[ 31 ] 2014

That night after Ashton left, Harley texted her parents and told them she was going to spend the night with Paúl and Dempsey. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to stay with them. Michael had left their home only recently and they were just getting around to admitting their feelings for each other--which was mostly Paúl, Dempsey had been very open about her feelings for him. Paúl was a bit more like Ashton, he had been raised in a very traditional family where courting a girl was something that was taken very seriously and with careful planning. It surprised Harley how there were still people in the world who were raised like that, but according to Paúl it was very important in Latin America. He had explained that people who didn't behave in a traditional and old fashioned way were seen as too liberal and therefore immoral.

Paúl Medina was like Ashton in the modern times.

Harley wanted to give the two of them privacy. Instead she called Calum, who was more than happy to pick her up from the hotel. He had been very upset when he found out she would be away from the neighborhood for a whole week.

He arrived about a half hour later, while Harleen and Aaron were still out, and she took some pajamas to change into, as well as a few other things she might need. Calum had gone all the way to her room and offered to carry her things for her. "Why'd you suddenly decide you don't want to stay here, Harley?" He asked with curiosity. He slung her bag with her belongings over his shoulder as they made their way towards the exit.

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders, trying to act as casual as she could. "Ashton and I had a little argument, so I just wanted to get away."

A smile quickly formed on his lips, but he forced it away. "First lovers' spat." He said. Calum couldn't help but feel happy about it. He was in love with Harley Quinn and somewhere in the hidden shadows of his heart, he wanted the relationship to fail so that he could be there to help her through it. He would be there to pick up the pieces and put them back together.

They left the hotel and Calum dropped her back in the back seat. They both settled into the car and he took off in the direction of the residential areas. Harley said nothing after his comment, and he saw that she was clearly upset by that argument with Ashton.

"I'm sorry if I looked a bit too happy about your fight with him." He sighed.

"You did." She said in a monotone voice.

"You guys will fix it." He blurted out after a moment of thinking it. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was true. "He's the fucking perfect, well mannered, self sacrificing guy. I could never do that. If I had your love, I would selfishly guard it and keep it for myself. He doesn't do that. That's why he get the girl. If this were a story, he'd be the protagonist, and I'd be the bad guy."

"You're not bad." She assured him.

He quickly shook his head. "I am. I did so much bad shit from the moment we met. But it was because I liked you and I wanted you to notice it. All mirror boy had to do was materialize and he was in your heart. I had to work my ass off for your love, and I don't even fully have it because he exists."

"Calum, I love you." She said to him. "I really do. But its a different feeling of love than the one I have for Ashton."

He said nothing, only kept his eyes trained on the road ahead.

Harley continued, "When I saw you unconscious under that pier, I didn't know what to do. I was so worried that you would never wake up." She paused when she choked up and her blue eyes filled with tears. She took a deep breath to push those memories away and finished, "Knowing that there was a chance I would lose you made me realize that I do love you. But Ashton-"

"He's dead." Calum said bluntly.

"He needs me, and I love him." She insisted.

"He's dead." Calum repeated. After a short pause, he added, "I'm alive, and you're just confused about who you really and truly love. I could give you everything you have ever wanted. I'll get my money and properties back from my uncle. Arthur promised he would help me. I could teach you everything there is to know about your abilities. Together you and I could be happy."

The blue eyed girl shook her head. "Money and power don't equal happiness."

He agreed with her. "Love makes up most of it. The money and the power would just be added bonuses. You can't blame me for being rich. Ashton had money when he was alive too. Let me ask you something Harley."

"Okay." She looked over at him.

Calum was driving up to the house where he lived with Andrea and Niall. He parked his car in the driveway and shut off the engine. Now he could turn in the passenger seat to look at her as he asked his question. "Do you think that what he feels for you is real genuine love? He's been dead for fifty years, for fucks sake. Does he even remember what love feels like? What if you wanted to have sex with him? How would that work out, since he doesn't have a fucking body?"

"Calum." She stopped him. "We always argue about my relationship with Ashton when we hang out. Maybe I'll just stay over at Paúl and Dempsey's."

Harley reached in the back seat for her belongings when she was taken by surprise. Calum cupped her face in his hands firmly and brushed his lips against hers softly. Harley's eyes widened at the feel of his lips on hers. It was a large contrast from Ashton whose kisses were cold, while Calum's were warm. Harley felt her stomach jumble in knots and a million butterflies, though she knew it wasn't supposed to be happening. His pressed his lips onto hers more firmly after a moment, while she was still in the shock of the moment. Part of her wanted to sink into the kiss, while the rational part of her told her that it wasn't right. She was with Ashton and owed it to him to respect their relationship.

