SHE - HS

CHAPTER 23

We park in front of a little shop right around the block from my apartment and walk inside. We are hit with the smell of paint and I let out a loud sigh. It has been forever since I smelled fresh paint and brushes. The memories all flow back to me at once and I feel so at peace again.

"So what are we looking for?" Harry asks me, walking down the paint aisle. I pulled up the picture I took of Mel's to see the colors I needed.

"Teal, pink, and yellow" I tell Harry as I start to walk over to him still looking at the picture. I wanted to maybe put a sunset in the background with some other little details here and there so we probably needed more paints.

"Oh that's so easy, there are only five hundred different shades of each color" he tells me sarcastically. I giggled walking over to him as he stood in front of the paints. As I got closer and closer, I could smell something different. It wasn't the paint or the brushes, it was something I was also familiar with. Once I was close enough to Harry that my shoulders were touching I realised it.

He smelled just like the candle my mother got me.

I grabbed all the paints I needed along with some brushes and put them in my cart without saying a word, then I walked to the canvas aisle. I reach to grab one as I see a hand reach next to me. Harry was grabbing the smaller canvas net to me. I look up to him with a confused look.

"What? I can't paint with you?" he asks me, smiling. I smiled back and nodded taking both our canvases to the checkout. We checked out and walked back to his car.

"Do you want to go to your place or mine?" he asks me. I sat there and thought if it was a good idea to bring Harry to my apartment. I wasn't even sure if it was clean or not.

Eh, fuck it.

"Sure, we can go to my place," I tell him as he smiles at me and starts to drive, "but you have to promise you won't make fun of it."

"Why would I?"

"Just promise me, please" I cut him off.

"Alright, alright I promise."

Once we get to the apartment, I see someone pacing outside the building. As we drove closer I could see exactly who it was. Who he was.

It was River. He was waiting for me.

"Keep driving" I tell Harry, keeping my eyes on River.

"Why, your place is right there isn't it?" he asks, confused.

"Just, c- can we keep driving please?"

"I mean, sure but where am I going?"

"Drive wherever you want, I don't care" I tell him now, shaking from fear. I could feel Harry's eyes on me even though my head was facing the window. I tried to stop the shaking as much as I could until I felt a hand land on my knee. Then I realized I couldn't stop the shaking if I tried.

"Is everything okay, Ro?" he asked me to make my head turn. I look into his eyes that looked like they were truly concerning. Like he wasn't just asking me to ask me. He really cared. I nod and give off a small grin.

"Take me somewhere special. Somewhere only we know" I tell him grabbing his hand that was still resting on my knee. We drove for another 10 minutes until we parked in front of a small building in the middle of nowhere. I sat there for a second until I finally asked him.

"This? This is your favorite spot?" I ask him looking around.

"You think this is my favorite place?" he asks me back.

"I mean maybe you like to sit and listen to some nice meditation music here I don't know" I tell him, thankfully making him laugh.

"Just follow me," he said, getting out of the car. I followed him as we walked towards the entrance. He knocked four times and a couple seconds later someone opened the door. It was a man with long blonde hair and a grateful dead shirt on.

"Hey harry, nice to see you again?" the man said to him like he knew him.

"Hey daniel, Is the room open?" he asked the man, who I guess was named daniel.

The room?

"Yes of course, I mean you're the only one who ever uses it so" he said as he welcomed us in.

"Well be out in a few," he told Daniel, taking me back through the building.

We walked until we hit the last room in the place. It was a small wooden door while all the others were big and seemetall. Once we walked in I was in complete and utter amazement.

The room was filled with colors from a ton of different neon lights and signs. All kinds of different shapes and sizes. I had to take it all in.

"oh my," I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"It's pretty cool isn't it? They switch the lights around every night. Sometimes they bring new ones in and take some out, but it is never the same as before." he told me, gazing at all the different lights. I loved looking at the lights so much, but I couldn't help but admire his face. He was so in love with this room and it showed. His face lit up with the lights once he entered the room. I watched his eyes go from one light to the other, taking at least a couple seconds to admire each one's beauty. I wanted him until his eyes landed on one a little longer than the ones before. I followed his eyes to see a bright pink neon sign that read "we'll be alright" in cursive.

"That one," he says pointing to it, "that one's always been my favorite. The people that change it know it's my favorite so they haven't moved it since, so I always know where to find it." he said smiling, still admiring it.

"It's beautiful" I tell him looking up at him. He turns his head down to connect our eyes.then me smiles and lets out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, yeah it is."

I smile at him and continue to walk around the room, waiting for something to catch my eye.

"That one is my favorite," I tell him, pointing to a bright red sign that reads 'Mon Amour'. I walked towards it with Harry following behind me. We admire the piece together for a while. I can see Harry's face turn to me from the corner of my eye.

"mon amour est tout à toi" he says very low, almost like he was whispering it to himself.

"What did you say?" I ask him, turning my head up to look at him. He was giving off the smallest smirk and the red neon light was hitting his face so perfectly I wanted to take a mental picture of it and keep it forever.

"You'll learn one day," he tells me before grabbing my hand, "come on, let's get you home."