British Rose

5. Stars, Sights and Sentiment

Niall's house – West Hollywood, LA – Monday night

Nala had been purring rolled up in a corner next to Charlotte's legs for a while when Charlotte saw Harry had taken after the cat and dozed off too about halfway through 10 things I hate about you. Looking to her left where Niall was sitting, the picture didn't change. She carefully removed Nala's tail from her thigh and brought their empty glasses to the kitchen. 

Her feet with only socks on barely made a sound on the wooden floor. The room was dark apart from some dim indirect lighting on the shelves. Charlotte successfully arrived in the kitchen without making any noises that could wake up neither Niall, Harry nor Nala.  Then she realized she had to put the glasses away, or at least down on the countertop. 

Panicking, her eyes flickered between the two options she had: placing them down very carefully on the marble countertop or going for it and putting them straight into the dishwasher. Inhaling deeply, she moved her left hand with only one glass down slowly. The glass bottom touched the marble with the quietest clink. Charlotte had held her breath, now she let it out with a sigh of relief. Two more to go. She continued the procedure of inhaling, setting down the glass, exhaling. The words of her old yoga teacher suddenly popped into her mind: marrying the breath to the movement and vice versa. I really should start practicing again. Flowing through the positions in sync with the breath was a state of being she always loved. While the whole task was incredibly stressful because she absolutely did not want to wake up any of the three sleeping creatures in the living room, she was now calm to have mastered it.

As quietly as her way in, she made her way out of the kitchen and toddled back to the sofa. Nala had woken up in the meantime, only noticeable by her open eyes, she was still laying curled up in her corner. Charlotte resumed cuddling the cat and softly stroking the fur on her back. The content purring sound the animal started to make made Charlotte sleepy, too. The TV had changed into stand-by mode and displayed a tiny clock in the top right corner.

Charlotte had to hold back her voice when she looked at the time. 1:30 am? Okay, time to leave.

She stood up and walked over to Harry's spot. One of his curls had fallen onto his forehead and she reached out to put it back into place. Redirecting her gaze down to the delicate composition of his face, she couldn't understand how something as simple as basic bone structure and features every human being disposed of could be designed in a way of such marvellous beauty.

Charlotte leaned down to whisper Harry's name into his ear, her left hand gently placed on his shoulder.

Harry's eyelids fluttered open slowly one after the other, a disoriented expression on his sleepy face. It took him a moment to recognize the person in front of him.

"Hey, love." His voice was barely audible, only for Charlotte who was just inches away from him.

"Hey. I think we should go home." She caressed his shoulder to help him wake up by feeling her touch.

"What time is it?" His speech was slightly slurred, although they hadn't drunk too much.

"1:35."

Harry sat up. "Alright, let's get going." He looked on his left, where Niall was still sleeping, completely unbothered.

He gently shook his best friend's body to wake him up, too.

"Hey mate, come on you need to go to bed. Can't sleep here for the whole night. It's late, we're heading home now", he said to him when he noticed Niall was awake.

It took Niall a few moments, too to reorientate himself and his surroundings.

"Oh crap, did I fall asleep?" he asked, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.