Waves {h.s.}

thirty-two - drunk

Wedding day - 3 a.m.

I wasn't entirely sure why I woke up at three in the morning.

After falling asleep late, there were no reasons for me to wake up so early. But once I turned on my side and felt the side of the bed next to me, only to find it empty, I thought that maybe I had subconsciously realised that I was alone in my bed. However, when I reached for my phone and saw four missed calls from Harry, I realised that my phone had been vibrating for the past ten minutes and that was probably what had woken me up.

Now fully awake, due to the growing anxiety that grew in my chest, I hurriedly called Harry back. Where was he? Why had he left in the middle of the night? My heart was threatening to beat out of my chest as I imagined all kinds of scenarios, scared that something terrible had happened to him.

"Hello?"

Now I didn't know if it was because I was panicking, but I didn't recognize Harry's voice on the other side of the line. The voice was lower, rougher.

"Harry?"

"No, sorry. I'm Jack. Uh, is this Emily?"

I frowned, confused by the situation. "Yes, it's me."

I heard the man sigh. "Thank God," he exclaimed. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I've been trying to call you for the last ten minutes. I'm a bartender at The Shaker on the fifth and your boyfriend is about to pass out on the counter."

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Is he okay?" Obviously he wasn't. Going out and getting shitfaced wasn't a habit that you had when things were fine.

"He damn nearly started a fight earlier, but physically he's fine. Psychologically, however... not so much. He's been shouting your name a lot, that's how I knew to call you when I finally got a hold of his phone. Could you come and pick him up?"

By that point, I was barely even listening. All I could think about was to get to Harry. So I kept my phone stuck between my ear and my shoulder as I rushed out of bed to gather my clothes and head out of the room as quickly as I could.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," I said to Jack before hanging up.

The doorman in the lobby looked at me like I was a mad woman, but was polite enough to open the door for me and keep his mouth shut. With my cellphone in my hand, I made my way to the bar. My phone app told me that it would take me ten minutes on foot, but I was walking so fast that I made it there in a little over five.

Once I saw the bar, I took a second to breathe. I was rushing to Harry, when in reality, I had no idea in what state I was going to find him. I had seen many angles of his personality, but obviously, there were some that I liked more than others. Was he going to yell at me? Be mad at me? Even if there would be no rational reason for him to do so, it was a possibility. He had taken so many big steps lately and handled things like an adult, it wouldn't be that surprising if he finally lost his s.hit when he would see me.

It made no sense at all, knowing this, that I was still rushing to him every time I knew he was in trouble. Love made me do crazy things for him and sometimes it scorched me in the process, but I was never able to consciously let him down.

So I took a deep breath before going in, preparing myself for the possible backlash that I was going to feel once I would face Harry.

The bar was nothing I hadn't seen before, the inside looked like any town bar I had been to, which helped me spot Harry almost immediately. He was slouched over the counter. His head turned to the side and a glass almost empty in his hand. He was looking at it with heavy lids and no expression on his face. He was definitely drunk and lost in his thoughts.