Running With Lions

Lavin walked out of the kitchen. The only light being that of the sun streaming through the windows. Her bare feet soaked in the warmth as she stepped through its puddles.

The cup of tea was hot between her hands as she moved into the hallway, her feet padded softly on the hardwood towards Gen's empty room.

She leaned against the door frame peering into the dark room. Gen had left in a hurry with a bag full of books and even more bundled in her arms mentioning the shitload of homework she had due this week and next. Lavin assumed Gen had locked herself in her university's library.

Lavin's eyes drooped. Gen's unmade bed looked more inviting than ever before. The cold sheets cried to be wrapped around somebody but quickly Lavin turned and returned to the living room that had become her living space since she abruptly left Harry's brunch.

She'd spent the last however many days sketching new ideas for her aunt's clothing line, finding sleep for only a few hours and having since lost track of how many days and nights had passed.

The living room looked as if a whirlwind had hit it. A whirlwind made up of sketchbooks, hundreds of loose pages, pencils, and pencil shavings.

Sketches of various clothing items were strewn about the room, mainly cluttering the coffee table, some finding room on the ancient rug now stained with graphite.

Lavin exhaled loudly as she bent to clear a spot on the table for her tea. Once she had she fell back into the couch, sinking into the plush leather.

She quickly twisted her hair into a high disheveled bun before taking her pick from the collection of pencils she kept in an expensive porcelain box meant for jewelry.

Lavin leaned forward, grabbing the sketchbook that sat on top of the clutter. It wasn't any fashion sketch but a drawing.

One that she kept at until she could no longer keep her eyes open, passing out with sketchbook in her lap and pencil still firmly in her hand.

The drawing was of Caroline accepting the ruby engagement ring from Harry.

Lavin had only allowed there to be detail--immense detail--in Caroline's hand that was adorned with the ring while Harry's hand held it.

She imagined there would be true happiness on held on their faces if she could will herself to draw them. But she liked it that way, ambiguous yet unquestionable that the two people in the drawing were Caroline and Harry.

This would be Lavin's engagement present to them.

She stared at her drawing. It came to life before her like a silent movie. The empty faces drew themselves as Harry stood up and the couple embraced before kissing, loosing themselves in one another.

Lavin shook herself out of her stupor. She now sat at the edge of the cushions, closing the sketchbook and tossing the pencil back into the box.

As she stood from the couch she promised herself that only when she was completely over Harry would she draw their faces.

Lavin walked into her room, the sun very bright on this side of the flat. She slumped onto her bed, ready for a decent amount of sleep but grabbed her phone instead. It had been on silent since she returned home from Buckingham Palace.

She had told her grandmother that she'd be unreachable for a while and Lucy assured that she would relay the message.

However, Kate had called exactly twenty-eight times, leaving almost as many messages and texts. Caroline had called once and texted a bunch of times; while Will had only tried a handful, probably at Kate's persistence. Harry called nearly fifty times leaving a message every time and his texts reaching into the high hundreds.

Lavin considered listening to them all but she knew that they would all be the same. Asking her where she was, to call back, then voices turning frantic, and finally remedied after hearing from either Ben, Alex, Peter or Gen on her whereabouts.

She was about to start deleting her texts when a new one was delivered. Her heart lurched when she read Harry's name.

She hesitated for a moment. Then read it:

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!? SERIOUSLY, LAV. IF YOU DON'T ANSWER IN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES I'M COMING OVER.

Lavin laughed. Harry was so absurd sometimes. He was acting as if she'd been unreachable for weeks; not a measly...three days.

It was now September 15th.

Shit!

Harry's birthday.

She immediately called back and after only one ring Harry picked up.

Lavin shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" at the exact same time Harry began reprimanding her.

"Jesus Christ, Lavin. I thought you died. You can't just go off like that without telling me."

"I haven't gone anywhere. I've been sketching for my aunt the entire time. You know how I get when I draw."

