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I sighed, deciding to go back inside when the sun set. I stood up and gathered my things, the blanket on top of them, and stepped into the house, walking past the kitchen table to go in the hallway.

But as soon as I was out of the kitchen I stopped, taking a couple of steps back. There was something on the kitchen table, that I'd barely noticed with the corner of my eye.

I put everything on the floor and I approached the small piece of paper that had been left on it. I was sure it wasn't there before. I took it and I unfolded it, discovering that ten cyphers were written on it, shortly followed by Harry's name in a handwriting I barely recognised.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I realised what it was. Harry had given me his phone number. But why?

I resisted the urge to throw it away not to get tempted by it and folded it again, putting it carefully in my back pocket and lifting up all my things again, walking up the stairs as fast as possible. I left them all on the desk in my room and I sat on my bed, taking the paper out again and staring at it.

When had he even written it down? I hadn't seen him doing it. It must had been when he left. A pang of guilt hit my heart when I thought of how I'd treated him but I shrugged it off, telling myself that he probably hadn't minded at all. He would've needed to care to get hurt by the shortness of my behaviour, and I knew that he didn't.

I shook my head, standing up and folding the burgundy blanket before putting it on the white couch in my room. I took the camera, the paper and the pencils I'd put on my desk, ready to go into my studio. I was almost out of the door when I turned around, staring at the ripped piece of paper sheet that I'd left on my bed.

I sighed and took it, putting it on my desk not to lose it before leaving the room.

I completed the drawing as fast as possible, and in just a couple of hours I was done. I'd decided to go with charcoal again, not wanting to spend more time than it was necessary staring at Harry's face through the picture I'd taken.

I stayed silent during dinner, not feeling like sharing anything with my mum, and decided to go to sleep way earlier than before to suffocate the voice in my mind that for some reason was telling me I was fucking up everything there was between me and Harry. Which was absolutely nothing, for the matter.

•  •  •

The next day at school flew by. Ella had decided to ditch me to sit next to Aiden, which allowed me not to have any of them bothering me. I felt lonely, but I took the chance, discovering that I somehow felt better without having her to put me down every few minutes.

Harry, of course, didn't ditch Niall and his friends, both during class and the free period.

Before I knew it I was sitting back into my art class after having shown the teacher my drawing, which she'd thankfully liked.

"Alright, I somewhat enjoyed your projects this time" she said standing up and going to lean against her desk. "This time I want you to do something different. Draw your models however you please, but they have to be on a bed. Sitting, lying down, I don't care." She looked at me. "You've already done it Sierra, so it'll be harder for you to do something different from the one you've already done. For you there's an added challenge: I want it with colour."

I opened my mouth to say something, but I shut it right after, knowing that it wouldn't have been a good idea to complain. I wasn't upset with having to use colour, the only problem to me was that I would've had to spend way more time with him than I wanted to. But I knew she wouldn't have cared, and I didn't have a right to complain.

"You have four days" she said as last thing before sitting down again.

The bell rang and I stood up, putting on my coat, taking my things and leaving the room. I exited the building, looking up as I went down the couple of steps in front of it, noticing that Harry was sitting with his friends on the bench in front of the street again.

I sighed and slowed down, realising that I would've had to ask him to come to mine that day. Since we only had four days and I knew it would've taken ages to find the right colours, I wasn't willing to risk my chances.

I slowly walked towards them, dreading the simple thought of having to talk to him. Especially while Janette was sitting on his legs again.

All of sudden, right when I was about to reach them, I remembered the phone number I'd left on my desk. Before even realising it I made my decision, walking past them in the direction of my house.

I just hoped he would've agreed to come to mine despite being asked to only some hours beforehand.

As soon as I arrived at home I walked upstairs without even taking off my coat and entered my bedroom, leaving my bag on my bed as I walked towards the desk. I took the piece of paper and saved the number into my phone. I hesitated a bit before typing down a message.

To Harry: Hi, it's Sierra. Would you mind coming to mine today?

I stared at it for some seconds, afraid of sending it. It was Harry, after all. What if he'd regretted giving me the number? Or even worse, what if he didn't mean to? What if it had just slipped from his pocket while he left? I sighed, knowing that I was overthinking it way too much. I closed my eyes and hit send, locking the phone right after and throwing it on the bed, staring at it from a few feet away as if it was about to explode.

A few minutes after the screen lit up and I slowly walked towards it, spying what was written on it.

From Harry: Ok.

I released the breath I was inadvertently holding, the message being enough to tell me he hadn't accidentally given me the phone number despite it being just a couple of letters followed by a dot. I locked the phone before giving myself the chance to overthink that dot. Who even put a dot at the end of their texts? Was Harry mad at me, or did he always do that? I shook my head and moved the phone to my desk.

