It Takes Patience II: Guarded

*Reagan’s POV*
By the time we got back to the Savoy my head was hurting. Dr. Koch quizzed me the entire ride and it only takes eight minutes to get there. Within those eight minutes he asked me thirty-five one answer questions about the seminar...thirty-five. Though my head was pounding, I silently welcomed the distraction from where my mind would have gone if he weren’t speaking a mile a minute. I wanted to ask him about his time as an intern for Dr. Baker and how that came to be, but he seemed too displeased with me at the moment.

“The next time we’re at a seminar or conference or whatever the case may be, I’m sure you’ll think twice before taking out that phone correct?” We walked into the escalator and my phone buzzed against my hip as if it grew a mind and attitude of its own as Dr. Koch ridiculed me for having it. He shut his eyes and then opened them slowly, exasperated by the sound before I could answer his question.

“Yes Dr. Koch.” I bit back a smile and rushed towards my room as the elevator opened, not wanting to show him how amused I was by the irony of the situation.

When I got in my room I collapsed on my bed still wearing Harry’s jacket. I wrapped it around myself and then pulled it to my face inhaling deeply to smell his scent. It’s indescribable and incredible. If it were to be bottled it would simply be called ‘Harry’. I want to call him, but I hardly think that I would be able to form words. He’s slept with someone else. I know there were some before me, but I egotistically want there to be none now, just me.

I look at my phone and scroll through my contacts and when I land on Channel’s number I sigh deeply in frustration. I haven’t talked to her since I left and she hasn’t tried to contact me either. I could use my best friend right now, but I’ve been so concerned about Harry that I’m not sure that I even have that anymore. I continue to scroll and I land on H.’s name, it doesn’t take long for me to hit the talk key despite my better judgment. I can be the bigger person. I just want to get past this.

The phone rings four times before he answers.

“Hello?” His voice is somber like theirs something wrong.

“Hi...Um, sorry that I couldn’t respond to your text.. I was kind of at a seminar of sorts.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you okay?” I found myself fidgeting becoming very interested in my fingers. I hate tip toeing around. I just want things to be back to normal.

“I was sleeping...How was your seminar?” He’s lying, but instead of picking at it I continued on.

“Long...Dr. Koch said he doesn’t need me tomorrow...” Harry sighed deeply on the other line knowing that I just opened up the door to continue our discussion from last night.

“I’m tired Reagan...”

“Tired of what?” I shot up on my bed with my heart instantaneously pounding in my ribcage. I can feel my eyes water and can’t bear it if he says what I think he will.

“Of arguing with you! I don’t want to anymore. You did what you did. It hurt a lot....You hurt me so much Reagan, but the more we talk about it the less I can take it so can we not today? Can we just pretend that it didn’t happen for now?” There’s so much I want to say, but I can tell that there’s something else bothering him right now. I nod my head and let out a sigh of relief as if he’s in the room with me before I speak again.

“Sure...For now...”

“Good. What are you doing?” I remove the jacket and slide myself further up my bed to lie back on a pillow and look at the clock.

“Lying down, my head hurts. Dr. Koch gave me a beast of a quiz in the taxi ride back to the hotel from the seminar. What are you doing?”

“The same...It was kind of nice to have you next to me this morning.” I was taken aback by his words not expecting that at all.

“It was nice having you next to me too. I’ve missed sleeping next to you...I’ve missed a lot of things.”

“Such as?” I could hear the tone change in his voice, slowly bringing him out of his solemn mood. I grinned before I started the list. It could go on forever.

“Your voice, your eyes, seeing you every day, our conversations....” I trailed off as my smile got wider.

“Keep going, glasses.” I paused a moment longer at the nickname that had become an endearment from him to me before I spoke again.

“Your warmth, your cheeky jokes and comments that always embarrass your mom...” Harry chuckled through the phone and I continued. This is the first time that he’s smiled because of me since I’ve been back.

“Your, moodiness- you’re never boring. Count that to being bipolar I never know what to expect...” Another laugh and I got quiet on the line before I continued.

