End of the Day [h.s]

eight

"Is everything okay, with you?" My eyebrows furrowed together with excessive worry.

As if planned, questions began pacing through my brain: was Harry in trouble? Was it something at home, had something happened? Did he need to confide in me? I took his silence as a submissive maybe, being careful not to push him any further unless he wanted to open up. "Of course you can stay Harry. Do you need any food, a drink maybe? Have you had any dinner?"

His index finger and thumb pinched his lower lip, tugging lightly without much thought. He looked over to me with sympathy, realising how concerned I must've looked but continued to tread lightly. "It's alright, I ate earlier. Thank you, though" he muttered.

"Harry" I sighed, scrunching my eyes closed for a second. "I know it isn't really any of my business, and you don't have to tell me anything, but did something happen at home?"

There were a few beats of unreadable silence before he spoke once more. "Nothing happened at home" he confirmed reluctantly. "My mother's still working, so nothing could've happened" he continued, causing my heart to shudder because, what had that meant?

"Is it just you two, your mother and you?" I asked him, keeping my eyes locked on him, overanalysing every action he carried out. I felt awful - seeing him so, down.

"Uh" he hesitated, "it is now. My sister moved out for uni a couple years ago, hasn't come home since. My father.. he left."

"Mine too."

A frown took over my distraught expression and Harry's helpless jade eyes locked onto my mine with shock, making me realise what i'd just said wasn't actually in my head. I drew in a deep breath, palms smoothing over my thighs. Up and down, up and down.

"Um" my breathing hitched. Why was I suddenly about to open up to somebody? Harry out of everyone, as well. I supposed I just wanted him to feel better, so I elaborated as a means to soothe his unexplained sorrow. "My dad walked out a year or so after the divorce, got a new spouse, a new family. Moved on quite well actually."

Harry nodded lightly. "Mine left when I was a toddler, never knew him" he spoke, ill at ease; I wasn't expecting him to share with me so willingly.

Alternatively, as oppose to snooping, I decided to change the course of the conversation steadily. "Are you often, home alone a lot?" He answered with another timid nod and I pouted my lower lip, my gaze hooked onto the carpet of my floor absentmindedly. "I know we hardly know each other, but i'm always here if things get too tricky. You have my number, I mean - we could study, or even just sit in the quiet? Like we do at Niall's."

I feared looking up in case he resorted to laughing at my suggestion, I had a feeling he might. But I was wrong. Instead he spoke with clarity. "Is it just you and your mum then? No siblings?"

Then I recalled him examining my pictures around my wall just minutes ago. My eyes met his rather quickly, incredulity controlling my senses. "Um, yeah. I'm an only child so i'm quite independent. Carly's like my sister though, most of the time." His calm eyes were gentle as they looked into mine, he twisted his rings around each one of his fingers subconsciously. "Have you and Louis always been close?"

His hand hovered over his mouth, before he pulled his lower lip between his thumb and finger, pinching lightly once more. "We went to the same primary school, we were best mates for most of it. He's a good mate, Lou" he told me, a smile ghosting on his pale lips.

"That's nice" I commented, the corners of my lips twitched at the sight but I soon cleared my throat and sat forward, palms gripping the edge of my bedside table for support. A flash of that same ink blue blossomed into my sight once more, playing in the warm lighting of my bedroom as it balanced around Harry's middle finger. My forehead scrunched up and I shook my head slightly, letting out a grin. "What's the deal with you and blue? Are you an ultra for the shade?" I wondered, my question seeming to catch him off the cuff.