Dangers in the Dark

Secret Meetings 14.2

Holly POV

Despite the fact that I had agreed to go in for my later lessons, I took my own time in doing so. The main reason for this was that I also wanted to start packing my bags. Barbara had been gone for so long now and it just felt wrong to be living here without her. I knew Dad had started looking for an apartment for us to move into, nothing special but just somewhere where I didn't feel like a trespasser all the time.

I had so much rubbish in my room that I didn't need or want to take with me so I put all of those extra clothes and random items into a few bags, making a mental note to either give them to Selina or try and hunt down Ivy. I'm sure either would appreciate some of these clothes. But as we wouldn't be moving out anytime soon, I kept all of the main things up so I wasn't living with a bed and only that.

As I chucked one of my old jumpers into one of the bags my phone started to ring. Jumping over a pile of discarded clothes, I grabbed the phone before even checking who it was.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Holly, hi," Bruce's voice replied on the other end of the phone, though it sounded like his voice was hushed.

"Hey, Bruce. How are you?" I asked, knowing that his conversation was probably still playing on his mind.

"I'm fine, thank you. I need to ask you something, though," Bruce told me.

"Shoot," I replied, perching on the edge of my bed.

"Would you still be able to help me with my research into my parents' deaths?" Bruce asked.

"Of course," I answered immediately. "I know things have been kinda crazy lately, but I never stopped. I actually spoke to Ed earlier and he's gonna try and look for any files that I may have missed."

"Oh, ok. That's good to know," Bruce said, sounding far more relieved than he had a few moments alone.

"Bruce... how are you, really?" I asked again, knowing that his previous answer wouldn't have been the truth. "I know about Selina and what she told you."

"You've spoken to her?" Bruce inquired.

"Yeah," I nodded, though he couldn't see me. I knew that I shouldn't mention that we had been hanging out but he could know that I had seen her.

"I'm sorry, Holly," Bruce said after a moment.

"Sorry? For what?" I asked.

"Selina. Didn't she tell you that she was only friends with you to get out of Juvie? I thought you would've been more upset," Bruce said.

My heart seemed to thump in my throat at Bruce's comment though I tried to remember that she had probably only said that as part of her act. She didn't mean that, I'm sure of it. But I also knew that if she had told Bruce that, then I needed to play my part to make sure he didn't get hurt any more than he already had been.

"Right, yeah. She did," I answered. "I'm just trying to not think about it. I thought that if I didn't think about it then it wouldn't be real."

"I know what you mean. I just can't believe she would do that," Bruce admitted. "I mean, who does that? I thought that we were friends."

"Perhaps she just got scared," I said. "Selina has always been by herself and maybe the idea of not being alone anymore scared her so she ran."

"That's what Detective Gordon said," Bruce told me. "But I think she did mean it. You should've seen her. There's no way she's that good of a liar."

I hated myself for lying to Bruce cause I knew if he ever found out he would be a little angry but Selina had been raised on the streets. I doubted Bruce's last comment very much... Selina was a damn good liar. I would be willing to bet everything I own on it.