Poison (discontinued)

23

Harry's POV


I'm shocked to say the least that I'm here driving to Rose's mum's house. I hadn't expected her to talk to me for weeks maybe even months not just days.

"Let me make this clear. You are not forgiven, I just needed to bring someone home otherwise mum would jump to conclusions that I have no friends. You should also know you weren't my first choice either." She interrupts my thoughts. That's more like I was expecting.

"I know," I simply reply. I'm beginning to find it quite hot so I reach over and turn the aircon on. Just as I lounge back into the passenger seat Rose leans over and switches the air off. "Please, it's really hot." I plead feeling the sweat beginning to form under my shirt.

"Fine but only on low." She compromises.

"Thank you." I smile. I watch her as she drives, two hands on the wheel never looking at me. The small pieces of hair that are left out of her ponytail almost float in the air from the force of the aircon.

I don't mind sitting in silence. I'm enjoying it actually. It's nice to know that she can still tolerate me. It's not even awkward at all. To be honest I'm just glad she's not screaming at me.



Rose's POV


This is so awkward. Neither of us have spoken for almost half an hour. I can't think of anything decent to say. I know I'll only make a fool out of myself. Ah I know. I'll turn the radio on. I start to relax a little when I hear Jack Johnson's voice play through my car. It's Better Together, one of my favourite songs of his.

"I love this song." Harry tells me and I steal a quick glance at him. He looks so good with his hair tied back with a bandana. Actually it looks more like a piece of ripped material, maybe a shirt?

"I love it too." I respond and tune him out. I don't feel like listening or even acknowledging him. We continue to drive in silence, well apart from the stereo that is.

When we were little I used to adore Harry. He was my very own knight in shining armor. I wasn't bullied as I child, no one ever excluded me or anything I just didn't have many friends. I liked to keep to myself so to speak. I was shy and hardly talked to anyone until Harry moved next door. As little as I talked he was always around me and made sure I was his friend. I don't know why he bothered with me but back then I was glad he did.

We used to do this thing where we would lie on my cubby house floor and plan where we would go, pointing to the world map I had taped to the ceiling. Although back then we planned to travel as pirates. We did this almost every day. Sometimes more than once.

"Earth to Rosella," Harry waves his hand in front of me shocking me from my thoughts. My hands twist on the wheel and I nearly run us of the road.

"God Harry! Do you want to die?" My heart feels as though it's beating through my chest. I'm annoyed at him for scaring me.

"You've been out of it for a while. I was just going to ask if we could stop at a toilet." His voice is gentle compared to mine making me feel bad for snapping at him.

"Oh, um sorry. I think there's a rest stop just up from here." I make sure to stay alert for the rest of the drive. We only stop for a few minutes while Harry uses the bathroom and the rest of the drive goes smoothly. Quiet, but smooth. "Well we're here."

I climb from the drivers seat and walk to the boot of my car to collect my bag. Harry does the same but a lot slower, stopping to get a good look of our house.

"It's a lot smaller than your old house," he points out the obvious. This house is tiny compared to our old two story home.

"We didn't need that much space anymore." It's true. We moved away from our house only months after my dad's brutal death. I had to get out of there as soon as possible. I couldn't go outside without crying because of the reminders.

"Oh, right." Harry catches on to what I was talking about. I catch the guilty look in his eye before he stares down at the cold, hard driveway. He follows me up the driveway to the front door. I let myself in and he just stands in the doorway.

"You can come in," I say expecting him to move. He shakes his head and I'm very much confused.

"Why not?" I ask and put my bags down. He steps back from the doorway and drops his bags. He continues to shake his head as he backs away.

"I can't face your mum. I know what I did to her. I used to hear mum and dad talking about it. It's hard enough being with you when I know you hate me but, but I can't face your mum. I drove her crazy. She was in a mental hospital because of me!" I didn't think he knew about that. It was only for a little while. About six months.

"You're here and you're coming inside. It's the least you can do for me." I keep my voice firm but I try to understand where he's coming from. I know he didn't know what he was doing. "It's okay."

"It's not. It will never be okay." He emphasizes the word never. He drops his face into his palms and rubs his eyes.

"Harry." I put my arm on his shoulder. "I forgive you." I'm not sure I really do just yet but it's what he needs to hear before he comes inside. He looks up at me surprise taking over his features.

"You do?" He sounds weak.

"Well no, not right now," I decide to be honest with him. "But I will one day." Deep down I know I'll have to forgive him one day, I just don't know when. He just stares at me vaguely and I can tell he's thinking about something. He responds with a simple nod and finally follows me inside.

"Hey mum!" I squeal when I see her as we pull each other into a big hug. She kisses my cheek before pulling away. "You remember Harry right? We used to be neighbours."

