harry and lisa [incomplete]

[picksupstrays.livejournal.com]

Who: Harry Mason and Lisa Garland
Where: Gold Saucer; Ghost Hotel
When: 11/25/07
Rating: PG-13
Summary: They're going out. As friends. You know, because friends do that. Together. As friends.
the Story:

He followed Cybil's advice. Just a nice white shirt, untucked, black jacket and slacks--

Right. God. Like he'd never went to have fun with a friend before, nor is it like he knows how to behave around women in general. (Still, he can remember pretty well when he had tried to ask Jodie to marry him; it included a lot of stammering until she laughed and just said 'yes' to comfort his nerves. Jeez.)

Not that he should think along those lines. Lisa is a friend.

(A friend he really... really likes being around. Damn it.)

Garfield is with friends, he check on Harry, Heather is out -- so that leaves now.

Harry rubs the back of his neck, hating how he feels at the moment, but he waits in the lobby of the hotel.

Comments

[picksupstrays.livejournal.com]

He really hopes this... this isn't just a "in the moment" thing.

His heart is beating faster, and he feels so damned happy. He has people he loves, but not. Definitely not the way he cares about Lisa. People make him happy, but she just.

She really brings a smile in him, by just being there.

And Harry can forget the bitterness in the past much easier.

Gently, he pulls away, if only so he can talk.

"I, um." Harry swallows. "I... I guess I should have said it... way sooner. That..."

Damn it. Get the backbone to say it.

"I really..." The author sighs a moment, then tries again. "Lisa. I want you to know... I don't. I don't care about what you've done, in the past. Neither of us are saints, I know that. I do. I don't even... have to know everything about you, because. I still know you, the kind of person you are. And..."

Just say it.

"And you make me happy. Really happy. I..." No brushing of fingers. Harry just holds the side of her face, to make sure she's listening.

"I really think that I'm..." Damn it -- his heart is beating fast enough to explode, he swears. "I'm in love... with you."

[alonetomorrow.livejournal.com]

"Oh...Harry..." They weren't particularly fancy words, nor were they too simple.

So how was it that they could make her chest feel so tight, but her heart feel so free?

"I-..." It feels harder to breathe, her voice more difficult to summon from her throat. "Do you really-...? I mean, I..." Her fingers, trembling a little, reach up to touch Harry's hand pressed against her face.

"That...means so much to me. To hear you say that. Because I...I love you too, Harry."

There it was.

"And I have for some time..." What she's wanted to say for so long.

But now that she's said it, she laughs a little nervously, tucking back a few loose strands of hair. "God, Harry. I...I'm so happy." And so relieved. Though her heart seems like it could burst any second. "But...all of the sudden, I feel like I could cry a little. Isn't that just the strangest thing? Heh..."

[picksupstrays.livejournal.com]

"I-- wait."

Harry looks surprised. Pleasantly so, of course, but still he's baffled, in the way that typically the author is confused by something. He tilts his head, gently stroking her cheek damn he really does adore her and tries to understand.

"You do? You have?"

...Damn, he's a big idiot for missing whatever signals she's dropped.

Like. The Thanksgiving dinner.

Ugh, how did she fall for someone so oblivious?

"No, I... I understand why you might." Harry laughs nervously, moving himself so he can sit next to Lisa instead of across from her. "I mean... I. I've kept to myself for the last few years, until I got here. It's... so weird to be so open."

Harry hesitantly puts an arm around her shoulders. "It's so damned unfamiliar, and. I'm kind of scared myself about being involved with someone again, but it's good kind of scared. The kind I'd be more than happy to face, because, um."

Damn, when he gets on a roll and just. Stops.

"You're..." He hates being so nervous. He doesn't want to screw this up and he's already worrying too much. "You're worth trying for. Everything. And I'll never leave you behind."

Never again.

[alonetomorrow.livejournal.com]

"I do. And I have..." she answers in a quiet voice. "I just...didn't know how to tell you. I thought you'd reject me..."

Lisa leans her head against Harry's chest, a little more comfortable with the motion than the other, curling an arm over his waist. So warm. The nurse sort of inches closer, so her side can press against his just slightly.

"I'm glad I don't scare you 'cause...I really like being with you." If he left, Lisa honestly didn't know what she would do. "And I...I want to stay with you too. I want to be by your side for as long as I can." For as long as she's allowed. Till the end, she supposes, whatever the 'end' may be.

She peers up into Harry's eyes, cocking her head to the side with an unsure smile. "Um, does this mean-I mean, are we...? Are you...uh, my boyfriend now?"

[picksupstrays.livejournal.com]

This isn't awkward at all. Just surprising and.

Actually, quite amazingly, comfortable. He really, really likes her so close, even if it's suddenly hard to breathe and his heart is racing. He's sure he feels so stupidly excited.

"You don't scare me, Lisa," Harry assures gently. "I won't be going anywhere."

That last part... Oh.

"Um. I-I guess I am," Harry replies with a small laugh. "If... you want me to be."

[alonetomorrow.livejournal.com]

"Just asking, 'cause...that's the formal term, right?" She laughs too. Boyfriend, huh? It felt so weird, calling him that, seeing him in that sort-of light.

"Yeah...yeah I do. Want you to be, that is." Lisa reaches up to fondly brush at Harry's hair, her eyes getting a little watery (god she felt so sensitive but her heart- was this really happening?). She almost couldn't believe this- it all felt impossibly true. Like the sweetest dream she could ever have.

She strokes Harry's cheek with the back of her fingers. The only dreamy thing here was the expression on her face.