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Chapter 153

When no one else can understand me
When everything I do is wrong
You give me hope and consolation
You give me strength to carry on
And you're always there to lend a hand
And everything I do
That's the wonder
The wonder of you

— The Villagers, The Wonder of You

. . . .

The drive to Harry's parents' house is long—too long for my liking when all I want to do is let out all of this built-up anger and irritation without scaring Lilly in the backseat. We hit every stoplight, got stuck behind every slow driver in the entire country, and ran into traffic briefly along the way.

Sitting through the traffic, Lilly reaches forward and nudges her stuffed bear against my upper arm. I pull it into my lap by its ear and she says, "He always makes me feel better."

I momentarily smile at this sweet child. The golden bear is plush in my hands, its black eyes blankly staring into mine. Tan thread is stitched up the bear's left side from when George grabbed a hold of it one night when he was a tiny puppy and tore a chunk out of its side. Lilly bawled and screamed for an hour until she fell asleep in her own tears. Harry had no idea how to sew, and it was nearing nine-thirty at night. Early the next day, Harry dropped the bear off at his mother's house where she said she would repair the stuffed animal to the best of her abilities. Harry and Lilly picked it up after their school days, and she treated that thing like it was her child. For her to give it up like that, shows her empathy and generosity towards others, despite it only being a stuffed bear. It's her prized possession.

I squeeze its chubby waist for the rest of the duration to Harry's parent's house. It started raining during our wait in traffic but died off a few minutes later. When we finally pull into Anne and Robin's driveway, Harry unlocks the doors.

"Go ahead in, Lil. We'll be in in a few minutes."

He watches her slide out of the car and run up to the house. Anne opens the door and welcomes Lilly into her arms. Lilly says something to her grandmother and Anne looks in our direction. Harry waves with his two forefingers, then unbuckles his seatbelt.

"Come here," he says gently. He scoots closer to me and wraps his arms around my shoulders once again, comforting me instantly. He kisses the side of my head, his face becoming lost in my hair but his mouth remains by my ear. "What happened?"

As if the words can't come out, I open my mouth to speak but I'm mute. I'm shaking; my nerves bouncing around frantically inside my body. My tears have soaked a spot on his white t-shirt just at the top of his shoulder but that's the least of our worries. Harry's still holding me against him, comforting me all while itching to know what happened back at my bull-headed father's house, most likely.

"Calm down," he coaxes me. "You're alright, Vi. Talk to me. Tell me what happened."

"I'm so stupid for ever thinking that you and he would get along. You've been so supportive of me, and he's just an ass," I bawl some more at the end of my sentence and lean further into his embrace.

"It's okay. Breathe," he says calmly. His thumbs push my tears away from my puffy under-eyes. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I went in a-and, of course, he had to bring up you which always leads to me and him arguing. He kept trying to change my mind about you—that you don't have any morals and that I should be with someone my age—"

"—That's bullshit."

"I know," I sniffle and rub my under-eye with the backside of my index finger. "Then he said that I should move in with him, but I don't wanna do that. When I told him no, he started screaming at me and demanding me to move all of my things out of your house by Sunday."