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It Takes Patience III: Stripped

Chapter 15: Repeated Action

*Reagan’s POV*
I woke to my head feeling like it was full of cotton and heavy with the type of dull ache that remains there even after you take a pill that’s supposed to make it go away. The space next to me was empty and when my hand reached over to touch the disheveled cotton of the sheets, they were the cool temperature of the room around me. He’s gone and has been for a while.

This is our routine and this is normal for us, even though I wish it wasn’t we were doing so well before all of this happened. I sigh running my hands over my face and through my tangled hair then stretch before I stand up, wrapping the covers around me to keep my body warmth.

Before I can reach the door, I catch a glimpse of myself in front of his body length mirror. My eyes are shot. They’re swollen and red from crying last night. The tears fell silently and I avoided sniffling or any tremors that would give away my disposition. Though Harry was a bit harsher with his words than I feel that he had to be I know that he was right. One moment I feel brave enough to go all the way with him, but when I think about it I know that if it came down to it I would be shaking crying mess on the verge of another breakdown. Much like I was on the day that we tried our hand at intimacy a couple of days ago.

I quickly move away from the mirror not wanting to look at myself any more than need be before opening the door to Harry’s room, tossing the covers back to the bed. I hear chatter downstairs and grab a pair of sweat pants so that I’m not walking around Harry’s family in nothing but my small sleep shorts. When I get down the stairs Anne and Robin are in the kitchen drinking tea and coffees dressed in business attire letting me know that they’ll be leaving for their respective jobs soon.

“Good morning Reagan.” Anne smiles at me warmly before taking a sip out of her cup and then pointing between the tea kettle on the stove or the Keurig coffee pot on the counter, each of them having a freshly brewed hot refreshment inside.

I opt for the tea, and she pours me a mug before I sit down at the table.

“No Harry this morning? Is he still in bed?” Robin asks with an eyebrow quirked.

“Oh, no, he’s not in bed. He must have left out early for something?” I blow the steam away from the top of the drink before I take a sip allowing the cup and the liquid to warm me up. I was hoping that they would know where H was.

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon. He’s probably gone out for an early jog. His trainers aren’t by the door anymore,” Anne quickly answers and helps to minimalize my worry and I nod my head in agreement.

“That must be it then.”

I notice Anne take in my appearance and I self-consciously smooth out my hair and wipe under my eyes hoping that it worked in my favor even if only in a minimal way. The door opens shortly after and then shuts quickly and Anne nods her head in my direction as if to say ‘I told you so’ when Harry walks into the kitchen.

He stops momentarily in his tracks and I can see his jaw tense, but it’s done so quickly I think that I’m the only one that catches the reaction. His breathing is labored and he’s dressed in all black Nike joggers with a matching black zip up and a beanie that hides the messy locks at the top of his head. To top it all off, his forehead is covered in sweat letting me know that Anne’s assumption about his whereabouts must have been correct.

“Is it raining out?” Anne asks her son, hoping to break up the tension in the room. I’m not sure if

Harry’s clipped reaction was due to my presents or Robins. Either one I feel is uncalled for.
Harry takes off his hat and grabs a banana and an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter peeling the banana before he answers. “There’s a drizzle.” He speaks with his mouth full and then kisses his mom on the cheek.

He does the same to me, but the kiss is quick and brief, his lips barely graze my skin. He nods to Robin and I feel like he only does it because I’m here. They really don’t communicate as much at all and it saddens me when I think about it. I remember when I first saw Robin at Gemma’s graduation party. He and Harry’s exchange was much warmer than it is now. They laughed then and I even remember seeing Harry hugging Robin and embracing him fully as if he truly was his father. Since Harry’s attitude has changed, it seems that he won’t budge. I know that he still loves Robin because he’s told me so, insisting that now its better that it is done from a safe distance.

“How far did you go today?” Anne breaks the silence that’s fallen upon the room once more and Harry’s eyes dart to mine before he shifts on his feet and answers the question. Something he does when he’s nervous.

