in my heart // n.h a.u

part six

"You have such long hair for a boy," Val says.

"Thank you," Harry replies with a laugh. "Think it's almost as long as yours."

Val pauses for a second as she glances between hers and Harry's, realising he's actually right. "You've got a good eye, Harry."

"My  optometrist did say my eyesight is better than ever," Harry quips, his  lips tugging into a small smirk that shows off his dimples. Val  understands why everyone seems to be attracted to him in that moment, or  so that's what Briar has told her in the past. "Where's your friend  again?"

"She went for a run," she tells him, watching him as he  checks his phone and sits it back down on the couch. It's the third time  he's done it in the last thirty seconds. "And yours?"

"Went for a run?" Harry says this as if it's a question, which only confuses Val.

Val's  been spending a lot of time at Briar's flat since the whole thing with  he-who-shall-not-be-named went down, not wanting to risk running into  him in the hall or downstairs. Briar said her flatmate, Josie, was more  than understanding, though Val has definitely seen a lot more of Harry  than Josie since she's been here, which is weird, seeing as he's  supposed to be Josie's friend and not Briar's. As far as Val is aware,  Briar has hardly met the guy.

"Both Josie and Briar went for a run?" Val asks, furrowing her brows.

"I thought we were talking about Briar?"

"I thought you were talking about Josie?"

Both  Harry and Val blink at one another, until Harry breaks the silence and  awkward encounter. "Why would I be talking about Josie?" he questions,  leaning forward on the couch as he narrows his eyes towards Val in a way  she's not sure she likes. "Has Briar not told you?"

"Told me  what?" Val asks, suddenly feeling so out of the loop. "She's told me  that things between her and Josie have been a bit weird, but I assumed  it was 'cause she's been leaving her dishes in the sink again."

"Unbelievable,"  Harry says with a sigh, shaking his head. "If she's not telling her  friends, then why did I bother telling mine?"

"I'm confused." Val blinks.

"Yeah, me too." Harry stands up, grabbing his phone and shoving it in his pocket before making his way towards the door.

Val stands, not really sure what else to do. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to tell Briar and Josie you stopped by?"

Harry  shrugs, opening the door and glancing back at Val. "Tell them what you  want, I don't care," he says right before shutting the door behind him.

Val's  left standing in the middle of Briar's lounge room feeling like an  idiot. She's not sure why she feels that way yet, but she tries to make  sense of what just happened before Briar comes home. Various possible  solutions are running through her mind and she tries to think about them  as much as possible, even taking out a notepad and writing them down,  because the more she keeps her mind preoccupied, the less time she'll  spend thinking about other things. And, quite frankly, she'd rather not think about other things.

By  the time Briar does come back from her run, her hair sticking to her  sweaty forehead and earphones still in her ears, Val has made quite the  list. She's actually a little proud of it.

"What've you got  there?" Briar asks, peering at the notepad in Val's hands as she walks  right by her and makes her way to the fridge for a bottle of water.