Jump | H.S.

Chapter 12

The drive ia pretty quiet, my mind wondering to Mike and what he's doing now. I can only imagine the things he's planning for either Harry or me, making me shudder.

"You okay?" Harry asks as he glances away from the road for a brief second, looking at me.

"Yeah," I say with a forced smile. "I'm fine." I can tell he doesn't buy it, but he shrugs it off and says no more about it.

~~~~~

Pulling into the parking lot, I can't help but feel a bit nervous thinking of this friend Harry is meeting up. "Harry?" I ask as we walk towards the door.

"Hmm?"

"What is this friend like?" I ask in a soft voice.

"A nicer version of me," he says with a small laugh, before opening the door and letting me in.

I look around the diner, looking for a guy about twenty-five, blonde hair, and a little odd. Not that Harry's odd but his temper is a little off set.

"Ah, this way," he says as he puts his hand on the small of my back, guiding me through the tables.

When his hand leaves my back, I'm surprised at the guy sitting at the table before us. He looks about twenty-three, dark brown eyes complement his features, while dark brown hair is settled on his head. Stubble covers his chin, along with a large grin on his face.

"Harry!" He says as he stands, giving Harry a man hug. "How are you? Take a seat." His whole welcome is so cheery, I can't help but like him already.

"Oh!" He says looking down at me. "I'm Liam." He extends his hand, and I warmly grasp it with my own.

"Jumper," I say with a smile.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too." I sit down beside Harry, across from Liam. Smiling, Liam asks-

"So, how have you been?"

"Um, pretty good," Harry replies with a genuine smile. I can tell these two are close. Well at least used to be close. There seems like a small border between them, but Mike is still on my mind, probably messing with my thoughts.

I look at the menu before me, and decide on a cheeseburger and fries, along with a coke. After the waitress leaves, I look outside and wonder what my family's doing right now.

"Jumper?" Liam asks, snapping me out of my daydreams.

"Huh? I'm sorry."

"I just asked what do you do?"

"Like a job?" He nods his head, making me gulp. I have a dark past with my job, and I don't want to discuss it. "Well, I work with my boy- Mike. I work with my friend Mike." Harry stiffens next to me just at the mention of his name, while Liam looks at me weirdly.

"Oh, okay. And what does he do?" Shit.

"Um," I drop my napkin on the floor on purpose. Bending down to pick it up, I pull out my phone, and text Harry.

Please change the subject :c

I sit up just when his phone buzzes. Checking it, he frowns, and I know he'll want answers later.

"Liam, um I just got a text, and we have to go," He says before standing up. "C'mon, Jumper."

Liam's face falls, making me feel bad; but I obey Harry and get up. "But the food hasn't even come yet," he says, making excuses for us to stay.

"I'm sorry, mate, we have to go. Maybe another time, yeh?" Liam forces a smile and a small yeah, before we leave the diner.

The walk to his car is silent, but once we get inside and buckle our seatbelts, he goes crazy.

"What does that little piece of shit do for a living?" He snaps. I fidget with my hands, avoiding all possible eye contact.

"Is this why we left?" I ask him quietly. I can hear him sigh and shift in his seat.

"Yes."

"We could've discussed this later, so we didn't have to leave him all alone, especially when the food didn't come yet."

"Well I recall not that long ago that you didn't give two shits about wasting food." That pisses me off.

"That's because I wasn't hungry, because you were being a dick," I snap at him as I no longer look at my hands, but his face instead.

"You're the one that went all Kim Kardashian on me because I read a text. Like forgive me," he says with a baby accent.

"You're an ass," I spit.

"You're a-" I know he was going to say 'bitch', but he stops himself.

"Go ahead, Harry, call me a bitch. I am one, but at least I admit it."

"I'm not calling you that, and I am dick. I never pretended I wasn't either," his breathing is deep, and again we're arguing over useless crap that doesn't even matter.

"Don't we all know," I scoff as I look out the window.

"Why are we arguing?" He sighs as he turns on the car.

"You started it, by bringing up that stupid pasta indecent," I defend.

"Yeah, well you didn't make it better when you began to raise your voice."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to sit back and let you blame me about that stupid bowl of spaghetti when you're the one that scooped it?" I roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry I was being nice and pulled out two bowls. I'm so terrible for wanting you to eat."

"Stop! This is getting us no where," I demand. "I'm sorry for snapping on you, now let's drop it," I sigh.

Releasing a deep breath, he apologizes too.

"And I'm sorry for being a dick."

~~~~~

The air is thick as we drive back to his house. I can feel the tension around us, even though we already apologized and everything's over with.

As he pulls into the driveway, I hurry up and get out. Walking quickly to the door, he hurries to catch up. "Hey, you okay?" He asks as he unlocks the bolt.

"Yeah," I lie.

"Bullshit."

"Don't," I warn as the door swings open, me waking in first.

"I'm sorry, I just want you open with me," he defends as he shuts the door behind him.

"You're not even open for me," I reply as I sit down on the couch.

"That's because you don't need to know about me."

I laugh at him.

"Seriously? Well, you don't need to know about me." He clenches his jaw, but thankfully says no more about the situation.