Between The Lines

Chapter 10

My alarm started going off and, as much as I didn't want to, I got up and got around for work.

By the time I was finished getting dressed, I didn't have the energy to do my hair. I quickly put it up in a ponytail and grab my keys.

It felt good to drive my car to work. When I arrived, Gloria and Rebecca were standing behind the counter talking to some customers.

"Look who's here!" Gloria smiles at me when I walk past her. "How'd it go last night?"

"Fine." I shrugged. "He's taking me out again tonight."

"Ooooh." She hummed. "Well, you can give this to him when you see him tonight." She holds out Harry's brown journal toward me.

"He left this here?" I asked her.

She nods and makes her way to the kitchen. I flip through the pages only to find almost all of them blank. All except for the first one that says 'PROPERTY OF HARRY STYLES'.

Weird. I though I saw him write in it yesterday. I examined the inside seam of the pages and saw he had ripped several of them out.

I put the journal away with my keys and pulled out my apron. I tied it around my waist and started taking orders.

___________________________

"It's noon." Rebecca tells me.

"Okay." I reply.

I walk into the kitchen to drop some dirty cups into the sink.

"Leaving?" Gloria asks me.

I nod. "I gotta go visit my mom."

"Well, have fun tonight." She smiles.

"I'll try." I laugh.

I walk back out behind the counter and pick up my keys, along with the journal.

"Bye, girls!" I yell as I walk out the door.

"Bye, Carly!" They shout in unison.

I walk down the street to my car and open the door. I sat down and picked up the journal again. I know he wrote something in this and he didn't want me to see it. Maybe he threw it away at the diner.

I run my hand over the soft, brown, leather. My fingers land on the engraving and I stop to examine it.

I had expected it to be his initials or something but instead, a black '17' is carved into the corner.

I put the journal down and start the car. My dashboard reads noon and I know the traffic will be dreadful.

I arrive at my moms apartment around 1:30 and knock on the door.

"Hi Carly." She greets me.

"Hi, Mom." I enter the apartment and close the door behind me. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"That's good." I take a seat next to her on the couch.

"You?" She asks.

"I'm good, I have a date later so.."

"You have a date?" I can hear excitement in her voice. "With who?"

"Umm... A guy I met at the diner." I didn't want to mention the subway.

"Is he nice?"

"Yeah, he's nice... Pretty dark though." I tell her.

"Dark?" She questions.

"Tattoos, piercings, busted knuckles..."

"Got yourself a bad boy." She smiles.

"I don't know- he's not that bad."

I get up and walk to the kitchen to take some cookies from the package on the counter.

"What's his name?" She says as she joins me I'm the kitchen.

"Harry. He lives in the apartments here." I inform her.

"Hmm... I don't know. That sounds a little familiar, I guess." She hands me the milk and I pour a glass.

___________________________

"Have fun tonight." My Mom whispers I'm my ear as she hugs me.

I've been here for a few hours and she keeps questioning me on Harry. Most of them I saved in the back of my mind to ask him myself. There was a lot I wanted to know about him.

"Thanks, Mom." I hug her back. "Love you!" I shout to her as I walk out the door.

"Love you too!" She laughs.

I turn around the corner of the hallway and end up on the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" A tall girl with short, dirty blonde hair says as she bends down to pick up the laundry she dropped.

"No, I'm sorry! I didn't see you." I pick up a shirt and hand it to her.

"You new here?" She asks.

"Umm... No I was just visiting my mom." I smile politely.

"Oh, well I'm Molly." She holds out her hand and balances her small laundry basket on her hip.

"Carly." I say while shaking her hand.

"Is that yours?" She points to an object on the floor and I look over to see Harry's journal.

It must've fell out of the inside pocket of my coat when I ran into her.

"No, it's my friend's." I tell her as I bend down and quickly put it back in my pocket.

"Harry?" She asks.

"You know Harry?" I eye her suspiciously.

"Yeah he lives in the building across from here." She tells me.

I nod. "Yeah he left it at my work the other day."

"I can give it back to him." She offers.

"Oh, no that's alright. I'm meeting him later tonight."

"Okay, it was nice meeting you!" She smiles as she turns the corner toward the wash room.

"You too!" I wave.

I walk out the door and get into my car. I couldn't help but wonder how Molly knew Harry.

The drive home didn't take long and my parking space was still empty when I arrived at my apartment.

I made my way up the stairs and unlocked the door to my apartment. I took out my phone before plopping down on the couch.

No new messages. I got up and started getting around. I turned on the shower after thinking back to this morning and remembering I didn't take one.

After my shower, I pulled out my maroon dress and some black heels. I don't know where we're going, but Harry can't possibly want to go to BDUBs again.... Or would he?

Unsure, I put the dress on anyway. I hurried back to the bathroom and sprayed some beach spray in it to give my natural waves more texture.

I took my phone and plugged it in so it could charge while I took everything from my purse and moved it into a small clutch.

I took my phone off the charger and headed downstairs to wait for Harry outside. I mentally cursed myself for not giving him my phone or apartment number so I knew when he had arrived.

I sat on the bench outside and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I checked my phone. 8:35. It was getting colder by the minute and I was growing impatient. I stood up and walked back to my apartment.

Harry wasn't coming.

I lay down of my bed and let out a small sob. I know I shouldn't be crying, but I can't help it.

Where could he be?