Sweet Disposition (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 12

"Harry." I whispered in a sing song voice. I shook his shoulder gently, but he just muttered something incoherent and rolled over. "Wake up." I whined.

He blinked open his eyes and slowly sat up, rubbing at his face. "What time is it?"

"7:20."

He sighed heavily before standing. He grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and shimmied into them. I laughed a little when he wiggled his bum to make them fit right. He disappeared into the bathroom for awhile, so I got up as well and went back to my cabin to get some fresh clothes. I also packed a change of clothes into my suitcase and carried it back with me. Harry was still in the bathroom when I returned so I sat on his bed to wait.

After fifteen minutes he was still in there, so I decided to go check on him. I pushed open the door slowly and looked inside. I sighed when I saw Harry. He was standing in front of the mirror staring blankly at his shirtless torso. I sucked in a surprised breath when I examined him. Apparently all that hard work had given him muscles, because he had a faint outline of abs and his biceps weren't bad either. What really surprised me though, was when I saw the pale pink scars that littered his pale skin. A few were raised, but most of them were flat.

He jumped when he noticed me and reached behind him to grab a towel. He covered his chest with it and stared at me with a fearful look on his face, backing up until he hit the wall.

I carefully took the towel from his shaking fingers and let it fall to the ground. He gulped and his head fell forward. I reached out carefully and rested my hands on his hips, then I slowly trailed my fingers up his sides and out across his chest, feeling all the scars and realizing there were a lot more than I originally thought. I moved down over his stomach and stopped at the waistband of his boxers. I could see the start of another scar on his right hip.

I saw a flash of images in my mind in which Harry was being pulled from the car and his white shirt was stained red with blood. The glass must have shattered and hit him. I slid my hand around to his back and pulled him against me as his body shook violently. Everything made so much sense now. That's why he never took his shirt off! An unexpected tear slid down my cheek and my eyes widened.

I never cry, especially not for somebody besides myself. Eventually Harry started to hug me back and I felt a few tears drop onto my shoulder as his breathing grew labored.

He shuddered as he leaned back and when he looked me in the eyes again I wanted to cry some more. You could practically feel the pain radiating off of him. He slid to the floor and buried his head in his hands. I realized he was having another panic attack, so I sat beside him and ran my fingers through his soft hair until he had calmed down some.

"How did you get those scars?" I murmured. He lifted his head and I slid my hand down to cup his cheek. He leaned into the touch and sighed.

"When the car crashed all the glass shattered, and the three bigger ones on my back are from the surgery it took to fix my spine."

His face was blank and emotionless as he spoke and his eyes never met mine. He just stared at the door. It was like he was an empty shell.

"We need to leave soon." He picked up his discarded shirt and slipped it back over his head, before standing, acting like nothing had happened.

I followed him out and grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. He stuffed some clothes into a bag along with his laptop and charger and his phone charger. I realized I'd forgotten mine, but I knew he'd let me borrow his if I needed it.

He zipped up the bag then searched through some papers on his desk until he found a set of car keys. He slipped them into his pocket along with his phone then turned to me.