Trial and Error

Harry

I had invited Grace to the restaurant because I wanted to see if I could try to ignore the feelings I was starting to develop for Rosie, again, by using someone else.

It didn't work because if anything, I might have pushed her away from me permanently. Which is what I wanted but I also didn't want at the same time.

So now, here I was, outside of Rosie's door waiting for her to open it. I didn't know what I was going to say, but I knew I had to fix this and make sure she knew that she was important to me. But I was even more confused because I didn't want her to become so close that I'd let her in completely and fall for her.

"Coming!" I heard her voice call from the other side of the door. I wrung my hands nervously, shifting on my feet as I waited. She finally opened her door and smiled at me when she saw me. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing sweat pants and a hoodie.

She looked amazing.

"Hi," she smiled and moved aside to let me in. I smiled softly and walked inside.

"So," she said, closing the door, "what did you want to do-"

"I didn't want her there." I blurted. She looked at me with wide eyes and I am pretty sure my expression mirrored hers exactly.

"Sorry?" she asked.

"I," I sighed, wiping my hand against my face. I looked at her, watching her expression shift from concern to confusion. What the hell was I thinking? I couldn't say something like that. The whole point of me doing this was to keep her at arms length and if I go blurting something like that out, it won't work.

I looked around before I smiled and looked back at her, shaking my head, "never mind."

She looked at me suspiciously before nodding and walking into her living room. I followed behind her and she sat down on the couch, grabbing a pillow and holding it to her chest.

I sat down beside her.

"So," she began.

"So."

It was awkward for a while, us stealing glances at each other every now and then.

"Have you uh," I looked at her, "seen anyone strange lately?"

She looked at me before she shook her head, "no. Not since the weird guy outside the diner."

I nodded, "cool...I mean- that's good. It's good."

She pursed her lips and nodded. I nodded as well and looked ahead of me at the wall in front of us and sighed. I began to pick at the fabric on my jeans and I sighed. It was silent for a while before she spoke.

"This shouldn't be so awkward," she said. I looked at her, finding her frowning down at her lap. I bit my lip and turned towards her.

"Rosie," I said, "listen, about today-"

"Don't worry about it, Harry," she smiled, "I know why you did it."

I frowned, looking at her face and the way her brown eyes would sparkle with a bit of pain and noticing the way my heart would clench slightly.

"You do?" I asked. She sat forward, setting the pillow aside and tightening her brown hair in the ponytail. She smiled at me, putting one leg up on the couch before she pulled the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands and made sweater paws - I think that's what they're called - out of them. She looked at me and bit her lip.

"You wanted us to be friends," she began, "this is your way of ensuring that."

Well, not exactly.