Aquarelle [h.s]

twenty-eight

It was Wednesday, a week since I'd last seen Nicholas.

He'd called me a few times over the past seven days - sometimes to try to convince to get back with him, others to tell me he needed to come get his things - but I'd managed to avoid him every single time. For some reason, I didn't want him to empty my flat of his belongings. I didn't know if it was because I didn't want him to leave once and for all, or if I just didn't want to see him.

I'd taken to leaving for work early in the morning and hiding away in the studio until evening, wanting to make sure there would've been no chances of meeting Nicholas whenever he came by to get something he needed. I wanted to ask him where he was staying, what he was doing, but at the same time, I was too scared of the answer to. What if he would've managed to convince me to take him back? I wasn't that strong whenever it came to that kind of thing - Harry had noticed it a long while ago, and I was realising it only in that moment. I gave in easily.

I looked up, discovering that Harry's stare was already on me. I blushed slightly, wondering how long I'd been thinking for, and if he'd noticed I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do.

I'd asked him to come to the studio with the purpose of drawing him, but it was starting to become quite clear that I wasn't in the right mindset, even if it'd only been an hour since he'd walked in.

Before he'd come in that morning, I hadn't seen him for basically a week. I didn't know why I'd decided to tell him he didn't need to come in for all that time, but I had, so he'd just gone along with it.

We'd texted a couple of times, more coincidentally than anything else, but aside from that, I hadn't had any contact with him. I couldn't tell why. Maybe it was the fact that Nicholas had tried to pin the end of our relationship on him - while I knew it was far from true, it'd made me realise that I definitely needed some time away from him.

Being in his presence was addicting, in a way. It was refreshing, it made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered, but that was also what made it dangerous. What were the chances that my sight had been so blurred by his enticing fog that I hadn't noticed my relationship falling apart because of poor choices on my side?

I'd wanted to know, so I'd cut ties with Harry too for just a while, hoping that he'd understand how much I needed it. He had, because he hadn't come to my flat or the studio once, and now I could safely tell that he was not the problem. On the contrary, he was probably the reason why I'd stuck by Nicholas's side for that long. His presence had made me forget about the man that at point had been my boyfriend. I'd taken so much longer to realise it wouldn't have worked out in the long term because spending time with Harry had constantly taken my mind off the arguments.

I suddenly realised that I'd inadvertently been staring at Harry's clothed chest for more seconds than I should've been allowed to and cleared my throat, looking at his face awkwardly, my embarrassment increasing when I discovered he hadn't moved his eyes away from me.

He just looked at me for some seconds, seeming to be thinking about something, and then he relaxed his pose, standing up from the white couch. "Come with me" he just told me, walking to the other side of the room.

I followed him with my eyes, confused, as he put on his white shoes quickly, not making a move to stand up from the chair I'd been sitting on for the past hour. "Where?"

He turned to look at me. "Do you trust me?" He just asked in reply, and I pursed my lips, thinking about it even though I knew I didn't need to think about it.