Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

14

Hey, skater girl. How's your wrist?

Harley's heart skipped a beat when she read the message from Mason. She stared at the notification at the top of her phone screen until it disappeared, then she kept staring at the place where it once was. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised by it. Maybe it was the fact that he actually bothered to text her again— something she wasn't used to in her usual fleeting friendships. Or maybe it was just the fact that it was him. Something about the way he talked to her, referred to her, looked at her, and everything else about him down to the colour of his eyes made her heart race.

"You're looking at your phone like it insulted you," Frank's voice made Harley jump, her head swivel towards him at lighting speed like a child caught doing something they shouldn't be doing.

She laughed nervously and clutched her phone to her chest, watching the grin on Frank's face grow along with the heat in her cheeks. "No, no, it was just that, well, someone texted me."

He crossed his arms over his chest and stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth goofily. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, taunting her.

"Yeah," she said, the words skater girl blinking in her head like a road block inhibiting her from coming up with a come back to Frank's remark. She busied herself by untying her shoes as she knelt near the front door, recognizing those belonging to the Iero kids.

"Who texted you?" Frank asked suggestively, holding back giggles, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Mason," Harley muttered, the tint of her cheeks deepening. She untied her second shoe at painstaking speed to avoid looking up at Frank, and lined up the pair next to the others; she could picture the look of amusement on his face without needing to see it. "And before you tease me about him, no we're not dating, we're just friends. Actually, we're barely even friends. He's just a guy I hung out with once."

"A guy you hung out with once that you're going to hang out with again, right?"

"Yeah," she admitted as her phone buzzed in her hand once again. This time, the message read, Hey! I hope this is the right number, and then a second one quickly followed saying, It's Remi by the way! A smile grew on her face at those words; the opposite of the panic she felt at Mason's unexpected message.

"Was that him again?" Frank asked, clearly hoping she'd say yes.

"Yeah, yeah, that was him," Harley rubbed the back of her neck, "I, uh, I should probably answer him... before he gets impatient," she spit out, then bolted past Frank and ran up to her room, skipping every other stair as she went. She felt like she needed to reply to the messages in private, knowing she'd have an idiotic smile on her face that would only grow at Remi's every word. She didn't know how she'd deal with Mason. She still wasn't sure about him.

Harley: Hi! You got the right number :)

Remi: How can I be sure? Tell me something only Harley would know

Harley: Remi doesn't actually like Monster energy drinks, she just drinks them cause her friends do

Remi: I never told you that... how do you know that??

Harley: I just took a guess by the way you screw up your face a little bit every time you take a sip

Remi: Don't tell them

Harley: I won't, but you know they wouldn't care

Remi: I know, but... we don't have time for this conversation right now. It's not late enough at night to have a deep conversation, you know?