Two Truths & A Lie

Chapter 21

"Harry's been talking to Brynn this whole time. Almost like the whole incident with Henley was just a normal fight in their relationship - if a "relationship" is what you can call it - and even after you guys moved here, he kept talking to her like nothing happened," I said to Charles as we drove into my neighborhood.

"Calling or texting or email or...?" He asked.

I shrugged.

Charles sighed and pulled at his lip with his free hand. "I had no idea, Em. He wasn't supposed to be talking to her ever again. She's insane. Dad was so fed up with her. We moved across the world to get away from her," he laughed. "Harry's a completely different person around her... I mean, obviously you saw that tonight..."

I wiped a tear from my cheek and looked out the window at the passing houses. "How long is she here for?" I asked.

"They're all supposed to be leaving next weekend. I'd ship her out tonight if I knew there was an easy way to do it." 

"Jesus, she's here a week?" I breathed. There was no way I could be able to successfully talk to Harry at all with Brynn around.  Did that mean a week of this torture? A week of old, rude Harry? Would he even come to school with her around? Maybe I could talk to him in the haunted bathroom.

"I don't know if dad is going to let her stay in the house. Maybe he'll send Lenora and Brynn away," Charles said. 

"Just keep me updated?" I asked, looking at Charles as we pulled into the driveway. He nodded, his small, messy ringlets shaking as he did. For a moment, his silhouette in the dark almost made him look like Harry, but once he opened his car door and the lights in the car came on, everything that happened earlier in the night weighed on my mind once more. "You don't have to walk me to the door," I said, watching him as he climbed out of the drivers seat.

"No, but there is someone standing on the front porch," Charles said softly, and I could tell he was a little bit tense. Once I realized the shadow on the porch as well, I scurried out of the car and over to Charles' side as he approached the front door.

"Hello?" I asked.

The shadow stood from where it was sitting before and moved toward us. "What's your business here?" Charles asked.

"Em? And is that Harry?"

My stomach turned. "Lou? Is that you?"

He stepped off of the porch a little bit, the moon giving us just enough light to finally make out his face and messy flicks of hair. "Yeah," he said. I just stopped by to... for... Well, I just stopped by..."

Suddenly, it dawned on me that Louis had spent the last two Thanksgivings with my mother and I. It seemed to be the worst holiday for him. It was a family holiday for most people in the country, but in a family of fourteen other siblings, Louis was constantly just another number. Either that, or he was forced to take all the responsibility that his mother should have had. There was no in-between. I turned to Charles and gave one of his hands a squeeze. "Thank you for everything tonight."

He looked from me to Louis and pulled me a step further away from the porch like that one step would keep Louis from hearing. "Look, Em. It's okay to be disappointed in Harry. I'm disappointed in him. Pissed at him, really. This is all just a mess. But don't give up on him. He's a different person with you. Honestly. It doesn't excuse his behavior at all. Not one bit. But-"

He never saw me, I wanted to say. He only ever saw Brynn. I pulled my hand from Charles' after giving it one more tight squeeze and walked to the porch. I used the light of my phone to get the key in the lock and opened the front door, flicking on the lights so that Louis and I could see. Dressed in just his normal black jeans and a plain gray hoodie, Louis followed me into the house, kicking off his torn-up adidas shoes, and sliding into the kitchen behind me.