Trial and Error

Harry

Harry's apartment.

I sighed, checking the time on my phone as I sat in the booth at the nightclub and tried to ignore this random girl kissing my neck. I looked over at Oliver who smirked at me before glancing over at the girl beside me. 

I rolled my eyes and pushed her away before leaning over to Oliver, "this sucks. I'm gonna head home."

I had to yell over the loud music. 

"What?" he called, making me think he almost hadn't heard me, "you sure?"

I nodded, waving my hand and then getting up. Just as I was about to leave, a hand grasped my own and I turned to find the girl from earlier staring up at me. Her blonde hair fell down to her shoulders and her makeup was minimal but still very nice. She didn't look trashy, but instead had this classy look to her, which normally I would find very attractive, but for some reason it didn't work on me.

I say "for some reason," as though I don't actually know what the reason is. 

"Sorry," I said, "I gotta go."

"Well," she said, biting her lip and slipping a piece of paper into my hand, "if you ever want to hang out or something..."

I rose an eyebrow and looked down at the paper in my hand before looking back up to her. She stood up and twirled a piece of her blonde hair in her fingers while crossing her other arm over her torso. 

"I'm Grace," she said. I nodded.

"Harry," I replied, "see you around, Grace."

I turned and walked away from her and out of the club entrance. As soon as I stepped out into the cold New York air, I shivered slightly before pulling my jacket that I had on closer to cover myself up. 

~

The night was quiet as I walked down the streets of the city towards my apartment. I didn't have much to think about yet for some reason, I felt as though I had everything to think about. It was such a weird feeling to describe. 

Rosie and I had been texting every now and then, which was nice. Although I was still afraid that she might get hurt. It's bad enough that she's already so insistent on being with me, but that day at the diner...with that random man that she said was watching her. 

It had me uneasy. Still...and it's been like four days. 

Not to mention the all but horrifying moment I had when I remembered the day we first met in the alleyway. She had come to find me the same way that Mark had left; what if he had seen her face? 

I could feel the blood rushing to my head as I thought about this, and it certainly didn't help when my phone buzzed in my pocket. 

I stopped walking and mumbled curse words under my breath as I pulled my phone out and read the text.

It was from my trainer Jack. He was someone that had basically taken care of me since I got into this hellhole of a job. He said he felt for me, whatever that meant, and that he could relate because he had told me that he lost someone he loved a long time ago too. He practically took me under his wing, and trained me but made sure I didn't get into too much trouble. 

Which is why I was going to forget about telling him I got stabbed, but my wonderful friend Oliver couldn't keep his mouth shut and word got out. The day he found out, he was furious. And even more so when he found out it was a drug deal gone wrong. 

I don't deal drugs. I had to "fill in" for a friend that day, but I guess that's a story for another time. 

Jack: let me know when you're home safe.