Page 30 of The Heartstrings of Harry
“You know,” he said in the quietness of the moment. “I’ve kinda missed you since you’ve been away.”
I stopped wrapping the bandage, if only for a second, then kept winding it around his hand. “You did? I’ve kinda missed you too.” I suddenly realized how needy that sounded. No, not just needy… clingy, flirty, infatuated. “I mean, what I’m trying to say is, I missedeveryone.”
“Oh yeah. That’s what I meant!” He squirmed on the bed again. “Of course you did. Of course you missedeveryone.And everyone missed you, including me. That’s totally what I meant.”
At that moment there came a heavythump-thump-thumpon the door to my shed. “Hello? You two okay in there?” Dad slurred.
“Sure, come on in.” I quickly finished wrapping Harry’s bandage and clipped it neatly in place.
The door opened, and Dad and Madeline stood there, both looking a little light on their feet.
“Hey you guys,” said Harry, obviously wanting to jump in before anyone could ask any embarrassing or suspicious questions. “Sorry about going AWOL. I had a little accident in the bathroom. Knocked over a bottle of cologne.”
“Oh shit, Harry!” said Madeline, focusing on his hand. “What have you done to yourself?”
“He’s fine,” I told her. “I’ve cleaned the cut and bandaged him up.”
“Do you need stitches?” she asked Harry again.
Again, I answered for him. “No, he’ll be fine.”
Madeline sniffed the air. “Well, you certainly smell nice. What scent is that, anyway?”
“It’s nothing,” I said. “Just a bottle of cologne I wear every now and then.”
“You were wearing it tonight,” Madeline said to me, snapping her fingers as she realized. “I love it. What is it?”
I felt myself blush. “Actually, it’s… mine.”
“We know it’s your cologne,” Dad mumbled. “Madeline’s asking you what it’s called.”
“Dean,” I answered abruptly. “It’s calledDean. It’s nothing really.”
Harry turned to me, wide-eyed and blinking. “You have your own line of cologne?”
I stood from the bed, waving my hands like I was trying to wave the scent away. “It’s nothing. It’s embarrassing. It’s little more than a PR stunt to make more money for Constellation Records. Can we please not talk about it?”
But Harry stayed on the bed, looking somewhat mortified. “Oh my God! I broke a bottle of your own personal cologne?”
“It’s not my ownpersonalcologne. Anyone can buy it. It’s on sale everywhere.” I paused a moment then added, “Although if Old Man Raven stocks it, which I very much doubt, I’d probably check he hasn’t watered it down.”
“Oh wow,” said Madeline. “You seriously have your own—”
“Please. Stop. Let’s just get back to the party.”
“I think I need to clean up your bathroom first,” Harry said.
“No, please. I can do that later,” I insisted. “Let’s just all go have some fun. I know I could use a shot of tequila right about now.” I looked at Harry and gestured to his wound. “After that cut, you could probably use one too.”
He nodded and stood from the bed. “I guess you’re right.”
That’s when Madeline pointed to the stain in the middle of Harry’s T-shirt, something I hadn’t noticed in all the chaos. “What’s that?” she asked, suspicious and rather amused. She moved her face close and sniffed at it. “Smells peachy.”
Harry’s cheeks flared red. “Oh crap. I think I need to leave.”
HARRY
“Oh my God!I can’t believe you squirted his lube on your shirt!”
