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A Different Turn to Make (Alvis and Malice)

Harrison didn't wait for Mallory. She was in a gated community, if there was ever a safe place for her, it'd be here. He'd done his part, more than he needed to. Time to get home, get ready for the day.

The drive home was calm enough, and when he opened the door he found his father puzzling over papers. The man looked up as Harrison came in.
"Oh hi Harry. Thigns all right with your...firend?" He aske.d harrison hesitated. He didn't want to add to the problem. Not today.
"Her firend got all fucked up. She's...coping? Think it's the first time she's seen people be completely shit to one another." Harrison answered.
"Oh. Well...yeah, I'll let you be then." His father looked back down at the papers.
"What are you...doing?"
"Looking into my debts. There's...several of them. Trying to see if I can square them, or at least buy some time to get it squared. Trying to make it right, you know?" Harrison hesitated.

"Look, I know your shoulder is still kinda wrecked, but are you any good at numbers?" Harrison asked.
"Yeah. I...I did graduate college you know. Got a degree that didn't involve throwing a ball." The answer did surprise Harrison a little.
"I know some people, I might be able to find you some kind of work in an office down at the docks. But...if you fuck up, it's my ass, you understand me?"
"Yeah, yeah I do. You don't want me to screw up thigns for you. More than I have already. Look, just...find me places looking for help, and I'll apply, keep you out of it. I'll pass or fail on my own." Harrison nodded.
"Sounds good." He turned away and head upstairs.

He paused, and then turned to look at his room. The door was open a crack. He had a hunch why. He pushed the door open, finding Jane sitting at his desk, reading a textbook.
"Still don't like your own room?" He asked her. She looked up at him, shaking her head.
"I don't feel safe there. My door doesn't lock right. But...dad won't come in here, he doesn't want to piss you off." She answered.
"We'll get your lock fixed. Help you feel safe again." She nodded slightly.
"But I already feel safe here. With you."
"Jane, you and I both know that sooner or later we're getting the fuck out of here, adn when we do, you're going to some super college, adn I'm probably going to go somewhere good enough to land a job that maens never coming back here. We'll probably be apart a lot. You gotta get yourself used to that." She looked away, tears in her eyes, but nodded.

"I know. But...you're the only family that's been there for me since I can remember. I can't even remember Mom's face harry. I don't want to lose you." Jane whispreed. He stepped over to her and put his arms around her.
"Hey, you'll never lose me Jane. We're what real family is. ANd I'll always help you however I can." He assured her. She put her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt. '
"And I'll help you too Harry." Harrison didn't respond to that, his mind recallign her calm after gouging out someone's eye for him. Jane was a scary prospect in some ways. But she was his little sister, and he'd be damned if he let anything happen to her.

"Can I crash here with you?" She asked. he sighed. He wanted to say no. Realyl did. But he knew if he did she'd likely be on edge all night wondering if there was something she'd done wrong.
"Yeah okay. But Im beat, so I'm just going to call it a night. You finish up your homework." Harrison told her, letting go. he looked up at him, a smirk on her face that looked so very familiar.
"Oh, I was done awhile ago. I was reading ahead to get a jump on next week."
"Nerd." He ruffled her hair, adn she scowled at him, but broke into a grin shortly after he moved his hand away.

Harrison got ready to sleep, just a pir of loose pants on, and climbed into bed, glad he'd at least managed to get a rough Queen bed in his room. It might be awkward to have his sister crashing with him on a smaller one. He just crawled into bed, adn killed the lights, letting sleep claim him.

Jane stepped back into Harrison's room, looking at him. She could see his bare shoulder in the moon light from the window, and she allowed herself a smile as she heard him start to snore. He must have really been out of it. She crept into the room, not wanting to wake him. It wasn;t likely when he was sleeping like this, but still. She eased herself onto thebed, smoothing hte vastly oversized shirt she was wearing to bed, keeping herself covered as she slipped under the blankets, moving closer to Harrison. He was warm. And he made her feel safe. She smiled as she looked at him, noticing that sleeping she finally saw what she thought he must really look like. There was no guard, no layer of sarcasm and tough guy. He seemed...more like how she knew him, saw him. H elooked so much younger than he normally did. With the thought, she let herself drift to sleep.

Harrison stirred from sleep in hte morning. he didn't really need na alarm most times. He felt a weight on his chest, and looked down. Jane had been out cold it seemed, but had gravitated to him, adn was using his chest as a pillow, one of her legs draped over his own. her very bare leg. Bells were ringing in his head, not good ones. Taking a deep breath, he started to extricate himself from her when she woke, noting how close she'd gotten to him. Jane jumped back, her face red.
"Oh, Gods, Harry, I'm so sorry! I...I.,.." She buried her face in her hadns. Harrison smiled ather, patting her shoulder.
"S'okay. It's cold in here at night, adn I'm warm. Just go get ready for school, I gotta do the same." He told her. She stood up and in a flurry of pale legsfled the room.

Jane left ahead of him, grabbing her bag and fleeing hte house, clearly still embarassed to face him. Harrison was starting to find the whole thing funny by the time he'd driven hismelf to school. It was a shame there was no one to share that with, becuase there was no way he was going to explain everything that was involved to make it all funny to someone else. He had the stack of graded papaers, adn he lifted them heading in to class. Rooke was there ahead of him, of course he was, and nodded to Harrison as he entered. THe older man simply took the graded papers and handed another, larger stackj to him. Harrison sighed, adn sat at his own small desk, and got to work. He wondered if Esther was going to simply call off the day. He wouldn't blame her. But he somehow doubted it. The warning bell went off, calling hte students to their classes.
 
