[ 13 ] 2014

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"What do you think of your brother's girlfriend? I personally think he's way too handsome for her and he could do better. But I heard they've known each other since primary school. That's probably why he's so fond of her. Its attachment, not love or anything."

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As they shook hands, Bobby made a comment on her name. It wasn't the typical one she got, about how she was named after Harley Quinn from Batman. He complimented her on something else. "Oh cool. Like the motorcycles." He smiled at her with interest, and she just couldn't get over the fact that she was seeing her paternal grandfather in the flesh. He had died before Arthur was born, and clearly long before she was even thought of being conceived. It was insane to her the thought that she was standing before him now and he seemed to be about the same age as her. That meant her grandmother Hayley was the same age as well, and she would be getting to see her.

That was something she had only seen in pictures. Having him in front of her now she also realized that the man in one of her grandmother's old photographs. She always thought it was her maternal grandfather Thomas Davis, as the photos she saw of them together were ones of them in their late twenties. She never fathomed the thought that Hayley had been with one other boyfriend, and that was Robert Vega. 

But now she was sure it was Bobby, and she realized it was probably the reason why Hayley Reid never put that picture out on a picture frame for public display. Harley only saw it once. She was around five years old at the time, and her memories of that moment are fuzzy now. She was in her grandparents' room playing with their old photo albums. One of the pictures was lifted off the page slightly and underneath it, Harley could see the corner of another photo underneath. She pulled the top picture off--a picture of the Davis family and the Quinns at a yearly summer party her grandparents used to throw--and she saw a picture of two teenagers.

The girl was clearly her grandmother, and she saw a few resemblances between her mother Harleen and her grandmother Hayley. With her in the picture was a tall and handsome boy, both with bright smiles on their faces. The boy didn't look like her grandfather. Thomas Davis was platinum blonde and icy blue eyed, while this boy was of dark black hair and brown eyes. And she also noticed the way her grandmother looked happier. She loved Thomas, but she never smiled at him quite like she was smiling in that photograph.

Barely able to read, a five year old Harley flipped the photo over. There was a small message written in neat writing. I love you to the moon and back, mi amor. -B, 1963.

Harley's grandmother had walked into the room after leaving her for just a moment. When she saw the picture in her grand daughter's hand, she walked over and sat on the bed with a sigh. Harley held the photo to her grandmother's face and asked the burning question in her mind. "Is this you and grandpa when you were young?" Her young mind was not able to process that the boy in the picture was the exact opposite of her grandfather Thomas Davis.

Hayley gave a sad smile with her response. "Yes. Now help me put these albums away and help me in the kitchen. Your brother wants some cookies."

At that, Harley perked up and forgot all about the photograph for one day. As Hayley picked a small five year old in her arms, Harley had another question for her. "Snicker doodles?"

Her grandmother nodded.

As Harley snapped out of her flashback, she couldn't help but feel a bit bad for both Bobby and Hayley. They seemed like they had really liked each other, from what Ashton told her in his stories of the past, and also based on the one picture she once saw at her grandmother's house in Perth. They could have ended up together, had her other grandmother Claire not gotten in the way. She also knew her grandmother Hayley was just as hot headed as she was, and that made it easy for Claire to mess with her.

Bobby seemed like a good boy and Harley was sure he would have never cheated on Hayley while they were in a relationship. The only reason why he had gotten close to Claire was because she wanted to distract him from his investigation in the Irwin family's murders and because Hayley due to her unfounded jealousy had dumped him and moved to Perth. 

"I feel a bit bad leaving you here to sleep on a park bench." He told her, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. The next words that came out of his mouth weren't his best idea, but something about her made him feel compelled to try to help. "If you want, you can come with me to work and get some breakfast. I'm sure my boss won't mind as long as I tell him you're my sister or something."

Harley thought about it. She had nowhere to go and hadn't had any food in hours. The idea was tempting to get something to eat without having to steal it, and having a place to rest other than a park bench. It was technically her grandmother's house and it wasn't wrong of her to take the offer. But they didn't know she was their family from the future. Telling them so would get her sent to the mental hospital, no doubt. But Bobby was the one offering, and she knew that if she needed to get out of there, she could just materialize back to her own time. She finally gave a nod of her head. "Yeah, I honestly have nowhere to to go right now. I'm from Perth and don't know anyone here." 

He gestured for her to follow and they walked out of the park, and into a parking lot where a brand new, sleek black Mercedes Benz was parked. He saw the look of surprise on her face and quickly explained. "People are always surprised that a Hispanic boy like me can have a car like this. But in all honesty, its my boss' car. He loves luxury cars, and has a ton of them, but hardly uses them. So he lets me borrow a different one every week so the engines won't go bad. I'm genuinely surprised that he trusts me this much though. But I think its his daughter that put in a good word. She's always been so good to me." There was a shyness about him because he thought she would judge him for having such a nice car like that.

She nodded silently and he opened the passenger side door for her. She got into the car and he went around to the driver's side. Within minutes they were on their way and they reached the front gates to the Feeney family's mansion.

There was a man at the security booth as they pulled up. He looked into the car further when he saw Harley in the passenger side. He leaned into the driver's side, an older man who was in his forties, and he smiled at Bobby with a wink. "Who's this, Bobby? New girlfriend? What happened with Hayley?"

