Promises We Meant to Make

The bedroom was cold. There was an unusual draft that forced Henry awake the next morning. He sat up, realizing that his comforter had been completely pulled off of him.

Henry faced the left side of the bed where the blanket culprit rested and smiled. He ran his fingers through the familiar blonde hair next to him and stood up. It took a moment to sturdy himself, but Henry gained his composure. Hangovers were something Henry was used to.

It only took a few seconds for the realization to hit him. The girl next to him wasn’t Alina.

"Shit, shit, shit," he mumbled, jumping out of bed and tugging clothes on. He rushed to the mirror connected to his long dresser. A large purple mark adorned the left side of his neck. "Fuck."

In the corner of the mirror, he saw the girl sit up in bed and smirk at him. "Good morning, baby. What’s with all the ruckus?" she yawned.

Henry flinched. This was not good.

"Just in a bit of a hurry. Do you know you’re way out?" he asked, trying not to look at her bare skin in the mirror.

Lizzie’s smile flipped into a frown. "Well, that’s not very polite. Aren’t you at least going to offer me breakfast?"

Henry shook his head. This wasn’t the right morning for him to be waking up to this mess. "Kitchen’s that way," he pointed, "just try to eat quickly." Lizzie gave him a look of disbelief. "Please."

Lizzie relaxed a little and stood up. She didn’t have a single item of clothing on. Henry rolled his eyes as she approached him at the dresser. "What’s the rush?" she purred, "Don’t you want a round two? Or rather four?"

Henry opened a drawer and pulled out a shirt. "No."

He handed her the shirt and scurried out of the room. In the living room, items of both Henry and Lizzie’s clothes were scattered across the floor, starting at the door. He rushed to pick them up and set them in a pile on the couch.

Lizzie leisurely strolled down the small hallway. She stretched her arms above her head. "Do you have bacon?"

"No," Henry nearly shouted. "Why don’t you take a Pop-Tart on the go? Your clothes are over there." He motioned to the messy stack of clothes and started walking back to his room to put on something that matched.

Lizzie followed him, crossing her arms. "What’s up with you? Wasn’t last night fun?"

Henry realized how rude he was being and took a deep breath. "Look, last night was great, but you really have to go."

"Fine," Lizzie started changing back into her clothes.

Finally. Henry was starting to relax. As soon as the girl from last night was gone he could get on with his day. However, he became uncomfortably tense once again when three knocks sounded from the living room, followed by the opening of the door. His anxiety heightened even further when he heard his name being called.

Henry quickly went to the living room to meet Alina. She looked radiant, as if she’d had a full night’s sleep. "Good, you’re awake. I brought us coffee!" she exclaimed, "I figured we were going to need it if I was going to be ready for -" she trailed off.

Henry followed her glance down the hallway to right outside his bedroom. The girl from the night before was heading their way, her shoes and a shirt in her arms.

Lizzie smirked. "Oh, coffee! At least someone knows something about hospitality." She walked right up to Alina and took a cup from the drink carrier.

Standing next to Alina, the girl didn’t look very attractive. She towered nearly five inches over little Alina and seemed more slutty and even a little scary in the sunlight.

Alina’s mouth had been open in shock, but she smiled politely. "I’m sorry, I didn’t know Henry had company. He was just going to help me study for my literature exam. I could come back?" she blushed, looking to Henry for a response.

"Of course not, Alina. I was expecting you." Henry’s face was flushed. Situations like this never happened between them. They’d always been careful about things like this. Henry’s "friends" were always long gone when he was with or even called Alina, and Henry had never seen a trace of any guy Alina was ever with.

Alina eyed the girl, but still managed to smile.

"Oh, uh, Alina. This is-" Henry stalled. He couldn’t remember the girl’s name. Lexi? Laura?

"Lizzie," she answered, shaking Alina’s hand. "I’m actually on my way out, but it was lovely meeting you, Elaina."

"Alina," both Henry and Alina corrected in unison.

Lizzie turned to them and smirked. "As if I give a shit." She slammed the door behind her, and Alina busted into laughter.

"She seems…nice," Alina giggled, handing the second coffee to Henry.

