Page 31 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
He grinned. "Harvey. I sit behind you in Creative Writing . You always ask questions I was too scared to."
***
Week 6
She tried to keep her distance. Polite smiles and polite rejections for his invitations.
But Harvey was relentless in the gentlest way, leaving little notes, walking her halfway to the hostel, offering her chocolate frogs when she's stressed.
Ana texted Cadi:He's dangerously earnest. Like, Nicholas Sparks earnest.
Cadi texted back:Nothing ventured nothing gained, Ana.
***
Week 9
She finally gave in.
They got coffee. It was only supposed to be once.
Harvey talked about his plans to be a writer and his part-time lifeguard job.
When he mentioned swimming, she instinctively thought about Byron's body-broad, battle-hewn, chaos in motion. Like a warrior.
Harvey's frame was leaner, sculpted in neat symmetry. Aesthetically more perfect.
She hated herself for noticing the difference.
***
Week 12
She woke up one morning and found his hoodie draped over her desk chair.
He hadn't left it on purpose. But she tentatively tried it on.
There are Polaroids on her noticeboard now. Her and Fion. She and Harvey, making stupid faces outside the Radcliffe Camera.
He's in the background of her life now. Always there, quietly staking ground.
***
End of Term
"Come with me," he said. "Just for the weekend to Inverness. I want to see the Straths and Glens with you."
There was snow in the forecast, and a hopeful boyishness in his smile.
She said yes.
***
Inverness, B&B, Single Room
The room was warm and cosy. Harvey brushed her hair back gently, as if to calm a skittish animal.
Harvey reached for her slowly, giving her space to say no. His fingertips brushed the side of her neck, then her jaw, like she was something precious.
