Duplicity [h.s]

51

Aven Brooks

When I opened my eyes, I felt the comfortable warmth of the bedsheets I was tangled in. With an instant headache and sharpness to my eyes, I realized even before opening my eyelids that I left my contacts in. Wiring my eyes open, I was staring up at the white ceiling that had natural light pouring into the room. I felt warm and swaddle into the blankets like I could stay here forever, I shut my eyes again and rolled onto my side.

But then, I heard the sounds of ruffling from someone else in the room, immediately making me red alert because I wasn't alone.

I open my eyes immediately from the noise, my vision immediately taking in Harry sitting at the table with his feet up and the chair titled back. He was in a black shirt and grey track pants, hair pushed back out of his face as he was the one making noise. He had my giant duffle bag on the table, opened up with all my gear out on the table like he was rummaging through it all.

In his hands was one of my film cameras, his fingers toying with the buttons before he brought the viewfinder to his eye and took a flash photo of his feet. He jumped a bit when he did it, seeming like he didn't mean to take the picture.

Was I seeing straight? My contacts were still in so my eyes were dry as hell so I couldn't really see clearly. I must've fell asleep in his room last night because the last thing I remember was laying here and waiting for him in the bathroom.

I stared at him voyaging through all my camera equipment, looking like a kid in a toy store. It's like he didn't know how things worked and he was figuring it out as we went. It didn't seem like he was looking for anything specific or being snoopy, he just wanted to see how everything works. He was very casual about it, tipped back in his chair with his feet up on the table surrounded by my equipment.

I lift my tired head up from the pillow, squinting my eyes at the window light behind his head. He didn't realize I was awake and watching him. I couldn't see the look of concentration on his bare face as his feet were overlapped together on the table. He had really big feet, I don't think I've ever seen him without socks on.

He was holding my old polaroid camera, the lens facing him as he examined all the buttons on the front and what they did.

"What are y—"

My voice must've startled him because he suddenly clicked the capture button on accident, causing the flash to go off right in his face and very close to his eyes.

"Mother fu—" he drops the camera on his lap and brings his palms to his eyes in reflex.

I widen my eyes at the incident, shooting up more straight in the bed to see him rubbing his sight back to life.

"Are you alright?" I was barely awake yet, witnessing how much he just blinded himself.

"Fuckin— cocksucker shit..." He rubs his eyes at the sting.

He uncovered and opened his one eye towards me, still rubbing the other as I'm sure he was seeing spots. The flash went directly in his eyes, super close to his face. It was actually funny but I felt too bad for laughing yet.

"I didn't realize you were awake." He says mid struggling rub.

"Why are you going through all that equipment?" I was still barely awake, squinting through my contacts that were suffocating my eyes.