The earth was clear and clouds were scarce. My vision was pondered downward in developed routine as we walked closely, hand in hand. His grip was bolted around my left hand in a possession-like manner. I clung to it with a spec of thought. The weather here kept me in a mellow state and a few notches under calm. The air embraced my lungs intensely as it blew to me from across the water. We walked slowly across a long wooden deck that led extensively atop the blue depth beneath. We were surrounded by other couples that held hands as we did, chatting while they enjoyed their view. It wasn't crowded but I felt apart of something.

Harry had been quiet for the most part. His vision was fixed ahead as if staring at nothing. His footsteps halted when we'd reached a particular spot. He stepped closer to the decks edge to lean against it while looking out as the others. I followed his actions, remaining in close proximity. Our shoulders were together and I'd occasionally smothered my head there on his in comfort.

Harry:
"Please eat today. I need you to..."

The matter I occupied was overcome with a unsettling wave at the fact that he'd been noticing. I wasn't use to this. This life now where normal meant hovering over a waste source. I shivered a little at the thought, currently in positive spirits because I hadn't been in that state now.

Harry:
"For me, okay?"

Winter:
"Alright."

He leaned his head against mine as I stare out with him.

Harry:
"An entire plate, Winter."

I took in a deep breath of air before releasing it from my body again.

Winter:
"Okay."

Harry:
"We can go out, or I can cook for you. Which do you prefer."

Winter:
"...Your pasta."

Harry:
"And a vegetable."

Winter:
"Deal."

I hadn't remembered revealing this much of my skin in awhile but the weather had extensively called for it. He looked down before pulling up the area where my top had settled a little lower than his taste in public as we turned toward each other. I peered across from us where others stood. A woman and who I assumed was her boyfriend were postured the same as Harry and I. She wore a sundress that hugged against he baby bump and stretched long down and around her ankles. The content of their conversation seemed to have been quite amusing to her as she giggled softly, her hand covering her face as if to contain it. The wind blew her hair as it did mine in the same direction. I'd drawn my attention elsewhere when a group of two had walked by. It was two guys and a second of examining the situation had just made things interesting.

I prayed he wouldn't approach but of coarse he'd been closing in despite it. He'd been a beater-like t-shirt similar to Harry's. His tattoos were a lot more pronounced under the gleam of the sun. His eye contact made me nervous for him now that Harry was with me. This wouldn't be good.

Mason:
"Hey Winter."

His voice was deep. He'd just put his phone away to gravitate his full attention in my direction.

Winter:
"Hi."
I could feel Harry examining the situation though he hadn't yet said anything.

Winter:
"Harry this is Mason I met him around here."

He didn't say anything. He never said anything when I introduced him to my guy friends. His demeanor relayed to me he'd been annoyed already and I knew Mason had noticed.

Mason:
"Nice meeting you. Listen Winter, a group of friends and I are going to this art gallery Saturday at 9...you should come."

Harry had just made this really awkward and I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable at this point.

Winter:
"I'll think about it, okay. Thanks for the invite."

Mason:
"Alright. It's across from the restaurant. I'll look for you..."

I nodded as he walked away slowly, first moving backward as if still studying me.

Mason:
"See you around..."

He'd then turned to continue the exchange with his friend. I really wish he hadn’t did that, at least for my sake.

I looked at Harry who'd been staring at me now as if waiting for clarity on the situation.

Winter:
"Why do you always do that Harry?"

Harry:
"Because I know you don't want me to be rude. And that's exactly what I would have done."

Winter:
"Why though? He's just being nice."

Harry:
"When did you say you met him?"

Winter:
"It was when I was at the hotel. I went out to eat and he was there."

Harry:
"Has he ever been to the room?"
I sighed with the direction this was taking.

Winter:
"You know the answer to that."

Harry:
"Wait. He just invited you to an art show. How does he know about that?"

I tucked my hair behind my ear nervously. The massage was still fresh on my skin.

Winter:
"Let's just drop it, Harry."

He didn't like that. The facial expression said it all. Green eyes and no dimples. The sun had shown from the right of him, seemingly in between us as he dug deeper with frustration. I always knew it was bad when he closed his eyes momentarily as I did something he hadn't approved of. He felt I was his and no one else's. That guy friends didn't exist when it came to me, his girlfriend...his fiancée. I loved the ring it brought to my title, but it came with a deadbolt strangled around it and even more jagged behavior.

Harry:
"Did you show him?"

He'd lost our nonverbal contact to shy toward the view again. We were close but not as close as before. Curls blew with the wind around his head. He seemed not to notice. I felt unbalanced as I stood, leaning my weight against the wood sure to be physically uneven from the clear pressure that brushed against me.

Winter:
"Show him what?"

Harry:
"Your work, Winter. Did you show him? "

The resonance in his voice was smooth and attractive to the ear despite the anger scratching the surface from underneath. But I knew he wouldn't like it. I knew this would start another spat between us as I held myself reluctantly in my frame.

Winter:
"...Some...from the sketchbook I brought."

I breathed out after the last word. He shielded at me so much I didn't know what moves to make anymore. Complicated, uncertainty like a chess game. I was the kind of person that was approachable but not in the way he'd hated. He looked downward and began to move in the direction we'd just come from.

Harry:
"Come on. You should eat lunch."

Winter:
"Harry it's not-"

Harry:
"You said drop it... its done."

We didn't hold hands anymore. I'd forgotten how sensitive he could be. He walked a distance ahead of me and I followed like a child behind her mom. Empty. I felt terribly for upsetting him with this but I couldn't understand the root of it. I was his. The baby I held was his. The ring, that no one I'd met since receiving it could overlook with conversation, was his...his gift to me. But it didn't matter now because he was upset with me. He trailed ahead of me like we hadn't been together. Past the couples who still kissed under the warm sun. The sound of happiness filling the air as we left. I couldn't feel his presence in anymore, absent. I didn't know what to say because I didn't know what had hurt his feelings.

A step further and I'd started to feel fuzzy between my eyes. The large star shining between them from the sky created a white place that I was sure wasn't there in the minutes before it. I held the edge of the deck as my walking tired on its own. I blank to become connected to the world I shared with Harry but the white had carved around me to even the inside of my closed eyelids.

Winter:
"Harry."

I didn't see him or the others around anymore. I wanted to feel him and apologize for what I'd done. Whatever that was. Because it was my fault.

Winter:
"Harry something’s wrong."

My grip had seemed to be no more. I felt still. Horizontal. And then nothing at all.

Notes

Next post will be Wednesday. Likely in the afternoon. I have an assignment, sorry. Thanks for all the comments guys. I take the feedback seriously.

Thanks for reading this chapter!