The night air that was leaking in from my cracked window did little to clear my brain. The whole cab of the truck was full of Harley's presence making it hard to think about anything else. "So, what has little sweet's been doing these past four years?"
"Nothing. Reading, lots of reading." It sounded lame but I didn't want to mention the bakery or the culinary classes right now for fear that he would think it was a silly idea. He chuckles at this surely about to make a joke about my younger self.
"I do vaguely remember you walking around with your nose so close to the pages you had to have been able to smell it." He grabs the stirring wheel with one hand and glances at me then back at the road. Trying to read my reaction to his teasing.
"Oh, yeah? Going there, are we? I remember when you kissed Sandra Willis, and her braces caught your lip. You told Finnic that you got in a fight, but I heard her talking to her friends about it in the bathroom." I say smugly, crossing my arms over my chest, feeling as though I had for once won this one. He probably didn't even know I knew about this.
"I lied for her sake; she was embarrassed." He confesses. "See a gentleman." He says smugly.
Harley wasn't a gentleman by any means. Sure, he wasn't mean to women from what I know of, and he has basic manners but over the time of watching him navigate his teenage years has ruined that view of him for me.
"Such a gentleman that you took Lily Grey right there under the bleachers, after the game." I stared out the window biting my lip to hold in my laughs because I knew I had won this one. There was nothing he could say to justify that.
"Tu shay." He concludes as we pull into the full parking lot. "A lot of people. You good with this?"
"Not really." I chuckled nervously. "But so, be it, right?"
I start to open my door, but he stops me. "I'll do that."
Maybe he was a gentleman now, but I've heard too many stories growing up to think of him as anything but wild and reckless.
He and my brother were a feat no one wanted to cross. Harley did catch most of the punishments, though. Not that my brother pushed them on him, but Harley wouldn't let Finnic take them. Something about too big of a future ahead of him.
Finnic had played pro for a couple of years until he sustained an injury that made him quit. Now he is the coach at the local college.
That's where he met Asher at.
Harley opens my door and holds out his hand to help me out. I hope he didn't notice how clammy my skin felt from the nerves of so many people being here. We walk up to the entrance but before I open the door, I fill Harley's warm breath caressing the back of my neck. Chill bumps instantly cover my arms, the tingles strong.
Almost throbbing under my skin.
Once again, I have to open my mouth to allow more oxygen in my deprived lungs.
His hand incases my hand around the handle. His breath moves to my ear, "Did you wear underwear this time?" It was a whisper meant only for my ears to hear. It almost seemed like it was thought that he let slip, out of his mouth.
Throwing caution to the wind.
He pulls the door open to let us both go inside, and I debate whether he meant to say what he said out loud. At this point, I'm flustered so badly that Finnic and Liz see. It was as if Harley was doing this on purpose, timing it perfectly so that my brother sees.
"What did I tell you about flirting with my sister?" Finnic fake scolds him. If it had been anyone else Finnic would be a completely different person right now, but Harley was his best friend. The one he hasn't hung out with in six years. I don't think Finnic cared much about whatever we had going on.
"Shut up." I cover my red face and walk with Liz to find a good booth.
I glance around at all the people drunk and sober walking around.
I slid to the inside of the booth wanting to be as far away from all the prying eyes as possible.
"I'm sorry, Maddie. I should have picked somewhere less crowded. It slipped my mind." I wasn't mad at them for picking here, or for forgetting about my anxiety, it was good to know that they didn't think about it all the time and let it affect their decisions. The server comes by and gets our drink order.
"It's fine, Liz. It's not going to kill me to socialize some." It would probably help me; I mean how am I to get better at this kind of stuff if I never do it? Curing it by exposure, hopefully. It sounded bogus to me, but I liked looking on the bright side now and again.
"Still say something next time." She scolded me, Liz was very protective of me, something she had developed from my brother.
"So, are you and my cousin talking?" Her expression changed to one of mischief.
I had thought I had escaped this conversation when I left Finnic and Harley at the doorway. "No, why?"
"Because I have seen you two flirting at the birthday party and y'all rode here together." Her southern accent peeked through at the end of her sentence. "Plus, just the way you two look at each other is obvious. "
"What do you mean? The way we look at each other?" I question out of pure confusion I wasn't aware that we looked at each other a certain type of way.
"Y'all look at each other like the other is the only person in the room." I pause a moment after she admits this, realizing that Harley does kind of take all my attention when I see him. Not paying much mind to anyone else around. I needed to get that under control. She spoke like it was a two-way street.
"No, we don't." I chuckled. "We're just friends. Plus, you know I'm not ready to date anyone regardless." Booming laugh echos from behind me and I jump a little as I twist my fingers together repeatedly. A habit I use to do all the time in school, it had come back recently.
Harley and Finnic come over to the table and sit down. Finnic with Liz and Harley with me.
The bench is a little small, so I try to slide over as far as the booth would allow me giving his gigantic self as much room as possible.
"You're fine. I have plenty of room." As if to show me he moves his legs back and forth. The rough texture of his jeans rubbed against my bare knee.
"We're having the wedding in August." Liz's demeanor changes and I can tell that she has switched to her event planner side. That was what she did for a living, and she was good at it too. It doesn't surprise me that she's planning their wedding. "It's only five months away but I'm pretty confident we will have time to get everything planned out before then."
I nod as she talks letting her know that I'm listening intently.
"The main thing I wanted to talk to you two about, besides spending time together tonight, was the bachelor and bachelorette party." Harley coughs which causes his jeans to rub me again and the tingles are back, anticipation waiting in the corner of my brain. I hold out my menu to Finnic and point out what I want, and he nods before looking back down at his menu.
"We trust you two to plan something fun for us, we can fund the money." Liz knows I'm not a big partier, maybe that's why she trusted me with this over some of her other friends. She knew I would put some time into what we were going to do instead of just picking a random club to spend the night in.
"I can fund both parts. As a wedding gift." Everyone at the table turned their attention to Harley. All of us were a little shocked, that was easily a couple of grand.
"You don't have to do that, Harley," Liz explains a little stunned.
"I want to." He explains.
"I need to work wherever he does." Finnic jokes. We knew that Harley had a good job in the town over, Baxton, but I don't think we knew exactly how much he was making until now. To be able to just have a couple of thousand dollars on such short notice was impressive. Especially since we all grew up relatively poor.
The server comes back, and everyone tells him what they want, Finnic orders for me as usual. I always stuttered and flushed when I'm put on the spot, it was just easier to let someone else do it, it was just a part of the social anxiety that made it a little harder to fit in.
It doesn't take them long to have our food out, soon after everyone in the bar starts to sing loudly. I feel my skin clamming up again, all the loud nose putting me on edge.
Harley's rough hand rested on my knee and suddenly the feelings were gone. Instead of worrying about everyone here, I am focused on his hand on my skin. Once everyone calmed back down again, he let his hand fall back to his side. "Thank you," I whisper so only he can hear me.
-.-.-.-.-
Don't forget to comment and vote.