You Found Me

“Hi,” Harry greeted, breaking through the tense atmosphere I’d created. I was unable to do anything but stare at him, wondering if he was real or some kind of hallucination my sleep-deprived mind had dreamed up.

I almost started to bombard him with questions, but I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to have the discussion in front of Roy.

So without a second thought, I nodded at the guard, and he unlocked the gate to allow Harry into the building.

“Security is tight here,” Harry started conversationally as we made our way up to my floor.

“It has to be. We’re in New York City,” I replied curtly.

When we got to the common room of the floor, I stepped inside, trusting that Harry would follow obediently, and made my way over to the circle of furniture in the middle of the room. Some kids must have had a study party the night before, since the couches, chairs, and tables were usually placed evenly around the room so everything looked neat.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” I hissed at him. “After what you did last night. Nice beanie, by the way. Is it covering up your sex hair?”

I had been trying to make him uncomfortable, but I didn’t expect the look on his face: embarrassed, confused, and incredibly guilty. “How did you know about that?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? How do I know about that?” I turned away from him, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “Maybe because you called me and made sure I had front row tickets to the main event. Sounded like she liked it, so good for you, stud.”

“Leigh, I did not call you. What are you talking about?”

“I can prove it,” I snapped, connecting my gaze to his face again. But he looked just as horrified as I felt, the blood drained from his features. Almost like he was going to be sick.

I could relate.

“Leigh, I promise that I didn’t call you.”

“Read it and weep.” I leaned across the space, showing him the phone, trying to ignore the fact that my hand was shaking with unvented emotion.

His eyes read his name, and he swallowed audibly. “I would never do that to you. That’s just… No. I’d never do that.”

“Someone did, Harry. Lovely wake up call.”

“She must have,” Harry breathed. “I’d been hanging out with her since I moved in to Columbia, and she must be jealous. Before we…um…you know, I kind of...” His face turned bright red as he started to tell the story, and I made a face to show that I was losing my patience. “I was joking around, doing a strip tease, and taking off my shirt with my back turned, and she must have called you quickly. You’re still the last person I called on my cell phone. And she must have wanted to get back at you because I talk about you a lot. Or, um, nonstop.”

“We broke up, Harry.”

“And yet it bothered you that you heard me having sex.”

“Of course it did. That’s nasty. I don’t need to hear that shit.”

There was a long silence, and it took me longer than it should have to notice that Harry was staring at me. “Look, I came because some stuff has been on my mind, and I need to get it out. Are you willing to listen?”

“I don’t have anything else to do,” I mumbled, but I knew that he was going to tell me whether I answered in the affirmative or not.

“I want to say first off that I’m sorry I got so angry when you broke up with me. I just…” He stopped and sighed, pulling the beanie off his head and running his hair through his messy curls. “It just came at a really bad time.”

“A bad time?” I interrupted. “What do you mean?”

It was a long time before he said, “The night before, I spent the entire night turning in bed, trying to figure out why I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And then I realized. I was in love with you, Leigh. Well…” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I am in love with you. And I was going to tell you that night, just before you dumped me.”

My mouth and throat went dry at the presentation of the truth. “Oh my God, Harry, I’m so sorry.”

“No, I guess it’s good that you cut me loose if you didn’t feel the same way. ‘Cause that could have been awkward.” He snickered for a second, but it was cold and empty. “I still feel the same way. I’ve been trying for months to get over you, going out with different girls, but I always compare them to you. ‘Oh, her nose is bigger than Leigh’s. This won’t work.’ ‘Leigh used to smile like that, just slightly crooked.’ It was driving me mad.”

“Oh, is that why you slept with that girl last night?” I questioned bitterly.

“I was at the end of my rope,” he defended. “I’d been trying for what seemed like forever to get over you, and nothing worked. I figured that having sex with a girl would seal the deal. But it didn’t. It just made me realize that I don’t want to be with any girl that isn’t you.”

“I’m going out with someone,” I told Harry, changing the subject from something that was bound to make me emotional. “We went on a date, and he kissed me last night.”

Harry’s whole being seemed to deflate as he rested back against the couch. “So I came too late,” he mumbled to himself before looking back up at me, his green eyes intense and fiery. “Tell me the truth. Are you over me? Are you done here?”

I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say that Will was everything I needed and everything I wanted. That he would make me happy, that we could live a beautiful life together.

But that didn’t feel like the truth when I looked at Harry. Although there was friction between us, no one could deny the electricity that flowed freely, the intense passion that the two of us felt for each other. It was something that could only be found with a soul mate. And there was nothing else that Harry and I could be classified as.

I took a deep breath, not knowing what to say. I didn’t want to admit what I was thinking.

I didn’t have to. Harry understood my revelation and got off his couch, coming over to kneel before me. He was just below my eye-level as he reached forward and touched the side of my face softly, rubbing his thumb along my cheekbone.

I closed my eyes instinctively, my body reacting immediately to his long-missed touch. “God, it’s been too long since I’ve done that,” he mumbled in a husky voice.

Without another word, he started to lean forward, and his lips were so close to mine that I could feel his warm, sweet breath. And then he pulled back far enough so he could look at me without being cross-eyed.

“Does this mean you’re over Jared?” he teased.

“I was always over Jared,” I whispered. “I just didn’t know it yet.”

He laughed airily as he finally closed the distance between us. His full lips settled on mine, and he felt like home. I couldn’t control myself as I reached around, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him up and closer to me.

Will’s kiss had been perfectly sweet and nice. It felt good. But the way Harry’s lips made me feel was something that was incomparable. There was no way anyone could dream of competing to the way my lips just knew how his moved and responded accordingly, how our tongues danced together in a perfect tango. It didn’t even bother me that I knew he had been kissing another girl about twelve hours earlier, had touched her, had sex with her. Because he was mine in the moment.

“So what does this mean?” Harry whispered against my lips, reaching up and running his hand through my hair, which had gotten quite a bit longer since I’d seen him last.

“Don’t be so analytical,” I told him, running my eyes over his face, my mind desperate to memorize him so I could prepare myself for when he left again. “We’ll play it by ear.”

“I don’t want to play it by ear. I want to make this serious, right now. Let’s pick up where we left off, without the thought of your ex looming over us.”

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod. “Okay.”

“Is there someone in your room?” he asked as he burrowed his face into my neck, brushing his lips against the tender skin, planting a kiss here and there. “Because I feel like we’re in a fishbowl.”

“My roommate’s in there. And slow down, cowboy. I’m not going anywhere, and I hope you’re not either.”

“There’s no way I’m leaving you. And there’s no way I’ll ever let you leave me again.”

And he kept his promise.