Ride or Die | Sam Fender AU

045

"Hol?" you called curiously upon noticing the familiar mop of wavy brown hair pressed into the corner of one of the coffee shop booths. She looked out of place, almost entirely obscured from view and curled over a once-steaming cup of black coffee. It was the last place you thought you would find her. In fact, now that you thought of it, you couldn't recall a single time you had seen her in the real world. She always seemed to be confined to the shadows of Sam's house like the enigma she was.

"Y/N," she replied curtly, lifting her head to look up at you.

"Can I sit?" you asked, clutching your Americano in both hands. You were originally planning on working on your research proposal, wanting to get a headstart on the whole thing whilst you had some free time. It's why your laptop was tucked away in your bag but it was forgotten about the moment your eyes fell on the estranged girl.

"Uh, of course." She was uncomfortable. Ill-at-ease. It didn't take a genius to figure that out but what you couldn't figure out was why she was even there in the first place. Getting coffee was such a mundane task. You had never really given it more than a second thought but for someone like Holly, it seemed so unusual.

You set your drink down on the table and slid into the opposite booth, watching the older girl with careful eyes. You hadn't seen her in over a week, not since everyone had gathered to discuss the night of the shipment. It wasn't unusual not to see her but something about her presence in the coffee shop made you wonder if she had been around at all.

"This doesn't seem like your usual scene," you commented, eyes flickering around the quaint shop.

"It's... not," she replied ominously, swirling the black liquid around the mug. She didn't seem like she was going to drink much more of the mug's contents, rather keeping it in her grasp so she blended in more with the coffee shop's regulars.

"Um, I don't mean to... pry but is, uh, is everything alright?" you asked quietly, your tone laced with concern.

"I'm fine," she smiled but you were unconvinced. She was almost impossible to read but her actions were out of character and it made you wonder if something had happened to land her in such a place. Was she avoiding someone? Spying on someone?

"Is Sam being a hard arse because of what happened?" you questioned with a frown. You hadn't considered that his annoyance with his sister would extend past last week's events but the sudden realisation made your gut twist with guilt. "I'm sorry, I told him that you didn't make me do anything-"

"He suspended me," she told you, cutting off your ramble before it became too prolonged and too awkward.

"What?" you coughed, the admission taking you by shock. "Because of what happened? Isn't that a bit extreme? I mean-"

"He didn't suspend me because of that," she assured you, which helped settle your guilt slightly but it did nothing to suppress your curiosity.

"Then why?" you frowned.

"The reason Sam got hurt the other night was because of me," she admitted. "I might have gotten a bit... uh, distracted." Her voice was quiet and tainted with a hint of what seemed like embarrassment but it wasn't an emotion you associated with Holly Humberstone. "One of the Moores caught me and smashed my head into a shipment container."

"Jesus, are you alright?" you asked with wide eyes.

"It's nothing I can't handle but it had a bit of a domino effect and Sam got distracted by me, hence why he got hurt," she explained, fixing her gaze on her coffee. She was almost too guilt-ridden to meet your eyes.

"And he suspended you because of that?" you gaped.

"It wasn't totally unwarranted, I have been a bit... out of it for a while now," she cringed, scrunching her nose with distaste. You could tell she was kicking herself internally. She was someone who clearly set herself impossible standards and tore herself down when she couldn't meet them but failure was not an option in her eyes. "I've not been on my A-game and Sam knows that, says I don't have my head screwed on properly right now and until I do, I'm suspended."