Unchanging [h.s. au]

seven

I peeked over at Harry through the corner of my eye. The wind ruffled his soft hair and his brow was furrowed as he concentrated on driving. I would be lying to myself if I said I didn't enjoy looking at him.

I cleared my throat. "Do you know of a good place around here I could stay hidden for a few hours? My dad's flight leaves in about three hours or so.

"I have an idea in mind." He glanced over at me. "If you trust me, that is."

"If you haven't noticed, I don't really have any other options." I said.

Harry smiled and his dimples showed. "Fair enough,"

Those dimples would be the death of me.

I took off my backpack, set it on the floor of the cart, and reached into a pocket for my phone. I pressed the home button and looked at the screen. I had nine missed calls and fifteen texts from my dad.

I shook my head to myself and opened up my phone. The first few text messages were not bad.

Clara where are you? We need to talk about this

I don't want this trip to start off on the wrong foot. Please answer your phone and we can figure this out

They slowly got worse and my eyes widened when I read the last two.

I'm just trying to help. I think you'll regret this crazy behavior

I'm calling your mom

I resisted the urge to chuck my phone out of the moving golf cart. I clutched onto it until my knuckles turned white, took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes.

"Uh, you okay?" Harry asked from beside me.

I knew if my dad called my mom, she would side with him on this. This kind of stunt was something she always worried about happening. My mom was constantly hovering over me; thinking I would break down any second. I loved my mom to pieces, but her suffocating presence often annoyed me. I was honestly surprised she let me come on this trip alone. I thought she would have driven me straight down to California herself. But I guess the thought of seeing my dad face to face was more frightening than the thought of me driving alone.

So, not only would she be worried sick when she heard about what I did and not trust me to be alone anymore, she would probably also be furious at my dad for not taking better care of me.

Everything was so screwed up.

I opened my eyes and turned to see concerned green eyes looking into mine. His intense gaze surprised me, and I quietly said, "I hope wherever you're taking me is fun. Because I think I'd go insane if I had to sit around and do something boring for three hours."

Harry looked towards the road and turned the cart down a small path. "Clara, I've only known you for twenty minutes or less and I already know you and boring don't go together. So, yes, it will be fun."

I put my phone back in my backpack. "How do you know I'm not boring? We barely know each other. Maybe stamp collecting is my favorite hobby and you don't even know it." I stuck my nose up in the air and looked over at him.

Harry gave me a pointed look. "Are you seriously trying to convince me of how boring you actually are right now?"

I shrugged.

"Okay then," Harry settled back in his seat. "What's the best stamp you got?" He tilted his head in my direction and waited for my answer.

After a small pause, I said, "Well, I have a really nice looking stamp from Alabama."

"Wow, a stamp all the way from Alabama? That truly sounds like a hidden gem."

I nodded my head with a "Mhmm" to convince him.

"What's on this Alabama stamp?"

"You know... the regular stuff you would see on a stamp. I mean, right on it there's a--" I quickly looked around for an idea. "A tree? Yeah, a tree on it."

Harry looked at me sarcastically.

I just looked back at him and tried to keep my face neutral. We held up our stares, each of us not willing to give up. When I couldn't take it anymore, I blurted out, "Okay, okay, so maybe I don't collect stamps."

His eyes crinkled from smiling. "And the truth comes out."

I couldn't help myself and smiled with him. "Fine, you were right about the stamps, but it doesn't prove anything about my levels of boring."

"Well it did prove you're terrible at lying so maybe that does make you boring."

"Ouch."

"Hey," Harry put one hand up in defense. "You were the one who wanted to tell me how boring you were in the first place."

I made a face at him which caused him to throw his head back and laugh. We swerved a little off the path when Harry wasn't looking and my backpack full of valuable items slid out of the cart. I shouted Harry's name in frustration and leapt out of the moving cart.