Absolution ➺ H.S. AU

Chapter 12 ➺ Paisley

I didn't even make it to my room before Hattie was eagerly waiting for questioning.

"Well?" She said, taking a seat on stool in front of my desk.

"It was okay." I say truthfully. In all honesty, Harry wasn't all that pleasant, but I feel like we made some headway. Or defined what we wanted from each other at least.

"Okay?" She asked.

"I mean, we talked and stuff. I got to know more about him. His parents are always away on business, he doesn't have any siblings. He likes music. I told him a little about me."

"That's good. So are you going to keep doing this?" She asked.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously we both have very different interests, so we can't be like best friends or anything, but we're going to hang out again next week." I explained as Hattie listened patiently. "Oh, and he, uh, offered to drive me to school everyday."

"You're going to let him drive you?" She asked, giving me an incredulous look.

"Yeah, I don't have any better option. Besides, I'm sure he's a great driver, when he's, uh, sober." I said.

"Okay." She looked at me skeptically, silently judging me for agreeing to get rides from the guy who almost killed me.

"So what did you do tonight?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I had an interview for a scholarship." She said, and I suddenly remembered her telling me about it earlier this week.

"How was is?" I asked. The topic of Hattie going off to college was always a touchy one for me, since I could hardly fathom the idea of her leaving me, but I don't want to seem unsupportive.

"It went really well." Her face lit up in excitement. "They said they would give me a call tomorrow. I think this might be the one, Pay." She said, my heart dropping to my stomach at the confirmation that she would, in fact, be leaving me to live with my mother and her aunt by myself.

"And how far is this one?" I asked hesitantly.

"Only three and half hours." She said. "It's south of Denver."  

"That's pretty far." I said, no emotion in my voice.

"I mean, yeah. I won't be able to come home every weekend, but at least once a month." She said.

"Yeah." I said, done with this conversation. I don't want to get upset.

"Alright, well I'll leave you to your homework, miss smarty pants." She said, getting up and gesturing to the backpack that lay on the floor. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hattie." I said, as I shut the door behind her to bury my head in my books.

* * * * * * *

I stood anxiously by the door, looking through the window, anxiously awaiting Harry's arrival. It's 6:58 and I wanted to make sure I was ready so as to not slow him down, as he is doing me a huge favor.

Part of me is afraid he isn't going to show up. I know he said he would drive me, but he's so unpredictable and you never know which side of Harry you'll see.

I stood there another two minutes contemplating once again whether or not this was a good idea, when I saw the familiar black car pull into the driveway. I grabbed my bag from the floor and swung the door open, walking out into the cool morning air. Locking the door behind me, I walked up to Harry's car and hopped in.

"Good morning." I said.

"Morning." Harry mumbled, sleep laced in his tone. I didn't want to make him angry or annoy him, so I just put my seatbelt on and sat quietly, peering out the window. Mornings clearly weren't his thing.