*another long-ish part (around 2700 words), get ready for the d r a m a and don't hate me :D*

~~~

Eden drives for a couple of hours, her hands lazily drumming on the wheel and songs happily falling from her lips, until the sun drops beneath the horizon and the sky turns a deep shade of navy blue. Thin, wispy clouds shroud most of the stars from view but the night air is warm and the breeze soft as they stop in the parking lot of a motel for the night. A neon red sign out front reads "The Nightmoon Motel" in blazing large letters. It's the only place for twenty miles that doesn't look as though drug deals are happening in any of the rooms.

"You check in, I'll get the bags," Eden instructs chipperly as she exits the front seat. She doesn't wait for Harry to follow her as she makes her way to the back of the car and pops the trunk. Harry steps out and hovers unsurely in the passenger door.

"Eden, wait-"

"Okay, I'll check in and you get the bags," Eden smiles, not noticing the vexation written into his features. She swats his arm playfully as she sashays across the parking lot and into the lobby, leaving the trunk wide open for him.

Harry releases a heavy sigh and trudges to the trunk, languidly pulling their bags out and setting them aside on the gravel lot before he locks the car and waits anxiously for Eden to return.

She dances out of the lobby a moment later, jingling their keys in her hand while her face holds a bright grin.

"Room three-zero-four," she calls across the parking lot. As she gets closer, he can see a devious glint in her brown eyes. "But there's a catch."

"What is it?"

She playfully bumps her hip against his and grabs her bag. "Only one bed."

***

Eden's excitement is at an all-time high. Everything she and Harry have experienced in the past couple weeks has been building up to tomorrow; to Niagara. It's less than three hours away but it may as well be in another universe.

Her grandfather's words haven't vacated her thoughts for more than a few hours since she left home, and as she stands in the small motel bathroom with a comb in one hand and her toothbrush hanging from her teeth in the other, all she can think about is what he told her. About falling in love with others and with life.

But Eden isn't a fool; she knows that happiness is something you have to keep working for. She's just ready to feel it, for once in her life. And Niagara may not hold all the answers, or even any of them, but she's more than willing to give it a try.

Trying is brave, right? Knowing there's a chance of failure or disappointment but still doing the thing regardless. Surely that's an honorable thing.

She spits her toothpaste out and rinses the sink clean before combing her hair so she can braid it for sleep. Only now, examining herself in the mirror, is she beginning to notice how tired she looks; the bags under her eyes aren't getting any smaller, and there's a few pimples beginning to surface on her cheeks. She rubs her face with the heels of her hands, as if she can massage away the stress in one go.

A gentle knock on the door pulls her from her quiet moment. She opens the door to see Harry standing there with his pajamas in one hand and his toothbrush in the other. His eyes seem to hold a quiet kind of sadness, but it may just be the dim lighting casting shadows.

"Can I have a go in here now?" he asks politely. Eden's heart melts a little at how vulnerable and innocent he looks. The exhaustion is written clearly on his face but somehow he maintains his normal, gentle demeanor.

"Sure," she says softly, putting away her things and edging out of the bathroom. He flashes her a quick wink before closing the door behind himself. A minute later, she hears the sink begin to run and the sounds of a toothbrush being used.

The motel room itself is small, fairly clean, and simply decorated. Eden perches gingerly on the edge of the double bed, hands folded in her lap as she gazes around the room. Her stomach tingles with anticipation at the knowledge of what tomorrow holds, and what kind of peace she hopes it brings her. Her mind travels back to when she and Harry first met and spent the night together in his hotel room; how kind he'd been to a stranger and how much trust it took for them to venture out into the world together, having only just met.

She could try for a thousand years and she knows she'd probably never find someone like Harry. Even with the sneaking suspicion that he'd gone behind her back and even with her growing disdain for his hard-to-read attitude, she's eternally grateful for his presence all the same. It's been extremely refreshing to feel like she can have someone to dump all her fears and worries on.

The door to the bathroom opens, spilling blocks of warm yellow light onto Eden. Harry leans against the door frame, eyes ablaze with curiosity as he watches her carefully.

"What's on your mind?" he asks after a moment.

Eden can't help but laugh in defeat. "How'd you know?"

