Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

9

Mason: What've you been up to?

Harley: I just watched Terminator with my family.

Mason: Terminator? Which one?

Harley: The first one.

Mason: First time watching it?

Harley: Not even close.

Mason: I've watched it lots of times too. Did you know the director, James Cameron, got the idea for the movie from a dream he had?

Harley: No, I didn't know that.

Harley was curled up in bed, her blanket drawn over her head, and her breath was steaming up her phone screen as she squinted at it. It was getting late, almost midnight, and she just wanted to go to sleep. Mason had other ideas, though, as the three little dots indicating that he was typing suggested he was writing a novel about everything he knew concerning The Terminator. Harley wished she had the guts to add to that last message, "But of course you do."

Unfortunately, she didn't, and she simply let him type as she stared at those three little dots. To her surprise, the message he finally sent had nothing to do with the movie, and it was a lot shorter than she was expecting.

It read: I'm sorry about today.

Harley stared at the message. She wasn't expecting it and she wasn't sure how to respond. What was he sorry for, exactly? She could think of a few things, like all the times he interrupted her, all the times he changed the subject when she'd been talking about something she was interested in, the time he put an arm around her waist and wouldn't let go when she shifted away uncomfortably. She finally settled on typing back, Sorry for what?

Mason: Doing all the talking, mostly.

Mostly. So he knew about all the other things and he just didn't feel like directly apologizing for them, or he was oblivious and not that sorry over all. The nice, forgiving side of Harley wanted to tell him that it was okay, but the other side that was still bitter about how their meeting went wanted to put him in his place since he was the one who brought it up.

She ended up typing back, That's okay, it just means that next time we meet up it'll be my turn to do the talking.

Mason: Think of something good, I get bored easily.

He didn't get bored if he was doing the talking, though. But before Harley could say anything back, he sent another message.

Mason: So, there's this party happening on the fourth of July at my friend Jace's house. I'd love to take you, if you're free?

She'd never been invited to a party before, so the rush of excitement that seemed to flood her body was strong enough to make her hands shake as she typed her response.

Harley: I'll have to ask to make sure, but I'd love to go!

Mason: Sweet! Let me know asap. Gtg now