Midnight

Chapter 34:

Harrys POV:

Belle and I spent all Sunday doing the same thing as Saturday, watching TV. It was the only thing that seemed to keep her still and calm, most of the time. I had to turn off Supernatural every once in a while because she would get pissed and start yelling at the TV.

She went back to the townhouse Sunday night and I haven't seen her sense. I just got out of my Monday classes and decide to go check on her.

I walk up to the second floor to find Kelly and Perrie.

"Oh thank God." Kelly says.

"What?" I ask.

"You're here to help Izzy right?"

My whole body straightens. "No. What's wrong will Belle?" I glance at the staircase leading to the third floor.

"Come with me." Kelly leads me up the stairs and to their shared bedroom door. "Izzy." She says and lightly knocks. I hear the shaky intake of her breath and know Belle has been crying, also that she is sitting with her back against the door. I look at Kelly with alarm written all over my face.

"She has been locked in there since she got home. So about 3 hours. She won't come down to eat or anything. Which is concerning cause I know she doesn't eat anything till she gets home from class." Kelly explains.

Belle doesn't cry often even when I made her extremely pissed by making a comment about her family back in the beginning she didn't cry that much.

"Belle, it's Harry. What's wrong?" I crouch in front of the door so she will hear me easier.

"I don't wanna talk about it!" Her voice sounds strained.

"Can I at least come in?"

"No." She mumbles.

"Why not?"

"Cause you guys are gonna think I'm being ridiculous." She sniffles.

"I promise I won't think you are being ridiculous."

She says something so low I can't hear it.

"Speak a little louder love."

"It's cause of a book okay. I finished Allegiant and it had a horrible ending. Go ahead, think it's silly. But it hurt like a bitch." She begins to cry again.

I love the way she gets emotionally attached to characters and books, I would never think this is silly. Kelly, on the other hand, snorts beside me.

"I told you!" Belle yells.

"Take a deep breath Belle. The doctor said to take it easy. I need you to calm down. Can you do that?" This can not possibly be healthy for her heart.

"Ya I can try." She whispers.

"Okay good. Just be strong for a second. I'll be right back." I grab Kelly by the arm and drag her down the hall.

"Don't laugh. It's not funny." I scowl at her.

"It's pretty funny." She giggles. "And what do you mean the doctor told her to take it easy?"

I chose to ignore her question about the doctor. "One of your friends is completely humiliated and all you are gonna do is laugh. You may not take books seriously but she does and I don't appreciate you laughing at her. If you had a decent bone in your body you would show at least a little pity." I turn on my heel and walk back to the door, once again kneeling in front of it.

"Belle, can I come in now?"

"No, I don't like it when people see me cry." She chokes out.

"It's not like I haven't seen you cry before."

"Not this intensely." The door squeaks as she moves.

"No don't walk away. At least stay by the door." I place my palm against the door.

"Okay." She sighs and the door moves once more, indicating she is leaning against it again. I also sigh and lean my forehead against the door.

"Maybe I will understand more if you tell me what happened."

"It's not the same. You won't understand"

"Try me. I'm full of surprises."

She then proceeds to tell me how the third, and final, books ends. I'll admit, I'm a little horrified that the writer would do such a thing. Belle concluded by saying that after that there were still 25 pages left which was just pure depression. She had to pause multiple times to catch her breath or try to control her tears.

"That's fucking horrible. Why would you read that?"

"I didn't know it was gonna end like that!"

"True. Do you feel better now? After talking about it."

"No. The gigantic rip in my heart is still there. And probably always will be." I hear her pull another tissue from the box. "I'm gonna go shower now. I feel gross and smell like ass." The door creaks as she gets up then something hits it.

"What happened?" I ask, getting to my feet.

"Nothing. I'm just a little shaky, I lost my balance."

"Probably cause you haven't eaten all day. Belle your gonna pass out if you don't eat something."

"I wasn't eating anything cause I was afraid I was gonna throw it back up."

"Why?"

"That's how intensely I was crying."

Holy shit, no wonder she wouldn't let anyone in.

"Will you at least let me in the room while you are in the bathroom?"

There is a pause before she replies. "Ya okay fine. I'll unlock the door but give me a sec to get into the bathroom." I hear the click of the door being unlocked and wait until I hear the bathroom door close. I enter the room once it does and sit on the foot of her bed, my back against the wall, facing the bathroom door.

