectantly, as though he required more detail, "it's local so I won't have to go very far."

"Oh are you going to Knutsford College?"

"Oh, yes. Yes." I nodded, unaware of what I had just landed myself into. I had no choice but to lie. It wasn't like I could tell him that I had found a college in the heart of the USA.

There was no easy way to tell somebody that you were leaving them and moving 5000 miles away.

The knot in my stomach tightened as it began to sink in that I was facing the hardest goodbyes I'd ever have to say. It wasn't a forever-goodbye, but it would still be heart-wrenching.

I never was good at farewells. The words had such a sense of finality about them, and I simply couldn't bring myself to say them.

Goodbyes mean abandonment. They're what you use when somebody you love is required to step out of your life.

My goodbye would be the same.

"The summer goes too quickly." Harry's somber voice sounded troubled, strained even.

"It does." I agreed sadly.

Three weeks (and a half) would whistle by and September would arrive all too quickly for my liking. That was the way it went though. The hands of time seemed to speed up whenever you face something that you are dreading.

"I wish there was a way that we could pause certain moments and live in them forever." Harry half-smiled to himself.

"Mhm," I agreed, keeping my gaze fixed on my hands.

"If there was, I think I'd pause to the moments we spend together."

I looked up at him, and he stretched the corners of his mouth upwards.

"I wouldn't be anywhere but here." He stepped from around the counter and took my hand, pulling me into a tight hug.

It took everything in me not to break down crying. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, but I refused to let them. Instead, I buried my head into Harry's shirt and let out a deep breath.

Harry said nothing, but wrapped his arms around my waist. He held me in silence, allowing me to mull over my thoughts.

Leaving would be bittersweet. It was going to be far from easy.

(A/N) Sarry or Hadie?