Trials {Editing}

Chapter 5

Harper's POV

"I was this close to telling him! It was on the tip of my tongue, and then one honk and all my confidence was gone." I retold the story to Lucy as she cleaned the counters. She hummed thoughtfully through pressed lips before asking. "What are you going to do now?"

I huffed and slouched in my chair. "I don't know. Just do what I always do I guess. Try to let him go and just be friends."

Lucy grabbed her rag and started wiping another counter, her back turned to me. It had been a few days since Noah came over, and it had been stewing the entire time. I took a deep breath and sighed as it replayed in my head once again. I shut my eyes and rubbed my temples. "I don't know why I bother to hope for anything more than friends," I confessed. "He made it clear that I'll never be anymore than that."

Lucy chuckled softly and shook her head. "You teenagers are so dramatic," she commented.

"Dramatic?" I said incredulously. "You think the humiliation I went through is dramatic?"

Lucy simply chuckled again before turning towards me, her old eyes shining down upon me. "To an extent, yes," she admitted. "He overreacted to finding out about your crush on him. And you were quite hurt, and were dramatic about the distance you kept afterwards. Even now, you refuse to talk about the event with him. And you're quite dramatic about the crush you have on him, even you can't deny so."

I nodded my head, knowing I couldn't argue. "So what do I do?" I asked.

Lucy walked around the counter and stood next to me, cupping my face in her hands. "Either take another leap of faith and hope for the best, or just let go," she answered. "No matter what you choose, no one can criticize you for it. But you must make your decision."

I nodded my head slowly, knowing she was right. I had to make my choice. I took a deep breath before deciding to think about this more later on, when I was alone.

"So, did you overhear anything this morning?" I asked, changing the subject to my parents. Lucy was my eyes and ears when it came to them.

"You know," Lucy said with a mischievous glimmer in her brown eyes, "I shouldn't be sharing with you what I overhear." I simply staid and waited a few moments before she continued on. "But there's no fun in that, so I will. Today I heard Mrs. Johnson on the phone with Mr. Johnson. He said he'll be home next Friday from his business trip. Then Mrs. Johnson asked him what she should do with you, to which he responded that she should take you on a job or two with her and show you how the business works, then take you to the mall or something and just spend time with you. Get a bond started or something along the lines of that."

I frowned as I pondered what Lucy was saying. "That's so strange. Why would she want to spend time with me? We've never been like that."

Lucy smiled sadly. "She doesn't feel like you love her," she replied.

"I didn't know it mattered if I did." I answered honestly. "I respect the woman a great deal, and am grateful to have her. I mean, she's way better than my parents ever were. I do like her, in a way, but... I mean, I don't really know her. We don't spend time or have a mother-daughter relationship or anything like that."

Lucy nodded understandingly. "What about Mr. Johnson?" She asked.

"Steve?" I asked. "He's a sweet man. I could easily grow to love him if he was home more. He's just never here." I thought about the length of time he's usually gone and sighed. "I wonder how Connie does it; I couldn't stand it if my husband was constantly gone like he is. I mean, how do you even know that he's being faithful? You would have no idea!"