Sweetened || HS AU (COMPLETED)

• fifty •

| Jailen |

"I'm not mad, Harry," I shrugged as I finished putting away the last of the groceries, "I don't care."

And I wasn't lying. Finding out Harry and Lucas are brothers should've shocked me more than it did but for some reason, I just couldn't find it in me to give a damn. I tried, though. The entire drive home, even after we picked up Hayden from school, I wracked my brain for some sort of emotion other than meh. I couldn't find it, even though Harry practically begged me to feel something. Maybe because deep down, I figured that this would reset all of the progress we've made and deep down, I knew it should've.

But we were doing good with each other. It was finally good.

"I don't believe you," He whispered from the doorway. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, a sorry expression littering his features.

I couldn't help but giggle as I shut the fridge and turned to face him. I put my hands on my hips, "You've lied to me about worse than my ex being your brother. I know this is probably all connected with your weird ass father but Harry, I just don't have the energy to care about what else you're hiding from me." The words left my mouth before I could think.

"Hiding?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well, not hiding," I waved him off as Hayden walked into the kitchen, "It's just a lot of things that I don't know about you, that's all. Hi, bug!"

I kneeled so that I was face-to-face with my daughter, immediately wrapping my arms around her. Her hair was getting longer and she was starting to look more and more like Harry as time passed. I wasn't sure if it was because they were spending a lot of time together or if it was because my genes just didn't try hard enough. I mean the spitting image of him. She was beautiful. She even laughed like him, it was weird, especially when they laughed at the same time.

"What do you wanna know about me?" Harry asked, walking further into the kitchen.

I looked up at him, "What?"

He huffed as he sat down on the kitchen floor, crisscrossing his legs and leaning against the oven, "You said that there's a lot that you don't know about me, so what do you want to know, sweetie?"

I chuckled, "Harry, I was just saying. There isn't anything specific, you know? I'm sure there are things you don't know about me either-" He smirked and I rolled my eyes, "Right... I forgot you're a stalker."

"What's a stalker?" Hayden asked as I found myself sitting down and getting comfortable on the floor.

"A stalker is someone who..." Harry began to talk and I narrowed my eyes at him, "Someone who cares about someone so much that they have to know what that person is doing all the time."

"No, a stalker is someone who harasses and bothers someone with unwanted and obsessive attention." I clarified, not wanting her to have the wrong idea about something as serious as that.

"Unwanted?" Harry scoffed.

"Unwanted, yes," I shook my head, "But, your dad wasn't harassing me or bothering me. He cared about me, he just had a funny way of showing it." I tried my best to cover my tracks. I regretted using that word. The last thing I wanted to do was influence her thoughts about her dad. Sure, Harry and I had our issues but that was between us. Shit-talking and tarnishing his name to his child wasn't something I wanted to partake in, no matter how I felt about the situation.

"Your mommy played hard to get," He grinned, holding his arms out and welcoming Hayden. She settled in his lap and he brushed her hair off of her face, "I saw her and just couldn't stay away."