Caught | 1D AU

6.

I don't know how long I was in the trunk. It felt like we were driving for hours. At one point the car stopped for a while, and got even hotter than before, and I might have passed out because before I knew it, the car was driving again and my head was bumping off the fuzzy ground, making my headache worse, I would try to lick my lips with a dry tongue, and breath shallow. But eventually the car stopped again, and I could hear him getting out, walking around the car, opening doors, leaving, then coming back again. After twenty minutes the trunk opened and light filtered in. I took a deep breath as cool air hit me. I scrunched my face to crack the dried tears on my cheeks and rubbed my eyes.

"Done throwing tantrums?" he asked, his hand holding up the trunk, the sunlight casting a shadow on his face.

I was taken off guard at why he was treating me like a child, but I nodded because I needed to get out of the trunk. Just get out of the trunk.He offered his hand for me to grab, and he pulled me up, lifting me into his arms, and finally into open air. He held onto me tight, and I hung my chin over his shoulder to look behind him down a gravel driveway lined with a forest. It was long and twisted so I couldn't see where it ended. All around us were trees, growing wild, blocking out almost any daylight that was still left over. I twisted to look behind me, and saw a small lake with a dock, and above that I could see that the sun was already setting, lighting it up in a deep orange. He carried me up to a small log cabin, the only building in sight.

"Lands really cheap this far north," Harry said, "so I invested and bought this little place. We have it all to ourselves, no one to bother us... I thought it could be vacation home later in life with kids or a dog. A nice place to just get away, ya know?" He stood there holding me in the doorway, looking in at the dust and cobwebs. I tried not to think about how he was already thinking about kids.

The cabin was very small. To one side was a kitchen and living room, and to the other was a wall with two doors slightly ajar, one might have been to a bedroom and the other a bathroom. It looked like there were spiders crawling on the walls, and the carpet had mildew growing on it.

He walked further in, and set me down on a dark green couch, it sunk down under my weight, and springs stuck into my butt. He started sorting through grocery bags that were set down on the ground in front of kitchen cabinets. "I went grocery shopping before we got here because the towns quite far away, I wanted to make sure we had everything we needed." He opened the fridge, but the most rancid smell wafted out and I had to plug my nose.

"So this isn't as quaint as I thought it would be," he said. He was holding his shirt up over his nose, "but don't worry, a little cleaning and it'll be shipshape." He pulled out a bottle of bleach and paper towels and other cleaning supplies from one bag, and started scrubbing the fridge, the counters, and he started wiping the walls down until he noticed me shivering. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," I said. Though I was trying to touch as little of the couch as I could, hunching my shoulders away from the back cushion, imaging every little tickle on my skin was a spider or bed bug. The door was open, with a cool breath coming in, which probably made the air inside the cabin fresher, but as the sun dipped below the tree line, and the sky darkened, the air cooled off, reminding us that summer was almost over.

"Don't worry," he said, "I can start a fire, get it nice and toasty in here." I nodded, and coughed, making my head pound. "Are you okay?" he asked before he went to go outside.

"I need water," I said through a dry throat.

"Of course, you're probably dehydrated," he said, one hand on the doorway, "with all the driving and drinking all that alcohol last night, I should have gotten you water right away," he stepped back inside, grabbing a glass from a cupboard, and rinsing it out to get all the dust out, then filling it with tap water. He handed it to me, and then went to collect wood. I sipped the water, but it tasted weird and heavy and left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.

Eventually he came back with an arm full of logs, and some little twigs in one hand. He set the pile down beside the small fireplace, and picked three up to stack inside it, sticking the twigs between them, then ripping some of the paper grocery bags, and adding those as well. He lit a match and held it close so that the paper caught fire, and started up, lighting the cabin in orange light.

"Okay, now I should probably get dinner started, I bet you're starving. What do you want, spaghetti or mac and cheese?" He looked at me expectantly, holding up a box of each kind. Like he was excited and happy and this was romantic little getaway for the two of us.I wouldn't even want to be here if I liked the guy. "I also got chicken parmesan because I know it's your favorite, but I thought it would take too long to cook tonight, so we can do that tomorrow."

"I don't care," I said, then looked away at the fire. I didn't want to know how he knew my favorite food.

He set the boxes down roughly on the counter. He took a minute to breath before he grabbed a pot from the cabinet, filled it with water, and shoved it on the stove with the same anger. "You know, this doesn't have to be a horrible experience for you, you can let yourself be happy."

"You're holding me here against my will," I said.

He bent down and started putting the other groceries away. "Where would you be right now if you weren't here?" he asked. I looked back at the fire flickering against the logs because I didn't have an answer seeing as I was kicked out of my own home. "Out on the street? Sleeping on someone's couch? Spending money that you don't have on an airBnB until you find a new apartment with roommates that you'll probably hate?" I kept my mouth shut. "Look, all I'm asking is that you give me a chance, let go of how we got here, and just enjoy the here and now."

"Whatever," I said.

NOTE--

So yeah. Do not live with your significant other. It really was a terrible idea. Turns out he doesn't love me anymore, guys. boys are stupid. We're still friends. But like, we went a whole week without actually talking, and at first I thought we were fine and it was just weird living together, but then he started lying to me, and the weather was too hot so I couldn't sleep in his bed, but I guess he didn't even want me there... But we talked yesterday, sort of why I didn't post yesterday, I was too emotionally broken (also I broke my computer, but my dear friend Gwyn lent me hers to use for this exact purpose in return for editing her essay). But we TALKED finally, he wouldn't talk to me for like three days, he's so stupid. Anyways, he doesn't like me so we broke up, apparently he thought we weren't even together anymore, idk, anyways it's confusing but I'm actually okay today and I bought lipgloss last night to help myself move on.