Harry seemed to relax a little. "Yeah, I know but you should have at least mentioned it to me."

She could hear the hurt in his voice. "At least I didn't forget your birthday."

"Almost."

"It's only nine o'clock, Harry!"

"You always call at midnight."

Lavin felt guilty that she had lost track of time but she shouldn't be the one calling him at midnight, Caroline should be doing these things now.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I promise I'll remember next year."

"You better." He sounded happier. "Now, to make up for your absence and forgetfulness I demand you hang out with me for the rest of the day."

Lavin sighed. Where the hell was Caroline? Shouldn't she be with him today? Then she remembered that Caroline was away on a job in New York City.

How could she say no to Harry on his birthday? There was no way she could.

"All right, fine, if I must," she said dramatically, exhaling exasperatedly for extra measure.

"Good! Call me when you're ready!"

"Okay," she said before she hung up.

Lavin tossed the phone away from her before rolling onto her stomach, smothering her face into her pillow.

She screamed, long and loud.

She felt better now. The anxiety and frustration had lessened considerably.

She hopped out of bed and stripped out of the over-sized t-shirt, and as she headed for the shower she told herself she was going to test herself tonight.

To see if her feelings had subsided in the last seventy-two hours. To see if she could be around him without her feelings getting in the way. This was an opportunity to see Harry as only a friend, and nothing more.

By five o'clock Harry had picked Lavin up and was complaining at how long it took Lavin to get ready. She quickly countered with the fact that she had to clean the flat in case Gen decided to come home. However, she didn't mention how she tried on about a dozen outfits before settling on a cream colored lace skirt and a loose fitting long-sleeved muted green shirt that she had tucked in. Her high heels were the same shade as her skin; her hair was in loose waves, having allowed it to air-dry and there was very little makeup on her face.

Harry had chosen a pair of dark-wash jeans and a light blue button-up, sleeves rolled. The colored matched his eyes perfectly.

"So where do you wanna eat?" he asked.

"Your choice, birthday boy."

They entered into an back-and-forth argument as Harry suggested one restaurant after another while Lavin turned each of them down.

"What's the deal, Lav? You love all those places."

Lavin shrugged. "I'm feeling sushi. I haven't had it in months."

She watched as Harry's face brightened. "You know what!? Now that you mention it I kind of want sushi."

Lavin sunk back into the seat, relieved.

It was true that all the restaurants suggested by Harry were her favorites but they were all the places they had frequented when they used to date. Too romantic. Too many memories.

"I completely forgot about sushi," Harry mused over the music. "Excellent call, Lavin. Genius."

____

Harry had chosen to go to the Ichi-Riki Sushi House swearing that they had the best food and saki this side of the Thames, located in Westminster.

They had first ordered calamari, then a round of Saki shots followed by three different types of rolls.

When the check came Lavin quickly snatched it up, swatting Harry's hand away when he grabbed for it. She insisted that she'd pay since it was his birthday.

Just as she was signing the the receipt, Harry's phone went off. She assumed it would be Caroline calling from New York and tried not to eavesdrop. But it wasn't easy and she could practically hear the person on the other line shouting. And it wasn't Caroline either.

Now that Lavin thought about it, Caroline hadn't come up in the slightest during dinner tonight; which was unusual because Harry always tried to mention her even in the most obscure and unnecessary way.

Harry was nodding excitedly, agreeing with everything the person on the phone was saying. His mouth was in a wide set grin and then he hung up.

Lavin gave him a look that asked who was on the phone.

"That was Louis," he said, stuffing his phone into his pocket. "He's with your brother, Andrew and few others at a pub just down the street."

"Really?" Lavin asked as they both stood from the booth and made their way towards the door.

"Yeah, want to go?" Harry asked.

Lavin's immediate instinct was to say no, to come up with an excuse and just go home to her empty bed. But as she racked her brain for an excuse nothing halfway decent came to her.

"Yeah, why not?"