Neverland

seventeen

My legs were oddly cold.  My hand sputtered around desperately in search of my blanket, but the search effort proved fruitless.  I grunted and rolled over on my back. 

“Get up.”  A toneless and gravelly voice said from above me.

I creaked one of my eyes open to see Harry’s blank face staring down at me, void of any emotion.  His eyes drooped, still full of sleep.

“I don’t see the sun,” I croaked and blinked my other eye open.  The room was no longer pitch black, but instead a glowing grey.  The colors of the room looked drained, as if we were inside a black and white movie.  The lack of color in the environment translated to the lack of color within me, color that somehow Harry breathed into me and then drained in the next instant

“Come on,” he said and nudged the side of my arm with his knee.

I yawned and pushed myself up, resting my weight on my elbows.  “Okay.”

I thought I saw a small smile appear on his lips, but it was too early to tell.

“Get dressed and meet me down stairs.”  He called over his shoulder as he wandered out of the room, tripping over something on his way.  I muffled my laugh with my pillow and swung my legs over the bed, stretching them out in front of me.

“Shut up,” he muttered, but this time I could hear his smile as he walked through the doorway.

Once the door clicked shut, I did some morning stretches and hastily pulled on a sports bra, an old tank top, and a pair of baggy shorts.  Despite not getting much sleep the night before, I found some energy stored, thriving mostly off of the excitement that came with starting my first day of training. 

While my mind churned through the early morning hours of the night, I tried desperately to erase the almost kiss with Harry from my mind.   I also came to the conclusion that from now on it would be best to distance myself from him, but I worried about whether or not I would actually follow through with the plan.  At this point, it was impossible to deny my growing feelings, but I needed to find a way to stunt the growth. 

I decided to focus on the main reason I came to Neverland, Leo.  Maybe Harry was the distraction.

Once I was mostly ready, I began toward the spiral stairs, tying my hair back into a pony tail as I descended.   Harry was waiting in the main room, leaning against a wall, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.  It was annoyingly difficult forcing myself not to admire how stunning he looked even after just rolling out of bed.  His simple white tank clung to his tan skin, making his features radiate and the whites of his eyes pop.

I cleared my throat to make my presence known and relive the growing lump that accumulated as I stared at him.

His head snapped towards me, eyes taking their time as they trailed up my body.

I crossed my arms.  “Ready.”

“Yeah.” He coughed and nodded towards the archway.  “Okay.  Let’s go then.”

I followed him out the back door, forcing my eyes to look anywhere but the tensing and rippling muscles in his back.  I could literally hear my hair begin to frizz the instant we emerged into the humid jungle air.  The low yellow clouds were like a heated blanket, but slowly pealed back to reveal a clear blue sky behind it.  We walked side by side as we entered one of the openings in the brush, stepping in silence to imitate the quiet surrounding us, as if trying not to wake the sleeping jungle.

A few birds chirped out tones I had never heard in nature before, so melodic they sounded like a craftily composed song.  I wanted to personally thank each of those talented birds for filling the awkward tension and silence between Harry and I with something beautiful; natures form of elevator music, only better.