Stuck With Him

Chapter twelve [ 12 ]

Chapter twelve: Hello, trouble

I felt myself freeze in doorway. My feet just wouldn't move, I couldn't walk further into the room. Jax nearly crashed into me but managed to miraculously dodge me. He looked at me funny but then he too noticed our guests and stopped wondering what the hell was I doing. He was a smart boy and very soon put two and two together.

I didn't want to look at Alex but couldn't look away, either. At the same time he looked both terrible and better than ever. His black hair was a mess but a beautiful one at that. Dark circles loomed under his gray eyes and he looked exhausted. Good. I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to feel bad for ruining this whether it ever was anything or not. To me it was, at least.

"Natalie", my grandma called from a seat across Alex. I had been so wrapped up in staring at Alex that I hadn't even noticed that she was there too. Mason stood in the kitchen, leaning on the counter, his arms crossed. His body language filled me in on what had happened: Nana and Alex had just shown up and not given him the chance to refuse them.

My heart dropped to my knees when I noticed that Papi wasn't there. "Nana, what's wrong? Is Papi okay?" I asked and rushed to her side. My windpipe seemed to grow smaller and smaller while my brain begun to make up scenarios, each more bloody and violent than the previous one. I didn't know what I'd do if something had happened to Papi. I could not handle losing him, he and grandma are all I have left of my family.

Nana noticed my panic rising and answered promptly: "No, no, your grandfather is quite alright. I came here to talk to you."

"About what?" I asked, panic still evident in my voice.

"Take a breath, Harper", Mason reminded me. I let out the breath I had been holding and felt a little better. Mason nodded approvingly. He started to make his way to the door and said: "I'll leave you to it. Remember, no blood on my new white carpet."

I punched his shoulder a little too hard and he winced before leaving the room. Jax stayed a little longer, his eyes on me. "We'll be right outside", he said before disappearing to the hallway.

I turned to face the weird situation before me after nodding thanks to Jax and asked: "So what is it?"

"Natalie, please take a seat."

I flinched, bad memories from my childhood flooding my mind. "I don't want to take a seat", I said, reverting back to the stubborn yet scared child her words made me feel like. When she had told me about my parents' death she had also asked me to take a seat.

Nana sighed. "Humor me, would you?"

I reluctantly sat down and glanced at my grandma. "What's wrong?" I repeated. I could only deal with one catastrophe at a time so I chose Nana because talking to Alex would feel the same as ripping my heart out of my chest. No, wait, he already did that for me.

"What isn't? You live here, ten miles from our house and I haven't seen hide nor hair of you since you arrived. "

A pang of guilt hit me and I lowered my head in shame. "I'm sorry, Nana. I've been... busy."

"Yes, I saw who you've been busy with." There was a tidal wave of disapproval in her voice. It was obvious that she had misunderstood the relationship between me and Jax. I was about to correct her but I took one look at the hurt in Alex's eyes and suddenly my jaw was wired shut. Not that he'd really care but knowing that I wasn't pining after him hurt his ego. His pride.

Nana let out a sigh. "Sweetheart, what are you doing here?" she asked, sounding exhausted as if worrying about me was her full time job. Which it probably was. I wasn't exactly an easy child. "Cindy Farrell's mother called me. She said you had been apartment hunting with some boy. You're thinking about moving here?"

There was suddenly such hope in her voice, it killed me. She thought I wanted to come home, stay near them when in reality I was just hiding out in here. I hadn't planned on ever living in Rosedale again and I wouldn't have come here, had Mason not lived here. Yes, I had been apartment hunting but just to rent one. Temporarily living in Rosedale would have been as close to ideal as my life would ever get. I would have been close to Mason and my grandparents, the most important people in my life. I would have been able to write my novel in peace. But now it was all ruined because I had missed my car and therefore tipped Alex off my location. I could only blame myself. Now I'd have to either talk to Alex or run again. With my grandmother in the room, option B didn't seem all that accessible.

"I miss you and Papi. And Mason. And since you all insist on living here, in this" - I stopped myself right before cursing in front of my grandma - "town, I figured I had to succumb."

"Rosedale is a wonderful town--" Nana started to say.

"Yeah, I know, Nana. It's an awesome town. But not really for me. You know that", I replied, trying to let her down as nicely as I possibly could. I knew she and Papi had hoped for my return since the day I left. Part of the reason why I hadn't informed them that I was back in town was that I didn't want to have this conversation.

"Yes, but I thought..." her voice trails off. I could fill the rest of her sentence even though she left the words unsaid. She thought I had changed my mind. But I hadn't.

I ducked my head even lower. "I'm sorry, Nana."

Nana waved my apologies away and tried to act like me attempting to leave again didn't
hurt. "No, no, I understand. You're young. You want to see the world. Staying in a small town isn't your style."

"So..." I said and made a barely noticeable nod towards Alex.

Fortunately Nana understood what I meant right away and explained: "He came around looking for you and since I was already heading this way..."

Goddammit, Nana, I thought but held my tongue. Nana always favored Alex and who could really blame her? Alex could be the most charming boy in the world when he wanted to and of course he had always played nice in front of my grandparents. Nana thought we were a great couple. Little did she know that it was all for pretenses.

Nana leaned closer to me and lowered her voice to a whisper I could barely hear. "Listen, Harper, honey... just talk to him. He seems so... broken."

"He is not broken", I snapped a little louder than I had meant to. But then again what did I care if he heard me? Nothing I said would exactly be a shock. He knew I hated him. And he deserved it all.

I took a deep breath. "Nana, just let it go. Please", I added when Nana looked like she was going to press on it.

She nodded. "I'll give you two a moment to talk things over."

"There's nothing to talk about", I said icily. She seemed to think that we were just having a little fight and that I was overreacting. That Alex was being some sort of romantic hero, chasing me down when in reality he was just a sociopath, unwilling to let go of his victim.
"Harper, everyone deserves a chance to explain themselves."

I tried not to scream at her. How could she not see how little I wanted to talk to him? Was she getting some sick kick out of this? "Nana, I appreciate your concern but it's fine. Really. I'm fine. You don't have to try to fix this."

"That's where you are wrong", Nana said in even lower voice. A small smile crossed her lips before she kissed my forehead and left the room.

Now I had nothing else to do but to face Alex.
Crap. I took another deep breath and then met
his eyes.

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My hands are getting tired.

But...

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Much love,

Ida 💋