Two Truths & A Lie

Chapter 5

Knocking. Knocking. Knocking.

It felt like it was way too early in the morning for my mom to be waking me. I groaned and rolled over, about to tell my mom to shove off, but then I saw my clock. 11:45. Sunlight was streaming in through the sheer curtains that covered my window. I hated sleeping in, honestly. Half the day was already gone and I had accomplished nothing. After a moment, I realized it wasn't someone at my bedroom door knocking, it was someone at the front door. I heard shuffling on the other side of my bedroom door as my mom walked sleepily through the house, dragging her fuzzy-sock-covered feet across the carpet. Unlike me, she slept in until three in the afternoon when she could.

As she walked to the front door, grumbling and groaning, I crept to my bedroom door and pressed my ear against the wood. The longer I stood up, the more my stomach started to turn from the alcohol last night.

"Hello?" My mom asked. "Oh, Harry. Can I help you?"

My heart sank as I hoped it might be Louis. I felt like shit. Last night was a disaster for a million different reasons and I felt like the emotional part of my brain had turned off. Physically, it was pounding. Harry and I texted yesterday about getting together today at 12 to go over the presentation for our project, but I had completely forgotten. A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I turned and glanced at myself in the mirror. The girl that stared back at me looked dead. For the moment, I felt emotionally drained and didn't want to deal with anyone or anything - Raven, Louis, and especially not Harry... I groaned and decided to just wipe all of my day-old makeup off and throw my knotted, blonde hair into a bun - or more of just a floppy, twisted pile on my head. Over my underwear, I threw on some baggy, black sweats and slipped on an old Wilmington High tee. I didn't even bother putting a bra on. At that point, I couldn't have been more apathetic.

"I think she's actually still aslee-"

"I'm here," I grumbled, walking down the hall and turning into the kitchen before I made it to the front door. Harry's expression - hidden behind his hair, of course - was one of surprise, probably because my lack of usual makeup made me appear like I was just getting over the worst case of flu that anyone could imagine. His typical baggy-jean-and-blue-hoodie combo didn't surprise me, but irritated me still. I rolled my eyes and flicked my hand for him to come in the kitchen, in which he followed me quickly, glancing over his shoulder to look at my makeup-smudged, barely-clothed, just-woken-up mother. Both my mother and I looked like train wrecks. We always did in the mornings, hungover or not. It was a Hastings trait. There was no waking up beautiful for us, no matter what we did to try.

"Good to see you, Ms. Hastings," Harry mumbled.

"Hmm? What? Oh, you too, Harry."

Harry watched me - or I assumed he was through all that hair - as I grabbed a bowl and poured as much cereal as I could into it. I didn't hold back on the milk either, pouring slowly until the white liquid reached the brim of the bowl. My stomach was still turning, but I was craving some Lucky Charms.

"Want some?" I asked Harry.

"It's the middle of the afternoon."

"So?"

"No," he said, answering my earlier question.

"No, thank you?" I corrected him, deciding right then and there that his lack of manners this morning wasn't going to fly. Even his hair was bothering the shit out of me. "For goodness sake," I mumbled, finally giving in. I slid to him across the tile floor, reaching for his hair and fixing it the way my mom had the last time Harry was here. He stared straight down into my face through his glasses as I pushed his brown curls out of his face. So I guess I did have a few feelings this morning... it just took a couple of minutes for my inner bitch to wake up.