18 Going On 30 || h.s. au

ten

HARRY'S POV

Punching a wall...that sounds really nice right now.

Yeah.

I don't think I ever noticed just how shrill Chelsea's voice is. We never really do much talking together anyway, but still, the woman never runs out of breath, or something about herself to talk about.

She asked to get dinner last night, but I was with Mitch. I figured she would leave it at that, but she asked if I was free tonight and I felt bad lying to her and saying no, so here we are unfortunately, sitting in a pretty nice restaurant and she hasn't. Shut. Up.

I thought I'd be able to manage one normal outing with her, but I quickly learned about five minutes after we sat down that this would be the ultimate test of my patience. She took the liberty of ordering a bottle of wine and an appetizer when we first sat down, and she hasn't stopped talking since.

I tuned out a while ago, but I heard the words 'car' and 'unfair' used here and there.

"And then my dad sold it just to spite me. Isn't that just ridiculous? I mean, he sold my favorite car because of one traffic violation. I had to- Harry? Are you listening to me?" She snaps me out of my daze with the clank of her utensils.

"Uh- sorry. Continue."

"I had to use one of his extra cars for a whole month before he gave me mine back. And he wouldn't even let my friends and I use his plane to go to the villa in Spain, so I had to spend an entire month of summer at home."

Did...I  just hear that correctly.

Almost an hour of this. I finished my meal so long ago I could eat another and she's only halfway done with hers because of all her talking. An hour of me mindlessly nodding to whatever she's been saying.

Thankfully- almost like the universe heard my silent cry for help- about twenty minutes ago Lainey walked in. She hasn't noticed me yet, she's too busy trying to talk to the guy she's with. She hasn't smiled once, she actually looks kind of...upset. I hate it.

It's been about a week since I was at her place and we had dinner. Despite the simplicity of it, it was one of the best Friday night's I've had in a while. Maybe ever. I got lucky running into her because I lost a bet with Miles to stay a little late at work, and if I had won I would've been long gone by the time she showed up.

I didn't expect to be cooking dinner with her that night of all things, but I couldn't be happier about it. When I saw her waiting by the lift I couldn't resist talking to her, and she looked so bored and like she didn't want to be there either. 

We haven't really spoken since. A few hellos here and there when we were lucky enough to catch each other near our cars or around the building. Its put a bit of a damper on my mood if I'm being honest, I really enjoy spending time with her and my days are instantly better with her in them.

Chelsea, on the other hand, not so much.

"I'm going to use the restroom." I cut her off suddenly, standing up from my seat with the scratch of my chair on the floor.

I walk in the direction of the restroom, passing Lainey's table on the way. She senses somebody passing her and looks up at me, doing a double take as I send her a wink and keep walking without looking back.

I do my business in the restroom, stalling for as long as I can before having to go back out and continue pretending to listen to Chelsea. Maybe I could come up with some excuse, that Hayden or Mitch texted me or something and I have to leave immediately.