UNKEPT

Chapter 5: Again

I could recognise him by his silhouette. I analyzed him so detailedly this morning at the station that I would've recognised him with my eyes closed. He's coming towards me and I can feel my heart racing. There he is, right in front of me and looking right into my eyes, it's like he's staring at my soul.

"Hi." I whisper. His green eyes look almost blue due to the reflection of the weak street lights. He keeps looking at me, it seems he has no expression on her face. "What are you doing here?" He says all serious. "Just sitting on a bench, Harry." I answer. "Oh, so you remember my name." He says with a smirk on his face. I open my eyes widely, my hands start sweating and I can feel my face turning red. "Erm, I... I'm good at remembering names." I don't even know why I said that, why am I so tense? I look away trying to avoid his eyes. "You're good at remembering names." He says in a sceptic way.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened?" He insists. "Nothing, I just needed to escape for a while."

"Escape from the Breakfast at Tiffany's life?" He laughs. "I don't think you understand... Everything is just so overwhelming, everyone expects so much from me and I simply can't cope with everything." I really try to stop talking but I can't, I need to vent it out. "Everyone was there, they were all around me, laughing, talking loudly, getting drunk, singing out of key, telling horrible jokes. They're trying to teach me how to live my life and I'm..." I'm unable to finish the sentence, my voice cracks and I start crying like a ten-year-old who's just been grounded.

Harry's sitting next to me and he puts his arm around me trying to comfort me. He looks so calm. "It's okay. Why were all these people with you?" he asks.

"It was my birthday party." I say, holding in my sobs. "Wow! Happy birthday my friend!" He says in a happier tone. How can he still be here? If it was me I would've thought of some lame excuse to avoid this situation. "Thank you." I reply.

"You never told me your name." I look at him surprised. He's right, he doesn't know my name, how could I forget that? "I'm Louis." I say whipping out my tears. I offer him my hand but he ignores it and looks away. "Louis." He repeats. "Yeah." I say awkwardly.

After a long silence I decide to open my mouth. "It's funny. I barely know you but I feel like I can tell you anything that's on my mind." I say. "You're not my type of friend, Louis, but I'm surprised at how much I enjoy listening to you." He says. I suddenly feel comforted and calm. "Thanks Harry." I think.

"It's freezing. Do you want to go home?" No. I don't want to go home, at least not tonight. I'm still not over that feeling of sickness inside that house. I am not going back there, for sure. "I don't feel like going home tonight." I bet he can feel the sadness in my voice.

He stands up. "Okay." He says, "Let's go to my place. It's not all Gucci and Prada but at least it has a bed and a toilet." He jokes. I nod.

*****

We're going up the stairs. We've just entered through a really old door and there's not more than a meter between the two walls. There's a dark wood door at the top of the stairs. Harry takes a small key out of his pocket and unlocks the door.

"Wow." I say, astonished. It's only a room, with a bed in one side with at least three drawers underneath, a small toilet on the other side and a small kitchen in the corner right next to the door. There are two windows, one right on the bed and the other one strategically put next to the toilet in a way no one can see you.

"Uhm, you only have one bed?" I say. I'm getting nervous again. I'm afraid I'll have to sleep with him....

"Well, we're gonna have to sleep together." He says. I can notice he finds this funny. "I can sleep on the floor." I say. He laughs really loudly, "You? On the floor? No way mister silk sheets."

Okay, thank you for making fun of me. He notices I'm a bit offended "It's okay, then we're both sleeping on the floor." He continues.

He takes the sheets and two pillows out of his bed and puts them on the floor, then opens a drawer and takes out some blankets.

He takes a hoodie and a pair of sweat pants and hands them to me. "You're not thinking of sleeping on the floor in a suit right?"

He's right, so I take off my clothes without thinking too much and I put on what he offered me.

He's already laying on the floor. I do the same.

We're both silent, I can hear the wind, and the beat of his heart. I turn around and face the toilet when I hear the Big Ben ringing.

"Merry Christmas, Louis." Harry whispers. I can feel his breath behind my neck.

"Merry Christmas, Harry."