Petal [h.s.]

Chapter 88

Violet.

I let out a heavy breath when I noticed my shift ended in fifteen minutes. Me, Joey and Caroline were having a smoke break in the humid hot weather with the seven residents of the underage wing at Clarendale's.

The three newbies had come in at Monday, and two were still heavily struggling with their withdrawal. I had barely been able to strike up a conversation with them since they were so out of it all the time.

Overall, I felt like this was quite a good group, and so far I got along well with all of them and also with the colleagues.

I noticed Melissa walking by through the window, a deep frown etched in her forehead as she stared at some papers in her hand. Even she felt the need to wipe the sweat away from her forehead on this hot Friday afternoon.

I was about to finish my second week at Clarendale's, and even though the amount of new information still felt overwhelming, I felt like I started to settle here. Due to the extreme temperatures, we had been allowed to swim today whilst usually, that's solemnly reserved for the residents.

I had politely declined, still not feeling comfortable in a bathing suit in front of about ten strangers. I had dipped my feet in the water to cool down somehow, but kept my dress on and kept an eye on the kids at the same time.

Butterflies flew around my stomach upon realization that Harry of all people was about to pick me up from work today. He had been let out of Clarendale's early this morning, having finished his ten weeks here.

Yesterday during lunch, I had helped him pack up the last of his stuff, and Louis came for him this morning after I had started work already. The lunch breaks definitely felt more lonely, but at the same time I enjoyed the hour of alone time in a busy work day.

Harry had been vague when I had asked him what his plans were for his first free day. He told me he was going to get settled in at Louis' house and just catch up on some sleep and hang around with Louis and Eleanor at the house.

I took the last drag of my cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray, trying to keep my focus on the conversation I was having with one of the residents, a boy named Jesse. He was a sixteen year-old pot addict with a quirky sense of humour. I had quickly picked up on the fact that he was very energetic and loud, and asked quite a lot of attention from the social workers.

He was the Nellie of Clarendale's.

Harry and I had quite a busy weekend ahead of us. Tonight, I'd join him at Louis and Eleanor's house for dinner and then tomorrow we'd just hang out together.

Abby had convinced me to drag Harry along to Tease tomorrow night while she was working, so he could meet Dan and Max. I wasn't sure if Harry going out to a club on his second day out was such a good idea, but he had convinced me that he had his cravings under control and had no issue with alcohol.

On Sunday, we had organized a meeting with James, finally visiting him at Saint Mary's now that Harry was free again, and then in the afternoon we were all going to head down to the RSP for the barbecue thing with Ian.

The part I dreaded the most, was that we were supposed to be at the mansion on Sunday evening for a meeting.

I hadn't been to one months by now, and the thought of seeing Gabriel again gave me a shiver even though I was sweating up a storm. I was in no way looking forward to having to stare at his face for a full evening.

Harry had been mending the bond with him, and I knew I was going to have to do the same thing at some point. For Harry's sake.

After spending most of last weekend in Harry's bed in Clarendale's, I had hardly seen him this week besides our daily lunch dates. The weekend we had was spent between the sheets, taking naps, watching movies and having a lot of sex.