Limitless

Chapter 6

I was still having a hard time deciding whether or not Harry was a good person.  He was actually really funny for the most part, but sometimes he was still an asshole to me.  I figured maybe he was just bipolar.  Another thing about him was that he could literally make anyone or anything fall in love with him.  It was like he had a magic cloud around him and if you breathed it in, you were instantly head-over-heels for him.

I found myself spending an awful lot of time over at Harry and Liam’s, mainly because of Emma, but also partially because I just wanted to be around Harry. Some nights he would just lock himself in his room.  Other nights, he would invite some random chick over and disappear into his room for a bit, reemerge half an hour later, and kick the poor girl out.  That was the one thing that I hated about him.

It had been a few days since I went out with Josh and Harry hadn’t dared me to do anything else and I had been too busy with school to try and think of something to make him do. Emma and I sat on the couch with our books spread out in front of us when Harry walked out of his room and into the living room. “I’m going to get pizza. Wanna come?” He picked up his keys and turned to us.

“Sure,” Emma said, standing up and stretching out her arms.

Harry frowned. “Not you,” He replied shrewdly.

Emma raised her eyebrows tiredly and fell back onto the couch.  I pulled my wallet out of my bag and stood up, stretching out my back.  I also grabbed my cigarettes and lighter, which Emma quickly tried to snatch away from me, but I dodged her and ran out the door that Harry was holding for me.  We got into his car and began to drive.  I took a cigarette between my lips and lit it, rolling down the window and blowing out the smoke through my nose. After a moment, I realized that Harry was watching me.

“What?”

“Why do you smoke?”

I hesitated.  I didn’t know.  I shrugged. “My older brother does.  He left a pack at our house once after visiting and I just wanted to try it. Got hooked, I guess.”

Harry nodded and bit his lip. “I dare you to quit.”

I frowned at him. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?”

I took another drag on my cigarette. “I mean, I don’t know.  That’s not pushing my limit, that’s changing my lifestyle.”

“It may be changing your lifestyle but it’s also still pushing your limit.  I’ve made you mad and that’s what I’m trying to do.  If you can’t quit or don’t want to try, you can always-”

“I’m not backing out,” I articulated slowly as I turned to look at Harry.  He held out his free hand. Reluctantly, I handed my pack to him.

“Lighter?”

I scowled. “Why does the lighter have to go?”

“Seeing it will trigger something in your brain that makes you feel like you need a cigarette.  Give it to me.  It’ll reduce the urge.”

I was unwilling but I passed him my small blue lighter.  Before I could change my mind, he rolled down his window and threw both the box and the lighter out of his window.

We pulled up to the local pizza place and jumped out of the car.  The pizza here was amazing but not many people knew about it.  The building was located in the dark corner of a Walmart parking lot and looked like a place that gangs might hang out.  I assumed that’s why not many people came.  Harry, however, was a regular.

“There’s a new girl working tonight,” he said as he held the door for me.  I looked up and over the counter where I could see a short girl standing.  She wore her visor backward and smacked her gum loudly as she stared us down.  Her short, spiky hair flipped out from under the sides of her headwear.  Her hair might have been cute if she kept up with the dark brown color, but her roots had grown out so much that her hair looked horrible.  She had on tacky pink eyeshadow and a purplish lipstick, I guess to match her pink work shirt.