Seven
It was amazing how one person could have such an impact in your life. I had only met Harry two weeks ago, but he already managed to make me feel so much better. Because not only did his mere presence made me feel happy on the inside, but he was able to make me wake up in the mornings.
That part of the day always had been the hardest for me. Always when I woke up by my alarm or the bright lights from the sun, I would immediately be dreading the day to come. I didn't have the strength to get my body up and out of bed—that was how weak I was.
But now was different. A smile would always be on my face when I heard Harry calling me through FaceTime. And he never failed to make me laugh. It's weird how a stranger could influence your life so much.
I used to think it was weird whenever Harry and I hung out. Before whenever I was with him I was worried if other people would see us together—because after all he was famous. But I didn't see him like that anymore. He was just a regular person like me. He liked singing along to the radio, he liked eating sweets, he liked sleeping in every once in a while, and he liked sitting in the sun doing nothing in particular.
And for sure that didn't help with me fancying him. Every little thing that he did I found adorable and cute. And every time he smiled it made my heart leap out.
Harry just gave me that little amount of hope I needed that everything will eventually be okay.
But even with his support, I still had those days where I just felt like utter crap. The moment I ended the call with Harry, I felt that sinking feeling inside my chest when I realised the date.
May 29th.
It was the day that I had to go back to London for my birthday celebrations. Usually, I got excited for my birthday, but this year, not so much. I was still recovering from my parent's divorce and I really was not looking forward to going home.
I felt really drained of energy. I felt on edge as well, which made me procrastinate packing and cleaning my flat. After my call with Harry, all I did was watch YouTube videos and went on BuzzFeed. But after three hours, that was when I couldn't procrastinate any longer. I desperately wanted to so bad, but I couldn't because I had too many things to do. It made me freak out and I was on the verge of tears. But I closed my eyes and managed to calm my breathing before making a to-do list.
Shower.
Eat lunch.
Do laundry.
Pack.
Make bed.
Clean desk.
Wash dishes.
Vacuum.
Throw out garbage.
I was the type of person that hated mess. Always when I left my flat to go back home, I needed my place to be spotless. But being my depressed self, I neglected cleaning for a very long time—my flat was fucking disgusting. And it made me even more overwhelmed when I noticed how many things I had to do and how little time I had left to do it. I still didn't know how I was going to go back to London. Yeah, I had a car. But I knew I didn't have the right mental state to drive two hours there on the freeway.
I grabbed my pen and added another thing I had to do.
Buy train tickets.
As if Harry sensed my distress, my phone went off as I received a phone call. The noise startled me a bit, but I grabbed my phone from beside me and answered it.
"Hey," I said, for some reason out of breath.
"Are you alright, Taryn?" Harry automatically asked.
"Yeah." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Are you sure?"
"Maybe just a bit panicked," I admitted as I looked at my list once more.
"What about?"
"I have a lot of things to do." I took a seat at my desk and opened my laptop to try to buy a train ticket.
"Ahh," I heard Harry say on the other end. "But surely you need a lunch break, so how would you like it if I come by with some pizzas? I'll get your favourite." I imagined Harry smiling as he said those words.
"That honestly sounds amazing right now."
"Great! So when do you want do you want me to come over with them? Or we can eat it somewhere else, up to you."
"It's okay, here is fine. And in an hour?"
"Okay, I'll let you carry on what you're doing. I'll text you when I'm there."
"Sure. See you then."
"See you then. Bye."
"Bye," I said before hanging up.
As soon as I placed my phone on my desk, I immediately sprinted to the washroom to take a shower. I had an hour to do most of the things on my list because there was no way Harry was coming here with my flat looking like this.
I showered as fast as I could without slipping and falling—because that would have been terrible if I cracked my skull open. After ten minutes, I came out of the washroom with a towel around my body. I went back to my room and threw on some knickers, a bra, black skinny jeans that had a rip on one knee, and a black and white stripped shirt. I went back to the washroom to comb my hair, and I clipped it back with a black clip, letting my hair air-dry.
I ran back to my list and crossed out the first item. I grabbed my laundry hamper, along with the laundry detergent before going out in the hallway to the laundry room that the whole floor shared. Luckily it wasn't in use, so I put my load in, not caring if the whites and blacks were together.
When I returned to my flat, I rushed to get the rest of it cleaned. I left my room how it was and immediately started in the kitchen and living room. I grabbed all the dishes from the coffee table and dining table, placing them on the counter beside the sink. I took paper and bills that were laying around, putting them on my desk in my bedroom. I arranged the pillows on my sofa and threw all the rubbish away. After washing my hands, I grabbed the vacuum from the closet and cleaned the floors from dirt and crumbs.
Once I felt like the living room looked as tidy as it could have possibly been, I moved on to the kitchen and immediately started hand washing the pile of dishes since I didn't have a dishwasher. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that I only had ten minutes left. I put the clean plates, bowls and cups on a tray on the other side of the sink so they could dry, and I placed the utensils in a holder.
But as I was washing a glass cup, it slipped out of my soapy hands and fell to the bottom of the sink. As I went to pick it up, I noticed a piece of glass had broken off. But my reaction time was too slow and I immediately felt my finger getting sliced. I dropped the cup in the sink and looked at my hand. Nothing. No cut. I turned my hand around and there it was with blood gushing out.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I started freaking out, terrified that glass was stuck in my finger. I knew I needed to see if there was glass in my finger but the amount of blood that was coming out made me panic.
