The Heart Wants What It Wants

10

She awoke to daylight and to the bed moving next to her.  When she cracked open an eye, James was getting out of bed.

"Bathroom," he explained softly.

She mumbled an okay and closed her eyes.  She heard him close and open the door nearby, then his loud stream of urine, as though he'd opened some sort of hydrant, and then a flush, followed by running water.  The door opened shortly after and the music in the living room lowered.  A few seconds later, he reappeared in the bedroom.

"It's almost 8:30.  Time to wake up after all."

She groaned and opened both her eyes, wondering how freshly fucked her naturally curly hair looked this morning.

"Hi," she smiled, covering her mouth.  "Morning breath."

"I don't care," he murmured.  "Kiss me anyway."

He leaned down and did just that, though it was a closed-mouth kiss.  She was grateful, as she hadn't brushed her teeth since the Chinese food last night.

"I'll take you to your place and you can shower and change.  Then we can head out."

"Okay."

She knew she shouldn't go, but she had no good excuse to come up with.  She was playing with fire just to stay close to the sun.

"Let me shower real quick first.  I'll be like five minutes."

Once he'd gotten his clothes together and left the room, she rubbed her palms over her face and thought about last night.

She'd gone to sleep frustrated.  Her body had been left wanting and tightly coiled. She hadn't been able to get Draco out of her mind and James wasn't the same type of lover that Draco was.  He was more gentle and sweet, and the difference in chemistry was just something she was having trouble putting into words.  

Her mind hadn't cooperated and her body was spoiled, unyielding to James thus far.

Remembering all of the missed calls she must have, curiosity got the best of her and she finally threw back the covers, and quickly dressed.  Padding into the living room, she dug her phone out of her coat pocket and saw that she had five voicemails.

"Shit," she whispered, listening to the first one.

"Hermione, it's really fucking late.  You're not home, where are you?"

She could hear him exhale forcefully and then heard what sounded like a door slamming.

"Are you serious right now?  I came by to talk and you're not home.  Call me back, we need to talk."

He sounds really angry, she thought as she played the second one.

"It's almost midnight.  Now I'm really worried.  What's going on?"

She heard a frustrated breath of air and then the message ended.  She pressed play on number three, knowing they weren't going to improve as she went on.

"It's 12:30, and you obviously are having a good time somewhere.  I guess I'll go do the same.  Have a nice night."

She pressed play on the fourth one and a feeling of dread began building in the pit of her stomach as she heard the tone in his voice.

"You know, I've had some time to think about this, and I don't think this is going to work.  You're doing just fine without me and I'm doing just fine without you.  Let's just call it, shall we?  So goodbye and best of luck to you."

She suspected it was only his pride talking, along with jealous and pain, but regardless, his words burned as her eyes teared up.

The fifth and last message was only a couple of seconds long, and consisted of only silence.  James appeared in the living room just as she was lowering her phone.