Redamancy

“I don’t have time, Jo.”

It had only been a few days (almost a week) after she had seen Harry’s band play, and things between herself and Adam hadn’t been going incredibly smooth. Instead of distancing herself from him, she found herself trying to get closer. He had rarely come home since that day and no matter how many times she had called or texted, he wouldn’t take the time to send one back. She was lucky to get a ’night. love you.’ from him. Honestly, she felt a little bit needy, so she tried to dial it back a bit, having obtained a guilty kind of feeling.

Today when she called to arrange a nice dinner and movie night, she was met with resistance. Upon further questioning, he had said those four simple words: I don’t have time. One would think they were innocent enough, though the tone they had slipped out of his mouth in was what gave it a different meaning. It meant: I don’t have time for you anymore, I don’t want to try to make time for you anymore, leave me alone.

Joey’s heart constricted as she choked out an, “O-Okay. Bye.” She hung up the phone before he could hear the tremble in her voice. She gave out a loud sigh, which of course got Scoobys attention and as the dog put his head in her lap, she pet him in attempt to calm herself down. She felt a bit silly about herself, reacting the way she was. Maybe it wasn’t what she had thought - maybe it had really meant that he didn’t have the time for her at the moment. Maybe he really was incredibly busy at work and how could she get mad at him for that?

Instead of allowing herself to cry, she quickly wiped away the gathering tears and took a deep breath. 

“Scoob,” she said, looking down at her dog. She laughed when the canine strained his eyes to look up at her, showing the whites of them. “Lets go for a walk?”

Scooby lifted his head in one rapid movement, and started running around the couches, never taking his eyes off of Joey for a second. Joey laughed again and went to gather Scoobys leash and a bag in case of any rest stops he would take. Joey had everything she needed to do done, which is a rare moment, because she was usually running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Today had been organized and efficient, and it was the only source of contentment she’d had for a while, what with everything happening with Adam.

Scooby fidgeted with excitement while Joey tried to link the spiked collar around his neck. Once everything was secured, she left her house, not forgetting to lock up first. The air was chilly since it had been raining a few hours before, and Joey tried to hug her sweater closer to her with her free hand. Joey didn’t have a destination until she passed by a house around forty minutes later and stopped in front of it. She chewed on her lip for a while, contemplating whether or not she should knock on the door - she was in the area, after all, and Gem was her most favourite client (though, she shouldn’t be picking favourites). She just wanted to say hello, let her know personally that everything was going well with her wedding, that the rehearsal would be just as good.

Plus, Gemma had always told Joey she could drop by any time.

It didn’t take long before she was knocking on the door, and soon after heard a sort of stumbling sound before it swung open. When it had, she nearly swooned at the sight, and had to pick her jaw up off the floor where it had fallen. It’s just that, she had seen quite a few men shirtless, not in the way of being sexual with them, but in general, but none really looked like this.

Harry was standing before her with track pants hung low enough on his waist that she could see the Calvin Klein boxer band sticking out from it. His hair was dripping wet and matted to parts of his forehead and the side of his face, his skin was glowing, and She could see all the tattoos that were previously hidden by a t-shirt. She stuttered a moment before looking down, not wanting him to feel awkward at her stare (and not wanting to be caught).

“Oh, sorry,” he said, “I thought you were the Pizza guy.” He was slightly embarrassed by the state of him, and when Joey finally got the courage to face him again, she saw his skin was slightly red. She brushed it off as all the heat from what looked to be a recent shower, but he definitely had been blushing.

“And this is how you usually greet the people who deliver food to your house?” She figured it would be better to joke about it.

He laughed, “of course not, my Mum taught me better. I just got out of the shower.”

“I can see that.” And smell it - God, he smelt good.

“Yeah,” He said awkwardly, “So, do you want to come in, or?”

“I - I just wanted to talk to Gemma, tell her everything is set, that’s all. I guess she’s not here?”

“No, sorry,” he frowned, “She’s out with Louis. I think she’s spending the night.” Joey gave him a small nod before giving him a soft smile. So, okay, maybe she also just needed a friend to talk to, one that wasn’t Chloe, because Chloe was a shit listener.

“That’s okay, bye Harry,” Joey gave him a small wave before retreating off the steps, not bothering to realize Harry had watched her as she began to walk away.

“Hey, wait!” He yelled, making her turn around, “I’ve ordered a party size pizza, for some stupid reason, and I know I can’t eat it alone, so…are you hungry?”

