{welcome to the final stretch of this story
enjoy the chapter 🥴}
4 am;
“Girls, would you like to tell her what I caught you two doing?” Collin asks.
We’re sitting on the couch next to each other. I managed to get a towel before this little talk. I ran right upstairs passing my mom and she gave me a what the fuck look. My heart was beating out of my chest. I just told her to go downstairs and I’ll be down in a sec.
“We were…” Jessie trails off. She was clearly trying to come up with a lie but couldn’t think of something fast enough.
“Just be honest,” Collin says. He is pacing back and forth in front of the TV while my mom is sitting in one of the armchairs.
I take a deep breath. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. “Jessie and I went out to the tree house. We figured if we only hung out late at night not in the house then you two would get off our backs about being too close if you know what I mean.” I say.
Collin clearly didn’t like that answer. “I saw them kiss,” He says to my mother.
“Harper, you” She trails off. I know the rest of that sentence was gonna end with “like girls”
I nod.
“Oh honey, why didn’t you tell me? You know I wouldn’t” She trails off again.
“Mom, no offense but I haven’t really wanted to share anything with you the last year,” I say.
“Ok who cares, these two have been sneaking around behind our backs for god knows how long now,” Collin says. “Wait, how long has it been?” He asks.
“Maybe 2 months,” Jessie says.
“2 months?!” Collin exclaims. “So basically since we got here. Do you know how stupid you two are? There was no way this was going to work. You two were just going to get hurt and hurt this family” He says.
“Collin, with all due respect, we are not a family. You are some random man I met two months ago that my mother just so happens to be dating. I don’t like you, you already know this and I was never going to consider you family given you are the reason my parents aren’t together anymore” I say.
“Diana, a little help here,” He says quite loudly. She just shrugs her shoulders. “Ok wanna know what Harper, you win. I’ll give you exactly what I want. I’ll leave but I’m taking both my kids with me” He yells.
This must have caused Levi to wake up. “No, we can’t leave” He sounds absolutely heartbroken. He is standing at the top of the stairs.
“What even was the plan? You two just date even though we are together and hope we never find out?” He asks.
“No, that’s crazy. We were just going to mutually break up the day you leave and then pretend it never happened” I say.
“Like that isn’t crazy,” He says.
“Collin, we can work through this,” My mom says.
“No, and even if we did you would be absolutely no help. You never put your foot down with her, you raised a disrespectful brat who can’t handle her mother found happiness after a divorce”
“Oh, that’s what you want the picture to be?” I ask and start to stand up. Jessie pulls me back down by the waist. “As far as I am concerned, you are a homewrecker. You are just as wrong as she is” I point to my mom. “In this situation. She cheated and you knew she had a husband. Your relationship with my mother is destined to fail given both of your track records” I yell.
“Ok enough,” My mother says and stands up. “Do we really give a shit what they do? They’re 16 years old. They can make their own decisions. We are only dating, it’s not like we are planning on getting engaged or married. And again they’re 16, high school relationships never last” My mom yells. I don’t know if I ever heard this woman talk about a whisper.
“You need to make some more decisions for your kid or at least help her make better ones because she clearly can’t” He yells.
“It’s real rich of you to judge her parenting when you love to make your 10-year-old child your other child’s responsibility. I finally gave her a taste of what it was like to be a teenager” I yell back at him.
“That’s it. We’re done here” Collin says. “Kids, pack your bags. We’re going to grandma and grandpas”
We all have immediate reactions. “No, I want to say,” Levi says through tears. He is sitting at the top of the stairs right now.
“No please don’t make us go,” Jessie says.
“You can’t take them,” I say.
He only responds to me. “They are my kids so I most definitely can take them. I need to get my daughter far, far away from you before you corrupt her even more than you already have. I don’t even recognize her anymore” He says.
“Collin, get out of my house” My mom speaks up. He was clearly taken aback by that.
“What?” He asks.
“I said get out of my house. You’re not gonna talk to Harper like that in her own home” She says.
“Whatever. Kids, again go pack your bags” He says.
I look over and Jessie is hysterically crying. Levi is sitting at the top of the stairs now crying too. I’m gonna take a piece of advice from Abby Lee Miller in her wheelchair and save it for my pillow.
I fucking hate this man.
I grab Jessie’s hand and drag her up to my room. I close the door behind me and immediately pull her into my arms. I repeat a series of “it’s gonna be ok”, and “you’re going to be ok” to her. She is holding onto me for dear life. I hold onto her as tight as I can. I feel a few tears fall from my eyes.
After a couple of minutes, she calms down and pulls out of my grip. “I-i need to go check on Levi” she chokes out and leaves my room.
I go and sit on my bed. I hear my mother and Collin arguing in her room. After a few minutes that settles down and I hear her go into the guest room. I sit and scroll through my phone for a bit but my mind is elsewhere. I hear my mom go back into her bedroom and more fighting starts.
After a good 10 minutes, she goes back into the guest room. She is in there for a few minutes then comes into my room.
“Hey.” She says.
“Hi,” I say back and stand up.
“So I convinced Collin to let Jessie stay at least for tonight. We’ll talk more in the morning but please take care of her tonight” She says.
A smile grows across my face. “I will Mom don’t worry”
“Good. I would give you the rules but it’s not like you’re gonna get pregnant” She says and walks out of my room, closing the door behind her.
It takes Collin and Levi another half an hour to pack up but it feels like an eternity. Jessie didn’t come to see me once. I guess she should be with Levi. I think my mom was in the room with them too.
Once they finally leave, she comes into my room. I get off of my bed. She was definitely crying but she has calmed down from before. I didn’t even know what to say to her.
“Come on. You need to rest” I say and motion to the bed.
“I’m fine,” She says.
“You don’t look fine. Come on” I say.
She lays down and I get into the bed next to her. I wrap my arm around her. “Wanna talk in the morning?” I ask. She just nods and sinks deeper into my bed. “Good night,” I say and give her a kiss on the top of the head.
“Goodnight,” She says back and closes her eyes.
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