“You look like you’re doing better.” Esther remarked, looking at her friend-not-quite-nemesis.

“One day at a time.” She replied, her arms in front of her, holding her books together.

“What changed?”

Mallory looked at her carefully, trying to think of how to say this without her friend flipping her lid. “Harrison gave me a ride home last night.”

“Define…’ride?’” Esther asked as casually as possible considering she had no claim over the sex god.

“As in he took me home.” She grinned sheepishly. “But he also told me to just own it. People can’t bring me down unless I accept that fact as my truth for now and just go with it.” She shrugged.

Her jaw had dropped. That was actually pretty great advice. “And just like that you flipped the switch?”

“I didn’t take any pills. Didn’t touch the vodka. I just went to sleep.” She said softly.

“Mal…” Esther couldn’t help but smile. “You had us terrified, you know that?”

“I was letting the guilt eat me up.” She shrugged her shoulders. “For a minute there, I was thinking maybe you two would be happier...everyone would be happier without me. I was just fucking shit up.” She said with a small sigh and a forced smile.

Esther dropped her books and moved to her, pulling her into her arms.

“Oh my god, you’re hugging me.”
“Shut up and deal with it.” Esther hugged her tighter.

Mallory smiled a little and hugged her back nonetheless. “People are going to see you hugging me and think they can hug me.”
“Mhm.”
“That will ruin my slutty reputation.”
“Uh huh.”

“Are you even listening?”

“Totally. I just don’t care.”

“He’s fucking some serious confidence into you, that’s for sure.”

She pulled back quickly and her eyes were wide, but a big smile was on her face. “Mallory!” She laughed.

Just then the warning bell went off.

“Saved by the bell.” She winked.

Grabbing her books, Esther tugged Mallory along and went into first period. Following her in, she paused by Harrison’s desk, trying to think of something to say. Honestly she had no idea what to say. ‘Hi’ seemed too pathetic. ‘Thank you’ seemed like it wouldn’t be enough and that the only reason she would say anything to him was because of that. And then kissing his cheek would be too presumptuous. So she just stared like a stupid idiot who didn’t know how to converse with a guy all of a sudden even after he had been inside of her. Quite a few times.

“You just going to stare or are you going to say hi?” Mallory asked.

“Mal!”

She grinned and turned, making her way to her desk as more students began to pile in.

Esther stepped out of the line of fire and cleared her throat. “Hi Harry. I’m gonna just--” She pointed to her desk. “I’m gonna let the floor swallow me up. Yup.” She mumbled and nodded her head, walking to her desk and wishing she could hide behind her hair. And this is why she needed to get proper sleep. All kinds of frazzled. "God, stupid. Stupid. Stupid." She whispered.
 
Harrison had a half smile on his face as Esther worked herself into a nervous wreck and pretty much escaped from him. Not much he could do in the class. They'd talk later. But he had a few thigns he still had to do.
"Hey Joyner!" he called to Mallory, gesturing her to come up to his desk with a curling of his finger. When she was close to him he spoke low enough for it to not travel.

"Got a few thigns I need to talk to you about. I'll be in the office down by the old wrestling room. Meet me there after school, all right? DOn't blow me off, this is important." he told her calmly, his tone not brooking any disagreement. It was pure confidence and calm.

"All right everyone, take your seats!" Rooke called as hte bell rang again, sending hte last few stragglers scurrying for their desks. "It's been brought to my attention that many of you have painfully bad vocabulary choices in your work! ANd you know what that means!" Roke clapped his hands as he finished. There was a chorus of groans fromt he students. "Yep! It's time for vocabulary work sheets! Mr. Trenton, would you do the honours?" Harrison stood up, giving Mallory's shoulder a pat as he walked past her, both of them heading towards the rows of desks.

Harrison quickly handed out the sheets, adn returned to his desk. He didn't like them any more than they did since he knew he'd wind up grading the damned things.
 
Mallory lifted her head up and raised an eyebrow. She saw Esther looking downright pale as she took her seat but her gaze went to Harrison. This was...strange. Standing, she made her way over and leaned down over his desk since he was talking in hushed tones. His proposition had her eyes widening and she looked back at Esther who had her face down in her books before looking back at him. “Uh...okay?” She was deciding to go along with this and desperately hoping a repeat of history was not about to happen.

After Mr. Rooke called for the class to begin and for students to take their seats, Mallory was kind of frozen in place. Only when she got a pat on her shoulder did she seem to move and took her seat next to Esther once more.

“What was that about?” She whispered.

“Hm?” Mallory asked. “Oh um...he wants to see me for something. Later. In his office.” She whispered back, not thinking anything twice about it.

“Alone?”

“Yeah.” She looked at her then. “It’s probably about my sham of an essay.”

“Yeah. Right.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you Esther.” They both looked at each other for a minute. “Again.”
 
CLass was progressing fine, the worksheets weren't small, each piece was three pages, and there were nine. It was absolutely going to be homework. When the bell went, Rooke amde his announcement.
"Everyone! Those sheets are due handed in tomorrow morning sharp! Anyone missing that date gets a zero and I will publicly shame you for it!" Rooke announced. Harrison was on his feet, passing by the door. He had to get to his class, adn that was the other end of the school. Still, he saw Esther close by, and rest a hadn on her shoulder lightly.
"We'll talk later. But...don't call me Harry, okay? Thanks." He nodded to her, a smile starting to light his features, and then he was off.

