Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

11

An empty carton of McDonald's fries in hand, Harley licked the salt from her lips. She gazed out the window, exhausted from the day's events, but happy now that her hunger had be satiated. Pinpricks of light in the darkness outside zipped by the car window as she and Gerard approached home.

"Harley?" his voice softly spoke up over the low sound of the music coming from the radio. He wasn't sure if she was still awake.

"Yeah, Gee?" she replied. It took her a moment to register that he'd even spoken, she was so tired.

"I'm sorry you got hurt."

"Why are you apologizing?"

He didn't know how to explain to her that a part of him felt responsible for what had happened. If he'd let her go to that party with Mason, she wouldn't have gotten into that mess and they wouldn't have spent the last few hours in a hospital; a place in which they both hated to be.

"I just feel bad," he settled on saying. "I don't like seeing you get hurt."

"Don't feel bad, I'm the one who picked a lousy branch to hide on." She blamed herself completely, and now she was dealing with the consequences, which she was used to by now. It wasn't just the now-splinted sprained wrist she rested on a dripping bag of ice, but there were scratches and bruises all over her body from the fall down the tree. She was still picking pine needles out of her hair.

"You didn't test the branch first?"

"Of course I tested the branch," she said defensively, but she couldn't really remember if she had in fact tested the branch.

"Alright, I believe you," Gerard said. "Do you think you should give your moms a call to let them know what happened?"

Harley looked at the time. It was past midnight. Her parents were still on the east coast. "It's like three in the morning for them or something," she said.

"I didn't necessarily mean right now. You can do it in the morning."

"I will."

Harley took her phone out of her big jean pocket. She was bored of the radio station they'd been listening to and wanted play something off her phone. She felt like playing Hesitant Alien, just to see what Gerard would say. The fatigue was wiped out of her body at the sight of the message displayed on the screen, though. She hadn't even noticed her phone buzzing when it had been sent an hour ago

Mason: Where the fuck are you?

With all that had happened, she'd completely forgotten about Mason and her plan to meet him. She quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket, afraid that Gerard might see the message. Of course he wouldn't, though, because he was driving. Still, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her hurried movement.

"You okay, there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just noticed my phone's almost dead," she lied smoothly.

She decided to deal with Mason later when she was alone in her room, and figured that telling him she was literally in the hospital would be a good enough excuse as to why she didn't meet up with him. It would be a huge red flag if he put up a fuss about it.

"Oh," Gerard said, seemingly content with her reply. "So, uh, Frank invited us on a hike with his family tomorrow. I don't know if you're still up for it, or do you want to see how you feel in the morning?"

"I think I'll be fine, but we can wait and see anyway just to be sure."

"Alright, that sounds good to me. Please, don't hesitate to tell me if you're not up for it, though, you know? It's okay if you're not. We can just have a quiet day at home."