I'm Not Broken - TH

•11•

Jeanette cooks dinner as I scroll through Amazon trying to find graduation presents for the guys. Tom's not home from school yet, which is perfect because I don't want him to see what I'm getting.
"You don't think it's too cheesy?" I ask Jeanette.
"No, I think it's very sweet." She responds.
It's nice to have a kind woman around once in a while, even if she is just the housekeeper.
I order the gift, nervous that he may not like it. It's very personal and heartfelt, but it's not all that cool.
The front door opens and following in behind Tom is the twins. Oh how I missed them. I almost like them more than Tom and Haz sometimes. We just get along very well.
"Chloe! I would say I missed you but your face is plastered all over the school." Harry says as he plops himself down on the sofa next to me.
"You're kidding." I groan.
"Everyone's talking about you. Suddenly you're cool." He informs me.
Great. Just what I need. Everyone talking about me. Oh well, it's not like I'll be seeing them anytime soon, if ever again.
"Don't worry, it's all nice things." Sam assures me.
"Still, I hate being the center of attention." I mutter.
"It'll die down after graduation." Tom says and sam slaps him.
"Dude. Insensitive." Sam groans and I shake my head.
"No it's fine. I have to come to terms with the fact that I'm officially a high school drop out."
Tom snaps his finger, catching my attention.
"But what if you're not?" He asks.
"Uhh, Tom? I'm kind of in hiding I can't go back to school." I laugh.
"No that's not what I'm talking about. You could enroll in an online program, get your GED. Boom. High school graduate." He says.
That's not a bad idea. I'd get my diploma, I'd be graduated, and i wouldn't have to go back to school. It's kind of perfect.
"See this is why I keep you around." I tease.
"Let's find a school." He says, reaching for the laptop and I slap his hand away.
"Scuse' me? What's the attitude about?" He questions, going for it again, and i slap his hand away once more.
"No." I say. He can't see the present which is still up on the screen.
"What are you hiding from me?" He laughs, and the twins just sit and stare at us with confusion.
"Porn." I state.
"Yeah uh huh." Tom rolls his eyes, once again trying to take the laptop but I grab it and run across the room.
"I swear! It's just porn!" I exclaim.
"Darling you and I both know you don't watch porn." He laughs.
"Really? Never?" Harry asks in shock.
"Yes I do! That's why you can't have the laptop! I don't want you to see the crazy shit I watch!" I giggle, quickly opening the laptop and exiting out of the page with his present and clearing the search history.
I walk over to him, and hand his laptop back. He takes it and looks me up and down.
"Yeah it wasn't porn." He smirks.
"You probably don't watch it either." I glare and he scoffs.
"Please I watch porn. I watch gross porn. I watch the porn that would make most people uncomfortable-"
"Dinner is ready." Jeanette says from the doorway and Toms eyes widen, and his cheeks go bright pink.
"She heard all of that didn't she?" Tom mutters.
"Think she did mate." Harry laughs as we all walk into the dining room, leaving Tom to his embarrassment.
"You know, you and Tom were 100% flirting back there." Sam says and my brows scrunch together at him.
"You're delusional." I state.
"Whatever you say." He shrugs.
_________
Tom and I sit on the ground in front of the fire as he plays Harrisons guitar horribly. I simply shake my head at him as I watch his hands fumble on the strings causing a less than pleasant sound. Tom always feels the need to be able to do everything Haz can. And not only that, he always wants to be better at everything than Haz. I know he gets a bit insecure because Haz always gets all the girls and stuff at school but, Tom is special in his own way. He has no reason to feel the need to compete with Haz. He's great just as he is.
"I knew how to do this last week." He groans, trying again and epically failing.
"Leave the guitar playing to Harrison." I giggle.
He sets the guitar to the side, and looks to me with a strange stare. I look straight back at him, waiting for him to say whatever it is he wants to say. It's obvious something is bothering him.
"So.. I have to ask- what's going on between you and Haz?" He asks and I lift my brow.
"What?"
"Well you two have been hanging out more, talking, it just seems like something is going on." He shrugs.
I can't help the laugh that comes out of my mouth. How could he possibly think that anything is going on between Haz and I? Just because we're talking more doesn't automatically mean that we're into each other romantically. We're basically living in the same house, of course we're going to get closer.
"Yeah we're becoming friends, but that's all." I state.
He nods, a small smile forming on his lips.
"So who do you like?" He questions.
"Oh my god are we eight?? We're not talking about crushes." I laugh.
"Oh come on! Tell me!" He encourages.
"I don't like anyone."
"Really?" He asks.
"Really. What about you?"
Now it's his turn to get real silent, and I poke his arm to get his attention.
"You like me huh?" I say.
"What?! I-"
"Chill out I'm just kidding." I laugh.
"Oh.. hah, yeah that was funny."
I stand up from my spot, stretching a bit.
"I'm gonna go to bed, it's late."
"Okay.. sleep good darling."
"How could I not on those fancy overpriced sheets!" I tease as I walk back to my room.
I take a shower and put on my pajamas, laying back in the giant bed. I think to his question, of who I like. I don't have a crush on anyone because honestly.. no guy has ever shown an interest in me. The only guy I've ever been around was him, and I don't need anyone but him. A boyfriend is unnecessary when you have a friend as amazing as Tom.

•Toms pov•
There's a light knock on the door as I'm working on my computer and I walk over, looking through the peephole to see one of the men from the house, Carter. Why the fuck is he here? They know not to just show up.
I open the door, and he stands up straight, holding a file in his hands.
"The fuck do you think you're doing, coming over here?" I ask as quietly as possible in hopes that I won't wake Chloe.
"You said as soon as I had information on the girls father to bring it to you." He states and I take the file from his hands, opening it and looking it over.
"His complete history, and current whereabouts. Everything we could get is in there." He explains.
"He was put in a mental hospital when he was seventeen?" I question.
"Schizophrenia. Not too bad, he was medicated and managed to go on to a somewhat normal life."
Maybe all this time, her dad has just been having a mental breakdown.. he's lost touch with reality.. the death of David could have triggered all of this.
Did Chloe even know her dad was mentally ill? How could she.. if her family knew then he'd be in a mental institution as soon as he went off the rails. I don't think anyone knows this. All this time she blamed herself.. when in reality her dad was too selfish to admit he was sick and ask for help..