Judged

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Five minutes later, we pull up in front of my house. Declan didn't argue with me about not telling him what I thought of the book so far, probably sensing that I wasn't going to budge. Instead I had changed the subject to Hudson. I was really wondering how they knew each other. 

Declan told me that he met Hudson about a year ago through a mutual friend, and they've been best friends ever since. He said that he's picked Hudson up from our house before, and that's how he knew how to get to my house. This made me feel like a complete idiot because I hadn't even questioned the fact that he knew where I lived. 

I asked him if he and Hudson went to high school together, but he said no. I guess he graduated last school year from a high school on the other side of town. Hudson graduated two years ago, and is 19, which I can only assume means Declan is 18. Or close to it. 

Declan puts the car into park, and kills the engine. I give him a confused look as he starts to open his door. 

"What are you doing?" He stops and looks at me equally confused. 

"I'm walking you to your door." 

Before I can respond he's already out of the mustang. I sigh and get out, shutting the door gently behind me. I give Declan a small, awkward smile as I walk up the pathway to my front door. 

Just as I'm reaching the first step and digging in my bag for my key, the front door of the house swings open. My mom walks out, purse and car keys in hand. She stops abruptly when she spots me, and then her blue eyes fall curiously onto Declan behind me. 

"Hey sweetie, who's this?" She smiles at Declan, who steps in front of me with his hand outstretched. 

"I'm Declan," he flashes a killer smile, shaking my mothers hand. 

"He's a friend of Hudsons," I interject, so she doesn't get the wrong idea. She's already mad at me enough, the last thing I need is her on my case about some boy I barely know. 

Declan looks in my direction with a raised eyebrow, and an emotion on his face I can't quite read. 

"Oh," mom says.

It's as if all the pieces are finally falling together in that brain of hers. Her confused face transitions to one of understanding. She was probably confused why a boy as attractive as Declan was hanging out with me, but once I told her that he's one of Hudsons friends it makes sense to her. He's hanging with me as a favor to Hudson is what is most likely crossing her mind. 

"Well Declan, tomorrow we're having a family dinner. Hudson is coming, and he's bringing another one of his friends. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you joined us as well," she grins. I shoot her a dirty look, but she pretends not to notice. 

"Mom, I'm sure Declan has better things to do," I say, staring her down. 

"No actually, I'd love to come," Declan replies. My mom flaunts her widest smile. 

"Great! See you tomorrow at six," she calls while walking over to our red van sitting in the driveway. "Harper, I'll be home soon," she adds before climbing into the van. She just sits in the drivers seat, messing with her phone. Probably waiting for Declan to leave before she does. 

Suddenly feeling nervous about the fact that Declan is going to be joining my entire family for dinner tomorrow, I stare at my feet instead of looking at him. He clears his throat to grab my attention, and I glance up at him. Fuck, he's attractive. 

"So," he begins, "I'll see you tomorrow then?" Both of his eyebrows are raised expectantly. 

"I guess. You don't have to come if you don't want to you know."

"I know, but I want to."

"You sure?" I ask. Before I realize what he's doing, Declan is standing directly in front of me. More like hovering over me because he's so tall. I blush, making my face go hot. He's so close I can feel his breath on my ear. 

"I'm sure," he whispers. Then he quickly turns around and walks down the pathway to his car, not even looking at me once more. I run into the house, closing the door behind me. I hear the mustang take off down the street, and go look out the living room window. 

I'm brought back to reality when I notice my mom is still sitting in the driveway. It looks as if she hasn't even peeked up from the screen of her phone. At least I hope she hasn't.

Why would Declan do that when my mom is right there? Sure, all he did is whisper into my ear, but my mom has the tendency of freaking out over nothing. 

Mom glances up from her phone into the rear view mirror. Noticing that Declan is gone now, she backs out of the driveway and speeds away. My phone goes off from inside of my bag that now sits on the couch.

I search for what feels like forever before I finally find my phone at the bottom of my bag. I pull it out and see a new text message from mom. Oh god, what now? 

Mom: Sweetie could u clean up the kitchen a little bit? Plz and thnx. P.S. Your therapist apt is tmrrw at noon. 

I sigh heavily. I hate the way my mom texts. It seriously annoys the shit out of me when people abbreviate words in a text message. Like really? How hard is it to spell out the entire word? 

Trying not to think about my therapist appointment tomorrow, I head to the kitchen and start cleaning. Soon enough my mind wanders to our family dinner tomorrow. Declan is going to be inside my house. Eating dinner with my family. There's no squeezing my way out of this. 

Yay life. 

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Authors Note: Comment? If you liked it, or if you didn't. All comments are welcome :) Vote? If you liked it. :) 
Picture to the side is of Declans car :D

-S