Eighteen [a.i]

t w o

“This is where you live!?” Harry asks as we pull up in my driveway, his eyes bulging and mouth gaping wide open. Honestly, I don’t get what the big deal is. Yes, he lives in a shack but my house isn’t that big. But my heart does ache for this poor boy who doesn’t deserve the life he has.

“Yep,” I laugh parking my car and getting out, Harry following close behind me.

His eyes widen even more as we step inside, his head turning in all directions as he examines the house. “It’s bloody awesome!”

My mouth falls open in shock at the disgusting curse word, but I don’t say anything to correct him. I mean, it’s obvious he hasn’t got an overly great roll model. Unless his parents are better than his brother.

“So what do you want to do?” I ask, sitting out the couch and flipping the TV on. Harry looks weary to sit on the black leather, but finally does. He looks at my television in awe, blue eyes shining brightly. “Have you ever played Xbox?” I ask and Harry turns to me with the biggest smile on his face.

“No, I haven’t but everyone else in my class has! They all have one! I mean, we don’t even have  TV… But I’ve always wanted to try an Xbox! What do they even do, like are they—“

“Oh my gosh, Harry stop rambling,” I laugh and he shuts his mouth.

“Sorry,” he says quietly, a tint of red appearing on his cheeks.

“Well?” I ask, getting up from the lounge and handing him a controller. “What shall we play?”

~~~

“Ash!” Harry yells as we enter their small house.

“In here!” I hear the boy, whose name I have learned to be Ashton, through the obviously thin wall.

“Hey Ashy!” Harry giggles, tackling his big brother in a hug as I slowly enter the room behind him.

It’s weird to see Ashton like this. I mean, he seemed so rude and pushy when we met this morning. But now seeing him hug his brother, smiling widely with dimples and all, it’s as though he’s a different person. “Where did you guys go?” He asks.
“We went to Stella’s house!” Harry smiles. “It was so cool Ash. She had this really cool driveway with like plants and stuff and her house was like two houses on top of each other! It was one of those ones! And she had these really cool couches and a massive TV where we played Xbox and we ate these things called… Um, what were they called again Stella?” He asks, his rambling stopping as he looks up at me.

“Croissants?” I ask, laughing slightly.

“Yes! That’s it!” He giggles, and Ashton looks at me with cold eyes. God, what did I do now?

“You took him to your house?” Ashton asks and I nod. “Stella, he doesn’t need that kind of an influence at this time in his life okay? It’s obvious we live an a fucking dump and he doesn’t need to go to your massive house everyday just to come back here and mope about how shitty our lives are.”

I furrow my brows at him, wondering why he’s speaking to me like this. “What are you, his father?” I snort.

His death glare hardens and I start to wonder if I said something wrong. “Get out.”

“Excuse me?” I ask.

“I said, get the fuck out of my house. Now.”

  A S H T O N

The stupid bitch leaves and not even a moment later Harry reenters his small bedroom. “Why did you kick her out?”

I sigh, wrapping my arm around him and pulling the small boy closer to me. “She said something about Dad, I don’t even know.”

“I miss them,” I hear Harry sniff, and honestly I feel as though I’m about to shed a tear. But I don’t, for the sake of Harry.

“Hey Ash?” He asks, looking up at me as he blinks away the tears from his blue eyes. “Can we get an Xbox?”