His classes were passign by without much issue, simple tasks, simple solutions. He was glad of his spare period though, it let him get to the office sooner than later, adn he managed to scare off anyone loitering down there, though they were fewer and fewer these days. He settled into his office desk, chugging through the pile of work he had. He knew that with the worksheets coming back he was going to need all the time in hte world to get them all graded. He noted that his desk was a little off of where he liked it, but with the mass of the thing, hje'd need a pair of hands to help him. He shrugged. He'd see who he could scare up for that later. He faintly heard the final bell going off, but kept at it.
 
She just needed to trust that Mallory meant it. And that’s what she kept repeating in her mind as she powered through the vocabulary sheets, double checking her work. She managed to get through half before the period ended and it put her mind at ease. The class moaned and groaned at this assignment but she took solace in it. She loved English.

As the bell rang and Mr. Rooke put the fear of him in them all, she packed up her things and started to walk out with Mallory when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning to look at Harrison, a smile appeared on her face but it slowly faded. “R-Right, okay.” She nodded her head, feeling stupid. Really stupid. “I’m sorry.” She called out to his retreating form but frowned.

“You okay?”

Esther jumped a little and looked to Mallory. “Yeah, totally. I’m great. I’m super.” She forced a smile. “I gotta get to class.”

“Hey, I’m sure what he asked me is nothing to fret about. And I mean he’s really weird about names, right?’

“I don’t know. We don’t really talk…” Great, he was probably figuring he should let her down easy after seeing her a wreck last night. “I don’t know, I got to get to class.”

With a wave, Esther headed off. The rest of the school day she tried to just chug along but coupled with how little sleep she got and the fact her mind kept running a mile a minute over analyzing what was happening, she was anything but calm. And she knew it was stupid to be freaking out. They were just having sex. Guys like Harrison weren’t the type to have a girlfriend. Right? Then again, she thought guys like Chad were the type to have a girlfriend but she didn’t really know him either. So what the hell did she even know?!

“Miss Martin?”

“Why do guys even have to be so complicated?! And I thought girls were complicated!” She burst out in the middle of her last class of the day.

“Um...that has nothing to do with what I asked.”
“Oh my god…” She covered her cheeks and slid down in her desk. She really needed to get a grip. Thankfully that didn't land her in detention. Thankfully she had a reputation of not making a habit of disrupting class. The teacher let it slide this time.

By the time the end of seventh period came and the bell rang, Mallory gathered her things and made her way down to the wrestling room, err, Harrison’s office. The closer she got, the stronger the stench of boy sweat and wrestling mania became and she scrunched up her face. Oh god, was that...ball sweat? Grimacing, she came to the door and knocked on it before opening it, poking her head in. “You couldn’t find a better office? One that doesn’t smell like ball sweat and grody jock strap?” She joked.
 
Harrison looked up as Mallory knocked, and gave her a mock glare out of hte top of his eyes.
"Can't smell it once the door's shut, adn it keeps people away. Come on in, this shouldn't take long." He waved her intot he room. "Rooke is aware you've been...having a rough go of it lately, so he's putting an extension on some overdue assignments. Here's the list." He handed her a post it. There wasn't much on it, maybe three assignments. If you can get those in by the middle of next week, we'll count them as on time." He nodded, and then hesitated. Anything further he wanted to say might be considered getting a bit too deep into her life, but...she had asked.

"Do you know Jerry Alkman? President of hte math club or some shit? Big brain guy, buys a lot of weed from me. Anyway, if you ever find yourself looking for a date, give him a call, let him know I gave you his number." Harrison explained, tossing a small card ont he desk with a number written on it. "You wanted me to point you at guys that wouldn't be scared of your reputation. He's one of them, and not abad guy either. Something to think about anyway." Harrison stood up, and stepped to one end of the desk. "Now, before you go, could you grab an end on this thing and help me drag it a few feet towards the wall?"
 
Her lips twitched but she suppressed her desire to grin, just barely. Walking in, Mallory shut the door behind her, not thinking anything of it. “Okay.” She walked in a few paces but kept her distance, crossing her arms over her chest. Instead, he surprised her and she blinked her eyes. “Really?” She walked forward now, guard dropped when her hands came at her sides before taking the post it. She didn’t miss much but she was thankful for the chance. “Thanks.” She smiled a little, sticking the post in her purse, attaching it to her phone. “I’ll get them in.”

She figured that might be it and was prepared to leave when he posed another question. Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline this time and she snorted. Not because it was a math geek, nah those pseudo-virgins got her panties n all kinds of raunchy twists. The fact he bought weed from Harrison. Of course Jerry bought weed from Harrison Trenton. “That little pot head, holding out on me. I ought to whip him up.” She grinned, swiping up the card and tucking it in her bra. “Thanks, Trenton. I’ll consider it.” The look in her eyes said she was going to give him a call as soon as she left his office though.

“Oh, sure.” She set her bag down and moved to the other side of his desk. She lifted and groaned. “God, this thing weighs a ton.”

She might have been hot on Mallory’s heels but kept ducking behind walls so her friend didn’t know she was basically stalking her. She crept from around the corner after Mallory went inside of his office and came to the door. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she placed her hands on the door and leaned in, pressing her ear to it. Oh, oh she could hear them! They were just talking. “See? You had nothing to worry about.” She whispered so softly to herself and yet she wasn’t backing away from the door either.


Just as she was finally about to peel herself from the door, she heard a groan. It was female and her eyes widened. “No, no, no!” She whispered, her hands on the door balling into fists. “Please don’t let it be what I think it is.” She whispered, her eyes so wide they might actually pop right out of the sockets.
 
