Sold // Harry Styles

Chapter 33

Eight days have gone by since living with Drew at Detention Barn, and it seems as though every morning starts the same.  I get up, make my bed, hurry downstairs to feed the animals before finally sitting down with Nolan at the long breakfast table that should feed about eight people, but it’s always just the two of us.

“I’m going to see Katie today,” Nolan announces with a mouthful of food.  He smiles at me causing the milk he has in his mouth to ooze out through his teeth.  I groan and hide my eyes, making him laugh.

“You need a bib,” I tease him.

“Hm interesting,” he says while chuckling, “Katie says the exact same thing.”  He shovels more food into his mouth before opening it wide for me to see.  “Does this bother you?”

Cereal dribbles down his chin before he wipes it away carelessly with the back of his hand.  He smirks at me as he finishes chewing the food with his mouth closed.

“You’re disgusting,” I say, handing him a napkin.

This is a routine action that I unfortunately have to take place in every morning.  Nolan clearly knows how much I hate seeing him chew with his mouth open, but my reaction is what keeps pushing him to continue with the disgusting habit.

He actually has great manners when he wants to use them.  He wipes his mouth with a napkin, he opens doors for me, and shares a decent amount of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’s.  But you’d never expect that if he’s in a teasing mood, which is about 99 percent of the time.  He acts like a little brother that will do anything and everything just to annoy his sister.

“When do you think you’ll be back?” I ask him.

He holds up one finger, quickly finishing his last bite before talking again.

“Probably dinner.”

I nod my head, though I don’t understand why it takes him so long to deliver eggs.  I thought Drew only lived about a half an hour away from Detention Barn.

As if reading my thoughts, Nolan explains what he does when he goes to Drew’s.

“It’s only supposed to be about a five minute job, but I always do the same thing every time.”  He stops talking to take another bite of food.  “I tell the driver that I’m cleaning the house and how it may take a while if he doesn’t want to stay and wait for me.  The dumbass believes me every time.  From there, it’s pretty easy.  I deliver the eggs, slip out the side door of the kitchen, find Katie and avoid Drew all day long.  Then I walk home before it gets dark.”

“Don’t you feel…on edge all day long?” I ask him.

He simply shrugs his shoulders. “I guess.”  He pauses before he starts smiling agin.  “I’m thinking I need to get in trouble today.  I haven’t been ‘bad’ for a while and I don’t want A.J. to think that I’m some goody-goody…like you,” he smirks.  “The badass chick that tried to run away on the very first day with Drew but refuses to squish a spider that was the size of a pea,” he laughs.  More cereal spews from his mouth.

I roll my eyes, and duck away from the food.  “It was a big spider,” I mutter.

He laughs even harder, smacking his hand against the table.  “Whatever you say, Jack,” he says, standing up to clear his bowl.  “I’ll see you later.”

“Be nice to Katie,” I say to him as he begins to walk towards the door.

He smiles.  “You’re no fun.”

“Nolan,” I warn him.

“I will, I will.  She’s my ray of sunshine and she gives me all the happiness in the world.  I love her and I would never do anything on purpose to upset her.”