A dimple appears on his cheek as he chuckles to himself and saunters over to his suitcase, laying open on the floor next to the TV dresser. "You have that look about you, like you're deep inside your own mind."

Eden shakes her head and fights back a tired smile. Harry crouches over his suitcase and Eden does her best not to stare at the skin that shows when his shirt slightly rides up his back. "You want to tell me what it is?"

"Just thinking about tomorrow," she admits in a small voice. "About what it'll mean to stand in front of that waterfall and see it in person."

He glances over his shoulder, his eyes pensive. "What would it mean?"

"So much," Eden answers, her voice breaking from a flood of emotion. His eyes stay on her, his expression growing even more serious as he listens diligently. "I can't even begin to put it in words. I've had this list for so long and I grew up listening to my granddad talk about Niagara like it was the most magical place in the world, and now I'm finally going to be able to see it; to stand where he did and hopefully feel some of what he felt."

She looks down at her hands in her lap, a melancholy smile on her face. "I know it seems silly, maybe even crazy, because it is just a waterfall. But for a long time, this list was the only way I had to cope with the fear that I was feeling and now that I've done the things I have and traveled all this way, I'm hoping that I'll finally start to feel happy . . . to feel like I know who I am."

"That isn't silly at all, Eden," he tells her. His voice is quiet but firm; a solid landing rock amidst a chaotic sea of emotion. Her eyes are swimming with grateful tears as he says, "Nothing about what you're doing here is crazy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's a beautiful and brave thing you've done for yourself."

"Harry," she cries aloud, half-laughing and half-sobbing. "You'll make me ugly cry."

"Not my intention," he giggles.

Oh God, he giggles. I'm dead.

He stands and joins her on the edge of the bed, watching her in amusement as she dries her cheeks and gathers her voice.

"It's just a lot to process," she says after a moment. "Self-realization and all that crap." A feeling of sudden doubt settles in her stomach; a dark sunspot marring her bright hope. Part of her is beginning to accept that tomorrow holds a lot of potential for answers, but also for disappointment.

What if Niagara is nothing like she expects?

She peeks over at him and sees him stifling a grin. "You put that so eloquently," he laughs into his hands.

Eden can't help but roll her eyes. "I know, but I'm being serious here. I'm . . . I'm still trying to figure myself out. But I feel like maybe this will be a good start," she says, wringing her hands together in newfound worry.

"Eden, nobody expects you to have that answer any time soon," Harry says soothingly, doing his best to quell her obvious doubts. His large hand gently brushes over her hair as he says, "You have so much life to experience. Some people go their entire lives trying to work out who they are."

"Doesn't that scare you?" Eden cries, jerking away from him. "Not knowing? Being so unsure of yourself?"

Harry remains quiet as he listens to her vent. Suddenly she can't keep the worry at bay and it comes out in droves.

She peers over at him, searching his eyes and hoping to find her own angst mirrored in his gaze. "Doesn't anything scare you?"

He scoffs. "Of course I have fears, Eden, I'm human."

"Then how come you never talk about them?" She abruptly stands and begins pacing, fretfully running her hands through her hair. "You never talk about anything personal. I know nothing about you but it feels like I've told you everything. You have to give me something, Harry."

Harry's irritation may have boiled over in the car earlier, but now it's Eden's turn to finally voice the frustration she's been hiding for so long.

"Whatever you want to know, all you have to do is ask," he urges gently.

Eden briefly reflects on how he rarely has to ask her for information, she just freely hands it to him out of respect for their friendship. Even with her concerns about his possible misuse of her trust, she still gives him those vulnerable pieces of herself but he's yet to reciprocate.

"Two fears," she says brusquely. "And not those wimpy ones like a fear of running out of wifi or something stupid. I mean something that really terrifies you."

His brows pull low over his eyes and he rolls his lips together. Eden feels her heart singing in her ears as she waits nervously.

Wait, why am I on edge?

Then again, the possibility of finally finding out something vulnerable about Harry is a bit nerve-wracking.

"I have a fear of drowning," he states, eyes flitting up to meet hers. "And . . . I am utterly terrified of a painful death."

Eden opens her mouth to comment but Harry stops her. "Let me finish."

"Go on," she huffs.