The rational part of her won that battle and she parted her lips. Calum thought it had been to grant him further access to deepen his kiss, but she instead bit down on his lower lip with some strength to get him to stop.

He immediately pulled back, a hand going to his lips and he touched the sore area. "What the fuck, Harley?"

He brought his fingers into his sight and noticed there was blood on them. His bottom lip was bleeding after she had bitten him. The blue eyed girl shot him a glare and brought a balled up fist to his chest, hitting him. "You can't just do that!" She scolded him. "I'm with Ashton. You need to understand that, Calum."

He rubbed the sore spot where her fist collided. He had gone in for a kiss and left with multiple injuries. But he didn't care because even though she had been unresponsive and she had pushed him away, he felt it on her trembling lips. She felt the urge, she wanted to kiss him back, but she had restrained herself because she didn't want to betray Ashton. Touching his bloodied lip again, he smirked. "So you're a biter. I bet I kissed you better than mirror boy ever has."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're so irritating when you act like that. I can't stand you right now."

"Come on." He opened the door on his side of the car. "Lets go inside so you can help me cure this busted lip, since you did injure me."

"You deserved it." She argued, crossing her arms over her chest.

-

After a few moments of convincing, Calum got Harley to reconsider staying at his house. She agreed because she didn't want to bother Paúl and Dempsey now that they were having some time to themselves. Calum's house was bigger than theirs and there was a bigger chance that she wouldn't bother Niall and Andrea with her presence.

His friends were more than happy to have her there, even Andrea was glad. She and Niall were the biggest believers in Calum and Harley's non-existent relationship. When they knew she was coming, they had organized a double date pizza and movie night at their house. The four of them watched scary movies together, in hopes that Harley would cuddle up to Calum to ease her fears.

But after the third movie, Niall complained, "For the love of God. Do you not have a soul or something?" He looked to Harley who was nonchalantly watching the movie that was playing. It was about a boy who had been possessed by Satan and committed multiple murders in town. He had been sentenced and shipped off to a mental hospital called Sunflower Fields, where more strange things continued to happen. Niall had been terrified, more than Andrea, and had spent most of the movie screaming in terror. Him and Andrea were hugging each other, completely afraid, while the blonde tracker had been almost trying to hide underneath her shirt like a child.

Harley was calmly eating popcorn. "Horror movies are super predictable, so they don't scare me."

"Yeah." Calum scoffed, agreeing with her. But she had noticed on more than one occasion how some scenes in the movie had made him jump, though he tried to hide it.

"Pass the popcorn." Niall pleaded, digging his face into Andrea's shoulder. He had his hand stuck out, waiting for the tub of popcorn to be passed to him. "I need comfort food."

"Come get it." Harley challenged, trying to get him to look at the television screen again.

Niall refused and instead concentrated his energy on bringing the popcorn tub into his hand. It floated off of Harley's lap and close to Niall who grabbed it and started stuffing handfuls of popcorn into his mouth. Both Harley and Calum found it amusing and laughed at how ridiculous he looked.

They watched movies until around three in the morning, when Niall couldn't take any more of it. When they turned the television off, Harley commented that it was witching hour and that it was the time when bad spirits were out and about. That served to scare the Irish even more because the four of them had special abilities which would allow them to see those spirits.

He closed his eyes and made Andrea lead him to their bedroom. Calum and Harley told them they would stay behind to clean up the mess in the livingroom. It was merely popcorn containers and plates where there had been other snacks. The picked everything up together, got it to the kitchen and headed upstairs to the bedrooms. When they reached the top of the stairs, Calum said to Harley with a cocky smirk, "If you're scared you can sleep in my room."

She gave a shake of her head. "No, I'm good. And I'm still mad at you for earlier. I just didn't want Niall and Andrea to get all pushy, asking me to forgive you."

"It was an act of love." He assured her, the smirk remaining. "Don't be like that with me."

"I'd still rather sleep in my own room." She told him.

Whatever his reasons for kissing her may have been, she was upset at him for it. Ashton was her boyfriend and Calum needed to respect her relationship with him.

"Fine." Calum's smile dropped and he sighed in defeat. "You can sleep in Mali's old room."

He gestured down the hall to one of the doors and retreated into his own bedroom.

-

Once she was settled into Mali's room, she laid in bed unable to sleep. All she could think about was Calum, and the kiss he gave her. She couldn't understand why Calum would want to be with her, and why Ashton wanted to be with her when she had been almost invisible back home in Perth. No boys had ever paid any attention to her and suddenly there were three boys after her, even though Luke only wanted the satisfaction of having dated every new girl that had entered at St. Genevieve's in their class year. No boys had taken an interest in her, especially none as handsome as Calum and Ashton.