If Harry really was about to come, I had to make some adjustments. I stripped the blanket off the bed and dropped it, together with my pillow, on my couch. I changed the sheets fast, going for a pale shade of grey, almost white. I took a new blanket out of the wardrobe but I just put it over my desk, feeling like the sheets would've worked better for the purpose of the drawing.

I went into the studio and took all I needed, bringing it into my bedroom.

All of sudden I heard the doorbell ring and I glanced at the time on my phone, realising that it was already four. I gave one glance at my room to make sure everything was fine, taking the piece of paper he'd written his number on and shoving it into the first drawer under my desk, before walking downstairs and opening the front door, scooting to the side to allow Harry to walk in.

He did and put his coat on the hanger, barely glancing at me.

I started walking upstairs, hoping that Harry would've understood and followed me. I opened the door to my bedroom and lingered near the entrance, allowing Harry to walk in first.

He did and stopped in the middle of the room, subtly glancing around.

"Uh... the teacher wants this drawing to have a bed in it" I said faintly, already damning her decision. It would've been hard enough to be in his same room for so long, so being on the same bed as well definitely was way too much. I would've drawn him from the couch, but I'd always found that angle awful, so it wasn't an option.

He slowly sat down on the bed, taking off his shoes, and I walked towards the desk, getting all the things I would've needed. Just like the other time I'd drawn him, he lay down towards the room side, allowing me enough space to settle between him and the wall.

I sat down and I looked at him, frowning as I realised that he was in the same exact position I'd put him in the last time. "You can lie down however you want" I told him. "It should be different from the other one, so..." I let my words drift away, not knowing what else to say. I felt as if just being around him didn't allow me to think straight. His presence was so overpowering, almost demanding attention from all my senses. Whenever I looked up at him his beauty captivated me to no end, the way his hair curled up, the light green of his irises, the way he licked his lips when he seemed to be thinking about something, everything concurred in grasping my attention, almost forcing me not to look away. When I didn't, the smell of his cologne invaded my nostrils, impossible to ignore.

He shifted in position, the back of his hand grazing my arm, putting his head on the pillow and looking at me again, almost tiredly.

I frowned as under the new light I took in the dark circles under his eyes. I hadn't noticed them during the day. Had he covered them with makeup? I shook my head, getting rid of the useless thoughts. "Uh..." I said, my eyes on him, not knowing how to address the topic. If I should've at all. "You can sleep, if you want" I said in the end. "It's gonna take some hours, so... you just seem tired, that's it." I felt as if the minimal bravery I'd got from my days spent around him had faded away in the second his lips had touched mine.

He gave me a sharp glance. "I won't" he said lowly.

"You have nightmares, don't you?" I asked him before I could stop myself. I shut my mouth right after, damning my reckless decision of bringing that up.

He widened his eyes a little, surprise in them, showing that he didn't expect me to say that at all. Neither did I, if I had to be honest.

"Sometimes" he just replied, the short reply making clear that he had no intention of addressing the topic. He passed his fingers through his dark hair, pushing it back.

I nodded to myself. "I figured" I murmured, starting the drawing and making it my mission not to open my mouth ever again until it was done.

Just tracing the outlines in a light pencil trait took over an hour and half, and I felt absolutely drained by the time I deemed it to be good enough to move on. I sighed, realising that it would've been better to start colouring it on another day to avoid messing it up because of how tired I was.

"I'm done" I said as I stood up and put everything on the desk. I turned around when I heard no sound in response to my words, widening my eyes when I took in the scene in front of me.

While I was drawing Harry, his tiredness had got the best of him and he'd fallen asleep. I couldn't help but smile lightly at how relaxed he seemed to be. He seemed completely out of it, his dark pink lips slightly parted, one of his arms abandoned by his side.

It took me less than a second to make a decision and I tiptoed out of the room as silently as possible, taking the book I'd left in the living room before going back to my bedroom and slowly sitting up against the wall, my knees up not to disturb his sleeping figure.

I'd been reading for about an hour when he stirred awake, staring at the ceiling for a couple of seconds before realising where he was and sitting up fast. He looked at the darkening sky through the window on the opposite side of the room.

"What time is it?" He mumbled, pushing a dark curl out of his eyes.

"Almost seven" I replied, looking at him from above the book.

He looked at me, realising that I wasn't drawing anymore. "You could've woken me up" he said sharply, seeming way more talkative than usual.

I shrugged, not saying anything. I didn't know what to tell him, because to be honest neither I knew why I hadn't just woken him up.

He sat up, putting on his shoes. "I'm going home" he simply said, dropping the topic almost instantly.

I looked at him from the bed as he stood up and straightened his clothes before walking towards the door.

He stopped right before exiting, his hand on the dark coloured wood as he turned his head to look at me, his gaze softening. "Thank you for letting me sleep. I haven't been able to sleep properly for a while so, thank you" he said before leaving, and a couple of seconds after I heard the sound of his steps down the stairs.

I groaned lying down on the bed, sitting up fast when I realised that the smell of his cologne was still on the pillow.

I was screwed.

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