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Chapter 11 – Chloe’s P.O.V.

            Chewing on my bottom lip feverishly, my eyes skittered after each copy being made. After they took over once more last night, I wanted to occupy myself as much as possible. Harry still taking care of me is beyond my surprise, but I’m glad he hasn’t tossed me to the curb… yet. I know its coming; it’s bound to. They don’t like when I get happy, but I haven’t even been happy until Harry came into the picture. It’s something about that boy that I just can’t orient in my jumbled thoughts. He’s so different from everyone else, but it only makes me like him more.

            Harry kept the copy room door open for me this time, but I really don’t think that would’ve stopped them from coming. They come whenever they please, just to pester me and downgrade me further into the hole I’m already buried in. I don’t know how it got this bad, but it’s slowly easing up every day with Harry. Like I said, something about him makes it so easy for me.

            “You look quite focused.”

            I nearly jumped ten feet in the air at the deep voice coming from behind me, the accent being similar to Harry’s but not quite exact. My heart was pounding when I spun around, only to come face-to-face with the boy I met yesterday; Zayn.

            He gave me a warm smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just coming in to fax some finances.”

            As much as I felt I should return the kind smile back at him, I couldn’t bring myself to. I don’t smile often, not unless Harry is around, and I almost feel somewhat possessive over that thought. I don’t want to be sharing any kind of enjoyment unless it’s with Harry. I’ve never been one to hold possession to such amazing things, and I know it’s just the voices making me feel strongly about this feeling. Even when they hate Harry, they make me torture myself by liking him. It’s confusing, I agree, but they seem to find amusement in my lack of sanity.

            Keeping my eyes on the copies as they finished, I began organizing them into the neatest pile I could manage.

            Zayn looked at me with an amused grin. “You like to be organized, yeah?”

            I nodded, not making eye contact as I desperately tried to escape the room. I don’t like being one-on-one with anyone; unless it’s Harry, of course. Being alone with only one other person makes it feel like the walls are closing in on my, my lungs clenching and struggling to comply with each breath I inhale.

            Zayn let out a small sigh, as if he were slightly upset with my lack of speaking. It’s not the first time I’ve upset someone. It’s not the first time I’ve been a disappointment. My life is a disappointment to everyone.

            Feeling a little guilty when Zayn makes eye contact with me, I mustered a smile and he merely returned it. I then skittered out the room, clutching the stack of papers tightly against my chest as I made my way to Harry’s little cubicle. I didn’t like being so exposed, everyone being in one room, but Harry’s presence seemed to ease that large amount of tension and fear inside me. I don’t know how, but he does.

            I stopped dead in my tracks, my lips parting at the sight of Elizabeth speaking with Harry. Her hands were firmly on her hips, his large hand raking through his hair. I’ve come to the conclusion that he does that when he’s stressed or confused. He does it a lot, but I kind of like that habit of his.

            Elizabeth looked as if she were spitting nasty words at him, and I know she is by the scowl on her pretty little face. It bothered me how harsh she speaks with him; he doesn’t deserve that horrible treatment. They don’t like Elizabeth, either. I know that just by the way they rapidly come to me when she’s around. I can feel them swirling in my head right now, and it takes all of me to keep my vision from blurring.

            I stepped a little closer, not wanting the two to spot me as I tried to eavesdrop. I’ve never done it before, but I’ve never had a reason to. I just want to make sure she isn’t hurting Harry like she’s hurt me.

            “You can’t keep her with you forever,” Elizabeth growled as I crouched behind one of the cubicle walls. I surely looked like a fool to everyone around me, but it’s no different from how I’m viewed on a daily basis; insane.

            “I can, and I will if I have to,” Harry retorted, folding his large arms across his chest. “Elizabeth, she’s tried to commit suicide in the past week she’s been with me. Two times!”

            Elizabeth snorted, rolling her twinkling brown eyes. “It’s not like anyone would miss her if she went through with it.”

            “I would,” Harry said, without hesitance and that was all it took for a smile to take over my face. “And you would too, if you weren’t such a terrible sister to her. What has she ever done to you to deserve that kind of treatment?”

            Elizabeth’s stern glare locked on Harry, her jaw tensing. “That is none of your business, and I’m no longer speaking to you about this. I’m staying with you tonight because I’m tired of the thoughts of you being alone with… that.”

            “That has a name,” Harry growled, but Elizabeth flipped her long and luscious hair and walked away, her heels clicking on the tile.

            I watched a few moments as Harry raked a hand through his hair once more, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth as he placed his hands on his hips. His head hung down, his curls falling onto his forehead. He had the sleeves to his button-down rolled up to his elbows like every other day, his black slacks hanging loosely on his hips, but he looked amazing with a tie. He looked amazing all the time.

