Unstable (Sequel to Twisted)

Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

"I think this hat really suits you."

I was tightly pursing my lips, trying to stifle a laugh as I pressed the large, stretching straw cowboy hat on top of Harry's unruly curls. He stared at me with a not-so-amused expression, and shot me a grow-up kind of look.

"However, this seems to suit you more." I took the cowboy hat off and switched it with one of those mob-looking hats-what gangsters wore back in the day. This one was pure black, and it was a bit small on Harry's head, but I did falter in my smiling when I realized the irony of this image.

Harry once was the leader of a gang.

"I think I like the cowboy hat better." I muttered, my humor slipping away as Harry took the hat off his head.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for a movie?" Harry dryly reminded me, not at all amused by my humor. I sighed and he grabbed my hand, firmly leading me to the back part of the store. We were in a pretty much miscellaneous store-today, Harry actually took me out to shop. I was on a bounty hunt for a movie we could all watch tonight; it was very refreshing to get out, it lifted some kind of burdening weight from my chest, to be part of a normal crowd. You know, if I could pretend hard enough, I really did feel normal again.

If Harry would only stop reminding me.

He was so edgy, his eyes continuously keeping a close eye out for something I didn't even know. It didn't look like he was having any fun-not like I was, because he was worried about that new gang forming in Cheshire.

But honestly, was this how it was going to always be?

Would Harry always be this way just when we went to a store?

He never let me out of his sight-ever. I talked him into parking the car so we could stroll through the small yet lovely shopping district; the lamps next to the street were beautiful, and there were benches for people to sit on, and the landscape was impeccable. It really was an utter shame that I wasn't able to enjoy any of it, since Harry was constantly telling me to move on.

I paused to flip through the large viewing of posters, not recognizing any of the British bands they had here. Harry stayed by my side, silently staring at the posters over my shoulder.

But he reached out and quickly closed them just when the section of half-nude women were displayed and muttered, "Time to move on."

He tugged me behind him, heading to the corner of the store. There weren't many people in this store, other than a giggly young girl at the register and two young men across the store, who I saw were examining a display of watches.

The things in here were not expensive-they were cheap, and I was glad for that.

"I don't see any DVD's in here." I muttered, stopping to pick up a plastic bracelet.

"Do you want to get that?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm just looking at it." Curious, I strapped the bracelet around my wrist. It fit perfectly, dangling just a bit, and it was a deep black color, with silver-like charms dangling from the side.

"It looks good on you." Wow, that was the first positive thing Harry said this entire morning.

"Thanks." I put it back on the display, but Harry picked it up, releasing my hand to scrutinize it with his eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to get this?"

I knew Harry was still very wealthy, even though you'd never know it if you looked at him, sporting a casual dark jacket over a dark shirt and dark...wow I just now noticed that today, Harry went out of his way to look rather dark. Extensive use of dark there. But anyway, Harry still had so much money from his inheritance-that much I did know.