Bobby shot the man a glare. "Hayley and I are doing great. This is my sister. My parents and other siblings won't be home all day, and they asked me to bring her along so she wouldn't stay home alone."

The man immediately felt embarrassed and nodded at her whilst clearing his throat. "Oh, I'm sorry."

The security guard opened the gate for them and Bobby pulled up around the back of the house to a large underground garage. He stepped out to open the doors and came back to the car, driving into the garage that made Harley feel like she was in the middle of an auto show. There were bright white lights everywhere, and cars that were so shiny she could see her reflection from several feet away. They got out of the car and Bobby closed the garage, leading her past all the cars to a door in the back.

Before opening it, he warned her in something of a low voice, "This door goes directly into the den, and that goes into a hallway where the sitting area is visible. I'm just letting you know because the master might see us and bring us in to know who you are. His daughter might ask a few questions, but once I explain that you're my sister it should be fine. I'm going to take you to the back of the house where the service kitchen is. You can get some food and maybe one of the other maids has extra clothes in the lockers." Harley could only give a nod of her head. She was already there and there was no turning back.

He opened the door and walked in front of her. From the hallway which they stepped onto, Harley could see that there was nobody in the living room area, to which she responded by letting out a sigh of relief. As they continued the opposite way from the living room, Harley felt as though they were in the clear, but they turned and ran into none other than Claire Feeney.

Harley thought it strange that she was in the back of the house by the garage, or even in the hallway that led down to the service kitchen and service areas. But Bobby seemed to think it was perfectly normal.

She smiled at Bobby, but when she looked to Harley, she offered a glare. "What's going on here, Bobby? Sneaking girls into the house? What happened to your annoying girlfriend Hayley?"

"Miss Claire." Bobby's demeanor completely changed and he was a bit awkward, standing up straight. She always told him not to call her that, Miss Claire. But he was in front of someone else and this was his boss' daughter. When they were among friends he thought it was okay to just call her Claire, but not in front of a stranger. "This is my sister Harley. My parents and other siblings went out, so I brought her with me to work."

She narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion. "I thought your sisters were named Elenore and Elaine."

He gulped nervously. It was times like these in which he regretted talking to her about his personal life whenever she seemed to pry. But he didn't want to be rude to her. 

"This is my half sister." He thought up a quick lie.

"Harley Vega." Harley quipped shyly from behind Bobby. He was so tall that she had to get on her tip toes to peek over his shoulder. Harley thought about it, and how Australian boys seemed to be very tall. Calum and Ashton were the same. They were both towering, over six feet, which was almost a whole foot taller than she was. Bobby had to be at the very least about six feet as well.

Claire seemed to take his explanation without any more questions and her entire attitude towards Harley shifted entirely. There was a big grin on her face as she jumped forward and pulled Harley out from behind Bobby, linking arms with her. "Finally, another girl in the house. My only friends are literally just boys. There's Bobby who's been working here for about four years now, there's my childhood friend Con, and my boyfriend Ashton. But I think you and I are going to get along just fine." Harley didn't say so aloud, but she didn't think so. She knew Claire's real personality. If she was being nice to Harley now was because she genuinely believed that she was Bobby's sister. Taking one look at Harley's choice of clothing, she crinkled up her nose. Even for present day standards, her mother didn't like her clothes. She wore high waisted jean shorts, a torn up black band shirt, and combat boots. "Let's go up to my room and take a look at my closet. You desperately need something else to wear."

"I think I'm just fine like this--" Harley started, but was cut short as she was hauled away by the heiress.

Harley looked to her supposed brother for help, her blue eyes crying out to him, but he let Claire take her away. He said to them, "I'm going to shower and change into my uniform. I'll see you after work Harley."

Claire led Harley up the grand staircase by the living room of the house and towards her bedroom. Harley was horrified because everything was a bright and disgustingly cute pastel pink. The bed, the sheets, the pillows, even the canopy with the silk curtains and bows. Claire had Harley sit on her bed and she went into her closet to find something for her new friend. As she sifted to her piles of clothes in the closet, she called to Harley. "Can I ask you a question and you won't tell your brother?"

Harley hummed. "Sure."

By that, Harley already knew she would most likely not like what Claire would have to say. She confirmed it as soon as Claire opened her mouth. "What do you think of your brother's girlfriend? I personally think he's way too handsome for her and he could do better. But I heard they've known each other since primary school. That's probably why he's so fond of her. Its attachment, not love or anything."

Harley could feel her blood begin to boil. Claire was such a horrible person, so self absorbed. She wasn't sure how she was going to survive eight hours with her, until Bobby could get off work. She would have to use all of her power to not murder her on the spot.

-

a little update for you all, since i haven'tt updated in a couple of days.

so tomorrow im going to work at 9am, which is the time we will be opening. i hope you're all liking the updates. i really want to try to aim to finish the story up by the end of this year at least. because i have a whole other series planned after this. i want this to be jojo's bizarre adventures type. where every season there is a new protagonist, but the protagonist is the son of grandson of the previous protagonist.

that's the kind of vibe i want to go for. 

thank you all for reading and i hope you all have a happy new year. 

-clary