Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

39

Mason: Are you free tonight? I wanna see you

Harley looked up from her phone at her friends as they picked up the leftover snacks and trash from the middle of the circle of rocks. Remi looked up at her, tucking an almost empty packet of Oreos under one arm, and smiled. She smiled back, then typed in her phone:

I'm busy, sorry. Tomorrow?

Mason: What are you doing tonight?

Harley: I'm going to a friend's house

Mason: Wouldn't you rather hang out with me?

Harley: We planned this a few days ago, I can't just cancel

Mason: Well who's your friend?

Harley: Remi. I gotta go, ttyl

She clicked off her phone and put it in her back pocket; out of sight, out of mind. She wished. Then she helped her friends, although the only thing left for her to pick up was a few empty juice boxes. Andy was clutching a bag of vegan marshmallows, but he wasn't eating any because he'd had so many in the last few weeks he was beginning to grow sick of them.

"Harley," Andy said, drawing out the vowels, "I know I literally have no authority over this decision, but I'm just making a friendly suggestion: Cheez-Its."

"Oh, I fucking love Cheez-Its," Finn jumped in. "The white cheddar one are the best."

"No, no, no," Andy countered, waving their hands as best as they could with full arms, "the spicy ones. The spicy ones are perfection and, no, I do not take constructive criticism."

"Y'all, you can have the best of both worlds if you get the cheddar and jalapeño flavour," Pond added enthusiastically.

The three continued to argue about the flavours, Andy assertive in his belief that jalapeños are the worst of the spicy variety of anything ("Take sweet chili heat Doritos, for example; they created something godly without even going near those little green shits!"), while Remi and Harley rolled their eyes. They couldn't care less about any of it, but Harley made a mental note to add the crackers to the shopping list for next time.

As they walked out of the woods, the Cheez-Its trio trailing behind Remi and Harley who walked in stride, Remi said, "You know, Harley, I was thinking about baking something to bring to the group. Oreos are good and all, but nothing is better than fresh chocolate chip cookies, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's a really great idea! Do you bake?"

"Not really. Do you?"

"Nope," Harley said, smiling widely as she met Remi's eyes. "So, if we try and bake together, nothing could go wrong, right?"

"Yeah, of course, nothing at all," Remi said, her smile matching Harley's. "My dad is taking my sister Alex to soccer practice tonight, and my mom is taking Maddox to her baseball practice. One of them will bring Blair along, so I'll be home alone. Wanna come over and we can bake?"

"Attempt to bake," Harley corrected. "But, yeah, that sounds rad. I mean, I have to ask Gerard first, but he's definitely going to say yes."

She was grateful that Remi had asked her to come over so that the excuse she had given Mason had turned into the truth. She was finding it increasingly easy, and relieving, to lie to Mason despite her fear of how he'd react if he ever found out that she wasn't truly busy most nights. She was pretty sure she still liked him, but every time he reached for her hand she couldn't stop herself from wincing and expecting a painful clamp over her wrist, or of picturing her father's nightmarish face turn into Mason's.