Getaway Car [HS]

Chapter Nine

Climbing five flights of stairs every day to get into her apartment has been getting old.

Correction, it has already gotten old. It got old a few days after moving in, but after a year of being on her own, Harley wishes she'd put having an elevator in the building higher on the priority list. The entire way up, her thoughts consisted of reruns of what happened at Leo's house in the Quarter.

After Harry made that taunting remark, she slung the bag of money onto her shoulder and left the house without acknowledging him. Although tempting, giving his attitude back to him was what he wanted, so she refused to provide the reaction he sought after. Maybe once she has accepted what they did, she'll be able to exchange insults with him again, but, for the time being, she isn't sure how to behave around him.

If they were doing another job, perhaps it would've been easier. If she had the distraction of driving to flee the police or escape before witnesses spotted them, maybe she could have stomached his presence. But standing there in front of his coworkers, his friends of many years, was borderline painful. It didn't matter that she knew he hadn't told them, it felt like everyone knew. It felt like it was written across her face.

To top off her frustration, when she reaches her fifth-floor apartment, the key becomes jammed in the lock and leaves her standing there in an attempt to pry it free for a good minute. Finally, she stumbles back a step as the key comes loose and sighs in relief. Her shoulders sag with the urge to fall into bed and never leave again instead of walking back down to pay her landlord after she counts the money.

Unfortunately for her, the front door swings open to reveal a more urgent matter.

Alanis.

Her dearest friend sits at the dining table with circles beneath her eyes and delicate features set with a concern Harley recognizes well. It's the same type of concern she saw in the mirror when she was consumed with Peter and the storm of chaos that trailed after him in the final year of his existence. It's clear the moment she sees her: she fucked up.

In the span of the past six days, she has let Alanis watch her descent into madness with little to no explanation. Every day at work, she greeted her with the same warmth as always but also with a hollow emptiness behind her eyes. Her explanation for her panic-induced escape from the auto shop last week was flimsy at best too. She spun a quick lie about forgetting to turn off the stove and thinking her apartment had burned down, yet she knew no one, not even a person who trusted her word more than gospel, would buy it.

Still, Alanis didn't push, and for that, she supposes her friend has earned some reassurance. Even if most of it isn't honest.

The door shuts with a soft click.

"Before you yell at me, which you absolutely have the right to do," Harley says, "I can explain."

Being the angel she is, Alanis listens. It's evident in her defeated posture that she's close to losing it, but she keeps it under tight composure upon request.

The floors creaks with the steps needed for Harley to cross the distance between them, pull a chair from the table, and sit down with relief flooding through her. Last night's job was late to begin with, but her and Harry's argument, as well as the sex, pushed it even later. She slept four hours before her internal clock jolted her awake at the precise time needed to head into the shop, yet she remained stationary beneath the covers.

"I don't really know how to explain it, so I know it might sound weird to you, but I just can't go back to work anymore. At least not at the shop. After what happened with the deal and being reminded of Peter, I can't do it. It's like he haunts me, and it got so loud that day. I couldn't take it anymore. Every time I think about going back, the panic comes back, and I just wish I knew why."