Be Your Everything

The pain in Alice’s nose was not lessening at all as she sat on the hospital bed, a bandage recently stuck across her throbbing face.
“You alright now?” Harry asked once they were left alone, concern etched on his face.
She shrugged. “I’ve been better.”
He actually laughed at this. “Really? I would never have known.”
Alice didn’t reply. There was a slightly awkward silence in which both of their eyes were trained on the linoleum floor.
“You can stay with me, you know,” Harry told her without looking up from the floor.
“What do you mean?” she sounded confused.
“At the cottage. You can stay with me and Liam.”
He looked up to find her staring at him, a scrutinizing look in her eyes. “Why?”
Her question stumped him. Why was he offering? He honestly didn’t know. He shrugged. “Do I have to have a reason?”
“Well… yeah.”
He chuckled. “I want to help you.”
“That’s really the only reason?” she looked skeptical. “Why do you want to help me so bad?”
“I… I honestly couldn’t tell you.”
Alice thought for a moment then, given what he’d already done for her, accept his explanation. “Alright. Thank you.”

“Miss Michelson? You’re free to go.”

“There’s the couch, or my bed,” Harry told Alice as he put her backpack on the kitchen counter.
Alice gave a small smile at the thought of sleeping in the same bed as Harry, but brushed it aside quickly. It would be moving way too fast, especially since she had never slept in the same bed as any boy before. Ever. “Um…”
“Couch for tonight?”
“Alright, couch it is,” she confirmed, picking up the bag Harry had just set down and dropping it on the floor next to the couch that she would be sleeping on. It wasn’t a very big thing, but she thought she would fit… at least for the night. Maybe she could buy a mattress tomorrow. Then it hit her.
She had no money.
“Er, Harry?” she called quietly.
“Yeah?” he was sitting at the small dining table and looked up from his mobile.
“I don’t have any money.”
He shrugged as though it was the least important thing in the world. “And I have loads. Problem solved.”
Alice stared at him incredulously.
“What?”
“You’re so blazé about money!”
“Oh,” he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I guess I have become kind of used to it.”
“I can’t let you pay for me to stay-“
He held a hand up to interrupt her. “I’m going to whether you like it or not. You don’t have money but you need it, and I have money but don’t need it. Well, not all of it anyway. That’s a pretty sound formula – I help you because I can.”
She was speechless. How could someone be so selfless?
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she had asked herself this question countless times in her mind and come up with no answers.
“We’ve been over this,” he chuckled and stood up from his chair. “I just feel the need to.” He paused as he stopped just in front of her, smiling a little. “And because I like you.”
Her brain was fuzzy as she tried to focus on his face, but all she could focus on was how close he was and what he was saying. She should have known he liked her from the moment he kissed her that first time – and not to mention he had taken her out on a date. You can be really thick sometimes, you know, she found herself thinking.
The next thing that happened was so cliché it made her head hurt. Harry reached out and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear, then rested his palm on her cheek as he leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Alice felt her legs turn to jelly and heart speed up as he pulled away, running his fingers down the side of her face. She’d never been treated so gently, like she actually mattered.
“I’ll let you sleep,” Harry gave her a half smile and slid his hand down her arm. “Goodnight.”
One last kiss and he was gone.

Harry awoke to the sun streaming through the window, straight into his eyes. Groaning, he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep but to no avail.
Another groan and he was out of bed, and he let out an even louder groan when he saw the time: 8.15am.
Scratching his belly, he padded downstairs in only his underwear. He didn’t raise his eyes from the floor as he entered the kitchen.
A soft “oh…” made his head snap up, eyes wide.
Alice had been pottering around trying to find something to eat for breakfast when Harry walked in, body and tattoos on full display.
“Oh um… sorry,” he looked down at himself, trying to work out what to do.
Alice giggled and shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not complaining.”
A grin spread across his face. “In that case I won’t even bother to put a shirt on.”
“Fine with me,” she smirked, grabbing the carton of milk and pouring some over the corn flakes she had served a little earlier.
“Glad you found breakfast all right,” Harry smiled. “I was going to help you out but you wake up really early.”
She shrugged. “I’m a morning person.”
“But we were up so late!”
“You’re up early too,” she pointed out.
“The sun woke me up then I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Oh, poor baby!” Alice teased as she leaned back on the counter behind her, bowl in hand, and spooned some cereal into her mouth.
“Hey, don’t be mean to me!” he pouted, crossing his arms over the two swallows that were tattooed on either side of his chest.
“Those are nice,” she commented, gesturing with her spoon t his tattoos.
He raised his eyebrows and his eyes took on a certain kind of lightness. “You like my tattoos?”
She scoffed. “Like it’s a surprise. I’m sure you get heaps of people telling you they’re good.”
“Actually, no. Quite a few people have expressed their… dislike. Mostly they don’t like the butterfly,” he pointed out the giant, intricately designed butterfly right in the middle of his torso.
Alice placed her bowl on the table and moved forward to run her fingers over the tattooed skin. “I think it looks good,” she admitted, ignoring the goose bumps that had erupted under her touch.
“Thanks,” he breathed. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she examined every tattoo her eyes could reach.
She looked up to meet Harry’s warm green eyes, blushed, and looked down a the floor mumbling, “sorry…”
“You don’t need to apologize,” he chuckled, taking her small hands in his own large ones. “It’s nice to have someone appreciate my personal choices.”
“You’re welcome then… I think.”
He leaned forward and tapped her nose with his index finger lightly, because of her injury. “Eat your cereal, it’s getting soggy.”