18 Going On 30 || h.s. au

twenty two

^^song for this chapter !! <3

HARRY'S POV

I stare at her as my words hang suspended in the air, my heart slamming in my chest at her confession that I'm not sure I just heard correctly.

How much more can my brain take this weekend, I'm not sure.

Lainey meets my eyes, visibly gulping at the words that have just been exchanged between us. We simply stare, my eyebrows furrowed as she picks at her nails...one of her nervous habits. Is she actually nervous?

"What?" I break the silence again, repeating myself from earlier and her eyes dart down to her lap.

"I don't know...how else to explain it." She shrugs, shaking her head as the faintest smile quirks up on her lips.

"You..." I blink rapidly again, turning on the edge of the bed so my body fully faces hers. "What?" The question comes out again because I genuinely think I'm dreaming right now.

"I liked you, you idiot."

Oh.

"Hell, we're both fucking idiots, Jesus fuck."

She shakes her head in disbelief, and to my surprise she starts chuckling until it becomes a full on belly laugh. I'm talking the type of laugh when someone is tickling you and you're begging them to stop but they won't give it up.

Soon, a smile creeps up on my own face at her laughter, and even though I have no idea why she's laughing I can't help but laugh with her. I guess I get the amusement of the situation and how utterly satirical it feels. It definitely feels like we're on some sort of prank show right now because this feels like a SNL bit.

"I can't- oh my god-" Lainey falls over on the bed, burying her face in a pillow as she continues to laugh. I don't know what she's exactly so amused at, but my own laughter is half out of bewilderment and half at her reaction.

If I'm being honest, I also think the lack of sleep is getting to her. It's making me feel like I'm in a lucid dream here.

"What the fuuuuuuuck." She draws out into the pillow.

"You good over there?" I ask her through my laughter as she sits up and lets out a massive, over exaggerated sigh.

"Nope." She replies honestly, popping the 'p' sound and collapsing into a pillow once again. "Are you?" Her muffled voice says.

"Fuck no." I chuckle. "I need about three to five business days to process, so check back later." I say in an amused tone, falling back on the bed again and grabbing a pillow myself to bury my face and groan into. "What the fuck..." I whisper to myself as well, my mind on autopilot from all this shit that's gone down in the last twenty four hours.

Don't expect me to be able to explain my thought process about this, because like I said, I don't think it's going to fully hit me for a few days. Like she said, I just really feel like a fucking idiot right now and part of me thinks this is a lucid dream from the lack of sleep getting to my brain. It's not going to hit me for a hot minute, and I'm going to bash my own head in thinking about this for the next week. Or more.

A soft knock on the bedroom door prevents us from saying anything else, and I sit up again just as Carolyn enters the room. She creaks the door open quietly and peeks her head in before fully opening the door, and I send her a tight lipped smile when her eyes land on me. I nudge Lainey and she lifts her head, and her eyes land on her mum quickly.