He pushed the drink away. "It’s yours, you’ll need it more than I do. She stole my coffee." Then Henry realized just what Lizzie was carrying. "And my fucking Rolling Stones tour shirt! That bitch!" Alina laughed hysterically as Henry continued tossing around every curse he knew. He finally stopped and sighed.

Alina stopped laughing and held up the books for her literature class.

Henry nodded. "Right, British literature. We have to focus."

Alina shook her head. "Mhm. I was thinking we could start with Shakespearian sonnets. I slept through them in high school and have been avoiding them since."

Henry’s expression turned to one of complete shock. "You’ve got to be kidding me! Sonnets are so easy and beautiful. My favorite is number one-seventeen."

They went on discussing sonnets until Alina knew the rhyming scheme and stress pattern by heart, and had memorized all of the most famous sonnets. Every once in a while, Henry would look at her and think she seemed distracted but dismissed it time and time again.

This was exactly what Henry loved about his friendship with Alina. She understood him. She knew better than to assume he’d always have time for her completely free. They’d talked about girls he’d been with before without any sign of jealousy or anger from Alina. Why would meeting a random slutty girl be any different?

Towards the end of the Romantics period, both Alina and Henry were growing hungry, but Henry wouldn’t allow either of them yield to their hunger.

Alina begged for a break, assuring Henry she’d be ready for her exam in time. “Please, Henry. We’ll get take out. Maybe even delivery. I’m starving!” she whined.

Henry groaned. “You’re not getting a scrap of food until you learn something about Austen that you haven’t seen in a movie,” he said, referring to their current topic: Jane Austen.

Alina frowned. “But there’s no reason we can’t talk about Sense and Sensibility after we get some food.”

Henry tossed a novel at Alina. “Read chapter five, and tell me what you think the author is alluding to,” he ordered.

Alina dropped the book on the ground, and walked across the living room to the kitchen area. “I bet you didn’t make that Lizzie girl starve,” she commented over the half wall separating the rooms.

“Guess again,” Henry said, highlighting a random line in the book he was holding.

“Whatever,” Alina whispered. She removed a glass from the light oak cabinets and filled it with tap water. Her hand was shaking, so she gripped the glass tighter. Alina opened the fridge to find it almost completely bare. “You need to go grocery shopping.”

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, “And you need to not fail British lit. Looks like we’re both at a loss,” he shot back.

Alina rolled her eyes. “Fair enough, but I’m ordering pizza.”

Henry smirked. He found it amusing when he and Alina got into childish arguments. “Pepperoni and sausage, please.”

Alina’s face wrinkled. “You know I hate anything that comes from a pig.”

Nodding, Henry said “I also know that I’ll end up being the one to pay for the pizza, so we get what I want.”

“Then you order!” Alina snapped, tossing the phone at him and hoping to hit him with it.

Henry caught the phone without trying and started to punch in the numbers. There was a pause as the worker greeted him. Henry waited for the man on the other end of the line to finish, and placed his order. “Yes, I’d like a large veggie pizza please.”

Alina grinned with delight.

Henry hung up the phone after reciting his address and phone number. “Are you happy?” He asked with an arched eyebrow. “Because now it’s time for you to study.”

“Yes, sir!” Alina chirped.

Henry briefly grinned before putting on his serious face. “Okay, we’ll skip Jane Austen and move onto the Victorian era. I mean, who am I kidding? You don‘t need to know anything that‘s not in the movies.” He flipped through Alina’s large text book.

Alina watched him as he scanned the text. “Henry?” she asked.

“Yes dear?”

Alina breathed heavily and let her hands rest nervously in her lap. “Did you meet that girl at Silver Horse last night? Is that why you left me there?”

Henry meet her eyes, and saw a flash of sadness “Yeah, why?”

Alina nodded and looked back down at her books that were scattered around the floor. She started pulling them into a pile and then stood up. “I just thought it was kind of mean. I don’t know. But I think I’m just going to study my notes at my place now. Thanks for the help.”

She left slowly, somewhat hesitantly. Henry watched as the door shut behind her. There was a pit in the bottom of his stomach filled with guilt. He’d gotten so comfortable with the way things were going, that this time he had taken things too far.