SINS (Completed)

READ TO ME

"Don't push your luck too much, Young." Hardin grumbles as I walk in front and he follows me, sulking.

"Oh don't you worry, Scott. This is going to be epic." I bottle my enthusiasm behind a wide grin, that he obviously can't see.

"Chocolate smoothie, please. Large- you want something?" I ask him innocently, and he simply frowns in response.

I take it he doesn't, so I grab my cup before strutting over to the centre table, and pulling out a chair. After I sit, I look up to see him standing, and staring into me, with arms crossed.

"Make yourself comfortable, Hardin, it's okay you can sit." I sip my smoothie and I hear a clenching of teeth.

He eventually drags the chair and sits in the chair beside me, with a huff.

"Listen, just get this over with an-"

"There is just one rule. NO RUDENESS. Will that be a problem?" I interrupt him midway and he sighs while nodding.

Oh, my god. This is gold.

"What do you want?" He asks me seriously, in a somewhat softer tone, and I look at him, fluctuating for a moment. For some reason his eyes gleam mysteriously, and I feel myself being pulled in.

But no, you can't fleet Tessa. Remember what he has done. What all he has done.

"No biggie. You see, me being the chairperson, so much faith, so many responsibilities, so less time-" I dawdle and he narrows his eyes at me, so I quickly move on-

"I haven't really been able to catch up on my reading. So you, just have to read to me, that's it."

I smile, and he assesses my face speculatively as if searching for a loophole.

"That's it, you sure?" He asks half convinced.

"Oh, you wanted more, maybe then yo-"

"No, it's fine. Just- give me the damn thing." He says rushed, and I grin widely.

Great. I fish out my holder, and opening the page I checked twice last night, hand it over to him, with a thumping, overexcited heart.

He takes it with a yank, and as he looks at the first line, his eyebrows join in a frown, and then his eyes apparently bulge out of his sockets and roll down the floor. His jaw drops down, in shock and his ears prepare themselves to blow steam off them.

I giggle internally, at his response, and slowly, unlock my phone, keeping it on the table, behind my cup.

"You've got to be kidding me-" He looks at me flabbergasted, and I pout dramatically.

"I don't know mom, am I?" I look up at the ceiling with a playful frown. Oh, how I love it when I quote Stefan. Ripper Stefan, specifically.

Hardin shakes his head unbelievably, then rolls his eyes, then glares at me, then clenches his jaw, before finally diving into the text. After the five whole minutes of drama.

"I don't always make mistakes, but when I do, I don't learn from them-" He rushes out, in an irritated tone, and I cut him off.

"Ah, slow, soft. With feel, please." I smile again, and sip my smoothie, as he almost opens his mouth in protest, but closes it eventually.

I hold my breath in anticipation, and Hardin waits, takes a precious, mentally-supportive sigh, before he speaks.

"I'm s-sorry for what I said when I temporarily forgot how to act like a normal person.