Samantha
Dancing with Harley was magical. It felt special. And nice. A face would appear in the back of my mind followed by my parents' everytime I thought about this fact. I tried my best to erase them.
She's a friend, I told myself. Nothing to worry about.
We were at the snack table when Wyatt Graham and Axelle Summers came over.
I was busy talking with Axelle, Wyatt's two-year girlfriend, about her new art album, when I realized that Wyatt and Harley weren't talking anymore. They were frozen, looking in the same direction.
Out of curiosity, I looked beyond where they were standing and came eye-to-eye with a tall girl, walking towards us, a smile on her lips.
She had black hair, which was curly and long till her waist. She had a tan complexion. Her eyes were a light shade of grey, thickly lined with black. Her lips were naturally pink. She had on a silver gown, with thin sleeves and a slit along the side that ended above her left knee. Her eyebrows were thick and had a cut across one of them, definitely made by herself. It was clear that she was a senior like us.
She was pretty, but not as pretty as Harley, I decided.
I came to stand beside Harley. She was paralysed, if anything. Her face showed zero emotion at first, but upon further inspection, I recognized fear and shock.
Why would Harley Gardner be afraid of anything?
I looked back at the girl who was now just a few feet away from us. She was definitely not from our school. I would know her if that were the case, no questions asked.
Wyatt suddenly stood in front us. I saw that Harley was still shocked.
"What the hell are you doing here, Norah?" he groaned.
"Oh, come on, Wy. I wanna talk to Harley, not you," she said, calm and composed. Her voice was deep, but soft and alluring at the same time. I saw Harley flinch at her words.
She looked vulnerable in a way I've never seen her. And I hated it. I subconsiously moved my hand to her lower arm and held on to it, moving my thumb gently against the skin. She gulped and looked down at the floor. Her hands were balled into tight fists.
"Guess what. You can't. Get the fuck out."
"Move, Wyatt," she said, less pleasantly this time.
"She doesn't wanna see you."
I looked back at Axelle, who had concern written all over her composure. Her eyes showed recognition. They all knew who she was.
That's when Harley moved, freeing herself from my grip and before I knew it, she was trying to jump her. She was mad now. Like, really, really pissed. And it scared me. The sudden movement, the anger, it scared me. And quite frankly, it reminded me of certain unpleasant memories.
I backed away in fear and Axelle moved to my side.
"You bitch!" she screamed, trying to punch and scratch her, while Wyatt held her back.
Norah watched at a safe distance of a few feet, a look of scorn on her face.
"Let go of me, Wyatt!" she growled, struggling against his arms, which were tightly around her, holding her back.
A spell of silence fell on the crowd around us and we had eyes on us now. A lot of eyes.
"You never learned to talk, did you?" She scoffed, arms folded in front of her chest. I suddenly felt the urge to slap her.
"Fuck you, Norah!" Harley shouted. "Fuck you!"
I saw that tears were spilling from her eyes now.
Wyatt started moving towards the exit doors with Harley, who was just crying now and had given up on the screaming, in a weird trance, her wet eyes lingering on nothing in particular, like she was drunk.
Axelle and I followed. I looked back and met Norah eye-to-eye for a second or two before following them out. She was just standing there, watching us.
We went out into the parking lot. Harley was still in Wyatt's arms, holding onto him, still crying. It was night time now and the sky was starless and black.
Wyatt set her down on the ground beside Axelle's car and then pulled her into an embrace.
Harley cried into his shirt. We could do nothing but watch awkwardly. At least, I was feeling awkward. Axelle looked pissed, if anything.
After a while of just standing around, I built up the nerve to address the elephant in. . . the parking lot.
"Who is Norah?"
Harley let out a tired sigh at my question.
"Wha- I wanna know, damn it!" I said, indignantly, hands on my hips.
"She's just an asshole. There. You have your answer," Wyatt deadpanned.
"Yeah, no shit. I want to know what's going on," I said.
"Look, now's not the time," Axelle said.
"I'm taking her home," Wyatt said. "Ella? Could you drive?"
"Okay, no," Harley suddenly said, pushing herself away from him. She was still staring at the ground. "I'm not ruining the night for you guys. Go back inside."
"Harley-" Wyatt began.
"I said no, Wy. Go back in. Take Axelle with you. I'll get home on my own. Even you, Sam. Go back in."
"Okay, I get Wyatt's part. I'm your date, Harley. I'm supposed to drop you back home anyway," I chimed in. The three of them just stared at me.
"What?" I said.
"Go. Back. Inside," Harley groaned.
"No."
"You can't get away with saying no to everything."
"Oh, I'm getting away with it alright. And I'm staying over at your place. It's a Saturday, anyway. I'm raiding your closet and eating out of your fridge. You know what, it's a damn sleepover," I said and grabbed Harley's arm.
"Go back inside and have fun, guys," I said, smiling at them cheerfully.
"Samantha-" Harley said.
"No, it's Sam. And shut the fuck up."
After a few seconds, the concern slipped away from Wyatt's face and he just smiled slightly.
"Take care of her, will you?"
"For sure!" I gave him a thumbs up. Axelle just shook her head at me, but smiled either way.
"I'm not a fucking baby," Harley grumbled. I used my free hand to smack her across the head.
"I said, shut up!" I said and began pulling her away towards my car. Defeated, she followed me in silence after that.
She got in and I shut the door after her. We drove in silence, out of the school premises and through the streets leading to her place.
When we reached her place, I parked my car just outside her garage. Inside, a car was already parked.
"Mom's home," Harley mumbled.
"Okay, great. I get to meet her!" I exclaimed.