Harrison gave a grunt as he heaved on the desk, teh whole thing making a kind fo shuddering shift, like a series of impacts instead of a slow slide. He heaved again, giving another grunt of effort, looking over at Mallory.
"Shit, we barely got started adn you're already in a sweat? Shit, at this rate I might just kill ya!" Harrison said with a teasing smile. It was different when he wasn't in front of an audience. He could afford to let at least a little of his guard down with people, and if he was hoenst, thigns were largely going in his favour lately, it had him in a much better mood than normal.

Gideon simply looked at hte report that he had, and shook his head. It was going to be a difficult period of time, it was time to bring in some extra help to sort out the problems. He made a few calls, accepted the costs of doing business, and then hung up. Mistakes ahd been made, and now he needed to be ready to clean things up.
 
Her heart felt like it stopped breathing as she held her breath. Something was happening. And then she heard another groan, and this time it was a male groan. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…” She whispered on repeat, her hand flying down to the door knob but hesitating. No, it wasn’t happening!

Mallory stifled a giggle and lifted as well as she could but the thing felt like it was made of pure metal or something. Wait, was pure metal light or heavy? Either way, it was a bulldozer and a bitch to move even with Harrison doing more of the heavy lifting. “It’s really big!” She giggled, realizing how that sounded. “Come on Harry,” Now she was just teasing, mostly because he seemed to really hate being called that after he warned Esther. “You can guide a thing that big better than I can! I don’t have as much experience as I tote.” She winked goodnaturedly. It felt good to jest and joke so freely. It was nice.

Her jaw was on the floor and she felt that stupid heated moisture cloud her eyes. She should not feel like this. She should not feel like she was being betrayed. But here she was, listening as her so-called best friend and stupid Harrison Trenton were going at it! Unbelievable!

This time when her hand went to the door knob, there was no hesitation. She opened the door aggressively and threw it open before hauling herself into the office. “I can’t believe you! You lying piece of sl--” The words died on in her throat when she actually took in the scene. Her tears seemed to vanish almost instantly and her jaw once again but dropped but the color her cheeks turned gave more indication for what was really wrong. She was embarrassed beyond belief and she did it to herself.

Harrison was on one end of the desk and Mallory on the other. Both were dressed and looked to be moving the desk. “Oh my god…” She whispered. What was wrong with her?!

“2-204?” She asked loudly now, her voice wavering. “Is this room 204?” She knew it wasn’t. They didn’t need to know, but it was already too obvious. She looked at the door. It didn’t even have a number. “Whoops! Must have gotten lost. I’m gonna--” She didn’t finish. Just gestured back out and turned, running like the grim reaper was chasing her. She was the reddest she had ever been and she knew how to work up quite the sweat to get pretty red. This was worse!
 
Harrison just stared as Esther had her outburst, trying not to burst out laughing at the whole thing. Oh, it was quite a sight to see, and when she bolted he knew he did have to go after her. He point at Mallory.
"Don't call me Harry. It's a bad habit that's going to get on my nerves in a serious way sooner or later. But I think I should go run some damage control now." he winked at her and took off out the door after Esther.

She wasn't a slow runner, but Harrison had a much larger stride, and it let him close the gap quickly. She was about to clear the hall that would lead her back to the main part of hte school and not the athletics wing. He reached out, arms wrapping around her, and lifting, pulling her into the air and slowing hismelf down so they didn't crash into the wall. He had a smile on his face as he carried ehr back down the hall.
"Hey, hey, ease there Martin. Easy." He said to her quietly, his mouth not far from her ear.
 
Mallory too had to bite back a laugh, especially when she saw the look on her friend’s face. Come on, she deserved more credit than that but at the same time, it wasn’t totally unwarranted. Especially if she heard the things being said. It sounded bad. “Esther--” She sagged into the desk when she ran off and looked at Harrison. “Oh don’t be such a spoilsport, Trenton.” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, maybe you should before she keels over all red and stroked.” She might be paying for this later. But it was totally innocent! Kind of?

If she could die of embarrassment right now, that would be swell. If the ground swallowed her up and she never resurfaced, it would only be too kind. If she could just run into the wall and have amnesia, it would only be a mercy. But before she could even get too far, she felt big, strong arms wrap around her and it surprised her how easily he could just lift her. But she stiffened in his grasp because all she wanted to do was suffer in her embarrassment alone! Not get another curt--that was how she took it earlier when he told her not to call her Harry, which she didn’t even think twice about!--warning from him.

“I’m easy.” She held her hands up and then slapped them to her face. “God, can you not say something stupid?” But it wasn’t directed at him, rather herself. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She whispered. “You can just drop me now. Let the ground swallow me up. Disappear. Anything so you don’t have to see me right now.”
 
Harrison kept her in the air, but had to suppress another laugh. Oh my, the things that came out of panicked Esther's mouth.
"Well, if the ground is goig to swallow you up, then I'm not going to put you down. If you dissappeared forever right now, I'd miss you." he told her, actually surprising himself a little. He wasn't lying, he wasn't exagerating. He'd actually miss her if she vanished. Something to think about later.

"So I'm thinking that maybe we should talk a little? Or maybe a lot? Clear some air out I think?" he asked her, still keeping her up off the ground, though now it was less tokeep her from running and mroe because he found it kind of funny.
 
