blue (book one) - h.s. ✔️ watty's 2019

chapter 21

"Can you turn the heat up?" I ask once I feel a chill sweep through my body. We've been driving for what feels like hours! Neither one of us has uttered a single word since we've left my house. I'm too afraid now to ask what had happened. I've never seen Alex, no, I've never seen Harry look so terrifying. I just keep replaying the entire ordeal in my head. It seems never ending. At least I can feel again. Adjusting the dial on the front board he turns down the music blanketing the silence.

"The nobs right there," he says rudely even though his hand was just there.

Is he serious? I can't deal with this right now.

Rolling my eyes, I adjust the dial until the tiny arrow faces the red. A shiver flows through my body, and almost instantly goosebumps replace the smooth skin. Harry must have seen my reaction to the cold, because taking one hand off of the wheel - the other expertly guiding the massive truck - he reaches in the back and pulls out a leather jacket. A rather girly one at that.

"It's my sisters," he states nonchalantly.

Simply nodding my head I slip on the jacket and mutter a small 'thanks'.

"Why aren't you talking to me?"

"Because I don't want to talk."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Who said I needed your help?" he retorts harshly.

"You've done enough."

Biting my lip, I steady my breaths and focus on the heavy rains. I look out and the rain makes it hard to see anything really. How Harry manages to drive in this is beyond me.

"Why were you and Alex fighting?"

"Fuck off, man," he spits, clenching his fist around the steering wheel.

"I was just asking a question!"

"And I answered." Oh my gosh.

"Why were you at my house?"

This time he doesn't respond. Instead, he turns up the dial for volume and the voice of several sports casters fill the truck.

"You're so frustrating!" I say after a bit.

"I know."

"You're irritating."

"So are you," he fires back, coldly.

From the side I can see what looks like a small smirk before his stoic expression returns. He must really get a kick out of riling me up.

"Where are we going?"

"Why?"

"Because I feel like I have the right to know where I'm being taken to?" I say matter-of-factly.

I hear him mutter something under his breath before the sound of tires screeching against the wet roads sound. After I take the time to straighten myself from the effects of his sudden stop, I open my mouth to speak but am stopped by his harsh words slicing through the rain-coated silence.

"I am the driver. You should be thankful I am giving you somewhere to stay for the night. You should be thanking me for saving you from your invading, bitch friend. You should be the silent passenger. . . but you're not. I can't focus on my driving with your annoying voice ringing through my ears. So, if you could please do me and any other soul awake in this god-forsaken state a favor and shut the fuck up."

His words hurt me. Throughout his rant his voice rose with every word until it boomed, making the silence now incredibly awkward.

Completely angered and a bit startled I unbuckle my seat belt, open the car door, and start walking away from his truck barefoot in the rain.

I can't deal with him.

To say it is just cold would be the understatement of the year. Only a couple of feet away and the rough, wet street below hurts my feet incredibly. The mixture of the wind and the rain is enough to cause a severe case of hypothermia. This is torture.

"What the hell are you doing? Get back in the fucking car!" Harry shouts as I now see him pull up beside me moving slowly. I didn't even hear the sound of his ignition or his car turning around.

Only with Harry will I ever do this.

"Parker, get in the fucking car before you catch a cold or something worse," he yells.

Now he's considerate.

"Leave me alone!"

I know that I am being completely irrational, again, but then again, I am with Harry. The sound of feet pattering closely behind me annoys me beyond measure. I feel his hands snake around my waist and refuse to just give in this time.

"No! Don't touch me! You can't keep doing this to me, Harry. I don't even recognize who I am anymore! All of this: the sneaking out, lying to my friends, going to parties-"

"That one was not me," he claims.

I ignore him.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not sure I like who I am when I am around you. My head was so clear a month ago and now I can hardly even bear the chaos."

My breathing is much more heavy and my body involuntarily jerks itself as if crying, but the wind makes it hard to tell if I am or if it is just me reacting to the cold.

His arms make their way to embrace me, but I push them away aggressively.

"Stop. You can't just curse me out and make me feel bad and then expect me to forgive you instantly. I told you. I don't like-,"

"I know, I know. You don't have to say it again," he says still forcing his arms around me. I struggle from his hold for quite a while.

"Would you stop? You're beyond freezing and are shivering like crazy."

I didn't recognize it earlier, but my heart beat has slowed considerably. I can't even feel myself anymore.

I give in and let him embrace me. Again, defying some science, he is unrealistically warm. 

"Forgive me, blue. I don't understand what's happening."