Two Truths & A Lie

Chapter 14 (Harry's POV)

Someone on tumblr requested Harry's point of view when he wakes up next to Em - and while I don't usually like to change the POV I couldn't stop thinking about it after it was requested!! Enjoy! :)) 

  Had I done it?  Had I slept with Emalia?  It all seemed like it wasn’t actually real.  It was just some vivid, sexual dream that I had… and yet she was here lying right beside me, wearing my shirt.  There was something so satisfying about seeing her in my clothing - it was a feeling that I couldn’t completely explain.  She was laying on her back staring straight up at the heavens like the angels were personally lowering each breath into her lungs just to watch her breathe it slowly back up at them.  Her eyelids twitched like she was having some wild dream, and I couldn’t help but hope that I was in that dream somewhere. 

 I didn’t really think I would ever end up in bed beside this girl.  I’m cocky, I know.  Confident.  Or at least I make it seem that way.  I know I’m attractive.  I could get any girl that I wanted at this school - but I never thought I would get Em.  She’s too good for me.  Maybe that’s why I was mean at first.  I figured if I could make her hate me, I would begin to hate her, and I wouldn’t have to deal with any messy relationships this year.  I promised myself that I would stay away from commitment this year since I went through one hell of a relationship last year.  I knew from the minute I saw Em that she was especially one to stay away from.  Even her walk could make a man go weak at the knees. 

 And despite my promise to keep away from the ladies, here I was, waking up beside one of the most gorgeous ones who probably had the potential to do the most damage to me.  Great job, Harold. 

 I reached into my hair, frowning when I felt a small knot got stuck around one of my fingers.  Only it wasn’t a knot.  It was a braid.  No one had ever played with my hair like Emalia had.  It was so soothing.  There had been times in my sexual encounters with other girls where they pulled my hair, but that was harsh and almost selfish - It was a motion that said, “Give me more.”  Whatever Em was doing last night - twirling and twisting and braiding so gently - that was for me.  Brynn never did that.  I never had a mother to do that.  No one had ever done that.  Maybe that’s why it put me to sleep in her arms. 

 When I spotted Em on the porch all dressed up for Homecoming, I debated faking sick.  Texting her and telling her that I was ill so she would go home. Sending her away somehow to save myself.  I thought I succeeded at getting her to hate me - that she was playing a sick joke on me by showing up and taking me as her date.  After all, it was only days before that she was throwing a fit over rumors that we might be together.  I can’t believe I would ever think that she actually, truly hated me.  The way she let me put my hands and mouth on her last night… she wanted it.  She wanted me.  God, I could feel it in her grasps and her lips and on her skin just how much she wanted me.  I guess she was just as bad with her emotions and words as I was.  It only took me half a bottle of wine and some cheap beer to finally get the words out: “You and I.”  Once I said the words, once she repeated them, something inside both of us clicked.   

It just fucking made sense. 

 There was a long piece of her blonde hair on the pillow beside me.  It had fallen out of her own braid from last night.  I picked up the piece as gently as I could and split it into three, scowling as I tried to think about how a braid worked.  I twisted a few pieces around each other, but it didn’t look right.  Dammit, why was this so hard?  How could she do it so effortlessly? The more I twisted the hair, the more frustrated I became, and finally I gave up. The last thing I wanted was for Em to wake up with a dreadlock on the side of her head.  As I tried to untangle the mess I just created, I pulled a little too hard, forcing Em from whatever excitement she was encountering in her dream.  Her eyebrows came together, her perfect breathing seemed to hitch until she took a deep, disgruntled breath.  I froze and closed my eyes, thinking - almost hoping - that she would wake, but she turned away from me and faced my wall instead, still sound asleep.  

"Haz, you up-?"  Charles whispered, opening my bedroom door and letting a little bit of morning light in.   

I shot up in the bed and shushed his with my finger.  ”Shut the hell up-“

"Geez kiddo, I didn’t know you had-"

"Char, just stop talking-"

My older brother raised his hands in surrender.  I glanced down at Em, still out cold beside me.  I heaved a thankful sigh and climbed out of the bed to talk to Charles in the hall.  ”What is it?” 

"Morgan is making pancakes." 

I nodded.  ”I’ll be up in a sec-“  

Charles nodded and peered into my room again.  A deep growl sounded from my chest and he instantly raised his hands in surrender again before walking through the basement and up the stairs to the kitchen.  

Back in my room, I slipped on a shirt and sweats.  I pulled an extra set of sweats and my softest slippers from my closet.  I didn’t want Em to go.  Not yet.  Not as soon as she woke up.  I wanted her to be comfortable if she stayed, and there was no way that sequin dress could be comfortable.  It looked damn good on her body, but it itched my hands just holding her sides so I could only imagine how she felt having it cover her entire body.  That being said, I wanted her to have her choice.  I grabbed her dress from the floor, running my fingers over that stupid built-in bra thing and scowling before I folded the dress and placed it beside the slippers and sweats.  

Something in my mind was urging me to kiss her once before I left the room.  I only hoped she would let me kiss her again once she woke up completely sober, but I didn’t know for sure.  She was so bipolar, always changing her damn mind, but it was one of the things about her that I couldn’t help but laugh at.  I guess her choice in clothing would help me know.  Her dress for if she decided she hated me today, or my sweats for if she decided I was okay for another day.  As I gazed at her still body for a moment longer, I figured I already disturbed her enough with my awful hair-braiding, so I took my chances that I would be able to kiss her once more later and left the room.