Keep Breathing

14

'Hey, it's Harry. Do you remember us meeting last night?'

No, no I didn't. I refused to believe this was, in fact the famous Harry Styles, there was just no way. But the note. I threw my phone onto the sofa and raked my hands through my hair, pulling a few strands out in my frustration. I screamed in pitiful anger and dropped to my knees. Why was I acting like this? Why is all this so freaking hard to believe. 

You do believe it, you're just afraid too. I could hear Austin's voice inside my head and fat tears flooded my cheeks. Images flashed across my mind like a movie and I found myself sobbing into the carpet. I'm not supposed to care, I wasn't supposed to get a letter back, I'm not supposed to have hope. 

The night air felt colder than normal, but with Austin at my side I could barely tell. I was too busy admiring the way he spoke so enthusiastically about his day no matter how bad it was. With Austin it was always a great story, no matter the content he could make it interesting. His elaborate hand gestures became more limited as we entered the busy underground. All I could respond with was small giggles and polite smiles. I tried not to register the rude bumps and shoves I received as we walked, Austin took note and shook his head. "you need to be more confident Luna" he scolded, guiding me carefully to the yellow line. "Tell me, how could a beautiful girl like you think so low of yourself?" Austin questioned, his tone more than curious as we waited for the subway. 

I shrugged, helplessly. "It's not that I think low of myself I guess, it's just that I'm scared to be anyone significant. I want to be invisible, so I don't have to care about people I meet, because all good things come to an end." I answered, this was before I even realized anyone close to me dies.

Austin smiled. "We wont be coming to an end I hope"

"That's certainly something I'll never let happen" I promised. He chuckled and swung his arm around my shoulders.

"I love you moon" he mumbled, using the name my mother once called me and pressed his lips to my cheek. I leaned into his side comfortably, snaking my arms around his waist. The position was comfortable after a long day at work and I was excited to get home to our apartment to have another marathon of Friends. 

"Everybody get down!" Every person littering the station dropped to the floor at the sound of gunshots. My head quickly turned to see 5 men, clad in black trench coats and a scarf covering their mouths. "Wallets out now!" the man in the center shouted, watching as his men began to walk around the bodies cowering into the floor, each person hoping to suddenly become invisible. 

"What do we do" I whispered, feeling myself shake uncontrollably. Austin tightened his grip around me, his eyes turning to meet mine. 

"I'll get you out of here okay?" he whispered. I nodded slowly, his lips made contact with my forehead before he looked back at the armed gunman approaching us. My eyes went wide and my mouth automatically opened to order him to stay but he was already moving.

I pulled my blanket over my head the next morning, dreading the thought of my alarm going off already when I barely got any sleep. I peeked through the sheet and watched the last few seconds tick by before the Small object began to beep routinely until I hit the off button. I swung my legs off the mattress and wandered towards the living room. Lana Del Rey was suitable for the morning. I set up my coffee for today and dragged myself back into my bedroom, throwing out random articles of clothing to wear for the day. I made quick work of showering and dressing, but my coffee was already cold by the time I finished, so I dumped the half cup down the sink and grabbed my keys and phone. My fingers hesitated over the little white box on the counter, I cursed myself and grabbed te packet of cigarettes and exited my small home that used to be an our. 

It wasn't long before I was walking through the shops doors and greeting my boss like any other day. I took my post for the day behind the register and fiddled with todays adverts we were supposed to give out. Nothing at all interesting of course. 

"Morning Sunshine!" Willow beamed, strutting through the doors eagerly. "How was your day off?" she hummed casually. "anything fun happen?" she questioned and I shook my head no, not wanting to bring up the fact that I had supposedly met Harry the night we went out or that he texted me yesterday afternoon. "Oh" she mumbled. "shame" I nodded quietly to myself and watched her rummage through the stack of records piled up in the back corner of the store. 

I silently thanked the heavens when the day was over. The shop was much busier than normal days and we sold more today than we had all week. It made me wonder why there was such a shift in business as I gathered my things to leave. 

"Bye Luna! See you tomorrow!" I waved goodbye to Willow and snatched the keys off the counter. Freddy left early and put me in charge of closing up shop today. I could plainly see my breathe as I stepped foot outside, my body immediately tensing with the cold. I turned on my heel and shoved the key into the lock, jimmying it back in forth until the damn thing locked and gave the door a good solid kick so it would release the brass key. A few small words of profanity littered my lips as I hastily shoved the keys into my bag and pulled out cell and headphones. It was always a good distracter for walks. 

I only had one ear bud in, and I had only taken two steps away from the front door when someone called my name. My body turned before my ears could register the voice and I found myself on the brink of a panic attack. But something about the way he smiled at me was enough to keep me breathing. 

"Ignoring me ehh?" he chuckled. "Did you get my text yesterday?" he asked, speaking like we were old friends and I had trouble finding words to say or even registering my tongue to make sound. "I'm sorry, I'm being a bit rude aren't I? I'm Harry, and I've been writing you letters"