"Go back home, Samantha," she growled, burying her face in her hands.
"No. I thought I told you that," I said.
"Why do you want to, anyway?" she asked, suddenly looking me right in the eyes with a certain amount of intensity.
"Because you're not okay and I wanna be there for you. I wanna help," I said.
She just stared at me, a look of awe on her face.
She let out a sigh and, grabbing her duffel bag from the backseat, she got out of the car.
I got out along with her.
I told Harley that I'll be inside in a minute and called my Mom, staring out into the night.
"Hi, honey! How's the dance?" she said.
"Mom, we came back early. I'm staying over at my friend's place."
There was silence from the other side. It scared me. I knew exactly what was going on in her mind at my words.
Fear.
Fear that I was going to do something she didn't ever want me to.
Fear that history would repeat itself.
"Mom, she's a friend," I emphasized.
"Oh, no, of course, of course, sweetheart. You can sleep over. Do you have clothes with you?" Her voice was strangely hoarse all of a sudden.
"I can borrow," I said. My voice came out squeakier than I thought.
"Of course, sweetie. Take care of yourself, alright?"
"Yeah, I will. Bye," I said. "And tell Dad I said hi. Love you."
"Of course. I love you, too. Bye, Sam," she said and the line got cut.
I let out a sigh and walked inside. The house wasn't a big mansion or anything, but it was very well decorated and designed. I took in my surroundings.
Mrs. Gardner was on the couch. Upon seeing me, she gave me a friendly smile and got up.
"And you must be Samantha. Aren't you pretty!" she said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, smiling warmly.
"Hello, Mrs. Gardner," I said, smiling back. She had the same brown eyes as Harley. But I figured that she got her features from her Dad.
"Please, call me Louise," she said. "You can treat yourself to anything in the fridge. If you're feeling hungry, I can order pizza for you guys, alright?"
I nodded. "Harley's upstairs?"
"Yeah, first room on the right."
"Okay, thanks," I said.
"Oh, wait a second, Samantha?"
"Yeah?"
"Did something happen at the dance? Something bad?"
Oh, so Harley didn't tell her anything.
"No, nothing. Why do you ask?" I said nonchalantly.
"Oh, it's just, her makeup looks messed up and her eyes. . . it just looked like she. . . you know. And I know my daughter enough to not ask her anything right after something bad happens. I never get any answers."
I nodded slowly.
"I-It's okay. Sorry for bothering you like that. I can just be a little too worried about her sometimes. Good night, Samantha," she said, smiling nervously as she walked into the kitchen.
I ran upstairs.
I found the door on the right and got inside.
Harley was half-naked. She was in a bra. And her dress was on the floor.
My eyes widened at the sight. They roamed on their own accord.
Oh my god.
I cleared my throat.
"You didn't tell her anything, did you?" she asked, grabbing her dress and dropping it into a laundry bag.
". . . No."
"Good, thanks for that. I'm taking a shower," she said. Grabbing a towel and some clothes from her closet, she went into her bathroom. Before shutting the door, she turned to me and said, "You can take whatever you want from my closet. You can even use one of the bags there to put your clothes inside. If you wanna shower, feel free to use the bathroom in the next room. There's a spare toothbrush in one of the drawers as well."
"O-okay, thanks."
She shut the door behind her.
***
I still couldn't get the image of naked Harley out of my head. Sure, she had a bra and panties on. And I've undressed with my girl-friends before in the girls' locker room.
Why the hell does this feel any different then?
I think I even blushed a little.
I kept pondering this question as I took a shower in the next room, changed and brushed my teeth. I braided my hair with a spare hair band and got back into Harley's room. I had decided to borrow one of her sweatshirts and shorts.
It felt comfortable. And they were oversized, which added to the comfiness.
Her room was neat. Her walls were painted a sky blue colour and her bed was blue. Her furniture was a combination of blue and white. There were quotes on the walls and maybe a few polaroids and pictures and paintings decorating them as well. Two big bookshelves were set up at one corner, filled with books. There was a currently closed sliding glass door, leading to a balcony, with a view of the immediate street and the neighborhood beyond.
She was already in bed as I walked in. She was in grey PJs and her hair was open and combed. It felt weird seeing it combed and groomed. I had gotten used to seeing it messy and open and, just tonight and on some other occasion I couldn't quite remember, I'd seen it braided.
She was on her phone.
I climbed into bed with her.
She placed her phone on the bedside table and waited for me to settle down.
"I guess we're calling it a night even though it's just nine?" I deadpanned.
"You want to do something else, instead?"
"No, not really," I admitted.
"Good night, then." She shrugged and switched off the bed side lamp that illuminated the room.
We laid in bed silently for a few minutes.
I opened my mouth to speak but Harley, who was staring at the ceiling, cut me off.
"I'm not explaining myself tonight," she stated.
"Fuck you," I said to the darkness.
"Aw, fuck you, too," she replied in a mocking tone.
"You're really annoying sometimes," I said, and turned on my side, my back facing her. "I don't know why I wanted to be with you tonight."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. I bet you don't even want to cuddle like a normal person."
There was a bit of silence before she said, "You're right, I don't."
"I wanted to cuddle until you started talking. So, you know what, sleep alone tonight. Pretend I'm not even fucking there. Good night, Harley," I ranted.
"Good night," she said softly.
As my eyes slid shut and sleep started engulfing me, I felt an arm come around my waist, pulling me against a warm body, holding me close. I let out a sigh at how nice it felt.
"Good night," she seemed to say again from a distance of a million miles.
***
Hey!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Lemme know what you think ;)
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Lots of love,
queenred