Redemption

9 - Escape to the Roof

Chapter 9 - Escape to the Roof

"Don't you fucking walk away from me," Shawn screams from across our bedroom. I wanted to rip my hair out. My cheeks were soaked from the tears rolling down them for the past hour.

"Why shouldn't I? You haven't been home in three days!" I turn back around to face him. He looks perfect, like he always has to me, and I thought I was perfect to him.

His face grows even more red, if that's possible. "I've already told you a hundred times, I went up to one of the boy's cabin, it was a girl-free weekend."

I scoff, shaking my head slowly. Did he really expect me to believe that? He sounded more like Mom than Mom did. When she would disappear for days, leaving me and Isaac to fend for ourselves, she would come back with one of the worst excuses a person could come up with.

"And you expect me to believe that?" I say so bitterly that a flash of true worry crosses Shawn's face. He throws his hands up in the air, clearly defeated. I could feel my heart plummet to my stomach. I wanted him to kiss me everywhere, to tell me he wouldn't ever do what I was thinking, but those days died long ago.

And I feel like we both knew it. I was starting to become lonely, isolated, missing Jasmine more and more. Shawn kept me pretty isolated , even when he went out to party.

Then three words. Three words that changed my whole world.

"She didn't mean anything."

~

My lips were starting to become even more numb as we start our game of Go Fish. Harry started to roll a joint, and I faintly remember the times Isaac would come home baked out of his mind. It made me worried since he was so young but Isaac is truly one of the smartest people I ever met.

"So how can you afford this place?" I ask Harry the same question he asked me minutes earlier.

"My mom left behind a pretty large amount when she died. I got all of the money when I turned eighteen, got out of my hometown to try find something new, and..." he trails off with some of his words slurring together, furrowing his eyebrows like he can't remember what he did next.

After a couple seconds of silence, I decide to press the subject. "And?"

Harry's eyes flicker up to mine, full of pain and secrets. Secrets I want to know. Pain I want to take from him. The alcohol makes me lean forward, desperate to be closer to him, to understand him.

"And then I got this place," he tells me as he clears his throat. I can tell he wants to move on so I decide to drop the subject but I know there is more to his story.

We finish up the game of Go Fish just as Harry is finishing up the joint in silence, except our game chat. Even though we both have dark paths following us, haunting us, we are able to find peace within it with each other.

As Harry lights the joint, his gaze falls on me, lingering a little too long. I pretend not to notice but I watch him open and close his mouth like he wants to say something but can't get the words to come out.

"I never liked girls with brown eyes, they always reminded me too much of my mum." He stops talking, leaving me with feeling bad about having brown eyes. I look down at my hands, as if my eye color will change when I look back up at him.

"But then," he takes a long drag, "I saw yours."

It's like the wind is sucked out of me when I look back up at him. His green eyes piercing intensely into mine. I want to say something but nothing will come out.