Page 226 of Obsession

He put on gloves again, and it was for the best.

At the end of the day, I got a very unpleasant surprise when I saw my father waiting for me in the parking lot. I had skipped detention, but I realized pretty quickly that it hadn’t been a good idea.

Harris stopped at the exit. It was drizzling outside, and the atmosphere was as depressing as a funeral.

“Did you call him?”

I shook my head.

“No way.”

My dad flashed his lights, and I exhaled through my nose because I wanted to go somewhere safe with Harris and get some serious answers from him.

When he realized I wasn’t coming out, he called me.

I hung up and looked at Harris.

“I’ll get rid of him and call you later. Promise me we’ll meet up and talk.”

Not caring that my father could see him, he took my face in his palms and stepped closer to me.

“Call me whenever you want. I’ll pick you up.”

Satisfied with his answer, I nodded, and he leaned down to softly kiss me.

He was aware that my father was watching us, and so was I, but I couldn’t find the strength to care. At least he was respectful enough to give me a gentle kiss.

I broke away from him and walked through the rain to my dad’s car. My leather jacket held up, but I couldn’t say the same for my hair. I reached the door and yanked it open angrily, got in and goosebumps covered me as the cold hair stuck to the back of my neck.

“What are you doing here, dad?”

“Hello to you too,” he mumbled, still looking straight ahead through the windshield.

I knew who he was looking at; Harris was still in the same spot, talking to Jay, but I knew he was calmly waiting to see if I could get rid of my dad and get back to him.

“Hi,” I mumbled, “what are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just pick you up from school?”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

He looked at Harris again.

“Really, dad? You couldn’t find a better moment to scold me about Harris? Couldn’t you wait until I got home?”

He snorted and started the engine.

“You say that like you’ve been home a lot lately.”

We had left the parking lot, and I gave Harris an apologetic look. Our chance to talk had passed.

“I was home after class yesterday, you weren’t there. And when I got home last night, you were still gone.”

He hadn’t seen me, I’d managed to avoid him, but now that I was sitting next to him, he noticed the bandage on my forehead.

“What happened?” he asked worriedly.

“I hurt myself at cheerleading practice. Nothing serious, don’t worry about it.”

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