Shit, did her heart just stop? No, she wouldn’t be thinking if it did. He just said he’d miss her. Miss what about her exactly? “You’d miss these moments of hilarity and embarrassment, that’s for sure.” She couldn’t help it in mumbling the words, thankful her back was to him so he couldn’t actually see her roll her eyes. Harrison Trenton miss her? Hah! As if!

“Okay…” Clear the air. Was that a kiss of death? A verbal kiss of death? Stopping herself from doing it again, the overanalyzing, she nodded her head slowly. “Can we do that with my feet on the ground?” She asked. “The closeness...I-It’s not a problem per se…” It was hard to think straight a little each time he spoke close to her ear. The deep rumble and baritone of his sexy as fuck voice was a direct hotline to her core the way his fingers were when he touched her there.
 
Harrison nodded, realized she couldn't see him nod, so leaned forward to gently kiss the back of her jaw. He set her down. He stepped back, leaning against the lockers on the wall.
"Okay, so we need to talk it seems. Let's, uh, start with the basics. I know you got some residual...let's say issues with yer friend Joyner down there, and I get that! I get that. But gimme a little credit. I know I'm only the second guy you've been with, and the first one was a spitfuck, so I'd like to not wreck your opinion of men in general. So it may shock you that I'm not shopping around for other women these days." He told her with a light tone in his voice. "So there's my side, uh...your turn. Go for it." He nodded to her encouragingly. This was a bit new to him. He usually just walked away when things started gettign complicated, but he would admit to the fact he liked spending time with Esther, adn he didn't want to see her get hurt, particularly not by him.
 
A shiver shot up her spine at the small dose of affection and she tried not to lean back and steal more. Instead, her feet touched the floor and Esther gathered her wits about her before turning to face him. She wanted to inwardly groan. Why did he have to be so darn good looking, especially leaning up against the lockers like that? Deciding that distance was good between them, not at all for her libido but for her sanity, she leaned against the opposite wall of lockers and tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She opted for jeans. She wasn’t trying to dress to impress. She didn’t have a lot of sleep. It was a wonder she didn’t look too haggard.

She looked up at him as he began to speak and the more he did, the more her cheeks turned red again. But then she managed to calm herself and nod her head. “It does shock me, but not for the reason you think.” She said softly. It was only last year she was still heavy. Color guard helped her shed weight. And now she was suddenly noticed by the opposite sex as more than a designated ugly fat friend. She didn’t know how to really deal with that. This was new. How was she supposed to tell him she didn’t want to have developing feelings for him? “But thanks for clearing that up.” She arched her back, sounding uncomfortable as she spoke but relaxed. She did weird things.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” She admitted after a moment of silence, after trying to gather her mental psyche. “I dated one guy. He was the first guy to notice me, me, not the tub of lard I was.” She grimaced. That was mean. “And that worked out so well.” She looked down, digging her foot into the tile floor. “And then you come along in the wake of that shit storm and I’m terrified to like you because why would someone like you like someone like me? Especially since I have a weird headspace and all. I’m insecure. I don’t know why you like having sex with me. And did I mention I am insecure? A girl can shed weight but confidence and self-esteem don’t just come with weight loss.” Finally looking up at him, she blanched and then covered her face again wishing she would just stop talking. “I don’t know how to be.” Exhaling loudly, her hands dropped and she looked at him again, braving it. “I just know how not to be because guys don’t like this stuff. That’s what I’ve been told at least…” Stop talking. Just stop talking! “And that concludes my word vomit portion of the afternoon.”
 
Harrison nodded as she spoke, what she was saying made a lot of sense. He knew some of it already, but not as much as he'd like. Myabe he should see if Jaime would give him a write up on Esther. He had a faint smile at the thought, but knew it'd never happen. ONe, because Esther was Jaime's friend, and he'd never sell her out lie that, and secondly because it'd just be wrong. But hearing her explain her status as a former fat girl, he kenw exactly what that kind of change could do to a person, he'd seen it a lot of times. Sometimes it ended okay, other times, it ended in fire adn horror adn no one won. He was really hoping Esther would land in the first option.

"Well, as word vomits go, it wasn't so bad. Has the benefit of being honest." He observed. He sighed. "Some guys don't. Hell, most people don't. But it's only a problem when the other side doesn't care. Look Martin, putting it simply, I'm not done with you yet. Not unless you want me to be. But I'm gonna guess you probably don't." he did have a smirk on his face from that one, teading, confident, the look he was best known for really.

"Otherwise, lemm give you a bit of survival advice. Find...three things. hree thigns that make you happy that are just your. Things that aren't tied to other people, just things for yourself. Know what those are, hang onto those. If you can manage that...you'll survive most anything. And lastly..." he pushed off the lockers, and easy motion that got him moving closer to her. He leaned towards her, a hand on the locker near her head, not boxing her in, but certainly putting htem closer. "Don't worry so much about how to be. Be you. There's no one on this earth that you owe more to than yourself, and you owe it to yourself to be honest with yourself. It'll be scary as fuck for awhile. But when you're fine being you, well...that's when the real fun begins. Trust me on that. Personal experience." he smiled at her, a hand brushing a finger along her cheek.
 
“There’s honest and then there’s too honest.” She felt the need to point out, as if she was trying to turn him off to her. She didn’t want to do that. She liked that he was turned on to her. She liked that she was turned on to him. It also scared her. “You care?” She asked, not feeling as dejected but still feeling some. “No, I don’t want you to be done with me. I like it too much.” Her way of not outright admitting that she liked him even if she already did in her word vomit.

