Pressure [hs au]

28 - Appendage

(a/n: so Trump is president. In other news I suck at updating please don't kill me. I literally had this sitting on my computer and thought I had published it yesterday 😂)

Word count: 3627

"Abby! Open up!" 

I groan, rolling over for the third time since I was rudely awoken. 

I had absolutely no clue what time it was, but Valerie had to have been knocking on my door for at least 20 minutes straight. 

Call me a bad friend, but I needed more sleep right now. My *selfish* goal was that if I waited long enough she would just leave me a message on my phone and quiet down. 

It didn't seem like that would be happening though. 

"Abby, I swear to God," I groan, much too loudly, jogging down the stairs to open the door.

"Hmm?" I ask, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes. How early was it?

She lets herself in, taking a seat on my sofa before I can even form an actual sentence.

"What's up?" I yawn, trying to make it even more obvious that I was extremely tired still.

"I brought you tea." I didn't even see the brown paper bag and cardboard cup holder she had in her hands--just one more reason I should just go back to bed.

I thank her, taking the red hibiscus tea from her hands.

"So why are you here so early?" I don't even try to hide the annoyance in my tone, knowing she wouldn't take it to heart. 

"Abby, it's just past 2:30 in the afternoon," She smirks, tearing off a piece of croissant. Had I really slept in that long? It would help if I had some clue as to when I went to bed in the first place.

I shake my head, blinking twice before reaching for my phone on the table. The screen was dark, because it was about to die, but sure enough it was just past 2:30.

"Anyways, why do you have paint all over your hands and face? You don't paint. Wait did you and Harry get freaky because that's-" I hold my hand up, stopping her from finishing her thought.  

"Shut up," I shake my head profusely, how did she even think of things like that from just the paint on my hands?

"I was just trying something new last night, that's all." I vaguely explain, hoping she'd drop it. I loved her to death, but I hated running new projects by her--just because I knew she'd be my toughest critic and I wasn't always ready for her honesty. 

"Alright, alright. So tell me. What happened in England?" Her eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas, crossing her legs anxiously. 

"Um, well..." I look down at my lap, thinking of the best way to explain this to her. Not that she wouldn't understand any of it, she's done far worse than Harry and I have, trust me, but this was the first time I'd be explaining something new to her. 

It was odd.

With Jason, it was easy, because everything we did was easy. 

With Harry, it was more complicated. 

But in a good way. 

"Come on, don't be shy." I send her a nervous grin, taking one last sip of my tea before delving into the story. 

I start off by explaining all that happened when I was packing, sparing few details, before moving onto meeting his family and then our trip to the arboretum. 

I made her promise to not laugh, but even I had to admit it was almost comical how many times we've gotten interrupted by someone else, like his mom or the security guard.