Rewrite the Stars (A Harry Wells x Reader Insert)

Chapter 13

~Her~

I'd watched Harry hurriedly leave the penthouse to talk to Cisco before immediately calling Laurie. I didn't know how to deal with the feelings I currently had and knew I had to try and talk about it with someone who knew me well. Laurie was practically family and would help me with anything if she knew something was wrong.

Once she'd agreed to come and meet me, I changed into one of my new dresses and headed downstairs to the lobby to wait for her.

"Look at you and your fancy duds!" Laurie exclaimed from behind me, giving me a huge hug. "Damn, girl."

"Thanks," I said with a little laugh. I showed her the way to the sitting area outside where we sat down at one of the empty tables on the veranda.

"So when does he leave?" she asked me urgently. "When's your job done?"

My brain held the question in my head for a little too long: When's your job done. It hurt inside to remember that this whole thing was work. Harry had even asked me in the beginning clearly stating it was a 'business proposition.' But after... what he said to me last night, I had been thrown for a loop.

"Tomorrow," I tried not to sigh.

"Get to keep the clothes?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, what's going on here?" Laurie asked, leaning in closer to look at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh no..." She shook her head.

"What?"

"You kissed him on the mouth, didn't you? I can tell!"

"Well, yes, but-"

"-I knew it! And now you're all off. See, this is why we have the rule."

"He told me he loved me last night," I confessed, watching her mouth open a little at the information. Laurie was silent for a minute, taking it in.

"He did what? Dude, I knew he was crazy since you first told me about him," she went on, "I mean, who falls in love with a hooker? No offence, but I mean-"

"-We had sex."

"Well yeah, no shit. That's what we do."

"Except it was more than just sex," I tried to explain. "He made love to me."

Laurie's face scrunched up. "Ew, gross, don't ever use that phrase again."

"I'm serious. It was... on a whole other level than anything I've ever experienced, Laurie. There's no other phrase for it."

"So, are you saying you have feelings for him too?"

"I do... but I can't accept them because I just know he's going to break my heart."

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Because! He's a rich, smart, attractive man who has rich, smart, attractive women practically throwing themselves at him - yeah, I've seen it in person! - And it's just... he's going to eventually see that I'm not like them, that I never will be. And that'll be the end of everything. If I continue to pretend this is all business, and that I get to go home after this, and never see him again, it would be less of a blow than having him say to my face he doesn't want me."

Laurie sat up straighter. "Have you talked to him about this?"

"No. I've been afraid to mention it. Besides, what's the point if we're going to go our separate ways in the end, anyway?"