            “Who are we hiding from?”

            A shriek left my lips as Zayn crouched down next to me. “Stop doing that,” I murmured, nervously tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

            Zayn chuckled, smiling bright at me as he flashed his pearly teeth. “Sorry, love. I don’t mean too. Are you all right?”

            I nodded, standing and dusting myself off. Zayn did the same as my eyes locked with his. “I just… I dropped something,” I muttered, surprised I was even speaking at all with them clear in my ears.

            “Mhmm,” Zayn hummed, clearly not buying it but he smiled anyway. “I’ll see you later, Chloe, yeah?”

            I nodded, pursing my lips into a flat line as he smiled once more, surprising me by winking before he walked away. I’ve never had anyone wink at me before…

            Shaking it off, I raked a hand through my hair and clutched the stack of papers tighter against my chest. Looking up, I noticed Harry’s emeralds were locked on Zayn as he walked away from me. His jaw was tensed, his hands curled into tight fists by his side and I made a mental note that that’s how he looks when he’s angry. But why is he angry? Did I make him upset? What did I do?

            Being the idiot I am, I hurried to his desk and blurted, “Did I do something?”

            Harry’s head snapped in my direction, his eyes softening as he gave me a small smile. “Did you do something? No, erm… you didn’t do anything.”

            I nodded slowly, biting my lip before setting his papers I copied neatly on his desk. Harry gave me another smile as I took my seat in the spinning chair he retrieved for me. It’s just like his, and I like to spin in it when I get bored and he doesn’t have anything for me to do. I like coming to work and helping Harry. It’s only my second day, but it’s not bad. He even got me to help him on a couple math equations.

            “Erm… did… um… did Zayn talk to you?” Harry murmured as he kept his eyes on his paper, his right hand moving quickly with the pen as he wrote.

            “Yes,” I said, my eyebrows etching together in confusion.

            “Oh,” he said quietly, then licked his lips and pressed them together. “Did he… did he say anything… weird?”

            I frowned. “No, not really. He just stuck up on me in the copy room and said hello… Is that bad?” My heart began thumping loudly against my ribcage in fear of me doing something wrong. I’ve always been one that tried to stay close within the rule borderlines. I hate upsetting people, but it seems to be something I naturally do.

            “No, no, of course not,” Harry said quickly, turning to look at me. “I just… I was just curious.”

            I nodded slowly, picking at my fingernails as I stared at the floor beneath me. I could feel Harry’s emeralds on me, trying to read my mind but he doesn’t want to go in there. He doesn’t want to hear the awful things I hear from them. He doesn’t want to know the things I know, or think the way I think. It’s truly awful to be in this state of insanity, still knowing that there’s a little sliver of your old self inside you. But I can’t reach her, for she’s buried too deep under all of the mess I’ve become.

            “Harry?” I asked softly, my eyes trailing up to meet his as he was still looking at me. He rose both his eyebrows, signaling me that I had his attention. Nervously, I looked back down at my fumbling hands. “Could we… could we watch a movie when we go back to your place?”

            Harry’s eyebrows furrowed together, as if my question startled him. “A movie? Sure… what kind?”

            My face lit up at his acceptance, a small smile gracing my lips. “It doesn’t matter, I just… well, I haven’t seen a movie in years and I just… I sound pathetic, I know,” I murmured, feeling highly embarrassed at the fact that a nineteen year old girl hasn’t seen a movie since she was six.

            “In years?” Harry asked, his eyes widening slightly. A smile painted his heart-shaped lips in seconds. “Well, I guess we have a lot of movies to watch. I know a lot that you’ll probably like. Do you have a favorite genre?”

            “I like comedy,” I admitted quietly, twiddling with my thumbs.

            “Anything else?”

            I pursed my lips, pondering on the embarrassing thought of saying it out loud. “I like… um… I like those sappy romance movies,” I admitted once more, still keeping my eyes on the floor. I haven’t seen a romance movie, but I’ve seen the advertisements on television on the rare occasion Harry and I watch it.

            “Really?” Harry smiled his award winning smile, his eyes twinkling at me. “What’s your favorite?”

            “Oh, I, uh… I’ve actually never seen one before,” I whispered, my cheeks flaming at the embarrassment of all of this.

            “You’ve never seen a romance movie?” Harry asked, disbelief lacing his tone as I shamefully shook my head. He surprised me by placing his large hand over mine, giving me a bright and dimpled grin. “I guess we do have a lot of movies to watch together.”

            Together.

            He said together.

         The thought alone was enough to make me smile, and nothing in the world seemed intense enough to break my suddenly happy mood.