The dejection started to go away some. Especially as he closed the distance between them. He didn’t box her in but it was harder to function when all she wanted to do was act on the bad things currently swirling around in her mind like two flavors of soft serve ice cream coming together in a swirl. Yeah, she was going to take that as he cared the size of a tiny grain of salt, but that still counted! Looking up at him, it was hard to look anywhere else. He smelled good. And while she was hanging onto his every word, she was also wondering what it’d be like to kiss him again as if she suddenly forgot. As if they didn’t have sex yesterday. As if they hadn’t kissed. “Three things.” Her gaze dropped from his to his lips and she watched his mouth move. She really liked his mouth.

Absently, she licked her lips and nodded her head slowly but she felt like she was in a trance. “Color guard. Writing. Oreo milkshakes.” She loved those three things. Managing to meet his gaze again instead of staring at his oh so kissable lips, she nodded her head and couldn’t help the shy smile that graced her features. “I believe you.” She whispered, chancing her hand to come up and rest on his chest. Easy, girl. “I’m sorry I called you that name that shall not be uttered from my lips ever again.” She spoke so softly. “I didn’t even realize.” She bit her lower lip. “What do I call you? Mr. Trenton still seems appropriate.”
 
Harrison smiled, able to clearly see the effect his presence and proximity to her was causing, but he wasn't going to push it too ahrd this time. Just knowing the effect he had was enough for him right then.
"Mr. Trenton is fine, though in certain company, I'll take Harrison just as well. That's tolerable." He kept his tone light, teasing, knowing what teasing Esther usually did to her.

"Some time, when it's a bit more quiet, I'll explain why I don't like the name. But I've got to get to work. So you stay out of trouble. Or failing that, just stay you and have a little bit of fun, eh?" he told her. That smile still on his face, he didn't leave Esther completely without some token of him, so he leaned forward, pushing her into the locvkers and kissing her, making it one that had a lot of intesity to it, some fire adn passion in it. He didn't have time to really pursue it, but he still wanted to get her rolling a little. When he broke away, he did it slowly, dipping back in for a quick second kiss before he winked at her.

"We'll be in touch soon." He said quietly, still only a few inches from her face. But then he stood up straight, knowing he had ot go if he was going to be on time. And one didn't keep the people he worked for waiting.
 
“Right.” She lowered her gaze just a touch, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. She was shy now, which didn’t surprise her. She did just say a lot and then of course, the curt little warning to not call him Harry brought her back. But clearly he wasn’t mad about it and if she was being honest, she liked calling him Mr. Trenton. She only called him Harry during sex because it made him more merciless and she liked it. It was an honest slip up today. “Mr. Trenton it is. Harrison for when I’m feeling affectionate.” She teased, but she felt comfortable teasing him because he was teasing her. In more ways than one.

“Okay. I’ll look forward to it.” She slid her hands over his chest. Even though he had to go, she wasn’t going to deny herself the chance to just touch him, and really accept being this close to him. She liked it. Even more that he wasn’t upset about it. He was the one that closed the distance first, she told herself. “Yeah. I’ll keep smiling and being me. Insufferable.” She rolled her eyes dramatically and then giggled. His smile was captivating and she wanted to take a picture just to freeze it in time. Had she ever seen him smile like that?

Feeling her body push back against the lockers thanks to him, her hands gripped the shirt on his chest and she melted as he gave her the kiss she had been craving since last night. She managed to pry her hands free of the material and slide them up and into his hair, kissing him back with as much intensity and passion as he gave her. He was going to ruin her. Right now, she was just fine with that because she liked being ruined by him. Mr. Trenton. Her heart fluttered in her chest but when he began to pull back, she had no choice but to release him, slowly. He was much taller than her and she wasn’t going to wrap around him like one of those velcro monkeys. Her eyes didn’t open again until after that second kiss, hesitantly of course because she wanted to milk this moment. She pressed an affectionate kiss to his chin and finally opened her eyes fully, looking up at him and nodding. “Mm, yes. We. Will.” She said it slowly with punctuated emphasis. “Stay safe, Harrison.” She murmured, pulling back entirely and using the lockers for support.

Esther Martin’s legs were currently jelly but very quickly feeling was coming back. Thankfully. Her hand came up and cupped his cheek lightly, her thumb brushing over his lower lip. Taking it back, she pushed off the lockers and turned away from him, making her way back into the common hall and stopping by her locker.

Not long after, she felt a presence beside her and shut her locker, turning to face Mallory.

“You two are steamy like in my step-monster’s eroticas.” She grinned.

She blushed. “I’m sorry I thought the worst.” She said softly.

“In your defense, it didn’t sound good.” She smiled, turning with her and linking arms. “You like him, huh?”

“God, I think I do.” She laughed slightly, shaking her head. “How crazy am I?”

“The craziest, kookiest cookie I know.” She grinned. “Welcome to high school, friend.” She put her arm around her. “It’s going to be a rough ride.”

“Don’t I know it?” She snorted, walking off with her. They got into Mallory’s car and stopped at the hospital. Boy did they have a lot to fill Abby in on.
 
Harrison entered the pub at the docks, and immediately noted that thigns inside were different than normal. The place was all but packed, every table crowded with people, and the sheer volume of tattoos in the Gaelic style let him know pretty much right away that these were Gideon's people. He stepped inside, got a nod from a few of the men he knew, and noted that Seamus was behind the bar. That was odd in and of itself. Murphy usually handled that.
"The man's waiting for you." Seamus said with a jerk to his head. Harrison only nodded, and head for the back room.

He'd xpected to find Gideon working a pool table, the same way he always was when he conducted business. He wasn't.

This time Gideon was cleaning a gun.

