Aquarelle [h.s]

twenty-seven

I was woken up by the loud sound of my phone ringing.

I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times, trying to remember who I was and what was my purpose in that world, groaning and cuddling up into the blanket again when I remembered the events of the day before.

I suddenly remembered that the phone was ringing and I sat up, tucking my hair behind my ear and taking it despite my very strong need to ignore whoever was calling and going back to sleep.

I answered the annoying call, hoping that it wasn't Nicholas, and pressed the phone against my ear, going back to lying on the mattress and humming into the receiver.

"Sierra?" I heard from the other side, and I quickly sat up as soon as I recognised the voice.

"Harry, hi" I mumbled, clearing my throat and trying my best to pretend I hadn't been sleeping. There were some seconds of silence, and then I spoke again. "How can I help you?"

"Where are you?" He asked, and I immediately hid my face in my hands, already starting to sense what was going on. "You should've arrived at the studio over an hour ago."

I stared at the opposite wall of the living room, embarrassment washing over me. "Oh, it's Wednesday, isn't it?" I asked with a sigh. "And on Wednesdays we... I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" I heard him ask, he sounded a bit worried.

"Yes, I'm fine" I replied, "I don't think I'll manage to make it to the studio today, though. I should've probably told you earlier, I'm sorry."

He didn't seem convinced by my reply. "Are you sure?" He asked again, seeming a bit out of his comfort zone. "You sound different."

I bit my lower lip, rubbing my eyes with my finger as I thought of what to reply. "I am, I just overslept a bit" I told him, not exactly lying to him. I'd definitely overslept a bit - what he didn't know, though, was that there was a reason.

On the other side there was just silence for some seconds. "Sierra" Harry then said, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing is" I replied, maybe a bit quicker than I should've for it to be believable. "You can go back home, or I don't know, go to work. Or also somewhere else." I closed my eyes, realising that I was talking a bit too much and making close to no sense. "You can do what you want, because we aren't working today."

I pressed my lips together and lay back down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling as I waited for him to say something in reply.

"I'm coming" he simply stated, closing the call right after, and I widened my eyes, instantly sitting up and looking at the screen of my phone to make sure I hadn't dreamed that whole exchange.

Harry had just said he was coming to my apartment. He hadn't asked if he could come, he'd said he was coming. That meant that Harry would've been in front of my door in less than an hour, and I looked like a mess. And the living room too looked like a mess, because I really hadn't anticipated him coming to my house. I was screwed.

I stared at the opposite wall for some seconds, trying to force myself to stand up, and in the end only managing to do that by reminding myself a perfect looking Harry would've been at my house really soon.

I got into the bathroom, quickly realising that I didn't have enough time to have a shower and tying my hair up in a ponytail, washing my face and getting rid of the greyish line of forgotten about mascara from the day before, not forgetting to brush my teeth before rushing out of the room and back to the living room.

I started walking back and forth, putting all the pillows back where they were supposed to be and folding the blanket I'd stolen from my bed the night before. I left it on the couch and grabbed the pack of chips I'd emptied the night before while I was staring at the TV pretending to be fine. I went to the kitchen, and I barely managed to throw it away before I heard the doorbell ring.