Harley sighed as he stood at the foot of the bed, running a hand through his short thick hair as he stared down at his feet for a moment.
“Harley?” Hope asked lazily as she peeled he eyes open, only to notice that the spot beside her was empty. She blinked a few times as Harley averted he eyes to her lying on the bed. She ran her fingers across her eyes as she remained under the covers and glanced again towards the empty spot.
And he still wasn’t there.
She frowned as she furrowed her brows in confusion before sitting up and glancing around frantically, until her eyes met his. She eased her shoulders a little, assuring healed that it wasn’t just a dream she had. He stood there in silence staring at her as she stared back with a small smile.
“Way to be a creep.” She chuckled out as she folded her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees, smiling widely now. “why do you look sad?” she frowned slightly as she noticed his eyes slightly drop to the ground. “Harley?”
“you know-,” he sighed out deeply as he got onto the bed and crawled towards her with a weak smile. “Ace is going to kill me….”
“oh… right.” She chuckled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried his face into her chest. He slowly shut his eyes as he inhaled her slight strawberry scented perfume from last night. “we’ll… talk to him in some way.”
“It’s not as easy as it sounds.” He sighed out as he lazily snaked his arms around her waist. “But I didn’t think you’d come to me at all. You seemed so in love with Ace.”
“I didn’t expect it either.” She chuckled as she ran a hand through his hair. “my jealousy got the better of me. If Anna didn’t show up, I wouldn’t have noticed how valuable you were.” Harley quietened as he slowly felt her chest rising and falling slowly as she breathed softly. Her heartbeat was calm and beating into his ear as he remained silent.
“why do I feel like you’ll only feel this way for a really short time?” he asked as he bit onto his lower lip, feeling nauseated in his throat.
He had to admit, Hope was probably being this way just out of jealousy and she would end up leaving him once she clears out her questions about what she feels for him.
“Harley….” She trailed off as she stared down at him with a slight frown on her face. She shifted her eyes to the window, staring out into the garden as the soft chirping sound from the birds filled the entire room.
Hope remained silent as she simply patted his hair softly and gently. He sighed out lowly as he buried his face further into his face, resisting the urge to tear up and break out in front of her.
His fear for losing her was unmeasurable. It was almost like a nightmare to him and it would always end up forcing his tears out even when he didn’t feel like crying. He just simply loved her too much.
Too much to the point it scared it a little.
Knowing he would love someone to the point he didn’t mind if she was in love with him or not, as long as she was by his side.
“I know you’re annoyed.” Harley sighed out as he leaned from her. He sat back, placing both legs at her side as he held onto her hands. “but I’m really scared at how much I’ve fallen for you… if you end up leaving… I don’t know how much I’ll take in.”
“It’s almost as though you’re trying to convince me that I’m not really in love with you.” She said as she stared down at her hands in his as he softly caressed her knuckles with his thumbs. “it’s like you don’t want me to be in love with you-.”
“don’t be stupid. I’ve been in love with you for too long and wanted you to love me back. I’ve always hoped you would. It’s just that… this feels so sudden and forced… I don’t know how to react properly…”
“Is this because of Anna?” Hope asked as she frowned at him. “or maybe it’s because you caught feelings for her instead? I mean… she didn’t push you like I did. She was very caring and very open in loving you and she was convinced you were soulmates. She was even willing to marry you without even knowing you, so I bet you felt something because of that. We were fine until she showed up and you’ve been acting strange…” tears filled her eyes as she stared angrily at him, clenching onto her fingers as he felt her own body rise it’s own heat. “I mean…. She’s an extremely beautiful woman and… she’s got a very feminine body than mine…. You’ve fallen for her… haven’t you?” she asked through a shaky breath as she stared up at him while he stared back with furrowed brows.
“just because she’s beautiful doesn’t mean I would fall for her.” Harley chuckled as he glanced down to her fists, he tried to slip his fingers through hers but couldn’t get her to unravel her fingers. “I didn’t fall in love with you because of the way you looked. I loved everything you said and did. I loved how you laughed, how you always glued onto me during the winter, how you always insult me every time I eat too much sweet stuff… anyway, what I’m trying to say is that… I’ve spent my entire life with you, with Anna it was literally just two days. I couldn’t fall in love with her in an instant and leave you alone. I’ve gone through a lot to give up now.”
“then why are you acting so strange now?” she asked as she reached a nervous hand up to her eyes and gently brushed off the tears. “you’re scaring me a little. Now that I’m starting to fall in love with you it is as though you are falling out of love with me….”
“I’m still in love with you.” Harley smiled as he reached up and held onto her cheek, feeling the warmth cove his entire palm as her smooth cheek cupped in his hand. “and I always will.” He finished as he moved his hand from her cheek to the back of her head.
He slowly pulled her to him and she willingly leaned in as she shut her eyes.
Their lips touched once more, soft and light, almost as though they were simply teasing each other.
“So what’s wrong?” Hope whispered out against his cheeks as he lightly brushed his lips against hers.
He sighed and leaned away with a frown as he stared at her while she opened her eyes to stare at him.
“Ace and Anna.” He said. “I can’t help but feel they will be deeply hurt. Anna already is but Ace… Ace will be worse. He told me he was scared of losing you and I… wanted to support him being with you. I promised him and I’ve already broken it without much of a fight. So I know he will want to kill me.” He chuckled lightly as he ran a hand through his hair. “which reminds me, I think it’s nearly nine, let’s go have some breakfast before it runs out.” Harley smiled as he reached over to her head and roughed it up.
“Great, coz I’m starving.” Hope nodded in agreement.