“Just to the park by Hampstead.” He takes a seat beside me and grabs my hand into his casually as he chews. Our eyes meet and he opens my hand and turns it so that my palm is faced upward.

“Ah the park by Tamsin’s?” The mention of her name makes my eyebrows instantly furrow, but I fix my face before anyone notices, “There and back? That’s a good nine miles.” Harry nods before he looks at me speaking only so that I could hear.

“Had to clear my head.”

When I get a better look at him, his eyes almost match mine, except his seem worse. He hasn’t talked about any nightmares disturbing his rest, but I know he hasn’t slept well either. His body has simply become accustomed to fewer hours and exhaustion so he functions better on no sleep more than I ever could.

When Anne and Robin begin to have a side conversation I open up my mouth to quietly scold Harry for not sleeping, but before I can speak he cuts me off making a shushing noise and shaking his head back and forth quickly. His eyebrows knot as he takes a deep breath and then mouth the words ‘I’m sorry’ and traces out ‘I love you’ into my outstretched palm.

A small grin comes to my lips and he mirrors my expression, but when his phone vibrates in the opposite hand and he looks at the message his lips fall into a hardline and his eyebrows go back to creasing themselves. I could have sworn that I saw a familiar number pop up in the text he received, but I know I could be mistaken from lack of proper rest.

Harry stands from the table quickly and walks out of the room bounding up the stairs two at a time. His mother looks to me and there is a question mark clear on her beautiful features. I shrug my shoulders unaware of his sudden retreat, but my curiosity in what I just saw peaks to a nagging level. I try to tell my focused side to ignore it, that it’s just another one of his mood shifts, but I’m on my feet excusing myself before I can even think to listen to my own advice.

H. isn’t in his room when I go up, but when I turn around to leave he’s right behind me in the doorway startling me.

“Jesus Harry!” I put my hand over my chest as the rapid beats slowed back to its normal rate.
The look on his face was unreadable as he passed me to walk into his room and into his closet grabbing fresh clothes. His jaw was still tensed and after he got everything he needed, he pushed passed me again to go back into the bathroom.

His mom called up the stairs to let us know that she was leaving and I was the only one to reply. The door closed and locked and as soon as it did, I walked into the bathroom behind H. The steam was thick making the enclosed space feel more like a sauna and condensation coated the mirrors, thankfully blocking out my view of myself. Harry’s phone sat on top of his clothes and I slowly walked towards it allowing my fingers to trace over the aluminum like backing of the iPhone.

Almost every problem with us has started with a phone. Text messages, voicemails, and even some phone calls have led us down dark paths before, but we’re past that now or at least we should be. I pick it up quickly and slide the screen to unlock it the number I thought I saw appears in his notification bar.

Channel.

I read through the text messages between the two of them and feel my chest constrict. He told.
Harry opens the shower curtain with wide eyes as he slings a towel around his waist and mine look back to him with fire present within them.

“You had no right!”

“I was going to tell you later. I got you a plane ticket. You’re going home tomorrow.” He spoke casually as if he sees nothing wrong in what he did.

“What are you talking about? I told you that I was fine here!”

“You’re not fine Reagan! You’re not! Do you think that this is normal behavior the way you’re acting now? You need help.” His tone was strong yet gentle but I couldn’t get passed the feeling of betrayed trust. I would tell them in my own time. It wasn’t for Harry to take matters into his own hands. He can’t do this.

“Coming from the bipolar who thinks it’s okay not to get a good nights rest!” Harry’s jaw flexed and I shocked myself with what came out of my mouth physically feeling myself go on defense. He needs just as much help as I do. He puts up the same act.

“I’m trying to help you Reagan!” Harry ran his hands through his hair and then over his face before sitting on the edge of the bathtub, “If you don’t get help I don’t know...”
His mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to finish his sentence but he was making himself hold back. My fists gripped tighter around his phone before I urged him to continue.

“You don’t know what Harry?” He stood up to leave grabbing his clothes as he walked out of the bathroom.

