sharp tongues {Embry Call}

²⁷ Pasteur

Adrian let out a sigh, he was still oh so incredibly stressed and his shoulders tensed. "It's just, Claire's growing out of the nursery and-"

"Okay," Harper mumbled out, forcing her voice to not crack. Forcing herself to not crack. Harper honestly hadn't heard anything after that. Blinded by jealousy and the silent anger that made her shake. Suddenly she could understand a fraction of what the boys had been facing in the days leading up to their first shift.

"You still have yet to greet me, is this how you-" 

She did something slightly stupid, if you or a loved one gets second-hand embarrassment please look away. 

"You never call, or text, or communicate with me in general," she snapped. "I'm sorry I assumed it was an emergency and that you needed me or something. Or grandpa couldn't get to me. Or just that Maya was using your phone. So..." she rolled her eyes slightly, hands clenching and unclenching. He didn't respond except for the annoyed sigh. "Fine," she snapped. "Hi. Hello. How are you, father dearest?"

"If you have an attitude like that around Emily-"

"Emily actually respects me, unlike you. God, you're such a deadbeat." Harper had decided to leave out the fact of the whole lying for six months thing.

"Harper Diana Young, I am not a deadbeat dad! You should be lucky- if you talk to Emily like this then I feel pity for her. Sorry for her. I worked out the details with your aunt. You're staying with her until you're finished with your schooling. Unfortunately, she persuaded me to tell you rather than her." His voice was sharp, resolute, and louder than it was at the beginning of the call.

Harper's hands were shaking and she could hear her heartbeat elevate. "Oh. Emily knew. How long?"

He didn't answer.

"I trust this won't be too big of an issue." On the other side of the call, Adrian Young was in his office, leaning back in a recliner, looking mainly at the newspaper. He seemed calm and you could only see the remnants of wrinkles from when he gripped the thin paper a little too tightly.

"When am I going to see you again?" Her voice came out scraggly, lighter than it was. Adrian didn't bother to think of why. Nor did he care. This would be best. Claire was getting too old for a nursery anyway, she'd need Harper's old room and he'd simply just send or donate whatever was left in there.

"Make an appointment-" Adrian was met with the tone of the call being ended and looked at his phone in disbelief. "Disrespectful, brat," he grimaced.

The phone was unceremoniously ripped from her hands, the tone went dead and her eyes met Embry Call's. Always lighter than hers and bordering on a hazel tone. He saw red, it rimmed her eyes and her hands were shaking, her lip had been bitten, he could practically smell the blood from where she split it when he was in the classroom. She looked wrecked and given what he heard he didn't blame her. But he did not deserve her attention like this. He pocketed the phone, turning even vibrate off so it was completely silent.

Before Harper could even ask why he did that, Embry asked her a question. "Let's skip class today. We don't have anything important later and I can get Quil or Jake to copy the notes in the classes you need. Either that or Will still owes me a favor."

Harper looked at him in slight disbelief. The shock of whatever that was replaced the disappointing feeling in her chest with confusion. Why was he doing this? Why couldn't he just leave it alone? Why had he thought of everything? And why did it feel so nice despite the skepticism clouding her mind?

His eyes flicked up and his lips mirrored the action, slightly lifting at the corners in a somewhat unsure smile. "Will said he'll let us borrow the notes, are you in?"