Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Tonight, there was no Killer. Or Mayflower. It was just May.

And something about that unnerved me.

I couldn't say exactly what happened as I blindly followed Harry up the stairs after his command, just that I had been wordlessly directed through the people still partying and lead outside into his car. His breathing was rapid, and his expression was one full of rage as he threw the passenger side door open and ushered me inside.

"I can do it," I slurred at Harry, shoving his hands away, as he reached over and tried to help me do up my seatbelt. He stepped back and just looked at me.

"Stay here," he ordered and slammed the door shut. I jumped in surprise, thinking that he was just going to walk around to the driver's side. Instead, I watched in the dark as he strode back into the house at an awfully brisk pace.

For some reason, I did exactly as he said. I took a few sobering breaths and just sat. In his car. With my hands crossed in my lap. Had it been anyone else ordering me around, I probably would've sworn in their face and done the exact opposite, something that I had actually already done tonight. But for some reason, I did exactly as Harry had told me.

I wasn't entirely sure why, yet here I was.

"Breathe, May," I urged myself out loud. The dashboard of his car had started to spin. I hadn't realized just how drunk I was until I was left sitting by myself in the dark. I felt like I couldn't even sit up straight.

My eyes shut as I willed my drunk brain not to make more of an embarrassment of myself and really wished that I had a glass of water.

As if on command, the driver's side door flung open. I opened my eyes to watch Harry climb in beside me, red Solo Cup in hand. He held it out to me.

I grimaced at the cup. "No, no thanks. I'm not feeling too hot, I shouldn't drink anything-"

"It's water," he stated. "Drink."

I looked up at him and then back down to the cup. Without another word, I reached over and gratefully took it from him. I proceeded to take small sips, swishing the water in my mouth a bit to rid my taste buds of all of the alcohol. His eyes were on me the entire time.

When the cup was fully finished, I put it between my legs and stared down at my feet. I heard the car start up beside me.

"Have you been drinking?" I suddenly blurted, knowing that we had just come from a party. As drunk as I was, I was not about to get into the car with someone who was under the influence.

"Would I be driving if I had been?" Harry snapped.

I didn't answer, immediately thinking back to when we had gone to see the lights and he hadn't even had a sip of wine knowing that he was going to be getting back behind the wheel. My face flushed and I was grateful that it was dark, my expression shadowed.

My heart also ached thinking about that night; about how nice we had been to each other. Those words and those feelings were in stark contrast to what was happening between the two of us right now, and I felt extremely guilty about it.

"You're treating me like a child," I scoffed. "I wouldn't actually have done coke. You didn't need to drag me out of there like that."

Harry didn't have his eyes on me as he drove through the subdivision, but his hand flexed over the wheel and I watched a muscle in his jaw flex. "You're fucking hammered," he said. "If I hadn't been there, you most definitely would have. So yes, I am treating you like a child and taking you home because clearly your judgement is impaired right now."