"Ah, young 'arry. Good of you to come on short notice." Gideon observed. There was a strange edge to his voice. Sad, and angry all at once.
"What's going on? It looks like you've called in every tough you've got." Harrison observed.
"THere be reason for that." Gideon said simply. Harrison let the silence stretch on for a few moments. "Where's Murphy?"
"Murph's dead young 'arry." Harrison just stared. The idea that someone would take out Gideon's bartender was astounding to him. He had s creeping sense of dread starting to build up.
"Who did this?"
"The lass, Heidi? The gun she used on Tugger, it be a small thing? Lady's gun?" Harrison nodded woodenly. "Shot failed to pierce that lad's skull. Tugger be on the warpath, and be dragging all his own toughs along for the ride. It war we face now 'arry. And ye best believe that Tugger be lookin' for you." Harrison felt aht pit of dread in his stomach growing.

"He be liable to come fer your family. I know ye not much care fer yer Pa, but ye've already gone out on a limb to save the sister. I dinnae like the thought of Tugger gettin' his hands on her." Gideon explained. Harrison nodded again.
"I...think I need to take care of some things." Harrison turned around only to hear Gideon clear his throat.
"Aye lad. But ye have a task from me first." Harrison bit back a response. It was certainly a test from Gideon, where he'd put his loyalty. Harrison let out a breath. Outside fo Gideon, not many people even realized he HAD a sister. Jane should be reasonably safe for now.
"What do you need?"
"Good lad. Simple fetch task. Seamus will give ye an address, go there, collect the bag that be waitin' for ye. Then to tae airport. There be a man there to collect. He know to look for ye."
"What's his name? Who am I getting?" Gideon just smiled.
"Ingavain." Harrison felt his blood run cold. He knew the name, but never thought to put a face to it. Ingavain was a dark legend in the underworld, a kind of enforcer or hitman, but no one knew much about him, other than he scared the hell out of most everyone that knew him. Harrison nodded slowly, and left Gideon. Places to go.

Jaime was still with Abby, He had a deck of card with hi, keeping Abby alternatively amused with card games and card tricks. It wasn't a lot, but it was the best he could get without leaving. And he wasn't ready to leave her there.

As Mallory pulled the car intot he parking lot at the hospital, there seemed to be a few people loitering around outrside of the building. They looked rough around the edges, wearing ragged jeans and equally rough shape wife-beater shirts. THey were in excellent condition, and were passing time by smoking, looking around as though they were trying to spot someone.
 
“I’m just saying…” Esther opened the car door and got out. She had a bouquet of Abby’s favorite flowers and shut the door behind her. “The giant teddy bear is a bit much.” She turned and watched as Mallory pulled out a giant teddy in the color of bubblegum pink, like Pepto Bismol pink. The thing was half her size and she looked like she could barely hold it up. It was the most amusing thing to see contrasted by the dark colors her friend wore.

“You were the one that got it! I said it was a bit much. I wanted to just get her chocolate. But no, you said she needed flowers and this stupid teddy!” Mallory grumbled.

Esther hid her coquettish smile behind the bouquet and shrugged her shoulders. “Honestly I just wanted to see if you could touch pink without melting.” She snickered.

“Bitch.”
She blew her a kiss and joined her side. “Fine, here, take the flowers. I’ve tortured you enough.”

They swapped gifts and made their way to the hospital entrance. Both of them noticed the rugged looking men there, all fit and sexy in that dangerous way. Esther’s gaze didn’t linger but she noticed Mallory’s did. Looked like she wasn’t shying away from her overly flirtatious status. Right on.

“Now they are what I call real men.” She remarked as they neared.

“Looks like an MC could be nearby. They look the types.”
“My types.”

“I think I see some drool right there. Let me get it for you.”
“Don’t you dare!” Which prompted Esther to laugh.
 
There were a few nudges from the thugs as they saw Esther and Mallory heading intothe building. They didn't move beyond that, letting htem go. But what did change was their gaze fell onto their method of arrival. Mallory's car.

Harrison had hte bag, had a very good diea of what was in it. Gideon wouldn't have him picking up a hitman without having a large amount of money on hand. The fact that Gideon was pulling in an outsider said that he was taking this very very seriously. Harrison knew he was on edge, knew he was nervous. It wasn't every day you ferried somenoe like this to a meeting.

The airport was a crowded mess, as it always was. But he stood at the appointed exit, waiting until he was being approached by a man and a woman. They were both striking people. The man was taller, taller than Harrison, and broad int he shoulders. He had icy blue eyes and close cropped hair that was frost-blond. His hands were large, and there was a legion of scars on them, looking every bit to be fighters hands. He realized that he was probably standing in front of the most dangerous man he'd ever met.
"Harrison?" The man asked. He had a distinct accent, a bit of a lilt to it. He wasn't sure exactly where it was from, but certainly not local.
"I am." he looked at the woman. She was a decent sized woman, around five foot eight, and had some bulk on her. Her hair was kept fairly short, but one side of her head was shaved clean, and covered in a light blue runic script that wound it's way along her skin. There was a tattoo of an uprasied sword on her cheek, made out in gold ink, as well as a fire burning behind it. Her hair was light, like old ice, and she had vivid eyes in a startling shade of violet "I thought I was only picking up one."
"Ah, sorry about that. This is Sigyn, she'll be working with me on this one. Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. Room in the car. Come on, let's get out of here."
 
Even as they walked on by, Esther noticed Mallory just openly staring, looking like she was about to dump the flowers in her arms and proceed to flirt. Hell no, not with these guys. They looked like they would grab her and haul her up to gang bang her and deposit her body somewhere where she wouldn’t be found.

