Not His Girl

Aftermath of a Giant Shitstorm

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Excuse the mistakes!

I'm getting the username of the person who made the cover on the side, but it's so fabulous and I love it! It was my phone background for a while, actually. 

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“Wait, Harper! Wait!”

I could hear Duke scrambling after me as I walked up the basement stairs, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I reached the top of the stairs and slammed the door shut behind me. Duke swore loudly as it hit him in the face, and if I were in a good mood, I would probably be laughing.

Without stopping, I hopped up the stairs to my room, again, shutting the door behind me. I grabbed my shoulder bag from the floor. As I dumped the contents onto my bed, the door to my room banged open, and Duke stood in my doorway.

“Harper.”

My name came out in a pained whisper, and I felt a tug in my heart. Immediately, I looked away from Duke. I didn’t want to let him make me cry, and if he did, I didn’t want him to see his handiwork. He didn’t deserve that satisfaction.

I didn’t say a word, but instead pulled out a change of clothes from my drawers. I shoved it into my bag, and when it became clear what I was intending, Duke broke away from the threshold of my room and stepped up next to me.

“Harper, please let me explain,” he pleaded, but I didn’t respond. “Harper!”

I crossed my room and grabbed my laptop, which I shoved into my bag along with my clothes. The charger quickly followed, and then I snapped the shoulder bag shut. I slung it over my arm, and I finally looked up at Duke.

“Please,” he begged breathlessly.

I struggled to find the words to say. I was feeling such a mix of emotions that I wasn’t sure what the dominant one was and what I should do about it. It took a moment, but then the words came to me like getting slapped in the face.

“I knew it,” I replied quietly, “I knew this was too good to be true.”

“Harper, no, I—”

I didn’t stay to listen to what Duke had to say. I didn’t want to hear his excuses. I couldn’t hear them. As angry as I was at Duke, there was part of me that just wanted to forget what had happened and go back to us being happy and fine. However, that would be pathetic after what he had just done, and I wasn’t planning on being pathetic.

I walked out of the room, not bothering with the door, and I stepped down the stairs. Duke still hadn’t quit, and he was hurrying after me, still calling my name. I grabbed my backpack from the doorway of the living room and then my keys from the hook near the door.

I pulled the front door open and almost felt like laughing when I saw Gretchen’s car gone. We hadn’t been in my room for that long, which means that she had to have booked it out of my house. That made it easier for me to leave, since I didn’t have to pull out around her car.

I opened the passenger door of my Jeep and threw my stuff in carelessly. Suddenly, before I could cross over to the driver’s side, there was a hand on my shoulder and I was quickly spun around.

“Harper,” Duke said, holding me firmly with both hands on either one of my shoulders, “I need you to hear me out.”

“Let go,” I commanded, and I could feel my skin burning under his palms.