Lori stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “How did you get in here?” she asked louder than before.
“Your parents left the door unlocked. I tried knocking, but obviously you didn't hear me. I even said your name while in your room. Listening to music that loud could really damage your hearing.”
Lori cursed under her breath. “Harry, what are you doing here?” Lori asked.
“I'm here to talk to you. Just out of the blue you decided to stop talking to me? What was that all about, Lori? You don't text or call, you didn't respond to anything! Let me explain, just talk with me, please.”
“What's there to even talk about? You're obviously not looking for a relationship right now.”
“Where the hell did you get that?” Harry asked loudly.
“I don't want to get into this. Maybe you should just go.” Lori walked over to her door and pointed to her hallway.
“Not until you answer me this: why'd you stop talking to me?”
“Why do you think?” Lori shot at him, clearly frustrated with him. “I saw the pictures of you and that girl. I've seen pictures of you with a lot of girls. I don't want to be just another girl, but I know that's all I am to you. Y-you can't just pretend to care about someone for one second and then not care about them the next, it doesn't work like that. Look, you travel all around the world, meeting interesting people, exotic women, getting all of these incredible opprotunities, and I don't want to be holding you back. I have nothing to offer you so don't let me get in the way, okay?”
Harry walked closer to Lori and shut the door. “Lori, that's not true!” he said desperately “You can't possibly hold me back and you're not just another girl; I do care about you. That girl and I are just friends and when did you start believing what the media says about me? I thought you weren't like that, I thought you wanted to get to know the real me, but I guess I was wrong. Where's the Lori I met at Hershey Park? Where's the Lori that gets jumpy really easily and is slightly claustrophobic and is really sweet and shy? Where's that Lori?”
“She's standing right here, right in front of you! She's been here, waiting. I never changed. What kind of friends kiss and party all night anyway?”
“She kissed me!”
“Harry, I don't want to be the person who binds you down! What does it matter? We weren't anything exclusive or official, we didn't even have a first date. Go, meet extrodinary people and go do whatever the hell you want because I don't want to be the one to stop you.”
“Why don't you trust me?” Harry asked, the hurt obvious in his now dark green eyes. His lips were slightly parted as he waited for Lori to reply.
“Because I don't want to get hurt!” Lori let out, finally breaking down, “I'm so small and insignificant to everything surrounding you so I thought that if I stopped talking to you you'd just forget about me, but I don't want you to forget about me because I don't want to forget about you. I want to get to know you, I want to see what you're really like, but I'm scared of things like this happening.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she saw Harry's eyes get watery as well. He wiped away Lori's tears and stared straight into her eyes, almost hoping she'd let him in.
“Lori, of course stuff like this might happen, but if you trust me when I say the only girl I want is you then we'll be fine. Being with you isn't like being with those other girls because when I have to go I hug them goodbye and go on, but when I said goodbye to you in that hallway a month ago I knew something inside me was gone and that something is you. What matters is we're here now and I don't want to leave, but if you want me to I will.”
“No,” Lori whispered, “I want you to stay.”
“Then I'll stay."