Florence || H.S.

Chapter Twelve: we're just side characters

Harry lay still on his bed once again tracing the edges of the ceiling. To be honest, he was bored. It'd been almost an hour and no one else had come back to their suite.

At first, after his shower, Harry had passed the time with some TV but he found that even though there were hundreds of channels there was still nothing worth watching. Sure he could watch the weather, or he could step outside to see what it was like.

His hair had dried fully by this point so he couldn't even blow dry it for something to do. Eventually he decided to go out and make his own fun. Maybe he could make a new friend.

The chances of this were slim as most of the vacationers were old white men but Harry wasn't quite ready to confront that fact. After all, most old white men are some of the worst company.

Harry slipped on his shoes at the door before checking that his key was in his pocket. Cassiel was inside somewhere but he wanted to have it just in case.

The hotel seemed even more daunting now that Harry had no company to walk with. There wasn't many other rooms on their floor but the hallway seemed to go on forever, to the point where the ends were slightly blurred.

He decided to just follow his intuition, leaving the door to head into the elevator. There were far too many floor options so Harry decided to close his eyes and blindly choose one. He felt the drop in his stomach as the elevator began to descend when the button flashed green.

-

"There's no way that wasn't in. Can you not see the line?" Ophelia huffed at Oliver.

So far the pair had played two sets and were tied 1-1. It was an incredibly slow game because they couldn't seem to stop arguing about every trivial thing.

While it didn't seem like they would ever admit it, they were both having the most fun they'd had in a long time. Their school was large and they were in a graduating class with hundreds of other kids so it wasn't surprising that the pair had never really gotten to know one another.

They both seemed to be people who were on the outskirts of the popular group. Each liked to party and hang out with people, but they also enjoyed disappearing for a little while just to recollect themselves.

Oliver once again collected the ball and threw it up in the air to serve. Ophelia's eyes watched him as he jumped up and swung the racket down to make contact. It was out by a little bit but they played on.

The courts were quiet. Whether it was because they were playing in the heat of the day or just because everyone else in the hotel was old and didn't want to be running around on their day off was a mystery. The silence added to the atmosphere. Each of them being somewhat lost within their own heads. The sounds of the racket contacting the ball and their sneakers on the ground were often the only noises.

They'd both left their phones in the hotel room so they had no idea how long they'd been away. Ophelia felt bad for leaving cass alone in the suite. She knew harry was still there but she doubted the pair would be bold enough to talk to each other.

It was a mystery where florence and astoria had disappeared to. No one other than Harry had seen them since the morning. They didn't suspect any trouble though. You'd imagine a five star hotel would be pretty safe.

-

Harrys elevator had come to a stop on floor 3. He hadn't really had a chance to explore anywhere outside of the bar and the pool so he was officially in uncharted territory. The thought of getting lost was exciting to the boy. How often was he exposed to new scenery? most of his days were the same. Take the usual route to school, travel down the same hallways, go to footy practice or go home.

There seemed to be a block for Harry. He lived in this big city but everything was just familiar. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, all Harry could do was repeat the same old patterns. And he was stuck.

That's why the idea of Florence was so intriguing to Harry. She was new and she always had a new spot or hobby that she was practicing. He knew that even if they weren't speaking he could find adventure in her company. It seemed to be all he could think about.

The thing about living in the same town your whole life is that after a while, the only way you can have fun is to get into trouble. All of the legal things have been done a hundred times before. There's that exhilaration in doing something you shouldn't do or being somewhere you shouldn't be. Harry was a good kid for the most part but sometimes his ways of having fun were a little bit questionable.

His feet carried him through the hallways. He seemed to be passing nothing but private rooms. Maybe he'd picked a boring floor. Still, he carried forwards.

The decor looked brand new at every single point throughout the hallway. There was a carpet running along the middle of the marble floors and the gold handles shone on the dark brown doors. Every now and then there were plants stationed as though it were an office reception. Some of them seemed a little out of place. Maybe they were added at the last minute because the place felt cold without them.

Harry decided that if there was a colour he would miss the most it would be green. Imagine waking up in the morning, looking out the window and just seeing grey. Oh wait he did that anyway. He smiled a little at his own joke before trying to hide it incase someone else passed him.

The hallway seemed to be coming to an end. It wasn't closed off though. There was a balcony that curved into a circle like those multi floor malls you see in the american movies. He walked up and peered over seeing that he was pretty close to the bottom.

They hadn't come across this design before so he figured this must be a new part of the hotel. From looking over at the other side, Harry could see that there were a fair few floors stretching upwards. While he thought they would mostly be hotel suites he figured he could go up a few more floors just to check.

There were more lifts at either side of the balcony with stairs to one side. Since he'd already been swimming, it seemed like a bit too much of a hassle to climb the flights of stairs so instead the boy walked into the elevator and pressed to up button.

-

hi babies this chapter is a lot shorter than the previous ones but i've seen this story being added to a lot of reading lists lately and i wanted to give y'all something.

if you guys can give me feedback... do you prefer longer chapters less often or shorter chapters more frequently?

thank you so much for reading i appreciate all of you with my whole heart. dms are always open!! stay safe
-A x