"I'm not afraid of death itself. Whatever happens after I'm dead doesn't affect me. But I am afraid that dying itself will be painful. I don't want to end up being someone who bleeds out slowly or dies over a period of weeks. I don't want to suffer."

"That scares you?" she asks quietly. She sinks back down onto the bed, inching closer to him in earnest.

He nods hesitantly, and for the first time ever she can see real fear in his eyes, masked beneath a familiar layer of calm. "I've heard so many stories of families just waiting for their loved ones to die. Time is so drawn out, I'd rather things be over quickly."

"Are you afraid of pain?"

He shrugs, his expression melancholy. "That may be part of it. It's more being stuck in the middle space between life and death. Everything is so unsure. Let me live, and live fully, or let me die quickly."

"Hence the fear of drowning," she concludes. He nods, his shoulders sagging, and Eden feels a pang shoot through her heart. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"No worries," he says gently. A beat passes between them before he speaks again. "I just can't imagine the heartbreak you've had to relive on this trip."

Eden feels her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Her hand settles on her chest as she says, "Me?"

He nods. "Everything we've gone through on your list has some sort of significance to you. Sometimes it occurs to me that the reasons you made that list in the first place are probably not very pleasant to think about."

Her heart softens at the edges. "It's not all that terrible, I guess," she admits. "The list started out as a kind of therapy - getting myself to even acknowledge all the things that held me back was the difficult part. But once I did, I wrote them down and then made my list as a way of trying to overcome those fears. I never imagined that I'd actually go through with any of those things," she laughs breathily. "And I know it won't happen overnight but maybe once I finish all the items, things might feel a little lighter."

She laughs breathily and says, "Hence why tomorrow is so important. I know I've already said that but it's true."

His hand sweeps over her knee and gives it a comforting squeeze. "I find that very admirable."

Her cheeks go warm. "There are people out there much more admirable than me. But it's a start."

"That's all that matters."

She throws him a playful glance. "And by the way, don't think I didn't notice how you so skillfully turned the conversation back to me, like always."

He feigns an innocent look. "What do you mean?"

"Anytime I try to ask you a personal question, it gets deflected. It's like you're allergic to telling me about yourself." She keeps her tone light for the sake of avoiding an argument but she hopes her expression conveys her utter annoyance.

"What! I just told you my biggest fears!" he sputters defensively.

Her eyebrows knit together in suspicion. "Harry, two fears doesn't compare to the soul-baring I've done for you. All I'm saying is we've been together for weeks now and it feels like you know the deepest parts of me but I know hardly anything about you."

The look that crosses his face is indescribable, almost as if every wall he's built around himself just grew by ten feet. "We can't just trade pieces of ourselves like candy."

"What happened to the 'whatever you want to know, just ask' attitude?" she asks, hands clenching together. Her fingernails dig into the soft flesh of her palms, but the pain doesn't even begin to compare to the endless frustration brought on by Harry's unwillingness to communicate.

He merely stares back with a stolid expression, not willing to give away anything else. Not a surprise.

"It would be nice to know who I'm sleeping in the same room as," Eden spits out, her irritation immediately rising. "Christ, I don't even know your last name!"

Harry's expression is almost frightening; he looks collected, but now Eden can see the rage brewing beneath the surface. He calmly stands, brushes some hair out of his face, and glances over at the kitchen area of the room.

"I'm going to buy some groceries," he says quietly, though his words are stony.

It's midnight, she thinks to herself. Where you gonna go?

"You're doing it again," Eden snarls in exasperation. "I think you should add a fear of being personable to your list."

"Don't be nasty," he remarks, his tone condescending. "I'll see you later."

He doesn't bother to look at her as he walks past, grabs his wallet from the table by the door, and disappears outside. Eden watches his figure move through the sheer curtains as he crosses the parking lot and turns right onto the street before vanishing from view altogether.

~~~

okay so that took a left turn WOW haz and eden had a big ol' fight and both are being dramatic babies someone come get them pls

i don't even know what to put here sorry y'all. i was in a good writing mood and i promised the drama so i hope i delivered lol

unedited as always is that even a surprise anymore

tell me what you think is gonna happen next! who's ready for niagara??