Unexpected

26. Harry

We arrived at my house. I park anywhere and immediately get out of the car. I go up the stairs of the condominium to the tenth floor in a moment. I open the front door. I follow the voice of the neighbor, and what I find in front of my eyes is shocking.

I run to the balcony. "Mom! Stop!" She is sitting on the railing, the neighbor tries to hold her so as not to let her down. I take my mother from her waist and take her away from death. "Are you crazy?" I hug her tightly. I was so close to losing what little I have left.

I make the neighbor go away, thank her for stopping her. We go inside and sit on the sofa.

"Mom..." I burst into tears in her arms. It's too much to keep inside. "Why would you do that?"

She is sobbing. "I'm tired of being the cause your father hates you." She looks me in the eyes. "I went to see him in the afternoon. I know the things he told you and—"

"Leave him alone, please," I interrupt her. "We don't have to listen to him, he doesn't think with his head."

She sighs. "Harry, that's a lot to endure though."

"I know, but you can't give up like this, for me and for yourself. Get another life, mom. Find someone who truly loves you. Wouldn't you like it?" I know all the difficulties she would encounter in starting to trust people again, but at this point it's the only solution.

She takes my hands and squeezes them. "It's not that easy... you know it."

"Okay, but I'm tired of seeing you like this, aren't you?" I say a little louder.

She nods.

"Harry?" I hear Helen's voice. She pushes the door gently and enters the house. "Hey, are you all right?"

My mother turns to her, then back to me and a huge smile appears on her lips. "Who is she?" she mimics her with her lip.

I get up and walk Helen next to my mom. "Helen, this is my mother."

They shake hands. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Davis. I'm Helen Scott," she tells her with a smile.

"Hi, feel free to call me Kate."

This moment was not supposed to happen, and especially not under these circumstances, when Helen and I are nothing and I just stopped my mother from committing suicide. My life is a mess, literally.

"How is it that you two know each other?" my mom asks.

I glance at her to warn her not to be too nosy.

"Oh, we take the same music class, we're friends. If you can say so," she adds in a low voice, as if she were talking to herself.

"Maybe I know your father, what's his name?" my mom says.

"It's Christian Scott."

"Yeah I know him. Say hello to him," and she gives her a slight smile.

I look at my mother. I wonder how she knows him.

Fortunately, Helen doesn't ask questions about what just happened. She asks if she could use the bathroom for a moment; I accompany her.

"So? Who is this beautiful girl?" my mother tells me when I come back. My god, she has already recovered and just now she was about to throw herself off the balcony.

I snort and throw myself on the armchair. "None, Mom. A girl."

She looks at me with a weird smile. "She is the daughter of Christian and Julia Scott, she must be a good girl. Her father will have raised her as an angel, innocent, right?"

"She pretty is." If only she knew that she is not innocent at all. She may seem like it at first glance, but the way she knows how to fuck and how she feels no shame says quite the opposite. Shit, those two times we did it were enough to make me want her body in an uncontrollable way.

"Hey." Helen interrupts my thoughts about her.

I get up from the chair and tell my mom we're going. I hug her. "Please, be careful and never try again. Neither you and I are the cause of all this mess, okay?"

She nods. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Helen shakes her hand and tells her it's been a pleasure. We go out and close the door behind us.

I am silent when we get back to the car, I am retracing in my mind everything that has happened in this last half hour.

I feel a hand on my thigh. "Harry," Helen says softly. "What happened?"

I sigh, trying to stabilize my emotions which are a mixture of anger, sorrow and confusion. I turn to her. "Nothing. I repeat, I don't want to drag you into the mess that is my life."

I see her eyes becoming bright. "I understand, but it's clear that you need someone to be by your side." She takes a breath. "Don't you want me to be by your side?" her voice breaks and a tear runs down her left cheek.

"No," I say dryly. "I don't want you to be that person."

"Why?" she sobs.

"Because I don't want you to feel sorry for me or anything like that. I have a billion problems ruining me every day, Helen, and I don't want you to help me solve them, because they would ruin you too. You are not meant to be ruined."

We are both stunned by my words. Then, looking into her eyes, she says, "I could help you even without ruining myself."

I shake my head. "No, you'd ruin something you're not thinking about because you only got a taste." She doesn't say anything, she probably didn't understand what I mean. "Let's go home," I tell her, and kiss her forehead. I start the engine and leave the parking lot.

"Can we go to you?" she asks suddenly.

I am surprised by her question. "I thought it was better to each go back to their own homes actually... Jade... you know."

She looks at her hands. "Mhm, right. But she might even mind her own business sometimes," she says aloud, even though I realized she didn't want to. "Oh my God, did I say that out loud? Sorry," she giggles.

"Yes, definitely," I laugh too.

"Harry," she says after a few minutes. "I don't care about Jade now."

I look at her oddly and frown my eyebrows. "No?"

She shakes her head.

"What will you tell her?"

She bites her lower lip and thinks for a few seconds. "Absolutely nothing."

"She's going to be pissed off as hell," I point out, but the turn she's taking is interesting. I have the impression that she wants to challenge her best friend.

"I know." Just as I thought.

I smile at her, satisfied. She is taking responsibility. "Okay then, fuck it. At my home."