Until We Meet Again // H.S. AU

XXIV. We Meet Again

(song: rearview by bad suns)

It's only been a day. One day since I broke up with Harry, and I already regret it. I didn't realize how much I would miss him and how much time I spent with him on a daily basis.

But no matter how much I miss him, I can't just go crawling back to him. I won't. He was rude and acted like an asshole. I deserve better than that. I'll just keep pretending I'm okay, and I think eventually I will actually be okay.

The walk to work this morning made me feel slightly better. But walking into the store didn't do much good for me. Harry and I spent a lot of time hanging out here. I need to get used to him not coming here every day anymore.

I try to make myself busy. Steve tells me to organize the records in the back. I go do just that. There are quite a few customers in the store today. Thankfully, none of them talk to me. I hear the bell from the door ring again. It's probably another customer. I focus on trying to organize the records, but at some point I realize I'm just picking them up and putting them back down right where I found them. Maybe I should just go back to the register.

Steve walks out of his office moments later, talking on the phone.

"That's fine, yeah. I'll see you in a few!"

"You going somewhere?" I ask him as he puts his phone in his pocket.

"No, my dad is coming here to visit," he replied with a big smile on his face.

"Oh, that's great. Do you see him often?"

"Not really, he's been traveling a lot for the past few years. He just got back from South Africa last night," Steve says and sits beside me.

"Wow that sounds like fun. Where else has he been?" I try to continue the conversation and take my mind off of Harry for once today.

"He's been everywhere," he says with a look of admiration in his eyes, "he's been to Milan, Rome, Athens, Barcelona, Paris, Japan, Napal... I can't even remember any more," Steve chuckles.

"I wish I could travel to that many places."

"So do I, but I have this place to take care of," Steve pats the counter and his eyes roam the room.

"What if you go travel with your dad and I can take care of the store?"

"I don't know, last time that happened the store kinda got caught on fire."

"Hey! You know that wasn't my fault!"

Steve puts his hands up in defense.

"I was joking," he says with a smile, "I don't know, I'll think about it."

"Good. So are you close with your dad?" A customer comes up and puts a few CD's on the counter. I start to ring them up as Steve continues talking.

"Yeah, we're pretty close. It's weird, sometimes I forget he's not my biological father," Steve lets out a laugh. The customer leaves and I bid him a good day.

"He's not your biological father?" My mind begins to wander, thinking about Steve could be adopted as well. How did I not know this before?!

"No, he's my step-dad."

Oh.

"My mom married him when I was, like, seven. He was always really nice to me, I remember him being around before my mom even married him. He was always a nice guy. He's had a pretty rough past, though."

"Aw, what happened?"

"Well, he was married once before he met my mom," I face Steve and give him all my attention as he tells me the story.