And Then There Was You [h.s]

Chapter Seventeen: Part Two

Josephine Fuller was a woman of beauty, but hardly any grace. She's the one who practically taught Kristen and me our very vibrant vocabulary. She was powerful in every way possible, except when it came to having children. I know it wass horrible that she could never bare any of her own, but if she could then Kristen and I probably would've had different, more fucked up lives. I don't want to say her infertility was a blessing, but there's really no other way to put it. Thank you, Josephine, for being infertile.

"Josephine...?" I blinked, her name escaping my mouth as more of a question than a statement. Life seemed to show me no mercy in the realm of horrible timing. I swear, every time I even breathed, something horrible was about to happen. Not only did I have to deal with Harry and Matt, but now Josephine Fuller and her antics were worming their way in, too. Don't get me wrong, Josephine was a lovely woman, but, just like me, she couldn't hold her tongue, and last time she flew down to Oregon to visit, Matt and I were dating.

Before I could even thoroughly process the moment I was wrapped in my adoptive mother's arms, swarmed in french perfume and the scent of leather from her handbag. I found myself hugging her back slowly, still too confused to understand what the actual fuck was going on. What was going on? Moments ago I blurted out to Harry that I wanted him to be my boyfriend, then we kissed, then Matt walked in saying he was transferring to Harry's class, then Harry kicked us out of the room, then Matt tried to force me to talk about my feelings, and then, as if it couldn't get any better, Josephine had come to pay an unexpected visit. What the fuck else could possibly happen on this joyous day?

"I didn't know you were coming in this early," I told Josephine, doing my best to sound excited. "I thought I'd surprise you after your Creative Nonfiction class. I had Kristen give me your schedule. Is this your class right here?" she pointed to the lecture hall door and I nodded slowly. "I may need to have a talk with your teacher," she joked, though I paled instantly. Josephine, Harry, and Matt all within the same vicinity? I could fucking combust at the thought. "There's no need for that, Ms. Fuller. Logan's been a star student. I even caught her talking to her teacher after class hours," Matt interjected. I could tell there was something off about his tone, something that seemed to be more than just his typical jealousy. But because I had too many thoughts running around in my head, I chose to ignore that one and save it for later. "After hours?" Josephine smiled, continuing, "Look at you, growing up and taking initiative. It's about damn time,"

"I bet Professor Styles knows how to make the class interesting," Matt bit. I ignored his comment and looked back to Josephine. "Can we catch up somewhere private? Matt over here somehow believes our conversation includes him," I remarked, causing his smug grin to fade in to a fumed expression. "Classy as ever, Logan," Josephine sighed, passing an apologetic look over to Matt. "How's that saying go again?" I asked, faking pensivity, "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree?"

"I'm pretty sure Satan fell from heaven, not a tree," Matt grumbled. A cynical laugh was all I could deliver in response.

"Well, we do have some catching up to do. I'll call Kristen right now and tell her to meet us in the courtyard. We can go out for lunch," Josephine said. She nodded in agreement to her own idea. "Sounds good..." My voice trailed as soon as my wandering attention fell onto the lecture hall door. "You know what? I think I left my earphones in class. I'm gonna go get them," I told. As soon as Josephine dialed Kristen's number and and put her phone to her ear, I rushed eagerly back into the lecture hall.

When I walked in I saw my professor sitting at his desk, tapping away at his pen. He looked up as soon as I closed the door and rushed over to his desk. "Are you alright?" Harry asked, standing up from his chair to get a good look at me. "Did he hurt you? You don't know how much I wanted to storm out there and punch that son of a b-" "I'm fine, Harry," I breathed. His expression calmed, but I knew that somewhere beneath him there was a reserved anger for Matt, and I don't necessarily blame him.

"What did you guys talk about out there?"

"Butterfly,"

"Logan, really?" he asked, a clear agitation netted into his voice.

"It's complicated. Don't push me,"

"I know," he sighed, reiterating, "I know."

I wanted to tell him, but if I could hardly process the last few minutes myself, I knew he wouldn't be able to within the next few seconds. Besides, telling him what Matt said would only bring Harry to a frustrating state of malice, and though he was hot as fuck when he was angry, I knew better than to let him simmer in such negative emotions. I've spent the past thirteen years stuck in that state of mind, and if there's anything I've learned from it, it's that I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, especially not Harry.

"I need to go. I told Josephine I came back in to find my earphones. If I wait any longer she'll get suspicious,"

"Josephine? Isn't that your adoptive mother?"

"Yeah, she flew in for my birthday a little sooner than I would've liked her to. The last thing I need is her barging in here and fucking up everything else,"

"Okay," Harry nodded. "But it's your birthday and Valentine's Day, will I at least get to see you one more time before the day is up?" The way he asked was so untainted and sweet, it was almost enough to persuade me. If Matt and Josephine weren't only a few feet away from corrupting everything, I would've stayed. "My day's pretty booked. You're going to need to schedule an appointment if you want to meet with a socialite like me," I joked, though there was pain in my words. "Fine. But we still have a lot of things to talk about. Particularly the part where you declared your undying feelings for me while simultaneously asking me to be your boyfriend,"

"That never fucking happened!" I rolled my eyes, groaning. A hardy chuckle escaped his lips before he kissed me on the forehead, sending me off. Before I left, I could've sworn I heard Harry mumble, "I can't believe she wants me to be her boyfriend," in amazement. But I could've been imagining it. After all, if Harry could imagine such impractical words, then so could I. 

********

Happy Saturday LOL

I meant to update yesterday but I've been really sick. I've been sick three times within the past two and a half months, I'm not even fucking kidding. I've been really shitty at uploading lately but my excuses for it are somewhat valid so lay off it. 

Thank you to the two people who inboxed me and reminded me to update. Wattpad emails me every time I get a message so as soon as I saw it this morning I ran my ass over to my laptop and updated.

Not to make more excuses but next week friday is Black friday, one of my favorite fucking days of the year. I'm going to try to update on Thursday, but if I don't, then I'll update on Saturday. 

ok bye!!!!