Issues // H.S. // A.U.

Chapter Twenty

HARRY

Dani's been even softer with me lately, her walls crumbling down before me at a rate I didn't think was possible. There were still things she wouldn't tell me, but I could live with that. I knew when I promised myself that I would wait years to hear her story that I was telling the truth.

I knew bad stuff had happened to her. She had pretty much confirmed that, and I couldn't really keep myself from wondering what it was. She had already told me some horrifying stuff, the cigarette burn on the side of her ribs burned into my brain.

The other night, the only one we spent apart since Thanksgiving - she had to work late and I had an early class - I had spent the night ignoring my creative writing paper, and I researched the foster care system online.

I read up as much as possible, wanting to be familiar with the process. I knew if Dani did open up, I didn't want her to have to explain random things to me. I now knew what it meant to be placed in a short term house versus a long term. Dani must've been an emergency placement kid when she was abandoned by her mother.

I couldn't imagine having to move from place to place every few months. No wonder thirty percent of children ended up with extreme behavioral problems. I smiled when I had found an online forum for adults who grew up in the system, all showing remarkable signs of strength and determination to get past that part of their life. Many of them, like Dani, focused on professions that helped kids, or adults who were going through hard times. Numerous people who led AA meetings, and mentored children right out of juvie.

I suddenly felt a surge of pride towards the woman in my bed. She was choosing to dedicate her life to help kids like her. She would have to come home from a long day at work, probably exhausted and emotionally drained from hearing what they were going through. She was going to need a lot of support, and I hoped to be the one to bring it to her.

Right now, she was sleeping next to me, head resting on my chest while I played with her hair. It's like we were addicted to each other, spending nearly every night at either of our places. Lately, we've been using that time to study together, rewarding ourselves with make-out sessions when we finished a paper or practice test.

Finals were coming up in two weeks, next week being the dreaded "dead week" for college students. Dani seemed pretty calm about it all, but that wasn't surprising. She might actually be the smartest student here at school. She even helped me with one of my classes, one she had never taken before.

She mumbled just now in her sleep, hand clenching at my shirt as it rested over my heart. I smiled to myself, looking down at her to check to see if she was waking up. She had an adorable pout on her face, brows scrunching up in the middle for a second before the tension released. I wonder what she was dreaming about. I hoped it was me, but that might be due to the fact that I had almost solely started dreaming about her.

I was in deep, but there was something about it that made me giddy. It was like my future was finally laid out before me, clear as day. Before Dani, everything had been blurry, like I wasn't wearing the right pair of glasses.

There was such a deep connection between us now, even with the secrets she was withholding from me. I'd like to think she felt the same. I'm pretty convinced she does, but every once in a while I feel my deep seated fears come back in full force. I had never not been cheated on, and I knew Dani wouldn't do that, that if she was unhappy she would just break up with me, but those two times really did a number on me.

I had thought I was the perfect boyfriend back then. I wasn't pressuring them to have sex, I waited by their locker in-between classes, and taken them to every dance I could in spectacular fashion, but that didn't stop them.