To be honest, I didn't know what to expect and I was scared of what I'll find in the books and manuscript that Dylan handed to me. Which is why the pile was sitting comfortably inside my car for the past week.
I am a coward and it felt like whatever was written in there would break the hell out of me. Realizing how much Harriett suffered through all those years already broke me so I don't know just how much this one will hurt.
I do want to know. I do want to read it. Because a writer's work is an extension of their soul. A product where a piece of them was woven in. And I want to know more about what had happened to her in those years that we're apart.
But I also don't want to feel conflicted especially when Harriett isn't alright just yet.
"You're spacing out"
I blinked rapidly when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw that Harriett was eyeing me worriedly.
"Huh?"
"I said you were spacing out. Are you okay?"
I stared at her, popcorn and soda on hand. Instantly I felt embarrassed. That's right I had asked Harriett out on a movie date. The new movie Sunrise on the Reaping is showing and I knew that Harriett loved everything about The Hunger Games so I had asked her out.
And yet I was spacing out here like an idiot. I let out a deep breath before looking at her apologetically.
"Sorry Harriett. I had something on my mind and I didn't notice I was spacing out because of it"
Harriett only looked at me before looking at the cinema entrance.
"Do you want to watch this next time? I want you to enjoy it and if you have something on mind then I doubt you will"
I smiled before placing my forehead on hers. Her eyeglass is thicker than before but her eyes were just as bright as they were before.
This was one of those days where she feels alright, happy even. So I can't let this go to waste.
"I'm fine. I do need a distraction of some sort plus…"
I said as I took the bucket of popcorn from her right arm and held her right hand intertwining my fingers with hers.
"This is our first date and I want to do it with all of your favourites. Favourite drink, favourite flavor of popcorn, favourite book which will eventually become your favourite movie"
Harriett smiled as she raised an eyebrow.
"How are you so sure that I don't already have one?"
"Oh you do have one. It's The Hunger Games and this movie is an extension of it. I remember you blabbering about the whole book last night and on our way here so I'm sure of it"
Harriett just smiled before she shook her head. My smile faded as she just stared at me, a smile still on her face.
"What? Is it not The Hunger Games anymore?"
A chuckle escaped from her lips before she pulled me into the cinema.
"You have a new favourite?"
"Maybe?"
She answered teasingly as she walked ahead of me.
"Well what is it?"
She gave me a slight shrug before she went inside the cinema.
"Harriett"
I called as I followed her up to our seats but it was like she was hell-bent on keeping her answer. She just smiled at me before putting her index finger to her lips, silencing me.
"It's a secret"
She loved The Hunger Games since we were in Highschool. It was the one movie she never got tired of until she could recite every line from it. So her telling me that she had a new favourite was something I didn't expect. It's killing me not knowing what it was. Because I was so sure that amidst the changes she had that was the one thing that was constant. But even that had changed.
"What else changed?"
Harriett's gaze moved back to me before I could even stop myself. But she just smiled at me.
"I like the color pink now. Not the hot and bright ones, but the pale and light where with the right lightning it could turn into white."
She used to hate pink, said it was too girly, said it made her look generic because a girl was bound to like pink.
"I also don't hate flowers anymore and I'm not allergic to it too"
She had a pollen allergy which made her hate any kind of flower but I did catch her glimpsing photos of it before.
"What else?"
I whispered near her ear as she turned to me. The trailers of different upcoming movies are playing on the screen. She turned towards me and humored me since the movie hadn't started yet.
"I can't watch gore anymore. I easily get queasy and sick in the stomach now"
She used to watch The Human Centipede and Green Inferno while eating and you wouldn't even catch her blinking from it.
"Sweets are still my comfort food but I can't eat too much of it anymore because of my molars"
I smiled as I teasingly said.
"I guess all those years of eating candies and sweets finally did their damage huh"
I chuckled when she glared at me. She was about to say something else but the screen had turned dark indicating the start of the movie. So I fixed my posture and sat back when Harriett had said.
"I don't hate rom-com movies and books now."
I stared at her to see her expression but the movie had already started and her gaze was already stuck to the screen. But I can't help but ask.
"Why?"
Because the Harriett that I know hates rom-com movies and series. She curses them because she said she can't relate to it, and that kind of love was all fiction. That a love without pain was a make-believe and she refused to watch or read that kind of romance.
She glanced at me before smiling. A real smile, one that I hadn't seen her wear since we met again.
"Because my favourite movie is a rom-com"
I sucked in a deep breath as I held back the question. As I drowned out my curiosity because somehow I had a feeling of what it was. And I have a feeling I know where I can get that answer.