Sold // Harry Styles

Chapter 16

Alice is doing my hair again but I can’t find it in myself to make conversation with her.  A.J. decided to set me up with another person in case Drew doesn’t end up buying me and I’m worried that this may be it.  I think Harry feels the same way as I do.

He demanded that Alice put me in a subdued dress for the orientation today.  Alice hit it out of the park.  In fact, it looks almost like maternity dress and it isn’t very flattering on me.  It’s absolutely horrifying.  It’s a black and white plaid dress that comes all the way down to my ankles and it has absolutely no shape.  I look like a walking chess board.

I could tell she was having a hard time just handing it to me—she shook her head and muttered Harry’s name under her breath when she first saw me with it on.  But I think she realizes that if Harry wants to keep me, she’s going to have to make me look as unappealing as possible.

 “Jackie, are you okay, sweetie?” Alice asks breaking through my thoughts.  “You haven’t said a word since I got here.”

I turn around to face her and her eyes soften when they see the strained look on my face.  “Alice, I don’t want to be sold.”  I shake my head and press my lips together.

I can see her visibly swallow before she kneels beside me.  “I don’t want to see you go either.  And I know Harry can agree with me on that.  He said he’d do anything to keep you with him.”

“But what if he can’t?”

“Well,” Alice says with a long sigh, “I guess time will only tell.”

She looks at me apologetically before bringing her arms around me.  I rest my chin on her shoulder as she rubs my back.  This is why I like her so much.  She gives me the honest truth when I feel like I’m drowning in lies.

“Don’t cry,” she whispers in my ear.  “You’re stronger than that.”  I nod my head as I try to keep my emotions under control.  “And you’ll mess up your makeup,” she quickly adds trying to make me laugh.  It works only a little.

“Are you guys ready?” Harry asks as he walks through the door.  His normal energetic eyes are dull and melancholy as he leans up against the wall.  He’s wearing the same outfit as he did the first day—black dress pants and a white shirt.

“Yeah,” Alice says straightening my dress in the back.  “I think she’s ready to go.”

We all walk to the front door—no words were exchanged.  We all knew what was bound to happen and everyone was scared to say something wrong.  Only the light sounds of our footsteps and the opening of Alice’s creaky car door of her old jeep was heard.

Harry and I sit on the stoop of the front step together as we watch her start the car.  It rumbles to life and she slowly pulls out of the driveway.

 “Be careful,” Alice yells as she rolls the car window down.  “Keep her safe.”

“I will,” he says.

We watch as she drives off and the only thing I want is to be in the car with her—driving away from this home where A.J. will bring me to my ultimate fate with my possible owner.

I feel like there’s cotton balls in my mouth.  They choke me and absorb all the spit in my mouth so that I’m left with only a dry, foul taste.  The air is sticky and thick.  And although I feel like the air is not filling my lungs enough and the cotton balls in my mouth are nearly choking me, I feel like there’s an electric current running through my veins.  Adrenaline is rushing but it’s not the kind that I like.  This type makes me want to cower away from all things around me and give up.  It makes me feel jittery on the outside though my insides are too frozen to move.