The Story of us

Chapter 11: Always avoid shirtless boys

Raleigh, North Carolina - 721 miles

The expression that Harry was currently wearing on his face was one of pure apprehensiveness. I knew that my question was set to take him by surprise, which was why I wasn't shocked when he stayed silent for a moment. I gave him the time to think over his answer, and I was taken aback when he finally opened his mouth and said, "Maybe we should sit down." 

This time, it was my turn to look confused. "Why would we do that?" I asked him. 

He sighed and glanced at me, and we made eye contact for the first time in what seemed to be ages ago. "Because I can't just explain who she is in a couple of sentences," he snapped, but he didn't actually sound that upset. He didn't sound upset at all, actually; just tired. I couldn't exactly blame him–this road trip had barely been going on for a week, and it had already worn me out. And I wasn't the type to get exhausted quickly.

I didn't say anything, I just followed him into an empty booth. Looking out the window, I could see Travis and Nyla awkwardly perched on a bench, waiting for us to come out. Judging by what Harry had told me a few minutes prior, I was guessing that this might take a while, so I quickly texted Travis: Can you give us a few minutes?

He replied back almost instantly. 

take all the time that you need...i know a thing or two about quickies ;) ;)

Oh, gross. I didn't even bother responding to his suggestive message.

"Are you done?"

I quickly looked up to see Harry glancing at me, motioning towards my phone. Oh, right. I had forgotten that he was sitting in the booth across from me, waiting. I shoved my phone in my pocket and muttered, "Sorry."

He shook his head. "No, it's fine."

I nodded slowly and waited for him to speak up again, but when he didn't, I looked up at him and reminded him, "So? Who's Holly?" Harry's spine stiffened a little bit at the sound of her name, leaving me curious as to who she could be. Why did he get so weird at the mere mention of her? I wondered if she was his girlfriend. Could it be that Harry had a girlfriend? If he did, I couldn't help but wonder about what she would think if she knew that he was driving up the East Coast with another girl. There was certainly nothing going on between Harry and me, but I knew that if he was my boyfriend (I almost gagged at the thought of it), I wouldn't be too pleased with any of this. 

"Holly's my sister," he said finally, refusing to meet my eyes. 

Uh. Okay. What was so dramatic about that? After all of the anticipation that had led up to this moment, and he was presenting me with that information? Way to lead me on, Fedora Boy! I was close to yelling at him, but then I realized that there could be more to the story, so I slowly asked, "Do you mean, was your sister?" 

"What?" Harry looked confused. How hard was it to just pay attention to me when I was talking to him? Jesus Christ. 

"I mean..." Oh God, how was I supposed to say this to him? I felt bad about it, I really did, but nothing can stop me when I'm curious, which was why, before I could stop myself, I quickly blurted out, "Is she dead now?" 

To my surprise, instead of, like, slamming a menu down on the table or something equally ridiculous like that, Harry burst into laughter, which made me even more annoyed. Yet another thing I hated about him, despite our newfound 'friendship' (yeah, right): he never took me seriously. (I mean, it wasn't as if I took him seriously either, but that's completely different because he's a dumbass.) "What?" I whined, kicking his leg under the table rather harshly. "What is so funny? Enlighten me."