“Your body, your hands, the way you...” I trailed off again not meaning for those parts to actually come out of my mouth. There was an awkward silence before Harry broke it changing the subject.

“Can I come get my jacket? I have to work in a bit so I have to pass there anyway.” I took a deep breath, both thankful and perturbed that he took me off my train of thought.

“Umm, yeah. Where do you work?” I remembered that his mom mentioned his job before she left but I was too unnerved by her presents to ask Harry about it.

“At the pub bar tending with Zayn and Louis.” My heart dropped when I was reminded about the note and I spoke before my brain could catch up.

“Who’s Scarlett?” I turned on my side to face the jacket wishing that I hadn’t thrown the note away so that I could read it to him.

“I dunno. Who’s Scarlett?” Harry genuinely sounded unaware.

“There was a note in your jacket from a girl named Scarlett thanking you for...something and her number was attached.”

“Oh.” There was another awkward pause until H. spoke again.

“Let’s not do that now, yeah?”

“Let’s not do what H.?”

“Let’s not go there now. We’ll talk about that when we talk about everything else that you want to talk about.” Harry put a heavy emphasis on the word ‘you’. I know he doesn’t want to discuss it but how else can we pick up the pieces?

“Harry I can’t, I can’t keep putting it off I need to know. Please?”

“Reagan don’t ask questions that you won’t be able to handle the answer to. I’ll be there in a few to get my jacket.”

My breath hitched in my throat but instead of crying, I got angry. I took off my work clothes and replaced them with flannel shorts and a sweater as I sat down on the couch in the living room area of my suite to watch television and wait for Harry. There was a knock on my door twenty minutes into a documentary that I was more or less staring at rather than watching and paying attention to. As I rose from the couch to answer the door, I stopped in the mirror to check my hair and straighten my sweater before I opened it.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” I stepped aside and let Harry walk in. The smell of him wafted through my nose making me dizzy with want, begging me to extinguish my anger towards him, but my brain is in full control of the situation now and I can’t help myself when I speak.

“So, who is Scarlett?!” H. turned on his heel as I stood in front of my bedroom door waiting for an answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply before he spoke. His eyes met mine for a brief second before looking away, never looking back at me when he answered.

“Why won’t you just let it go?! She’s irrelevant! She’s just some girl I fucked to try to get over you!”

I breathed in deeply and exhaled while nodding my head up and down quickly willing myself to stay calm as I internally explode. I don’t know why I’m shocked, I knew deep down who she was. I went to turn in the room to get his jacket before he grabbed me gently, handling me with extreme care as if I would break.

“I told you not to ask...there were others, only four-”

“Just stop H! I get it! I get it! I don’t want to hear anymore!”

“No, I’m going to be honest with you. You asked, you wanted to know, so I’m going to tell you.” Harry walked us back over to the couch and made me sit down. He left some space between us on the but not much. I looked at him and as he spoke he wouldn’t look me in the eyes, as if he was ashamed by what he was going to say.

“I met three of them while I was working. Two of them happened at the same time–"

I scoffed, disgusted thinking about it before I cut him off, "I don't need you to boast about it!"

"I'm not boasting just shut up and listen please? I didn’t sleep with them we just did...other stuff. And then there was another one a few weeks later that may or may not have been Scarlett.” Tears rolled down my face due more to anger than sadness. Everything in me wanted to slap him. Why does he think that I want to hear this?

“Harry, stop! Please, I don't want to hear it anymore!” I spoke through clenched teeth as my fist balled up at my side. If I opened them, I'm sure my palm would make swift, crisp contact with Harry's face.