It was kind of awkward, but Joey couldn’t help the feeling that bubbled in her stomach at his invite. The last thing she really wanted to do was go back to her empty house and spend another night alone. She was desperate for company, as pathetic as that sounded. And though she had originally wanted to see Gemma, she was sure Harry was the next best thing. He was Gemma’s brother after all.

“Sure,” she nodded, “Thank you.”

As she stepped into his house, he grinned, looking down at the dog who had followed her in and was now sniffing around.

“I think a cow followed you into my house.”

*
The two had finished eating over an hour ago, but Harry had made her feel so comfortable, that she hadn’t rushed to leave. The television was on as background noise and the two of them were sharing a long sofa, even though there was a smaller one angled right next to it. They were sitting on opposite sides, both their knees bent with the tips of their toes almost touching in the middle of the sofa. Scooby had collapsed on the hardwood in front of the sofa and was softly snoring as the two got to know each other.

In this type of position, she learned Harry seemed to be a large fan of eye contact, something she always struggled with. She had to break their streak a few times, blushing as she had. She couldn’t remember a time she had felt this comfortable, but kind of nervous around a person, but she tried not to think too much into it. She figured Harry was like this with everyone, he was just that type of person to make everyone feel welcomed and wanted.

Although that was kind of true, Harry really was going beyond his usual measures for her. It’s just that, she was so pretty and he loved the way she blushed and laughed, he really liked coaxing her from her shell and that she was actually letting him. He understood she had a boyfriend, but he also understood that Adam didn’t seem to make her very happy (at the moment, anyways - he wasn't in a place to judge). He could see it in her eyes when he answered the door, and took it upon himself to try to bring that back to her. He didn’t have to be anything more than a friend (though he’d be kidding himself if he said he didn’t think about it). He could tell she needed someone, and he was willing to be that for her.

“Did you know Louis wasn’t even baptized?” He laughed, “I literally got to watch the priest dunk his head into a tub of holy water, it was amazing.”

“Are you serious?” Joey laughed, covering her mouth to hide her smile. Harry nodded.

“He was so scared about it too,” he explained, “before he had it done, right after he proposed, he was like, ‘do i have to do that thing when they drown you when you're a baby?’, it was so stupid. And this is the man my sisters marrying.”

Laughing, Joey lightly smacked his chest with a roll of her eyes, “hey, Louis is great, and he treats her right, if anything Gemma told me was to be taken to heart. Isn’t that all you can really ask for?” Suddenly, her mood dropped, because it had reminded her of Adam, and she wondered if Gemma left out the parts where Louis acted like a complete asshole or if he really was that great of a partner.

“You’re right, Jo,” he sighed, “You’re absolutely right. Better than than a bloke who’s disrespectful and a downright arsehole.” When he said the words, there was a hint in them and he looked her straight in the eye, and she figured he must have known somehow. Not that she had really said anything about Adam, but she guessed that was it. Gemma usually couldn’t shut up about Louis, and Joey barely talked about Adam, and Harry picked up on it.

“Harry…”

“I know it’s not my business, but you’re my friend and I don't get it - I don’t know what goes on, but you don’t seem very happy.” He looked at her with wide, serious eyes, and her first thought was that the colour of them was so pretty. She broke eye contact to fiddle with her fingers, and gave a small shrug.

“I’m fine, Adam and I are fine, okay?” She sighed, “Lets…Lets not talk about it.” Because she was having such a good time with Harry that evening, and she hadn’t bothered with thinking about Adam and where he was and what he could be doing. She didn’t care - couldn’t care when Harry was making her laugh the way he did, and charming her until she was sure her skin was permanently tinged pink.

She looked away from him, strands of her hair falling into her face. She didn’t expect Harry to reach his hands out, tucking her hair behind her ears, but it certain caught her attention.

“Okay,” he whispered.

Their eye contact was strange - it sent shivers up Joey’s spine, and Harrys hands froze as they hit her cheeks, so he kept them there. She felt her heart pounding, and refused the feeling immediately, thinking of Adam. And she felt awful for it, but the question that popped up in her mind was: wherever Adam was, was he thinking of her? Probably not. But she still loved him, he was just going through a mood right now, and that wasn’t a reason to have her thinking about how Harry’s lips could feel on her own. She barely knew Harry, anyways!

It took a lot from Harry not to kiss her, so he stared at her for a long moment, seeing emotions flicking through her dilated pupils. He gently pulled his hands away from her face, and gave her a smile.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” He figured a compliment couldn’t hurt - and it was a hundred times better than kissing her and getting in between her and Adam. He really did think she was beautiful, though. He watched her as she turned her body toward the television, blushing as she tried to focus her attention on the movie.

Harry laughed to himself, shaking his head. He could probably really like this girl.