Neighbors

12

Quinn POV

"Where are we going Harry?" I ask him as he drives to god knows where.

"You'll see," He says again with a faint smile. His eyes glance over at me then back to the road.

I'm cold so I'm just wearing a hoodie and leggings. I know I look like a bum, but it's nearly midnight.

"Are we close?" I ask.

"Very," My neighbour hums sweetly.

I nod, not asking anything more than I already did. I'm not that great with surprises. The thought of them scares me so I like to know what's going on in advanced.

Harry soon puts the car in park. We're on a small hill and he tells me to get out to look at the view.

I hesitantly do. I pull my sleeves down to cover my hands and I look over at the view he was talking about.

It's a beautiful view of the city Philadelphia. I've only been in the city a few times, but at night I like the view. The lights are beautiful at night and make the stars in the sky amazing. I smile to myself while looking at this.

"You can sit on here," Harry tells me while he sits on the hood of his truck. I hesitantly do.

I'm not used to sitting on a car. The thought of it is weird. Once I'm settled I go back to looking at Harry. "Why'd you take me here?" I ask.

"Because why not?" He asks me back. "You like looking at the stars, yes? Now you get to look at the stars and the city." His dimples appear on his cheeks.

I just bite my lower lip and look back to view. "Are you actually an honest person?" I hear him ask me.

"I like to think so," I admit. "I'm fairly open when it comes down to things too." I add while looking back over to him.

His eyebrow is raises and a smirk is on his lips. I scoff once I know what he's getting at, and nudge him. He laughs and I shake my head. "Not like that you perv." I say.

"I know, I know. It was just set up to sound dirty," My neighbor says. "Since you're a fairly honest person, tell me what it's like to live in your house."

I wait a moment to answer to collect my thoughts. "Lonely," I say. That one word basically summarises my whole life.

"Lonely?" He clarifies. I nod, breaking eye contact with him.

"Yep," I play with my fingers.

"Why is it lonely?" Harry asks me.

"I live in a house where no one cares. No one asks you how your day was or no one asks about your grades, or even how you're feeling. My parents don't do that to my sister Faith because she's the golden child," I say.

"How so?"

"She was the head cheerleader in high school. Prom queen her junior and senior year, had one boyfriend throughout all of her high school career, and they're still dating. Had good grades, is considered the pretty sister," I say through a huff. "Personally I think I'm more pretty than Faith, but that's my opinion," I add making Harry chuckle. I smile to myself and swing my feet back and forth. "What do you think?"

"Do I think you're more pretty than Faith?" Harry asks, clarifying.

"Yes," I say. His eyes look at me like I'm crazy. "It's a yes or no answer," I say simply.

"You're both beautiful in your own way." He says, which makes my eyes roll.

"I'm taking that as I'm more attractive." I say, which makes him laugh.

"Don't you want to be Prom queen though?" He brings up.

"Yeah," I murmur. "But only because my Mom was, and my sister was. They both expect me to be, so I have to pretend like I care about getting a plastic crown," I say. "I mean, if it will make them like me I'll do it." I admit sadly. "Anyways, what about you? What's it like living in your house?"

"You're always expected to do more," He says simply. "My childhood was over by fourteen, and that's when I got my first job. Since then my life has been work and watching my siblings," His eyes glance down to his lap.

"Don't you have older siblings to help?" I ask.

"Gemma is away at Penn State on a full scholarship, and I want her to focus on that and not our younger siblings. Tyler well, he's an airhead who doesn't really care about anything but himself. He has his own life and I don't trust him with an eight, six, four, and two year old." Harry lists.

"That's selfless of you," I say.

"I just want my sister to not make the mistake my Mom did." Harry admits to me. I'm shocked by his answer, and I think my face shows it. "You think it's normal that a woman who works at a diner has seven kids? Four of whom she can't support? It's bullshit,"

I bite my lip, not know how to respond. "I didn't think it bothered you," I tell him truthfully.

"I love them all, even the douchey eight year old brother of mine. But in the beginning of each month it's a new struggle of 'what bill do we have to pay soon?'. It's my senior year, do you really think spending it home with kids is ideal? I mean, I don't want to be going out doing drugs, but I have friends. I'd like to hangout with them." His hand tugs through his curls. "Now you rant so it's not all one sided,"

I chuckle at his last sentence and speak. "My life isn't ideal. Yes I can get anything my heart desires in a matter of seconds, but I just want one of my parents to care. Like my Dad only cares about his job and my sister. My Mom is bitch most of the time and is always up my ass about how I should eat, talk, and act. I can't even wear socks in my house when she's home.  I have to wear heels and a dress. I like dressing up, don't get me wrong. But if I wore heels all day, I want to take them off when I get home, you know?" I say.

"But they're hardly home right?" Harry asks.

"Then I feel alone," I say. "I have my friend Joy, but she has a boyfriend and all. And of course other friends. And most of the time I spend my day in my room alone watching TV or online shopping," I say through a small sigh.

"I guess we both have shitty lives," Harry says. I snicker.

"At least you have people who love you," I bring up. I look over at him and he see he's looking at me.

"I think Richard loves you," He says, making me shake my head.

"He won't leave me alone," I say while running my hand through my hair.

"May I ask what he did?" Harry asks me, causing me to bite my lower lip. I haven't even told Joy what Richard did.

"He did multiple things," I say. "One of the less major ones was cheat on me because I didn't want to sleep with him."

"And the major one was what then?" He asks me.

"I'll tell you that another time," I don't know if I'm ready to admit to anyone what happened.

"Understandable." Harry says simply. We go back to looking at the city and I cover my cold hands for warmth with my sleeves.

"Thanks for taking me out here tonight," I say.

"No need." He says with a gentle grin. We make eye contact for a few moments before we both look away and go back to sitting in silence.

Maybe I did make a friend this year.

A://N

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~lauren