Dealing With Absence » h. styles au

33ᴿᴰ CHAPTER

                                        33ᴿᴰ CHAPTER

      "It's like waking up and finding there's a war on. Nothing's the way it used to be and it's difficult to get your balance"

The rhythmic rain doesn't give a single break, and so they give up on visiting the last of the gardens Harry had intended to, leaving Monteviot House Gardens instead and going straight back to the hostel.

It takes them only about an hour to get all their stuff back together, two more as they wait for the weather to calm down enough so they can walk calmly until the bus. (In the meantime, they mostly lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, talking about places they've fallen in love with without even having the proper experience to get to know them).(Their hands keep tangled under the covers).

Once on the way back home, it's almost immediate: Elisha falls asleep on his shoulder, and he spends the whole way to London watching as she breathes calmly and seems to smile all through her dreams.

--

Dora is talking about Patsy sneaking into the café and biting off some leaves from the fake plant that lies on the far corner of the shop; how she's worried about him more than she is of what's left of the cheap decoration, but Leesh is more than a bit distracted by the way Harry keeps tugging at his curls out of habit as he talks to (more like charms the pants off of) Edwin by the entrance door.

He keeps carding his fingers through his hair and pulling it gently to the side, only for it to fall back again over his eyes as the wind blows on the opposite direction he's going for. His cheeks are flushed from the cold, nose red just above a smile so blinding Leesha feels like wearing sunglasses. That's how pathetic this boy (just a freaking boy in the body of a man) is. Ridiculous.

"-and I left him to poop all over your room," Dora tries, then, watches Elisha carefully and snorts when she doesn't flinch a bit. "Jesus Christ, Elisha! I am talking to you!"

Leesh turns to the side slowly, eyes fighting with her brain as if wanting to keep watching Harry for as long as possible, admiring the sight of him so lost in the casualty of this life he's gotten himself into; the lives he's intruded so easily.

"You didn't leave Patsy to poop in my room," she states slowly, trying to make sure her tongue is still working properly.

Ever since they arrived last night, she's switched on the autopilot mode, only responding to what she's already got answers ready for, and reacting to things she usually does.

Her head keeps throbbing in certain spots, her throat sore from the flu she's sure she got when Harry made her walk through the rain, in an autumn night, just for the sake of admiring lights and flowerbeds that aren't as colourful as they should and streets that are far more empty than the usual. It doesn't particularly mean she regrets it, though.

"No, but if I had done, it doesn't seem like you'd mind," Dorothy's voice is tender despite the harshness she tries to imply, sounding more amused and curious than actually mad. "What's going on between you two? Whatever you did this weekend has gotten you looking at him all puppy-eyed."

Leesha turns to glare at her, weakly, but still. She's tired, is what she is. And Harry's just there, being the talkative little shit he is, just naturally. Also, it's not like there's anything better to focus on the shop. Elisha's already seen those pictures of London enough times to draw them perfectly with her feet, eyes closed (if she had the slightest coordination, that is, which she absolutely doesn't).

And Harry... is bright.

He keeps laughing, and even though the sound is muffled by the walls and closed doors, Leesh swears she almost hears it, the way it echoes loudly in the air in that ordinary way that makes you want to laugh along, or simply smile at the way he looks so full of life with it.