Stars Leave Black Holes Behind [HS]

22

Valerie watched as Harry's shoulders immediately relaxed, his furrowed brow and tight lips easing into a look- not of ease, but of some type of comfort.

She had to refrain herself from laughing at him, because God this was not how it used to be. Laughing was such a foreign thing to Val now, that it was like a different language. A secret code. And the fact that Harry, the boy who broke her into fucking pieces, was able to tease this extinct language from her lips, irritated her.

She wanted to be strong. Wanted to tell him to just go away and never come back. Wanted to claw at his heart until she could see it with her own eyes- bleeding, and as fucking broken as hers.

But somehow, in some twisted way, Valerie. Just. Couldn't. Harry was an addiction, and she was like a sponge, unable to do anything but just stand there, watching him, soaking him up.

"Sick," Zayn grinned from where he had sat down on the sofa.

Valerie couldn't quite manage a smile, so instead stared up at her star. She so wanted to just curl up into him and mould herself around the dips and dents of his frame; to crawl inside him somehow and build herself a home; to take him apart with her fingernails and stitch him back together with a thread of her secrets- of her truths and her lies, to weave herself into his skin in the same way he had done to her.

She was astounded by how much she wanted him. After everything, she just still fucking wanted him.

"I'll sleep on the sofa," Harry spoke slowly, his accent snagging deliciously over the words. "Don't worry."

Valerie nodded, "Okay."

She felt pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. She hated herself for feeling the way that she did, for wanting to still be so close to him when he had been the one to leave.

It was vicious.

Deadly.

But Valerie's heart was singing. Valerie's nerves were screaming. Valerie felt like her brokenness was being fixed. It had been only a few hours, but it was like she could already feel herself fitting back together like a jigsaw. Like a smashed window, the scattered fragments of glass setting themselves back into place, keeping the warmth in, keeping the cold out.

"So," Zayn coughed, coming up to stand beside Valerie. He looped an arm around her shoulder and his touch made her jump. "It's only seven, we could watch a film or something?"

He pulled Val into his side, and she bit the inside of her cheek. She could feel his ribcage pressing into hers, the ends of their bones knocking and jarring and seamlessly reminding each other of the state that they were in. The fact that both of them were as equally desperate as the other.

Valerie nodded. Harry's eyes burned. And Zayn could only try to hide his smile.

__

Song: Video Games by Lana Del Rey

"It's you, it's you, it's all for you, everything I do."

--

Hi everyone! You may or may not have already noticed, but I've changed the cover for Stars Leave Black Holes Behind, and I've also added a cast list. Of course, you might be imagining Valerie as someone completely different, but this is just how I picture her.. and even if you don't picture Val at all similar, I think we can all agree that Barbara Palvin is beautifulll.....

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the book so far and your comments honestly make my day!!! Xx

- R