The Impeccable Infinity

Chapter 15

"Haley, wake up," Ruth demanded while shaking me awake.

I opened my eyes a squinted at her. The sun's just starting to come up and it's leaving a faint trace of light across the floor. Riley was still asleep in the bed across from mine.

It's too early for this, what does she want?

"Why do I have to wake up?" I asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands.

"Emergency meeting in the living room in five minutes."

Ruth stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind herself. Surprisingly, Riley managed to sleep through her whole temper tantrum.

Why would she be calling me down this early in the morning? And sound so mad about it?

I grabbed my robe and slippers and put them on, because I don't know who else is down there, I could be walking down to someone important.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner, Ruth was pacing back and forth in the living room and staring at the floor. Mute sat on the couch and looked over at me, his face lighting up once he realized he wasn't the only one getting yelled at.

'What's happening?' I mouthed to him, trying to get a warning before I'm given a lecture.

Mute shrugged and patted the spot next to him on the couch, waving me to come sit next to him. Once I sat down, Ruth stopped pacing and turned to face us, he expression containing nothing but anger.

"Okay, we need to make this fast because I have to get ready for work," she announced, staring both of us dead in the eye.

She's a totally different person when she's angry, a person who I'd be scared to cross.

"So, where were you two last night?" She asked, now sitting down in a chair across from us. She crossed her legs and placed both her hands on her knee, waiting for an answer.

I looked at Mute, but he just sat there in silence and stared at his hands, afraid to confront her with the truth. 

He's not going to talk, he only talks to me. I'm getting real tired of having to do all the talking and dirty work for the two of us.

"We didn't see each other," I said flatly, trying to convince her that I was telling the truth, which I wasn't by any means.

"Oh, you didn't see each other last night? Are you are sure? Because I could've sworn I saw this one," she said, pointing directly at Mute, "carrying you up the stairs and to your room around midnight."

I bit my tongue to stop my eyes from tearing up. We've obviously been caught, there's no going back now.

"I was in the basement last night and fell asleep. He must've carried me up to my bed when he saw me asleep on the couch," I blurted out, turning the already established lie into a bigger one.

"Haley, I saw the car pull up into the driveway, and heard the door close. I know exactly what happened."

I looked at Mute but he just kept staring at his hands and flinching at Ruth's voice.

Yea, he's one real bad boy.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling myself tear up.

"Were you doing something illegal at midnight last night?"

"No!" I shouted, stopping the idea in its tracks. I mean, yea, I guess crashing a wedding and going onto a field during the night can be considered trespassing and illegal. But it's not like anything that bad happened.

"Please, just ask me next time. And never do anything like that again."

"I promise," I said, Mute nodding his head in agreement.

Ruth gave us one last cold stare before walking out of the room, leaving Mute and I on the couch.

Once I heard her footsteps go back upstairs, I lost it, I started crying and whimpering. I know we got off easy, but I hate being yelled at. Probably because I never got yelled at as a kid, I was always the one who did everything they were supposed to and told nothing but the truth.

"Haley, don't cry," Mute whispered, rubbing my arm to comfort me. It helped a bit, or at least enough for me to regain my breath.

"I'm sorry," I screeched, hugging him.

"Don't be. I know what we did was against the rules, but I still had one of the best nights of my life," he continued to whisper, trying to avoid anyone from hearing him speak.

"Why don't I bring you up to bed so you can sleep longer? I'll walk you," he offered, standing up and pulling me onto my feet. I could blame everything on Mute, go tell Ruth right now that he forced me to crash a wedding, but I could never do that to him. He only did everything to make me happy, and I can't fight him on that.

I wiped the tears off my face and nodded, grabbing his hand and allowing him to lead me up the stairs and down the hall, back to my bedroom.

"Okay, just get some sleep. You'll feel better once you wake up. We can hangout later if you want," he said, rubbing my hand a final time before opening my door for me and walking back into his own room.

When I got to my bed I laid back down and stared up at the ceiling, feeling my tears start to dry and make my face stiff. I've always hated that feeling after crying.

In a way, Mute's right. What we didn't wasn't really illegal. It was against the rules, and I'm sure illegal in some cases, but in the end we were never arrested or charged with anything.

I let it go and eased my mind while drifting back to sleep. Maybe Mute's right, maybe I'll feel much better once I sleep for the rest of the night. I can't be mad, I told myself that I wanted to break more rules once I got here. No, my parents probably wouldn't be happy with me, but I need to start living for myself more. Some rules are just meant to be broken, and last night is an example of one of those rules.