“Harry you don’t know-”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this anymore Reagan!” His eyes widened as if he didn’t mean for the words to come out, but after they did his facial expression softened as if he felt better from getting it off of his chest. He sat down on his bed pinching his bottom lip and shaking his head before he continued, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I love you and I need you to be better than I am. It’s a selfless and selfish act at the same time. You need to be better for you, because I know you’re not happy here and now with everything that’s gone on. You just try to pretend that you are as some kind of save for me, but I don’t want you to worry about me. When I promised that you would be back to yourself soon I meant it. You need this. You need to get away from here. London has been nothing but one problem after another for you. Nothing good has come from you being here, Reagan. You need to go home and heal.”

He doesn’t get it. I won’t be able to heal without him with me. This is a repeated action between us and he has yet to realize that we don’t work well when we’re apart. I feel like I’ll be going it alone, but maybe this is the shove I need. If this were happening to anyone else, I would have told them the same thing. But I’ve found out quickly that when it’s happening to you, everything you’re taught and everything you know to be the right way to handle a situation goes out the window. I slowly start to agree with him, until I remember one thing. A possible excuse in order to stay by his side and the very reason I’m here in London in the first place.

“I have to work Harry. I’m only off for another week.” Harry shook his head no before he looked up at me.

“I told Dr. Baker about it and she said she would talk to Koch. You’re off for as long as you need. He’ll set up work for you to do through emails. So you don’t fall behind in your semester work for school.”

My eyes filled with tears. He’s thought of everything but I still don’t feel any better about the situation. I hate that overstepped his boundaries, but the idea of being away from him again is what scares me the most. Harry’s eyes followed me intently as I walked into his room silently and sat down on the loveseat in the corner at a loss for words. He stood up from his position on the bed and took my phone out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“I figured you would be angry so I kept it. I knew my mum was coming home this morning and if you talked to Channel before she left it we would have argued in front of her. She still doesn’t know. And I kind of want to keep it that way. Channel’s been calling you and me nonstop. She’ll be picking you up from LAX tomorrow.”

I took the phone from his hands reluctantly before I turned it on preparing to face what I’ve wanted to keep at bay for as long as possible.

Notes

Hi LOVES!!! Hello New and Faithful beautiful subscribers!!! First off I want to say thank you guys because I've noticed that the votes and subs for the first and second ITP has gone up and I think that's a bit more than amazing :* I love you all! What did you think of this chapter? (I cant wait to read the comments on this one!) Is it a mistake that Harry is sending Rea away and what do you think is in store for them next? ;} I have so much in store for you all and hope you enjoy the update. LOVE YOU ALL FOR READING!!!

Please comment vote and subscribe if you haven't done so yet and are enjoying what I've got for you all so far? Please? It makes me so Happy lol Xx :*.

Comments

@XOXOH

Hi there lovely, I am a big fan of your books and you don't know how happy I am to see you back here. I LOVE THIS TRIOLOGY so dam much......so let me get this straight....you are not updating this story anymore on here? You are only going to continue this story on wattpad?? .....despite what decision you make I will be waiting for you because I want to know what will HAPPEN ....sorry I am weird xxx

@MACxx
No problem xx

@polisson just added you on watt pad can't wait to see what you have in store! Starting uni daze as we speak thank you for replying to me!!! :)

@MACxx
Hi love! I am XOXOH I unfortunately can't log into my account on here for whatever odd reason??? Google gives me an access denied message but it still shows me when people comment here.Anyway, I will be posting this story again on wattpad under the user polisson it's gonna be a revamp so it will probably be a bit longer and have new parts. I wish I could log in to tell everyone about it. I also have another story that you may like there called Uni Daze. I'm sorry that I can't post here anymore :(

MISSING THIS SO BAD. My favorite book ever and ive been rereading to fill the whole in my heart! Truly miss your writing it's the only thing I have to look forward to when I get on here! Miss you hope to hear from you soon!