Twelve

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Thirty minutes of washing later, Harrison's hair had apparently become less of a pain

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Thirty minutes of washing later, Harrison's hair had apparently become less of a pain.

    When she got to the coffee shop, my car was parked in the back of the lot and I was sitting in the front seat on my phone, scrolling Facebook even though I could care less about the app. It seemed like such a pointless app, in my opinion.

    "Ready?" I asked once she had reached my car, getting in the passenger's seat.

    "I don't know why I wouldn't be. Let's get out of here," she said. As I started driving away from the parking lot, Harrison said, "Do you mind if I call West for a sec? I forgot he called me earlier, too. He called seven times."   

"Yeah, no problem," I replied.     Now probably wasn't the best time to bring up the fact that Jason had freaked out on me again this morning, and that he did it only a few days ago as well. If she and West really were best friends, he would tell her what was going on, wouldn't he? And hopefully, the truth wouldn't be anywhere close to what I was expecting from Jason's odd behavior.   

"Hey, West," She said and the rest of the conversation continued on as such:   

"What-"

"West, you don't have to be so defensive-"   

"Okay, wow!"   

"Seriously?"   

"Cut it out-"   

"Whatever."   

And then she hung up and set her phone on her thigh. The conversation had lasted just under a minute and Harrison had barely gotten a word out. I was able to hear West on the other end of the line, practically screaming at her, although I couldn't make out exactly what he was saying.   

"Everything alright?" I asked.   

Harrison took a deep breath and shot me an unconvincing smile. "Yeah. Everything's great." There was a slight pause and then she sighed. "West's just having some problems right now and he's being a total bitch about everything. I guess he's having problems with Jason, if you happen to know anything about that."   

"Jason's been acting weird, but I don't know much about it," I said. It wasn't technically a lie since Jason hadn't exactly told me what was going on with him and West. "Maybe we can get your mind off of West today. We'll have a good early dinner, a fantastic dessert, and whatever else you want along the way."    Harrison reached out to put her hand on top of mine which rested on my leg.

"Thank you, Otto," she said, giving me a genuine smile and then facing forward again. I moved my hand and laced our fingers together, squeezing her hand and then lifting it up to my face. I kissed the top of her hand and placed it back down on my leg.

I smiled to myself, feeling like maybe being with her hadn't been a mistake, but the best decision I have made in a while.

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