Freaks

14(Continued)

He burns out his cigarette in the tray, twisting around to go back inside.

"You okay?" He questions as he walks toward her, picking up a bottle of water from the coffee table.

"No." She mumbles, slowly sitting up and taking the bottle from him.

He sits next to her, "Does it still hurt?"

She nods her head before inhaling the water as if it came straight from an untouched spring, as if she hasn't sipped water in thirty years.

"Are you hungry?"

She shrugs, "I would eat but I'm afraid I'd just throw it up."

"Good, because we don't have any food."

Harper's body jumps, "Oh, speaking of food."

She leans and grabs her phone from the coffee table, her lock-screen is filled with notifications from her entire family.

"Shit." She pauses in deliberation, her mother would freak out if she found out what happened. She decides to turn it off, "I can't deal with that right now."

"That's rude," Luka argues, his arms on his knees.

"And what are you?"

"You, apparently."

She sneers at him, "Well what am I supposed to say?" She puts her hand to her ear like a phone, "Hey mom! Sorry I didn't call you back! I was shot and passed out afterwards!"

He laughs with his stomach, "The funny part is, my parents wouldn't be phased by that."

Harper smiles slightly, "My mom and I had this conversation, she told me she doesn't want to lie anymore, she doesn't want me to lie either. Now I have to choose between...me or her. Do I tell her and the cops find out, the story gets mixed up? Or do I break that promise we made about lying?"

His eyes ponder at the floor, "I think you'll figure it out when you see her. In the moment, you'll know what your choice will be."

He's trying to assure her but it doesn't soothe her very much. She only listens and nods, her eyes sharing the ground with him.

Luka looks over and can tell it still bothers her, "You know one thing?" She looks up, "You're not gonna be able to go anywhere if you can't walk."

She gives him a judgmental glare, "I can walk, it's the getting up part that might be a little hard."

"We'll see about that." He says in a grumble before he stands back up and faces her, his arms out to her as handles.

"I wanna see you get shot next." She says.

"In your dreams." He webs out his hands.

Harper huffs and grips his wrist as she pulls herself up, using both of the weights of her legs. It stings, but not enough to stop her from standing. Although, when she's fully up, gravity doesn't do her justice and her leg flinches upward in spikey pain. She just barely loses balance, Luka holds the back of her elbows for stability and she holds squishy biceps, refusing to look any lower than his collarbone.

"You're being skittish. Put weight on it. Maybe slower." He mocks and she shoots a fake smile.

She darts her eyes straight onto the floor, now trying not to look anywhere above her. She lets her lifted foot fall back on the floor, steadily leaning all of her weight on her foot and then her entire leg.

By the time she can lean on her entire hip without the wound stretching, she looks back up at him and smiles cockishly, "Ha."

"You haven't even walked yet." He smiles back the same way, "Your point isn't proven."