Irrevocable [H.S.]

7. Obituaries

Check warnings if you need them! <3 

Ayanna was already in the kitchen cooking her dinner when I arrived home later that evening. I entered the front door, and there was no chance of avoiding her in our small apartment. I shrugged off my coat and hung it on the rack beside the front door.

"Hey! I was just about to call you," she wiped her hands clean and crossed the room to pull me into a hug. "You're usually not out this late. I was worried."

"You know me, I lost track of time at the library."

She looked at my empty hands and lack of study materials. "Alright. Well, how was your day?"

My body froze in response. Would they have found the man's body by now? It was getting harder to keep track of my lies and prevent her from being suspicious of my behavior. I had already been avoiding her as much as possible this week, since I spent the majority of my time looking for ways to hurt her enough for her to let me go without a fight. But for now, I was currently out of any viable options for moving out. For the moment, Harry had said he would let Ayanna live—although I wasn't sure if his promises could be trusted or if he would change his mind at his earliest convenience.

Right now, I just needed my best friend.

I sighed and sat down at the kitchen stool, watching as she returned to the dough resting on the counter and her chemist mind perfected whatever it was she was working on baking.

"It was a shit day, actually," I said with a sigh.

"Yeah? What happened?"

How was I supposed to avoid telling her that I witnessed a murder, but somehow be honest with her at the same time? "Um, do you remember when I told you about my ex?"

"Jake? What's happening with him?"

"No, not Jake... Edward."

Ayanna put down the knife she was holding and snapped her head up. She clearly had not been expecting that answer. "What about him?" Her tone now held contempt.

"I sort of... ran into someone that he knows." It was unlikely that Harry had ever crossed paths with the Cullens, but what did I know about the social connections of the vampire world.

"What? Who?" She walked to the sink, washed the remaining flour off her hands, and returned to sit on the stool next to me, giving me her full attention.

"He was this guy that Edward knew from his first high school—the one he went to before moving to Forks." Edward had been to numerous high schools, although I doubt he met very many people there. And I didn't actually know where he lived immediately before living in Forks. It was one of the many topics we never covered in our brief six month relationship.

"Right, you said he moved around often. How did this guy even recognize you?" Ayanna asked.

"He came to visit once while Edward still lived in Forks. I guess he's good with faces—I don't know really." I tried to keep the lies short. "It was just so jarring to have that time of my life brought back up. It's already been a long week—what, with being robbed and now this. I've been so on edge and I can feel myself quickly slipping back into my depressive ways."

"That's enough to ruin anyone's week," she comforted me. "At least you found your phone after all, that's a positive—although you can't give Charlie any grief for losing his phone ever again. Is there anything you want to do to take your mind off it?"

I shrugged. "Just... tell me about your week. We haven't had much time to catch up." Which was by my design.

"Lucky for you, I'm planing on spending the weekend at home. The building would have to be burning to get me out of here. I've been helping Evelyn salvage her thesis all week after that undergrad broke our spectrophotometer. Thankfully she won't have to transfer labs, but it will be difficult for her to catch up and still graduate on time." Ayanna stood up, returning to her recipe. "John essentially faced zero consequences, which doesn't surprise me. His father donated a sizable amount to the department to replace the machine on an impressive deadline. Too bad that doesn't bring back Evelyn's lost data."