"Please leave the bathroom door unlocked, I promise I won't come in. I'm just a little nervous you're gonna pass out and would like to retrieve you if you do." I call to her. I once again hear the noise of a door being unlocked and am relieved.

I knew she got serious with books but I didn't expect this. I look at all the tissues on the floor and the book that lays across the room, face down on the floor. She probably threw it.

I can hear Belles deep shaky breaths as she tries to calm herself while in the shower. It doesn't work very well cause when she gets out I can hear her begin to cry again.

It's fascinating that she reacts so intensely to fictional situations while in real life not much could make her cry like.

The door opens and Belle walks out in swear pants, one of my black shirts and her hair in a bun.

She looks at me and then to the mess of a room and blushes. Her eyes land on the book and tears begin to form on top of her lower eyelid. She shakes it off though and mutters 'don't think about the book' to herself as she picks up the mess. I notice her hands shake as she picks up the tissues. Her eyes are bloodshot and she is paler than usual. Once she is finished she sits next to me, but a safe distance away.

"Maybe you should eat now. You look awfully frail." I suggest.

"I don't trust my stomach enough. Plus I'm not hungry." She opens the drawer to her nightstand and opens a small white bottle.

"What are those?" I ask as she pours two tiny red pills into the palm of her left hand.

"Decongestant. I have a cold and find it hard to breath." She swallows both of them using a bottle of water she keeps by her bed.

"How come you didn't tell me you are sick?"

"I haven't seen you all day and didn't expect you to be stopping by. I didn't think it was relevant." She shrugs.

"Your health is always relevant to me." I say and scoot closer to her. She slides away in response. I am about to ask her why she did that but Kelly walks into the room before I can.

"Here." She hands Belle a coffee mug. "I know it's the only tea you drink. I'm sorry for being an ass earlier." She rubs her hand up and down Belles arm.

"Thanks." Belle says with a weak smile as tears slide down her cheeks again. She closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on not crying. Kelly takes the tissue box off the nightstand and hands it to Belle. She then kisses her on the top of the head and leaves the room. I'm glad to see our little talk worked.

Belle takes a tissue and wipes her face, then sips on her tea. We sit in silence for a minute before she moves to the head of the bed and under the covers, setting her mug on the nightstand.

"Cold?" I peer over at her.

"Ya. I'm have been having cold and hot flashes all day." She brings the blanket all the way to her nose.

"So what can I do to take your mind off it?" I ask.

"Hand me that book." She looks over at a different book that sits on the desk at the foot of the bed.

"Just gonna throw yourself into another one?" I grab the book from next to me and hand it to her.

"Yes. I'm probably not going to acknowledge your existence for a while so you don't have to stay." She slides up so she is sitting but still has the blanket over her.

"I'm not going anywhere." I pick her legs up so they lay across my lap with the blanket still on top of them. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, willing back the tears that threaten to surface.

"What are you gonna do while I read?" She opens her eyes again.

I hadn't thought about that. "I think I'm gonna take a nap." I lay on my side next to her, bending my legs so hers drape across my thighs. I wrap my arms around her hips and lay my head next to her stomach, so that she will have room to hold the book up. She looks down at me and I nuzzle my nose into her side. She slightly giggles and shifts away from me.

"Sorry, won't happen again." I pull her back. "Wake me when you are tired of reading." I say and close my eyes, letting myself fall unconscious after some amount of time.




"Harry." Belles voice infiltrates my deep slumber. My arms are still hugging her hips but my head now lays sideways on her stomach.

"Harry." She repeats and starts to mess with my hair. I keep my eyes shut and breathing level so she won't stop.

"Harry, as much as I love being your human pillow, I can't breath."

My head shoots up and I release my grasp around her. My vision blurs slightly from the sudden movement but I regain it seconds later.

"I'm sorry." I rest on my elbow as I look up at her.

"It's okay. You weren't crushing me or anything, I just can't breath through my nose and need to grab some nasal spray. I'll be right back." She slides out from under the covers and walks to the bathroom. I hear her sniff about a million times before returning. Instead of getting under the blankets like before she kicks them to the bottom of the bed and sits instead of laying.

"Are you hot again?" I pull myself up and sit next to her. It amazes me that we somehow manage to fit on this small twin bed, I guess our body's just for together like that.

