6 #2
I watch the ash from her cig spill onto the floor and I can’t help myself, “Would you like an ashtray? There are several in my room that I made from pottery classes.”
Harley picks up on the fact that I am slightly annoyed by the ash and puts out the cig against the floor, “It’s fine.”
“Last night was clearly a lot at once and I wanted to give you a moment to settle in before saying this, but I really would like for us to get on. Whatever rightful grievances you have with our father–”
“Your father,” she interrupts.
“Excuse me?” I ask.
“He’s your father. I don’t care about that man,” she says with such hatred it startles me.
“Then why are you here?” I enquire slowly.
“A means to an end,” she states with a shrug.
It is liberating, the way she freely spoke of her disdain for him. She is his daughter and she wanted nothing to do with him, and clearly means it. I wish I could be free of him in that way, to think of him simply as someone who is just a stepping stone to the rest of my life.
“Okay. Nonetheless, I want us to be cordial with one another. I don’t do well with awkwardness and this,” I gesture between the two of us, “is very awkward.”
This time when she looks at me, it is as if she is trying to get an honest read on me and my intentions and I know immediately she sees more than I want to reveal, “What would you suggest?”
Just as I open my mouth to answer, I spot a figure walking up along the street and my brows bunch together in confusion. Arden.
What the fuck is he doing here?
Arden is strolling up the street in a navy Ralph Lauren polo and a pair of black trousers, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. I stand straighter, cocking my head to the side as I watch him near. First he calls me out of the blue and now he’s showing up at my house uninvited.
Harley, now standing next to me, looks over my shoulder to see what has me disoriented.
“Who is that?” she asks, her eyes piqued in curiosity, as it did for anyone who ever saw him.
There is an enigmatic pull to Richard Arden Thorne that is simply impossible to ignore.
However, unlike everyone else in this city, there is no lust in her eyes.
“Someone who has no business being here,” I mutter.
Suddenly, she whistles using both fingers in her mouth and I thank the heavens for the quiet street because it is so loud I am certain it would alert the whole neighbourhood and I am definitely going to find it difficult to hear from my right ear for a minute.
Arden looks up at the catcall and almost subconsciously cocks his head too.
We lock eyes. The air stops for a second before a smirk slowly spreads across his face.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself,” I spit at Harley.
She smiles for the first time, and honestly, it brightens her face. “You said you wanted to get along. The best way to know a person is through another,” she says with a shrug, as she sat back on her chair.
“What are you doing here?” I ask from above as he leans against the railing.
“I was in the neighbourhood.”
“ You just happened to be in Notting Hill?” I ask, skeptically. He shrugs. “Four months ago you said this is where free-spirits and hippies resided, and being here could be contagious.”
“And I stand corrected,” he says with a scrunch of his nose.
“ I live in Notting Hill.”
“My point is being proven.”
He is looking at me strangely, his eyes were pinched and soft, which isn’t usually an expression he directs my way. This is about the phone call last night where I said too much and I curse my lips for doing so. My plan is to have gained sudden amnesia if he brings it up. “Open the door.”
Harley slowly stands from her chair then sprints down the stairs, I only realise what she is doing half a second too late.
No. No, no, no.
I yell, running after her, “Do not open that door.” But it is too late as she has already launched the front door wide open to reveal Arden.
He comes closer and his scent immediately hits my nostril and I barely resist the urge to breathe him in deeper. He ignores Harley on my right and says, “The next thing to do here would be to let me in.”
“Don’t you have better things to do with your time? Other people to talk to?”
“Probably, but I choose you.” My breath catches from those words, and I know he doesn’t mean it in that way but it doesn’t stop my brain from latching onto it. His hair falls down his eyes and a part of me wants to brush it away to properly reveal those beautiful eyes.
“When you’re both done staring at one another, close the door,” Harley says, making me jump and shaking us both out of our stupor.
Arden turns his head towards her, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as though he was only just seeing her for the first time. “Is this her?” I nod in response.
Harley says, “You told him?” At the same time Arden says, “Not what I expected.” as he scans her up and down.
“What were you expecting?” she sharply asks, her disdain radiating off her, “Let me guess, white?”
“No. Clean,” he says, not at all perturbed by the accusation.
She looks down at her shirt, which is stained with the chocolate from the syrup she had on her pancakes, “I just ate dickhead.”
“On your shirt?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Harley this is Richard Arden Thorne,” I say, hoping to cut through their bickering. “My…friend.”
“Just Arden will do. I’d extend my hand but I’m not sure you have washed it.” I whack him on the chest to shut him up.
She glares and turns to me, “I’ll be in my room, tell me when he leaves.” She gives him a middle finger as she leaves.
“You’re an arse,” I say and he grins, proud that he managed to piss someone off for the day.
“She brings up a good point, did he do a DNA test?”
“Have you ever known my father to do anything halfway?” and the silence tells me he agrees.
“Where’s MJ?” I question .
“Her parents,” he sighs, “Turns out those brothers of hers will be in the city more often than anticipated.”
“Oh my god, even Gabe?” I ask with glee.
“Your persistent crush on that boy is ridiculous,” he sharply says with a glare.
“He’s four years your senior, he’s not a boy.”
“He acts like one.”
“No, he’s carefree and the concept blows your mind.” I smile, but it falls when I realise how close we have inched towards each other without realising.
I take two steps back, clearing my throat. “Did you need something? Is that why you’re here?”
“Maybe,” he replies, softly.
“Last night was a mistake,” I blurt out, and he freezes . “I just haven’t been feeling like myself recently. I didn’t mean anything I said.”
“You didn’t?” Arden asks. His head tilts, his eyes boring into mine, as I try to look at anywhere but him.
“No, I didn’t.”
“To answer your question, I thought there was something here that I had lost and finally found. Turns out, I was wrong. Things that hide tend to go missing for a reason.”
I finally meet his eyes, and I almost break but hold my ground. “We should just act how we used to with one another. Go back to your girlfriend, Richard. You’re not needed or wanted here.” I slam the door in his face.