"Look at you! You're so big and handsome now!" She repeats her previous actions and hugs him. She stands back and looks from him to me. "So when did you two run into each other?"

"We share a class," I tell her. I never thought I'd ever see Harry again when we moved away. I cried for days because I'd lost my best friend.

"It's a small world." Mum has always been one for popular phrases and such. She used to want to get one of them tattooed on her back but thankfully I talked her out of it.

"Yeah, well I'll how Harry to his room." I tell her and pick up my bags. Harry does the same before speaking.

"Thank you for having me Mrs Adams." His voice is quiet and he shies away from her eyes.

"Call me Karen!" She grind and we exit the room. Harry will be staying in the guest room down the hall from my own. I don't think anyone's ever actually used that room before so I hope it's comfortable.

"This is your room." I open the door and gesture for him to go in. "Make yourself at home. I'll be in my room which is just up the hall if you need me."

I leave Harry by himself and unpack some of the things in my bag. There's not point taking everything out considering we're only here for the weekend.

My old room is just how it was when I left. The walls are still a dull purple, a colour I picked out when we first move here. My bed is covered with various pillows some fluffy and some bright colours. Beside my mirror stuck to the walls are old photos I'd taken myself. One oft favourites is of my mum and dad smiling. His arm is wrapped around her and their cheeks are pressed tightly together. There's not many photos because mum did trust me too often with her camera. I pull one of Harry and I from the wall and look at it. I don't know why I kept it on my wall when I hadn't seen him in so long. We're at the beach and I have my small Barbie surfboard in hand trying to tug Harry into the water. I don't remember this day really but the photo generates a happy feeling inside me. A knock at my door startles me from my thoughts.

"Rose, can I come in?" Harry peeps his head through the door only enough that I can just see his nose.

"Uh, yeah." I stick the photo back on the wall before I take a seat on the bed. He shuffles in but doesn't sit down nor do his eyes move in my direction.

"You still have all your teddy bears," he points to the top of my bookshelf. I know it's embarrassing but I couldn't bring myself to part with them. They were my best friends for a long period in my life. After I moved away I didn't even try to make friends or talk to anyone at school for that matter. Not even the teachers.

"I couldn't just throw them away," I laugh softly. "You can sit down you know?"

"It's fine," he mutters and wanders over to my photos. Just like I did before he pulls the one of him and I from the wall.

"I remember this day." He glances from the photo to me then back to the image in his long fingers. "I hated the beach. The waves scared the shit out of me and you forced me to go out." The corners of my mouth rise slightly as he retells a day of our past. "You got me on your board and you took me out to where we both couldn't stand then you pushed me on a wave and I thought it was the best thing ever until I fell off and the waves came at me one after the other."

He chuckles at his memory. I'm reminded of the day not long ago that I tried to take him out surfing and how he detested the idea so much. Some things never change.

"Harry?" I say his name in a way that makes it seem as though I'm looking for his permission to continue speaking. He nods and I mentally roll my eyes at how weak I must sound. "Why did you tell me? Why didn't you just keep it to yourself?"

I'm not really sure I want to know the answer but I can't say I'm not curious. If he didn't tell me then maybe we would be going out on another date. Not that we have been on a date but we have 'hung out' as he calls it. Although in my mind I liked to think of it as though we were on a date. Why am I thinking about dating him? He doesn't like me and I can't like him. I'm supposed to be angry with him.

"Because I thought you deserved to know." He looks me straight in the eyes as he speaks.

"But wouldn't it have been easier for you to not say anything? Like we could have been more than this by now?" I snap my mouth shut when I realize what I've said. That was supposed to stay in my head not slip out.

"You think we could be more than this?" He presses realizing what I didn't mean to say.

"No. Yes. Well I mean it's not that we can't but we can't and I- just never mind." What am I doing? Pull yourself together Rosella. "I'm hungry. Do you want something to eat?"

"Uh, sure." He mumbles and follows me out. Mum is sitting at the kitchen bench reading through a catalogue.

"We're gonna get something to eat," I tell her and she looks up from the catalogue in front of her.

"There's not a lot in there. Did you want to do a grocery shop for me? You can buy something yummy for yourselves."

"Sure," Harry chirps in. Why would he want to go grocery shopping? I don't bother arguing because I know I'll end up going for mum anyway.




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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry this chapter is so short and boring. And I'm sorry it took so long to update! I have family visiting over Christmas so my updates won't be up as regularly. As soon as they've left I promise to give you some double updates and such to make up for it! If you have any of your own stories you want me to read feel free to comment them but only on this chapter! Also big shoutout to beenou98 for being an amazing reader and voting and commenting! You should all go follow her :) Have a good day guys! xx