In The Same Boat | Harry Bingham x OC

Chapter Four

The day of Dewey's trial came around quickly. Everyone was conceived that he had done it, so most people's speculation was aimed at deciding whether or not he'd done it alone.

Everything was brought to light when Harry took the stand. He revealed that Dewey had confessed to him that he had killed Cassandra. This of course angered Dewey, who kicked off during the trial – yelling that Harry had told him to do it and that Campbell had helped him plan it.

Amelia wasn't completely surprised by this revelation; Harry was always bad-mouthing Cassandra and Campbell's whole vibe screamed 'killer'. I suppose I'll sleep better tonight, knowing that Campbell has been 'locked up', Amelia thought as she made her way to her room. She was about to settle down for the night when she heard a noise coming from Harry's room. It was crying.

Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door. Harry was sitting hunched next to a coffee table. He jumped.

"Fuck, you know you should knock before you enter", Harry said quickly cleaning something off the table "you don't know what I could be doing in here". Amelia knew what Harry was implying and gave him a look of disgust.

"If you're going to tell me to go to hell you're going need to get in line" Harry tried to say smoothly, but it came out as a whimper. He quickly turned back away from Amelia trying to hide the tears forming in his eyes. He heard the door close behind him.

"I wasn't going to actually"

"Bullshit"

"I was actually coming to ask you whether what Dewey said at the trial was true?" Amelia said honestly.

Harry wasn't sure why he answered Amelia's question, he was even more baffled as to why he answered it honestly.

"I didn't mean" he sobbed "It was a shitty thing to say, but I didn't mean it", Harry turned to look at Amelia and for the first time, even though they had been living together for a month, she saw something more in Harry. The mask of the popular rich guy had dropped, and she was faced with the depressing reality that he was just as tired and lost as she was.

"Do you wanna get out of here?"

"What?"

"You don't have to come," Amelia said with a shrug, "but I think you need a distraction right now? Am I correct?"

---

"So where are we going?" Harry said getting into Amelia's pickup truck.

"You don't want it to be a surprise?" she responded playfully. Surprises were probably one of Harry's least favourite things and over the last couple of months, there had been a lot of them. Harry gave Amelia a look that said all of this.

"I'm taking you to my house," she said pulling out of the drive.

"And what's so special about your house" he questioned, reconsidering his decision to get into a vehicle with a girl that he didn't know that well.

"You'll see"

Amelia also started to regret her proposition as the journey from Harry's house to hers was quite long. It was probably the longest journey they could now make in their newly cornered-off town and a thick silence had grown between them. She was relieved when the house came into view and she could announce it, prompting new conversation.

"It's just around the back" she stated, leading Harry to the tall wooden gate at the side of the house. She opened it to reveal the backyard.

Over the last month, she had transformed the backyard into a green utopia. Raise planting beds sat in rows down the centre and pots lined the back wall of the house. When she started, she only planned to plant food but found that she had free time and decided to fill the left-over space with aesthetic plants.

"Did you do all this?" Harry said running his hands through the foliage.

"Yeah, I started it on day one," Amelia said lifting a tarp that was protecting a small beach. She sat down and Harry sat down next to her, "Don't tell anyone about this alright".

"Why not?"

"Because other people will ruin it, you only have to look at what happened during the blackout to see what the people in this town are really like," she said bitterly, "Also there's not enough food for more than like 2 people here".

"So, you're not up for sharing then?" Amelia was offended by this. She didn't see herself as selfish – she was a realist.

"I'm up for sharing resources, I think that Cassandra's idea about communal meals was a good idea" The mention of Cassandra seemed to bring Harry's mood back down. "Not sure that the house sharing thing was the right choice though," Amelia said trying to recover the conversation.

"Oh yeah, you don't like living at my place?"

"I don't like sleeping in a room with like 5 other people and don't get me started about the mess!" Harry agreed that the mess was annoying, even though he made no effort to clean it up.

"Thank you," Harry said with full sincerity, "You had no reason to do this, I haven't exactly been nice to you". Amelia took a deep breath.

"I don't have any friends, and to get friends you have to be nice to people. So, this is what I'm doing, being nice to you"

"You sure you want to become friends with me, I'm not exactly popular anymore"

"Well, I've never been popular, so I suppose I'm okay with it" Harry chuckled at this. Their conversation continued into the late afternoon and ended with them agreeing to meet up again.