Intrepid » n.h. au

Chapter 38

Her arm falls to the side and when I look up at her face, she's got her brows raised and she's staring straight ahead of herself. "And I never texted back."

I purse my lips, shrugging at the information; I know I wanted her to talk to me about whatever issue she was having, but this wasn't quite what I'd expected. I thought she had an alright relationship with Harry. "Well, uh, he... he's got a mouth on him."

Freya shakes her head, raising her phone in front of her face again. "The worst part is that he's right. I did run away from home, I never contacted anyone except him, and I-I didn't go to college." Weirdly enough, that last fact seems to bother her the most. "And I always used... I always used Craig as an excuse for all of that, but now he's out of the picture and I'm still not doing anything differently."

I keep watching her face, a little saddened by the way she just shrugs and looks down with a look of guilt on her face. "Do you..." I start after a minute, glancing at her lap to place my hand on top of hers, "Do you wanna go to Rockford sometime?"

"Yeah, right." Her sarcastic tone surprises me a little, "And do what? Go to my mother like nothing ever happened? Even if that went well, what would I tell her about my life, huh? That I've done nothing in the past six years other than danced on poles? That I've been with an abusive man and put up with his shit and suffered through it and tolerated it, when she's the one who always taught me to crush everyone who stands in my way?"

She gives me a look that says 'I dare you to speak, but you better not'. "Like hell I wanna go to Rockford sometime."

I sigh and shift in my seat, looking at the coffee table in an attempt to come up with something that would be remotely helpful right now. "Well, if you wanna start college before g-going to your mother, you'll have to wait. I mean it's February, you can't just squeeze in in the middle of the second semester."

"I know that," She tells me, nodding to assure me she's aware of what I'd just told her, but I can't help but notice the look in her eyes; it's like I can almost see a light bulb forming above her head. "And I'm also lacking money for it." She trails off and by now her eyes have widened and dear lord, what did she just come up with?

"Alright," I nod too, deciding to act stupid. "Glad you realize it."

"Yeah. You know what?" She sits up, sliding her feet down the couch so they're on the ground, before turning to me, "It's Friday, so Natasha's gonna need help in the restaurant tonight. Dates and all that, you know?"

I smile a bit, "Okay."

"And I was wondering, maybe I could go down and help her out for a few hours? I could earn some cash and sort of get this college preparation thing going, in a way."

My smile widens, and I raise my hand to her hair to pull a strand behind her ear, "Sounds great, babe. You could also ask to work on Fridays regularly, that'll earn you even more money."

"Yeah," She looks away from me, a smile starting to grow on her face, "That's actually a great idea, I could do that. Thanks." By the end of her sentence she's grinning, and once she stops talking she leans forward to press a hard kiss on my lips. "Thanks for being here for me. Now, I had a veggie burger with onion for lunch, think I'm gonna go brush my teeth."

I laugh against her lips, pecking them one last time. "Okay, you do that." I smile as she stands up, almost salsa-dancing out of the room; I wait until I hear the door of the bathroom close, before licking my lips and standing up, then pulling my phone out of my jeans to dial Seth's number.

"Come on, come on..." I mumble to myself, strolling to the bedroom while waiting for him to answer. Just as I sit at the foot of the bed, with the door opened and a clear view of the door on the other side of the room, the beeping sound is cut off.