Desolate - h.s. ✓

° eighteen °

     Harry didn't sit at lunch with my friends and I anymore, and when I saw him in the hallways he would ignore me entirely. Of course, I wasn't certain what exactly would come out of this, but I was kind of irritated that the curly-haired boy was impassive. However, there was a disconnect between my brother and Harry also. His friend didn't come over, and Ethan didn't leave the house. It was definitely weird, and I didn't like what was happening.

"Nikki? Honey?" my mother was saying.

Glancing over, I blinked several times, trying to focus on my mother. She looked worried about me, and I didn't understand why. After all, I was doing homework. Maybe it was simply the fact that I was sitting at the counter doing it instead of staying cooped up in my bedroom.

"Did you ask me something?"

"I asked what you wanted for dinner. Anne was supposed to come over, but something came up with Robin and his work."

Nodding, I told her that grilled cheese sounded really good for some weird reason. She was obviously confused, but shrugged, claiming it was a good idea. My mother went to cooking food then, and I continued annotating my work easily. After about ten more minutes, I had gotten the couple of poems done, my mother finishing up dinner.

"Harry hasn't been around," my mother stated simply, setting my grilled cheese in front of me before she sat beside me. "Do you know what's up with that?"

I shrugged. "Him and E got in a fight because Harry wouldn't leave me alone. E punched Harry."

"He did what?!"

"Harry's fine. E was just standing up for me, Mom."

She frowned, nodding. I ate my food, looking over what else I needed to do. Not much later, I was finishing my first half of grilled cheese, my mother appearing to text while she ate.

"Do you want to come to Ethan's baseball game on Thursday?" she asked. "It's away."

"Um, maybe. I'll have to see."

She nodded. The two of us didn't talk much more, and once I was finished dinner, I cleaned up. Drinking water, I found myself putting all of my things back in my backpack. Thanking her for dinner, she promised it was no problem, leaving me to head upstairs. After a couple more sips of water, I changed into leggings, a sports bra, and a loose tank top.

"I'm going for a run!" I called once I was grabbing the handle for the door.

"Okay, Nikki. Be safe!"

Promising I would be, I headed outside. After I shut the door behind me, I started running, knowing that I was only going to do a short one today. Around the neighborhood sounded good enough to me, and I focused on everything around me. The way the birds chirped, or the cars that passed, or the cute flower beds some of our neighbors had. Though I clearly wasn't paying enough attention to where I was running, my body slamming into someone entirely. Apologizing profusely, the man looked angry, but then appeared less irritated when he saw me.

"I'm so sorry," I said again. "Gotta love those flowers and how distracting they are."

The man nodded, appearing to be in his forties, if not a little older. I was certain I had seen him before, but I wasn't actually certain. He simply had one of those familiar faces. Though, I still felt embarrassed about completely running into him.

"Really, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he shrugged. "No worries. Do you live around here?"

I nodded. "Not far from here. You?"