"Ya." Her breathing sounds faster. I raise my hand and place the back against her forehead.

"You feel like you have a fever. Maybe I should take you to the doctors." I remove my hand.

"Harry it's just a cold. I'll be fine in a couple days, there is no need to go to the doctors." She sets her hand on mine and smiles. I can tell it is forced.

"Fine. You should stay home from class tomorrow though."

"I'll be fine." She stretches her legs. "Entertain me."

"Can't, doctors orders." I smirk.

"I didn't mean sexually you ass." She lightly smacks my chest.

"I'm not good at much else."

"Ya I guess practice makes perfect." She suddenly says. Her eyes go wide and she smacks her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"It's fine," I laugh. "It's good to see you can joke about it." I have accepted my past, I know I can't change it so there is not point denying it.

"Ok good." She let's out a breath.

"How is the book so far?" I look at the black and pink book on her nightstand.

"I finished it. It was good."

I reach over and flip through it. "Belle this is over 500 pages! How long was I asleep?"

"All day." She shrugs.

"What's this book even about? It looks girly."

"Demigods." Her smile is brighter and wider than usual, the smile she gets when talking about books.

"What about Demigods? Sum it up for me."

"Well this is the second book and there is still one after it but basically.." She proceeds to tell me about the books. Her enthusiasm grows as I ask questions and continuously tell her to keep going. She uses hand gestures and facial expressions I didn't even know she possessed. It's like she is coming to life right in front of me.

I love this side of her. So passionate about something. She could talk for hours about it, and I could sit here forever and listen to her ramble on and on.

I wish I could think of more questions. The face she makes when I point out something she doesn't know how to explain is priceless.

"And now the Gods are free to leave Mount Olympus and basically World War 3 is beginning. That's how the second book ended." She concludes.

"You will have to tell me how the third one goes."

"Or you could read it yourself." She wiggles her eyebrows.

"Admit it, you love telling me about the books as much as I love hearing you talk about them. Me reading the books would ruin story time."

Her blushes slightly. "I hate it when you are right." She grumbles. "Umm.. Can we eat now?"

"Oh thank God, I thought you would never ask." I have been covering my stomach growls for the past hour.

"If were hungry you should have said something." She lightly shoves me.

"I didn't think you were in a good place to be left alone. Plus I was enjoying our conversation." I shrug. "For a while there I was worried you were never going to eat."

"Well my stomach was finally retrieved from the 4,000 foot drop it took after finishing Allegiant," her breath slightly hitches at the mention of the book, "and it came back empty. Come on I think we have some pizza rolls in the freezer." She stretches before rolling out of bed.

"Pizza rolls?" I make a disgusted face.

"Ya," she sighs, "they don't sound at all appetizing but it's all we got."

"Why don't we order Chinese or something?"

"Cause I'm broke as fuck and don't have a job. Therefor I live off of freezer food. Welcome to the life of an average college student. You should consider yourself lucky we even have pizza rolls."

I have never really been your average college student, I have my own house for instance. I've always had money for stuff cause of the stupid rich father-in-law who personally gives way to much of a shit about me for my liking.

I know she is gonna give me a hard time if I offer to pay though. But she needs real food so it's worth the battle.

"I'll pay." I shrug. She begins to protest but I cut her off. "No Belle, I'm going to order Chinese, I'm going to get all your favorites and then you are going to eat it. Agreed?"

She has a hard time keeping the smile from creeping onto her face. "Fine deal."

I knew she would fold, I can hear her stomach from here.

I order the food and we lay on the couch on the middle floor waiting. The house is weirdly quiet.

"How come all your roommates are never here?"

"Cause they have lives and I don't. Well that's a lie, you are my life, but you are always here so." She places her head on my lap.

"I think that's the nicest thing you have ever said to me." I play with her hair.

"Don't get used to it. It's probably the fatigue talking."

"Well hopefully the food will be here soon and you will get your smart mouth back, I strangely miss it." I lean down and kiss her. "Maybe." I mumble. "Partially."

"Don't kiss me!" She pushes me away and sits up. "I'm sick!"

"Then we can be sick together." I lean in again but she backs away.

"I refuse to get you sick Harry. You'll just have to wait until I am better." She sticks her tongue out.