23 #2
“Wanting to spend the night with you wasn’t the bad idea, coming here with all of them was.”
“Fine, then we’ll do what we said before. No mixing the two.”
“Harley, she’s your sister. She means a lot to you despite how much you try to hide it around me.”
“But–”
“It’s okay. I wouldn’t ask you to choose and you shouldn’t have to. Besides, I saw it in your face when I told you about my family, you wanted to run. And truthfully, I barely know enough about you.”
“Stop… talking…. ” Harley’s voice breaking with each word.
She didn’t.
“It’s probably best that we go back to the way our lives had been before we became whatever this is.”
And with those parting words, Scarlett entered the car that pulled up. Jameson and Ambrose both inside, the former looking murderous but driving away at her word.
The tears that had been threatening to leak in the corner of her finally fell and she hated it, she never cried. She shuddered from the cold and used her hands to rub her arm to keep herself warm, the adrenaline dying down and suddenly reminded of how cold it was.
She’d made her mind up. The plan to lock herself in her room as originally intended was back on. It was going to be her and some earplugs to attempt ignoring the pulsating noise that could be heard from a mile away. The idea to host this party was an awful one.
As she continued walking up the path to their house, a glint from the corner of her eye had her looking it way. There was a young girl talking to an older guy. They seemed to be fighting and as she neared them she realised it was Daniel, this must have been where he disappeared to.
His wings had blended in with the darkness but she could see it clearer as she closed in. But still, she didn't recognise the girl he was squabbling with. Whether or not she thought he was a good guy, she found it a little odd for him to be yelling at a woman and that had raised her eyebrows.
The younger girl was speaking animatedly to Daniel, Harley titled her head to the side gently assessing the situation and wondering if she should step in. There was only a tiny litter of people around, a couple of them stared but none stepping in.
When his hand grabbed hers, Harley shuffled a little quicker to the scene. “Is everything okay here?”
They both looked up at her, his hand dropped from hers almost immediately, an upset visible on both their faces. The girl recovered quicker and turned her frown upside down by releasing an ear-shattering squeal. “Harley!”
Harley’s face bunched up in confusion, she had never met this girl in her life.
She would remember her. Other than the fact that she had a penchant for remembering faces, the girl was distinctive.
She had brown skin slightly darker than hers, long legs, bright wide eyes even in the dark and most of all she was beautiful.
However, she looked no older than eighteen, maybe younger. There were nothing but skeevy twenty-somethings at this party, why would she be here?
“I’m sorry, do I know who you are?” Harley questioned, she looked up at Daniel for an answer, who just sighed.
“I’m confused. Everybody knows who I am,” she said, frowning. As if that was supposed to clear up her confusion but then remembered she’d once heard those exact words before, from Annabel.
“This is Anastasia. Annie’s troublemaker of a sister,” Daniel answered for her, looking down at the girl with a sour expression. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so rattled, by anything. She had spent more time with him than any of Annabel’s other friends. It was kind of troubling.
“Stassie, actually,” the girl butted in quickly.
The realisation of who she was set in for Harley, she should’ve recognised her. There was a poster of her in Annabel’s room. She was the famous musician, Harley had promised to listen to her music at some point. She must’ve been more worn out than she thought.
Harley had been delaying listening to the music in question because she knew when the time came, it would be much harder to leave if she inserted herself into their lives anymore than she already had.
She asked her, “Aren’t you like, underage?”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Anastasia cried, stomping her feet.“I’m basically eighteen!”
“Basically or actually?”
“She’s not eighteen,” Daniel butted in with a straight face and he glared down at her.
“It’s in two weeks!”
“Okay, okay, okay I don’t care enough about the technicalities,” Harley said trying to put an end to the squabbling, she’d dealt with enough fights for one night. “Does your sister know you're here?”
“Not really…” Anastasia mumbled, her face crestfallen. Looking at her pout and doe eyed expression, eerily similar to the one Annabel did when she didn’t get her way, Harley couldn’t help but feel bad.
“I’m sure it'll be fine,” she said reluctantly.
Another squeal escaped the younger girl.
Harley was very lost as to where in that lithe body she mustered all this energy from.
Stassie jumped up and down, giving Harley a hug.
She wasn’t really startled by the affection as Annabel was the same way but still her hands hung awkwardly in the air.
She gave her a robotic pat to the back and pulled her off her.
“Fab! Let’s go!” Anastasia grabbed Harley by the arm in a tight grip and pulled them inside.
Just before they got in, she stuck her tongue out at Daniel, happy she’d won what seemed to be the cause of their little tirade earlier but he only rolled his eyes, blowing out an air of what seemed to be relief.
MJ, who had been the one to usher Scarlett out, was standing by the door. She noticed them from afar but seemed to be more interested in what was going down on her phone rather than any of us.
“Have you seen Annabel anywhere? I couldn't find her after chasing that” she started to say but Harley’s glare stopped her in her tracks. “Girl. I was going to say girl.”
“Look who we found crawling outside,” Daniel said, pointing to Stassie to which MJ finally takes note of the person next to her.
“Annie is going to lose her shit,” she said, her jaw dropped.
“It’ll be fine, can everyone just take a deep breath and vibe,” Anastasia replied.
They all turned to glare at her, and she all but grinned not taking a single one of their worries to heart.
She took out a lollipop from the small white purse she was carrying and put it into her mouth, nodding her head to the music.
Harley took note just then that she was dressed as an angel, she was treated like one too as every passing person smiled and waved at her, wanting to take pictures.
They were stopped immediately by Daniel’s glare, in his Devil costume, where he stood behind her like a bodyguard.
If she didn’t know better she would’ve thought they were matching on purpose.
The moment Annabel stepped back into the room, her presence was noticeable. She came down the stairs from the other side of the house, her face lighter than it was when they first departed.
The anger that had previously dissipated rumbled back to the surface at the sight of her. Harley thought she’d gotten over how Annabel’s ability to do too much always seemed to affect her but here she was back to where she had been an hour ago.
MJ ran up to her talking briefly and that was when Harley noticed Arden coming down from where Annabel had just come from. Nobody else seemed to realise it, they were all too consumed by Anastasia’s presence to watch him slither his way into the conversation like he’d always been there.
After the night at the comet viewing she had guessed something was up between the two but this confirmed her suspicions. However, she wasn’t going to get involved.
“Someone please get everyone out of here, like, now!” Annabel damn near yelled, visible panic rising from her face, in hysterics. Daniel and Arden took charge at once, ushering people out of the house. Moans and grumbles were heard but ignored.
Harley didn’t move an inch from where she stood letting it play out. She glanced at her watch; it was nearing three a.m. anyway. She rolled her neck, trying to ease the ache that had settled in, exhaustion running through her from head to toe.
Annabel’s eyes darted around in the midst of her panic, and in one brief moment locked with hers. They stared at each other for a moment, saying a thousand unspoken words in that single glance.
I’m sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out. Please forgive me.
But despite it all, Harley turned on her heels and walked up to her room, hoping the slam of her door gave the impact of the words she intended and didn’t say.