KEEP DRIVING - H.S

Chapter 28

January 6 2022, Los Angeles

ALLIAH PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY of Sarah and Mitch's house. She checked herself in the mirror.

She looked pretty shitty. To be fair, that had become her new normal.

Alliah combed her fingers through her hair, trying to get rid of the tangles. She probably should've washed her hair, but it was too late now. There were dark circles under her eyes, but that was pretty common now for Alliah too.

Alliah had the worst sleep schedule ever, and probably got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a day.

Alliah grabbed her bag, pulling the strap of her backpack over her shoulder, and then she saw a car in the driveway that wasn't Mitch or Sarah's. She frowned, but she didn't recognize the car.

Sighing, Alliah put the thought out of her mind. She'd find out soon enough it there was someone else at their house.

Alliah got out of the car, walking up the steps and knocking on the door.

"Coming!" Alliah could hear Sarah's voice calling. The door opened, and there stood a grinning Sarah. They hugged quickly, and Sarah gestured her into the house. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine, you?" Alliah answered. And then she remembered the pot she was carrying, and extended it towards Sarah. "Oh- I got you guys this. I know it's not much, but-"

Sarah interrupted, grabbing the plant and admiring it. "No, it's beautiful. Thank you, Ali."

Alliah smiled. "So how are you? How were the holidays?"

Sarah placed her hands in her back pockets. "A little stressful, but it was fun. What about you? How'd it go with your family?"

Alliah had gone home for the holidays, and spent almost two weeks with her family. "It was great. I missed being home so much, even if I'd gone a couple of months before."

"It must be hard living far away from home and your family."

"Sometimes. Actually, most of the time, but LA's become my home now."

They made their way into the living room, where Mitch was chatting with another person. The man turned at the sound of their voices.

"Harry," Alliah breathed out. "You're here?"

"He dropped by as a surprise, we would've warned you if we'd known," Sarah said, glancing between the two of them, seemingly noticing something off about Alliah and Harry. "But we thought it'd be nice to have lunch together, right?"

Alliah nodded, "yeah. Nice."

Harry smiled half-heartedly. "How are you, Ali?"

"'M fine," Alliah answered, taking the seat farthest away from Harry as possible. "Been busy with work, mostly. What about you?"

Oh god, this was confusing. What was she supposed to do? Act like everything was okay and like they hadn't had a fight, Harry had been a stubborn idiot and didn't apologize, and now they hadn't spoke in a month?

Things were awkward.

"I'm, um, doing good. Taking a break from work, so," Harry joked, laughing nervously.