Relapse / / h.s.

Chapter Twelve.

The clock seemed to tick louder than usual. That was all I heard all day- tick. tock. tick. tock. It was almost as loud as the thunder outside. It was so loud, i wanted to rip my hair out.  Elena had barely been in the office all day- she was playing ride along with one of the newer officers and without her there to keep me company, the silence was too much. I was starting to go mad.

I watched the clock turn from four fifty-nine to five o'clock and let out a sigh of relief. Somehow, I'd made it through the day. The lonely, boring entirety of it. I was exhausted and I wanted nothing more than to go home and drink. Maybe smoke a cigarette first. Or five.

  The wooden door opened as I put away files in their spots in the cabinet. Her shoes squeaked against the linoleum and when I turned around she was searching through her desk, her platinum blonde hair was wet and messy and her cheeks were flushed.

  "Hey," she flashed me one of her infamous Elena smiles- one that makes you want to smile back no matter what kind of day you'd had. That's exactly what I did. "I didn't think we'd be gone all day. Sorry about that."

  Her clothes were soaked, her flimsy dress seeming to stick to ever part of her. Droplets of water dripped from her hair down her arms. She looked like she'd danced in the rain or something.

  "It's raining," she explained, as if I didn't already know. "I got a little-"

    "Wet," I finished for her. She nodded. "I see that. What'd you do, walk all the way back here?"

  "Not exactly," she huffed, finding her purse and slinging it across her torso. "Are you busy. Like right now?"

  I held up the files in my hand. "Well yeah," I said. "Kind of."

She scoffed. "I meant after work." She grabbed a handful of her hair and wrung it out with her hands. Water hit the floor in steady drips. "Are you doing anything after work?"

I thought about my cigarettes and the bottle of jack Daniels that was waiting for me back at my flat. "Yes."

She stopped, keeping her hair wrapped in her hands and gathered it all into one hand. In three swift motions, her hair was in a perfect pony tail. "Laying around on your couch doesn't count."

"Then no," I sighed. "I'm not doing anything."

"Great," she grinned, clapping her hands together. "I think we should start tonight. I want you to take me to the first significant Harry-Lily place."

"Oh," I breathed. I don't know what I thought when I'd agreed to this. Actually, yes I did. I'd thought I'd be able to hold it off. Keep telling her I wasn't ready until she forgot about it all together or gave up. Looking at the grin on her face, something told me she wasn't going to give up.

"We have to start sooner or later," she said sweetly. "And if we start now then I swear you'll feel better."

  It was something in her eyes. I'm not sure what it was. Sincerity, maybe? Security? Assurance? That made me say yes. She was like a puppy.

   "Fine," I sighed, running my hand anxiously through my hair. "Where do we start first?"

  Elena thought for a second, her lips pursed. "Where did you meet?"

  "Here," I said easily, shrugging.

  "Here?"

  "Yeah," I nodded, twisting my ring around on my finger. "She was already working here when I started. We hated each other at first." I smiled at the memories of us bickering back and forth. Who knew what that would eventually lead to?

  "And why was that?" She wondered, leaning back against her desk.

  "I don't know," I smiled, remembering how awful my first couple of days here had been. Now that I think about it, they were actually quite funny. "She was this precious do-good and I was this asshole delinquent. Now that I look at it, it's a miracle we even ended up together- we were just that different, you know?"

  Elena sucked in her cheeks, her eyes raking me up and down. "Ex-delinquent," she laughed, finally meeting my eyes. "That explains the tattoos. I've been meaning to ask."

  I looked down at my inked up arms. "Yeah it's been awhile since I've gotten one." My last was the lily I had on my shoulder blade.

   "How did you come to work here?" She asked after she'd had enough of trying not to gawk at each of my tattoos.

   That memory almost made me laugh too. The person I was now was so different from the person I was back then. I was a little punk now that I look back- someone that stayed out all night and got drunk just because I could. Because no one would stop me.
  
   "Let's just say White is a very forgiving person," I laughed. "If it wasn't for him. My future would be ruined because..."

  I stopped. Should I tell her about Stanford? It's not like it mattered, I wasn't going anymore. I didn't want to go anymore, but I'd kept it a secret from everyone else for so long. Would she think differently of me if she knew I'd gotten into an amazing school and I wasn't even considering going?

   "Because I'd never be able to get a proper job if he hadn't stepped in," I said instead. Elena didn't seem to notice, she only smiled.

  "Yet you ended up back here," she smiled, shaking her head.

  "I ended up back here," I confirmed. I didn't mind it anymore, really. It wasn't as much of a drag as it had been those first few days.

  "And how do you feel about that?" She wondered, sounding more of like a shrink than my friend. I'd done the whole shrink thing before when my mother left and I hated it, but somehow I didn't mind when Elena asked. She asked like a friend, not like someone who was getting paid for every syllable I spit out. "How does it feel to be back here?"

  "I don't know," I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck with my hands. "I feel... productive. Being here doesn't make me feel... upset."

  "There anything else?" She asked quietly, the rain hammering against the window louder than her soft voice. "Anything more about this place you want to tell me?"

  "No," I said confidently.

  "All right," she nodded. "We can start again tomorrow if you'd like. I don't want to exhaust you or-"

  "Actually I don't mind," I said, staring out the window at the way the rain was slapping against it. It was nice. I could handle this. "There's somewhere else I want to take you tonight. Are you up for a drive?"

  Elena stared out of the window. "Absolutely," she grinned.

A/N

AHH! So the adventures begin! Where do you guys think Harry is going to take her? And how do you feel about him finally opening up?

Q: have any of you seen one direction live? If so when? Where?

A: yes! I've seen them twice, almost three times. Once in Chicago (WWA), once in Indianapolis (OTRA) and then at the end of the month I'm seeing them again in Detroit!!