crumble | h.s

part fifty four

"I really hope so." she sniffs.

"That's good. Hold on to that. Hold on to that hope." I console.

She turns her head to me and looks into my eyes. "You need to promise me that you're going to fight with everything you have." she sniffles.

I feel my throat tighten. "I promise."

She shuts her eyes and rests her head on my shoulder. I bring my hand up to the back of her head, embracing her tightly.

"I love you." she says softly into my shoulder.

I take a deep inhale. "Forever." I whisper.

Two hours later, we pull into a parking stall at the mall. It was a Friday afternoon, so it was pretty busy.

I wore a blue flannel with the sleeves rolled down because, despite what Lydia says, I still think my tattoos throw her parents off. We also had to cover the bruises on my face. They were starting to clear up, but they were still there. So, Lydia covered them up with very subtle makeup. My face felt disgusting, but at least I wouldn't get any questions.

Lydia and I get out of the car and hold hands as we walk into the mall. She said her parents would be waiting by the entrance, and sure enough, they were.

Jane waved to us as she stood next to Corey. She was wearing jeans and a cardigan paired with a blank top, and Corey was wearing blue jeans and a red plaid button up shirt.

We walk over to her parents. They greet us with big smiles.

"Nice to see you again, Harry." Jane says as she pulls me in for a hug.

If there's one thing I've learned about Lydia's mom, it's that she's big on hugging.

Corey gives me a high five and a pat on the back as his greeting.

"How have you two been?" Jane flicks her eyes between us.

I glance at Lydia and she returns the look.

"We've been good." Lydia smiles and nods.

Things haven't been good. But we couldn't exactly tell her parents about what happened.

"Well let's grab a bite to eat." Corey speaks. "I'm starved."

I put my arm around Lydia as we walked to the food court. The smell of deep fried food filled my nose, and distant chatters from the occupants seated all over could be heard.

"Go grab your food, and we'll meet at a table." Jane says. Her and Corey walk off, hand in hand to order their own food.

I look down at Lydia. "What are ya feelin' like?" I ask.

She pulls her lips to the side as she thinks. "Should we get burgers?" she asks.

"If that's what you want." I respond.

She nods and we go order our food. Once we have it, we head over to the table that Jane and Corey were seated at.

We ate our food, made normal conversation and Lydia and I pretended like everything in our lives was going fine.

After we finished eating, Jane and Lydia went to a clothing store to spend some 'mother-daughter bonding time' as Jane called it.

So Corey took me to a home hardware store. He's been looking at different types of paints for a while now.

"You thinking of painting the house?" I ask casually, standing behind him with my hands behind my back as he scans the selections.

"We wanna repaint the living and dining rooms." he states. He picks out a mocha-brownish shade and holds it out to me. "What do ya think about this one?"