“No! Don’t start shit if you can’t handle it! Suck it the fuck up and listen! They were just one night stands, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt like shit after I got out of the hospital. There would be this pain in my stomach that I thought I could make go away by doing...that. But it didn’t, if anything it got worse. It only stopped when I saw you. When you got back, that night when we were together. It stopped. I need you. I’ve missed you more than I could have imagined missing another person and it literally brought me physical pain, Reagan. My dreams are fucked. I can’t sleep. I couldn’t work one day, Louis' dad sent me home because I was doubled over with this throbbing empty feeling. I’ve tried to do things to take my mind off of you, but I can’t. I think about you every day and night even though I’m pissed at you! You’re always fucking there in my head! And I didn’t want to admit it to myself because I thought I was supposed to hate you after what you did, but I still love you Reagan. I love you so much. I love you even though you’ve fucked me up even more than you know! I’m tired of arguing with you, but you-.”

I couldn’t listen to anymore and even though it hurt to find out that he went to other girls to try to find comfort, I understood why. I silenced Harry, putting my finger to his lips, before my own gently grazed along the fullness of them. His eyes focused on mine before his hand went to the nape of my neck, closing the space between us when his lips delicately pressed to mine. When I wrapped my arms around his neck, I thought that he would pull them away like he did when I touched his face last night. Instead, he slid his hands to my shoulders and eventually down my back, pulling me to sit on his lap. The kiss was gentle and hypnotizing as it deepened and though it pained me to do so, I broke the contact in order to get the confirmation, that my head and heart needed.

“Does this mean we can move on now?”

Harry bit his lip and looked me in the eye this time as he mulled over his words.

“I want to. I don’t want it to be brought up again...Is that what you want?”

“More than anything Harry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I kissed his face between apologies before he grabbed me again to grace my lips with his once more, resting his hands on either side of my waist. I’ve never felt more safe and secure than this moment being in his arms. My world was right again and the anger that I felt melted away. Harry said there were four, but he only listed three of the other girls and I’m glad he stopped there. The thought of it makes me feel like I’ll be sick, but I place the blame of it on my shoulders. He’s mine again and nothing would change that now.

I straddled Harry’s lap wanting and needing to go further than a chaste kiss when he broke it and stopped me.

“No, baby. I’ve got to go to work.”

“Please, H.?” Harry rubbed his hands up and down my back shaking his head no with his eyebrows furrowed and a small grin on his face. I pouted but nodded in understanding before I got off of his lap sauntered to the bedroom to get his coat.

“What time do you get off?” Harry took the coat and pursed his lips together before he answered dryly.

“Eleven thirty. Hopefully its busy tonight and I make lots of tips. Sunday’s are usually busy surprisingly. The hours I have are shit though...Do you want to come over again, back to my house when I get off?” I looked back to Harry and widened my eyes when I thought about his mother and the way she looked at me this morning.

“Your mom won’t mind?” Harry sighed and then rolled his eyes.

“I can’t wait to move out. No. She won’t mind don’t worry about that. Look, do you want to come or not, glasses?” A shit eating grin grew slowly on my face causing Harry to quirk an eyebrow.

“What?”

“You called me glasses.”

“That’s what I used to call you. Does it bother you now or something?”

“No. I just, you call me glasses when you’re happy with me... Are you happy with me?” An amused look crept on Harry’s face before he made himself look serious again as he spoke

“You’ll do, for now....Answer the question.”

“Why can’t you just come back here? We can be alone and sleep in.” Harry widened his eyes then blinked dramatically.

“Why are you so damn inquisitive? I can’t come back here, it’s either my house or nothing. I’ll explain later.” Harry wrapped his arms around my back and nuzzled his nose in my neck causing me to shiver.

“Okay.Your house.”

“Thought so.” H. let me go before making his way towards the door giving me one more kiss before he left.

Notes

Hi guys! New update for you because Love you much! So they are finally back together and things are about to heat up in more ways than one! What do you think his friends and family will say? Also give me more theories on Peyton. Those are hilarious, you guys are funny! I hope you enjoy the update and be sure to leave me loads of comments, feedback, rates, subscribe and vote vote vote if you like the story and want me to continue! I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR READING (YOU ARE ALL TRULY AMAZING!) Xx!!! :D

P.s. out of curiosity, where are you guys from?