“What do you think is going to happen with you just staring at them?” Esther asked loudly just as they passed the men. Mallory might hate her for it but she was doing her a favor.

“Dude!” She hissed, her head swiveling in her direction, the look on her face pissed and incredulous at the same time.

She could only shrug and smile an innocent smile, grabbing her arm and steering them both inside.

“What was that for? Are you trying to make it impossible for me? Is this revenge?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Esther asked and it didn’t look like Mallory would take the bait. “Come on, Mal, just because you’re owning up to what you do and not letting anyone shame you for it, doesn’t mean you have to let your libido take you down a path that could be potentially dangerous.”

“Just because they look rough around the edges, doesn’t mean they’d automatically hurt me.”
“Doesn’t mean you can completely discount that either.”

Mallory opened her mouth to interject but then shut it. “I hate it when you’re possibly right.”
“To know me is to love me.” She smiled all too proudly, her earlier innocence gone.

“How is it that with us, you’re yourself but with Trenton, you turn into this awkward bumpkin that can barely get a sentence out?”

“Believe me, if I had the answers…” She trailed off with a sigh.

They arrived outside of Abby’s hospital room, the door already opened. Walking inside, Mallory smiled and Esther held up the giant, pink teddy.

“Oh my god!” Abby yelped, only to wince immediately after that. “Ow…” Her hand came up to one side of her nose.

Esther dropped the teddy and frowned at her friend. “I’m sorry! I thought it’d make you laugh.”
“Oh it’s definitely amusing. Just hurts to make any kind of facial expression other than pure boredom.” She groaned. “You guys are the best though.” She tried to smile but it just came out as a wince. At least she wasn’t hopped up on pain meds and she was actually sitting up. Progress indeed. “Wait, how are you two together? And alive?”

“You missed a lot. But that kind of pales in comparison to the entire school buzzing about what happened. You’re basically a martyr.” Mallory smiled, setting the flowers down in Abby’s lap and then pressing a light kiss to her temple. She took a seat in a chair, more like lounged back, and Esther took a seat beside Abby on the bed, sliding her arm around her.

“Hey Jaime.” Both girls greeted but not in unison.

“A martyr?” Abby asked and if she could smile, it would be a big one, which was evident by the way her eyes brightened up.

“You’re famous now, Abs.” Esther grinned.

“Abigail Sampson, famous.” She spread her hands in the air a little and looked like she was lost in the fantasy of fame.

“You could be up there with Hannibal.” Mallory gestured to her face in reference to Abby’s.

“And now my ego plummets.” Abby shot glaring daggers at Mallory.

“Too soon?” She winced, dropping her hand.

“YES!” Both Abby and Esther replied in unison.
 
Jaime smiled as Mallory got the expected reaction out of Abby and Esthe.
"Nice to see some things never change Mal. Good to have you back." He announced quietly, drawing some attention and heat off of her. Juggling all three of these ladies at once ot keep them from focusing on one of them too much was a challenge, but he liked challenges. Especially ones like this where the end result had good people not sniping at one another quite as hard as they could. He ahd to admit while it was good that they were back to it, he still felt a bit...brittle. Like he was just waiting for one of them to really swing in and make the comment that was going to break everything to pieces. Contrary to what he'd thought the night before, he did know what he wanted, he just wasn't sure he could handle having it. It was going to be a little bit rocky sailing ahead with him and Abby. Time would tell.

Harrison was quiet as they drove, Sigyn stretched out in the back seat, looking like she was almost trying to nap. His passenger broke the silence.
"So you know who I am?" He asked.
"Not really. I know who you're supposed to be." Harrison answered carefully. The other man laughed at that.
"Not a bad answer kid. So what do they call me here?"
"Ingavain."
"No other nicknames or titles?"
"No, I think they're all scared of you. Don't want to risk offending you."
"But not you?"
"Shit man, I am terrified of you. If half the shit I've heard is true...I just want to drive the car, drop you off and make sure my boss doesn't want anything else from me."
"Smart kid too. I like that. You ever fidn yourself monied and need a hand, you let me know." Harrison just nodded, and kept his eyes on the road.

Ingavain adn Sigyn got out of the car, adn head inside the pub along with Harrison. No one reacted when they entered, which was probably for the best. Harrison led them back to Gideon, who had by then finished assembling the gun he'd been cleaning.
"Young 'arry, ye bring me who I asked?" Gideon asked.
"Plus one sir. Is there anything else you need from me?" Harrison asked.
"Nae, but rest easy lad. I've had a man keep tabs on ye sister. We look after our own. Is there anyone else that they might think to hurt?" Harrison shrugged.
"Not really, I mean there's a girl I'm messing around with but Tugger would have to have people at the school for that."
"He has eight brothers me boy. One may well be at ye school."
"I...had better go look into that then!" Harrison turned to go.
"Wait lad." He turned back, and saw Gideon load the gun, racking the slide, and then handing the now primed weapon to Harrison, along with a box of bullets. "Can't be too careful these days." Harrison took the gun gingerly, He knew what it represented, adn what it would cost him to be found with it. He knew he didn't like it. But if Tugger was on the warpath, he might need it. And this was no small pistol, nothing like what Heidi carried, it was enough to stop a man dead in his tracks. He stowed the bullets in his pocket, and the gun in his waistband. He left Gideon to speak to his newly hired help and got out his phone.

-hey Martin, where you at?-
He tapped out quickly.
 
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