Post by HARRIET CARDEW on Aug 18, 2020 6:33:20 GMT -5
She should be sleeping. She should be tucked up in bed at home, a hundred and fifty miles away, preparing for what would surely be a long day tomorrow. Instead, Harry was sat in a booth at a pub in Covent Garden, trying her best not to complain about the summer heat. It had been in the mid-thirties that day, bright and sunny with nary a cloud to be seen, which made a welcomed change from the grey skies and intermittent showers she was used to. She’d just rather it was not so humid. The sweat beading on the back of her neck had her wishing the place had air conditioning, or at the very least that she was somewhere she could create her own. But these old pubs never did, and while Harry enjoyed when she caught people’s eye, it was always better to be for her looks and not because she’d conjured wind out of nowhere. Still, the pub itself wasn’t terribly busy, thank Merlin. Most of the tables were occupied and there was the steady crowd surrounding the bar, but many of the patrons had ventured outside, to the point it looked more like a festival than a beer garden. The rest had spilled out onto the street, blocking the pavement and the doorway alike. Harry would’ve liked to join them, to enjoy the light breeze dancing through the trees rather than her legs sticking to the leather seat, but they’d had to fight for the booth they’d claimed and she wasn’t going to give it up for love nor money. And besides, Gabe didn’t look in any state to do more than sit and wallow in misery. When he’d called her earlier that evening, asking if she’d like to go for a drink with him, it hadn't been a surprise. As soon as he’d decided he was going to try to pick things up with Albus again, she’d expected the call. Part of her had hoped it wouldn’t come, that she’d been wrong and whatever had existed between the two men was still there. Within seconds of hearing his voice she’d known the truth. She’d always known the truth. She’d seen first-hand how Albus had moved on, letting go of a past he’d never dreamt he could return to. Harry couldn’t blame him for that. Couldn’t expect him to pine forever. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t also feel bad for Gabe. He hadn't asked for any of this. For his life to be derailed and his relationship destroyed. So when he asked her to join him for a drink, of course she said yes. She had to be up at 5am, but she could manage one drink. She should’ve known these things never go to plan. One drink had turned to two and two had become three. She’d stopped counting after five. Harry looked over at Gabe and felt her lips pull into a soft, sad smile. He wasn’t looking great. His face was flushed, his curls awry, and he had a sadness in his eyes that made her heart ache. It must be hard, she thought, to get everything back only to lose the thing that mattered most all over again. She couldn’t imagine what that did to a person’s head. How it fucked them up. She couldn’t imagine how much it hurt. But then she’d never lost anyone she’d loved enough to make it hurt. The closest she’d come was with her dad and the hellish weeks after his accident when no one was sure he’d pull through, or if he did whether he’d be the same man. But that was different. That was her father, a whole other kind of love. She didn’t have to worry about him waking up tomorrow and realising he wanted to replace her with another daughter. It wasn’t losing someone she wanted to build a life with. She had no idea how that felt, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t sympathise. And it certainly didn’t mean she couldn’t stick around and help. As she lifted her glass to her lips, finishing the contents, she had to wonder how helpful this really was. She supposed the hangover would take Gabe’s mind off his heartbreak for a few hours tomorrow. She told herself that was better than nothing. “I feel like I should be spewing all those platitudes at you,” she said, words rolling off her tongue a little more sluggishly than usual. “Y’know, all that ‘there’s plenty of fish in the sea’ and ‘what’s meant to be will be’ bullshit.” She shook her head. She’d never been good at pep-talks. She’d always been far too practical and blunt for that. Besides, she knew being insensitively upbeat would only make things worse, and that was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was to help Gabe feel better, and if she couldn’t do that, she’d settle for him feeling less alone. “It’s shit and it’s going to be shit for a while, but not forever,” she assured him with what she hoped was an encouraging smile. It was the best she had. It wasn’t eloquent or poetic, but it was honest. That had to count for something. |