Beneath Your Beautiful (H.S. AU)

Chapter 15

As I stepped inside the apartment I wore a smile which seemed to be the first time in forever. My lips tugged upwards and the crinkles by my eyes were prominent. Even my dimples that were barely noticeable were for once and Harry was the reason why. No one had made me able to smile like this after my grandma's death, and I made myself a note to thank him for it later. I looked at the clothes I was wearing as the new smell hit my nostrils and my smile stayed in place at the thought of Harry. His scent was soothing, and I was glad I hadn't taken the subway tonight. Not only did I not have to walk several blocks in the rain, but I had also seen a new side of Harry. I was happy he was finally opening up to me. He really wasn't the mean person he made himself out to be, and I was glad that I kept finding the good in him.

Maya wasn't home. Not that I was surprised, and even though her blowing me off would normally bother me it didn't. Nothing seemed to be able to ruin my good mood, not even the dirty dishes left next to the sink from today or the ticket for the illegal parking of my pickup truck that I had received that morning. I was genuinely happy, and I knew Harry was the reason for that. It made me wonder how he would be able to make me feel if we started spending more time together. I went to my room and stripped out of Harry's clothes and folded it neatly before placing it on my desk. I would have loved to sleep in it, but I knew how wrong that would have been. Harry and I weren't dating and as far as I knew we weren't even friends, though I would love for us to be. It wasn't only the fact that he was hiding something or his looks that drew me in, though I had admit he was pretty good looking. No, it was so much more than that. He was intriguing ,and he had this magnetism to him that made it almost impossible for me to stay away from him and the fact that he couldn't stay away from me either only made him all the more interesting. I took off the rest of my clothes apart from my undies and replaced it by a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. That night, the smile on my lips never faltered not even as I slowly drifted off to sleep thinking of Harry.

I woke up to an annoying headache, and I knew it was due to lack of sleeping. As much as I had enjoyed having Harry on my mind last night, I had hated the fact that it had made me incapable of falling asleep. Too many thoughts had occupied my mind making it impossible, and I now felt the consequences of that. Much to my body's dismay, I crawled out of bed and headed for the kitchen. I was in serious need of coffee, but my annoyance only seemed to grow when I found the pile of dishes next to the sink. The pile seemed bigger than it had been yesterday, but I knew it was probably due to the fact that I had been happy last night and unfortunately that happiness seemed to be gone along with my sleep.

To top it all off, I found the ticket that hadn't bothered me at all last night, but now seemed to just laugh in my face making my mood even worse. It wasn't that I couldn't afford paying the $115 bill, but I would much rather spent that on food or my subway card which was essential as walking one way to Brooklyn would take me around three hours. However, I wasn't that lucky, and I was still stuck with the stupid truck that apparently only drained me for money instead of adding more to my poor economy. I turned on the coffee machine and begged coffee would make me relax. Unfortunately as I took a sip of coffee, I felt no different. The ticket still wasn't paid and the pile of dishes was unfortunately not disappearing by itself. "Not my morning," I mumbled to myself with another sip of coffee.

Maya appeared in the kitchen, and I wondered what time it was. She would normally be sleeping before 12am, and I didn't think it was more than around 10.

"Morning," Maya mumbled, sounding just as grumpy as myself, and I was curious to know what was with her.

"You don't sound happy," I noticed, and she found a cup and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"That obvious?" She chuckled, and I gave her a nod. "My mother called," she complained. "Apparently she thought calling would be okay, and she surely didn't have a problem about doing it before 12."