Page 76 of House of Bass

“That’s so sound. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

“I am,” he replied but then he got a tiny bit despondent. She knew at once what was upsetting him.

“Did you finally tell your mum?” she asked. From what Harley had been told he had been keeping this a secret because his mum was a little hard to reason with, and having been raised by a mother of the same ethnic background herself (Nigerian), Harley probably understood his plight better than most.

“Yes. Unsurprisingly, she isn’t talking to me at the moment,” he told her with a sad, hollow laugh.

“You don’t have to pretend it’s okay when it’s not. Parents should unconditionally love their kids no matter what.” Harley was projecting her own upset at her mother onto him but it didn’t disparage her point. People always said ‘mother knows best’ and to always listen to your parents but what happens when the selfishness of the parent prevails their need to be good to their kids. She thought of Willam too, how he forced his views and wants on his kids. Annabel had worked herself to a pulp just to make him happy and still he wanted more.

“Maybe so but she’s still my mum.”

She changed the subject because the topic of parents did nothing but wind her up. “It’s nice that you all come to watch them practice.”

“We’re family. There’s nowhere else we’d rather be. Especially when I don’t have anything else to do.” They chuckled at that.

“I’ve never had that. People who care about you and are always in your corner, at least not until I came here.”

“Scarlett?” he asked, deducing she didn’t just mean her sister.

Harley nodded.

“I like her. Always have. She was on the girls football team when Arden and I were on the boys’ and sometimes we shared a bus and had mixers together. She was a little…standoff-ish but no surprise given the bullshit she had to deal with, it was necessary. And she was fun.”

Scarlett was fun. Don’t let the mean mug fool you. “That she is.”

They both sit in comfortable silence for a couple minutes, watching the ballerinas, when Daniel said to her, “It’s not just Scarlett you have. There is us too, or at least me.”

That took her by surprise. She didn’t think she meant that much to any of them. “Why?”

“Annabel is important to me, probably more than you’d think. Not a lot of people know this but I have OCD,” Daniel confesses to her. This shocked Harley as she never would have been able to tell.

“She came with me to my first clinical evaluation when I was eleven, adamant that she had to go because ‘I shouldn’t be alone’ and my parents let her. Whenever I’ve had flare-ups, she has been the one who has constantly been there, even more than Arden. She doesn’t give herself enough credit for how much she’s helped me, and the others over the last fifteen years. Maybe it’s in a different way to you but to me she is my sister. You mean a lot to her and that matters to me,” he told her, still chewing on the green grapes and continuing, “And personally, I have spent time with you over the last couple months and you’re a good person. The world needs more good people.”

Harley smiled at him in gratitude. “I’m happy you had her. So, thank you.” Then they sat back and resumed watching the girls.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Arden shrug off a second attempt at a kiss from his girlfriend, he pretended it was because he was busy doing whatever on his laptop. MJ frowned, looking upset for a few seconds but immediately wore a smile even when her eyes told a different story. Harley couldn’t help but feel a little bad that the girl didn’t know it was because his heart laid elsewhere.

Minutes later, the dancers were finally let out and Arden shut his laptop, all of a sudden not caring one bit about what seemed to have held him up before. His eyes zeroed on Annabel, and there was no other way to describe it, he looked at her like she hung the moon. There was a smile that itched to creep its way out but he held it in and worked his face to be sterner.

Annabel ran up the stairs, Devon in tow, holding hands. Those two were rebuilding a relationship that had fractured, spending more time together. It didn’t make Devon less prickly around her but she didn’t–rarely–start up unnecessary arguments.

“I’m so fucking tired. Please get me home, I don’t think I can do Corpse Lily tonight anymore,” Annabel whined, as she pulled from Devon to flop against her.

“We’re just as tired from watching you,” Arden deadpanned.

She raised her head and narrowed her eyes, “Did I see you dancing for five hours? No. So, get over it.”

“Then who is going to be responsible for my back hurting from sitting between those chairs? I’m a respected tennis player.”

“Not my fault you’re basically the BFG.” She pulled her tongue out at him and was quick to link arms with MJ, who was looking at their back and forth with furrowed brows, and walked ahead. The laugh Arden had been holding in was let out softly as he watched their backs to him.

Harley, Devon and Daniel eyed each other and just shook their heads, with one look acknowledging that they were all aware of the dalliance between the two and simultaneously thought the people they were closest to were utterly ridiculous.

Saying their goodbyes at the car park, with promises to reschedule their hangout, Harley and Annabel walked together to the latter’s car.

“You didn’t tell me you wanted to go to a bar tonight,” Harley said, narrowing her eyes at her sister who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

“I was going to ambush you into another hangout but unfortunately I have worked every last bone in my body. You’ve been spared,” Annabel shrugged.