It took her a while before sleep took her, and she didn't wake up until the next morning when there was a knock on the door. She thought it was Calum, and groaned, pulling the covers up over her face to drown out the sound.

"Go away, Calum!" She called in annoyance.

"Its not Calum." The person said from the other side of the door. She recognized his voice immediately, but he let her know who he was anyway. "Its Arthur. We need to talk about your boyfriend, sweetheart."

Harley gulped back in fear. She knew she was old enough to make her own decisions and all, but Arthur was rather intimidating when he wanted to be. The fact that he seemed to be on Calum's side did nothing to ease her worries. Of course he would side with Calum, Harley thought to herself. Calum is the bad boy, just like he was. Ashton is a goody two shoes just like Aaron.

Without saying a word, she pushed the covers off herself and kicked them the rest of the way. She sat up in Mali's bed and stretched her arms up over her head, letting out a yawn. Her eyes instinctively looked to the night stand for a clock, which was sitting there next to a framed photograph of Calum's older sister Mali with him, both of them children with smiling faces in the back yard of their house. Harley had barely met her, and talked to her about once, but it was clear that she and her younger brother had been close.

Harley got out of bed and straightened out her pajamas, running a hand through her black and blue dyed hair as she made her way to the door. She pulled the door open and saw Arthur standing out in the hallway. He was back to dressing in his tactical gear type of clothing with his black clothing from head to toe.

"This is a house, not a battle field." She told her father jokingly.

He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "Well, Cole owns this house and I don't trust him, so one can never be too careful. Besides, these clothes are very comfortable."

Harley stepped out of the way and he walked into the room, taking in every aspect of the room that had belonged to Calum's sister. He saw the bed on one of the room and stroll over, plopping himself down on it. Harley cut the distance between them and sat next to him.

"Sweetheart, I'm gonna be honest with you." He began in a careful manner despite his blunt words. "I'm not so thrilled about you dating a boy who isn't even alive anymore. He's a good boy and all, but you need someone who can do all the normal things people your age do. Most importantly, you need someone who will grow up with you. He's going to stay young forever and you're just going to waste away your life with him."

"You mean someone like Calum?" She guessed with something of a groan.

Everyone seemed to think she was better off with Calum.

He nodded his head, adding, "I don't want you to get too involved with Ashton. When our mission as hunters is done, and the original shifters' descendants have been eliminated, we'll lose our powers. You won't be able to see him anymore. Its best if you stop this relationship you two have."

"Please don't try to tell me who I should date. Its my choice." She told him firmly, her words sounding every bit defensive. Quite frankly, she was getting tired of people pushing their opinions onto her. She had chosen Ashton for a reason, and it was because she was in love with him. "We were just starting to get along, and I'm really thankful that you're helping Calum." She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about Calum though. It was difficult for her to get her feelings for him clear because one moment he was great and charming, while the next he was getting on her last nerve. It was what he liked to do.

Arthur agreed with her. "It is your choice. I'm just giving you some advice as your father."

Harley sighed. "I know you mean well, Arthur. I just want to decide this on my own, since it is my love life after all."

"I know." He told her, "I can feel your frustration."

She remembered when he had told her that he had the gift of being able to pick up on and feel what someone else was feeling. Moments later, she felt a strange sense of calm that she imagined was his doing as well. 

Harley thought about her family for a moment. How different things would have been if Arthur had been in the picture all along. Perhaps Aaron and Harleen would have never married, and Arthur would have been the one living at home with them. She would have had her real father there to care for her. Not that Aaron wasn't a good father to her, she saw Aaron as more of a father than Arthur. But she was beginning to understand that his reasons for staying away, staying hidden, were to protect her and Harleen. He had tried having a family, with Michael's mother, and it had failed because as a hunter he had various enemies.

Arthur just wanted to be a part of her life, and she would let him.

-

update because i just felt inspired today. longer author's note and qotd as soon as i get out of class.

edit: im back. so i wrote an update for you all when im supposed to be working on my project in english class. but my partner is a no show today and i dont want to start because i dont want to have to do all the work alone like last time. i did all the work and she asked to use my notes, and so she just read off them and got half the credit. i was so fucking pissed off.

anyway, qotd: i remember i asked this one a long time ago, in mitm. but there are new readers so here it goes. what would your name hava been, had you not been given the name you have now? my mum was gonna name me arianna or brisseira, she had decided on arianna until she went into labor. she was at the hospital for a couple of days bc i was supposed to be born a couple of days before my birthday. and she over heard another pregnant woman talking to her sister. she said that she was going to name her baby claire ivette. and my mum liked it, but she changed it to claryvette. she stole it. :o bahaha.

-clary xx