nevertheless~

part 24

HARDIN'S POV

I drive back, 20 minutes, with so many things in my head. I try to shake all the things away and park my bike under the building. I take the elevator, to a couple of floors lower from mine and finally knock thrice on Audrey's Door. She's the only person, I know Smith will go to. Ever since we moved into this flat, she has been a big help. She became like an elder sister to even me when on occasions I couldn't get behind being a nice brother.

There were days when even I wouldn't eat food, and neither would Smith, and she would be the one to bring a hot meal. I was a good brother, but I was never the best brother. I could always do the bare minimum for Smith, take care of him, look after him, but it was never that I could replace our parents from his life.

"Hey, Hardin", the polite brunette greets me, with the same warm smile she always has.

"Hey Auds, did Smith come here?", I ask.

"Yep, he's in the living room, get in"

"Thank god."

"Is something wrong? He seemed a little off coming here", she says.

"He spent the last evening with my dad", I answer her back and get further in, to see Smith laying on the bean bag watching the tv.

"That would explain", she gives an honest nod and I go to my brother.

"Hardin, how was your time last night?", Smith asks me and I just ignore him, this boy needs to understand that he can't just do such things. It's good that Audrey lives just a couple of floors down or lord knows where this guy would go. He is not old enough to just leave the house like this

"Did you have breakfast with him?", I ask her.

"No, not yet. I was making some but, would you want a plate?", she offers.

"Yeah, I'd wait, just don't get out of the kitchen for a while, I need to speak to him about some things", understandingly she nods and leaves us alone.

"Hey buddy, what are you doing here?", I ask as I take a seat beside him.

"I am just hanging around Audrey. I thought I hadn't seen her in a while, so I came here this morning", he answers.

"And why didn't you think you had to tell me this?"

"You were with Tessa I didn't want to interrupt"

"Don't shit with me Smith", I get angrier by the second as he speaks. I very well know why he didn't tell me and he came here and both of those answers he gave are straight lies.

"You can't be mad at me for wanting to be with Audrey. She's my friend too"

"That's not it. You can't come here without telling me. And why did you lie to dad?"

"He was asleep when I came here"

"Smith", I call out once in a strict monotone.

"What?", he sounds scared and that makes me realize that in fact, he still does care.

"You know you did something wrong, right?"

"Yes", he says, head low and voice gone with the ever-bright smile.

"Why did you come here? Did dad do something?", I ask.

"No. I just didn't want to be with him in the morning when we woke up?"

"Why?"

"Because I didn't know what to do. So maybe, I thought that yesterday evening was just an act and he would behave differently in the morning", he says.