The Witness (H.S.)

14

Startled my cup slips out of my hand and smashes on the countertop. Coffee gathers in a big puddle on it and splashes partly against the wall.

"Harry", I breathe and turn to him.
"I thought you left." I raise a brow and cross my arms in front of my chest. Why is he still here? He walks over to me stopping unbelievable close in front of me, enabling me to feel his warmth and to take in his smell. He reaches around me and takes a cloth from the sink. When he starts to clean up the coffee I'm about to step to the side because the tension lingering between us is just to much, but he graps my upper arm to hinder me. Then he leans forward and picks up a splinter I haven't seen and places it to the other fragments.
"Thanks", I say with a hoarse voice so that it's almost just a whisper. He looks straight into my eyes, frowns for a second but then speaks up:

"No, Hayden. Thank you. Thank you for letting me stay the night. It probably wasn't easy for you after what I said to you. And I'm sorry for accusing you. It's been wrong of me and I shouldn't have reacted like I did." His eyes sparkle with sincerity and hold nothing of yesterday's coldness.

"I just couldn't leave without apologizing", he returns to my question.

"It's ok Harry. I... I should have told you sooner about Josh. It was my mistake." He shakes his head and lowers his gaze.

"No it wasn't. I was just surprised. I - I like you a lot, Hayden and I don't want this to stand between us. I thought I couldn't be around you if I can't have you but now I understand that I would rather have you as my friend than not at all." His confession takes my breath away. More than his drunken words could.

"I like you a lot, too, Harry. Thank you for apologising", I whisper and put my arms carefully around him. Harry embraces me and presses me tightly to his body. I bury my face on his neck and for the first time in so long I feel at home. Since the day my parents died I was homeless even with a roof over my head. I feel like a plant with dying roots - still there but withering. Granny did her best whenever she was at home but she could never replace my parents. I guess the saying 'home is where the heart is' is right after all. When Harry pulls away he takes a step back and smiles at me.

"Coffee?"

"Absolutely", he grins and gets two cups out of the cupboard which he fills and carries to the table. In the meantime I bin the shards and clean up the rest of the coffee.

"So... what did I say last night?", he asks when I take a seat next to him.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. You could barely be understood", I calm him and keep his words as a secret.

"Who undressed me?", he asks and surveys me.

"That's been me", I admit and hold his gaze.

"Hmm", he hums and takes a sip of his coffee.

"If Gemma would have had her way, you would have been naked when waking up", I add grinning.

"What?"

"She said you like to sleep naked", I shrug as if it wouldn't have bothered me and then add with a wink:

"Nice tiger by the way." He bites grinning his bottom lip and counters provocatively:

"You haven't seen the real tiger, yet." And just like his sister always does he wiggles his brows.

"You sure about that?", I fire back with a straight face. His grin is swept off his face and he studies my facial expression intensely. Again he frowns for a second.

"Yeah. I am", he assures then and couldn't be more wrong.

"So now Hayden, tell me, why you're wearing contact lenses if you have those incredible blue eyes?" Oh shit! Shocked my eyes widen. How could I've forgotten that? I just hope he was drunk enough last night to not remember them clearly.