Disclaimer: I own nothing but Harley Stanley Like always, a big thank you for the reviews. Without them I would probably have lost motivation by chapter 2 :P
5SecsofLARRYcat, emmalock93, Guest 1 and 2 :), Mrs. VampDiva Belikov and xxcuriousmexx and Momoftwins1970. Thank you soooo much!
Bethie86 (Guest), Guest 3, Guest 5, Katie (Guest) sadly your reviews don't actually show up in the reviews but I got them as email so thank you! And to answer your question Guest 3, Jax and Opie are 20 and Harley is 16. I thought I mentioned it but guess not. So thank you for reminding me. Again a big shout out to girl-at-hime13, my lovely beta and friend. Go check her out.
She is helping me to reorganize the chapters already posted. Don't worry nothing of the story will change but as you may noticed on the last chapter it looked a little different. She is a genius of making things easy to read just by parting at the right spots.
Love ya girl!
xoxoxox
Harley POV
"So am I really named after a Harley Davidson?" I asked taking a huge bite from my hot dog.
"Yeah. But I always liked that name so it was a win win." Tig and I sat on a pick nick bench in a park.
There were kids running around on the playground enjoying their summer. People were walking their dogs taking full advantage of this beautiful August afternoon. And others were even trying to stay healthy and were running for no purpose. That Jane Fonda woman really turned some people crazy.
"How are you doing in school?" Tig asked, finishing his hot dog.
"Really? You got 4 questions left and you choose that? Well... I'm really bad at math and history, but only cause my teacher only asked about dates, not what happened on them. I'm on the cheerleading team. And I get straight A's in biology, chemicals and English literature."
"You are a cheerleader?" Well so much for taking interest in my grades.
"Hey! It's my turn to ask a question! But yes. How is that so shocking? My Nana talked me into it cause she was afraid I was becoming a loner cause, believe it or not, my personality wasn't always this welcoming." I paused for a chuckle from him. "Plus it's a great sport for strength and flexibility and I don't get hate for eating whatever I want cause the other girls think I'm skinny from the practice."
"It's just... I've spent a lot of time...imagining what you would have been like. From bringing you to school, freaking out when you started wearing make up and going on your first dates. Gosh, last year on your birthday, your 16th, I wondered what prom dress you would pick and how someday I would have walked you down the aisle. I haven't thought about that since you turned 4. I created so many yous in my head... but cheerleading was almost never a part of one."
"Well... I hope I can do them justice." I said playing with the napkin of my hot dog that I also just finished. But Tigs hands took mine into his making me look into his eyes.
"You could never disappoint me. You are the best version I could have dreamed of Harley."
"You've known me for 4 hours..." I said trying not to tear up. How can he make me tear up so easily? Is that like a Dad Superpower?
"And I've been the happiest ever since. I mean, you got me to play 20 questions. I don't play stupid teenage girl games sitting in a park." I couldn't help but giggle. It was a weird scene to look at.
Here was this hardcore badass looking man in his leather cut with a beard and hair any barber would run from, sitting in a park with a young girl that still wore her hitch hiking hot pants. People walking by kept looking our way. It probably looked like a date to them. But I still had to giggle.
"Well we still got 3 to go. Choose wisely."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Now this made me laugh out loud.
"Oh wow. The tough ones for the end hmm?" But his look actually told me he was dead serious.
"No. I don't have a boyfriend. I went on a few dates here and there, but nothing that really kept me interested. It was more like "Oh you're a cheerleader you should date a guy from the team. But there was no spark you know what I mean..." I told him taking a sip from my drink.
I saw his eyes getting a little sad. It was only half a second and easy to miss but since I couldn't get enough of this man in front of me I saw it.
"How did you and mom meet?" I didn't really think about the question and I heard it before I registered that it had actually left my mouth.
His face was unreadable.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think about it. We don't have to talk about her. I mean. I really would like to hear that story but... because of tomorrow... I'm sorry. I screwed up."
"No it's okay Harley. It's just... yeah you are right. You surely got timing munchkin. Showing up the day before..." he looked at something behind me so I turned around.
There was a church bell tower and when you looked more closely you could see tombstones.
"Oh... is this were our... you know what are."
"Yeah... let's talk about your mother another time. I'm more for celebrating your life today." he said taking my head in his hands and kissing my forehead.
"Sounds good to me." I smiled at him.
"I also think we should get going. You know, Freak Gemma out for not finishing your room." He stood up and went to his bike.
"Aww that's mean!" I called after him, "How fast can we be there?"
"I'll be there before you get off of this bench!"
"Hey! We still got 2 more questions!" I screamed running after him.
xoxoxox
We drove into a more quiet part of Charming. Who would have known that was possible? There were many family houses right next to each other. It seemed peaceful and you could just imagine them all having BBQs in their garden while the kids play in the pools.
Tig finally drove into a garage drive in.
Taking off my helmet that was way to big for me I took some time to look around. So this would have been my neighborhood.
"Do you like it?" Tig asked also getting off of his bike. I continued to inspect the house before me.
"Yeah. It looks cute. How long...did it take for it to be rebuilt?" I asked causing him to look like a lost puppy. But his eyes soon got as huge as apples.
"Oh... no this is not... In the letter I wrote you I bought a house. The one next to Gemma and Jax, it's this one." he pointed to the house to our right. Of course. How could I have missed the bike and Gemmas car? "But when I bought it there was actually so much that needed to be done. No wonder it was that cheap. I should have been more careful but I was to excited I guess. We lived in your Moms old house and worked on this one every time we could. So ...it's not the one that... burned down."
"Oh... so we never lived here? You ...moved in on your own?" I hated that thought. I could only imagine that pain. Living alone in a house you build for your family? Why did my mom do this him?
"No.. I couldn't. I've lived at the clubhouse since. But Gemma had a spare key and took care of it all this time. I couldn't sell it... so she took care of it."
"Wow... That's really... She seems amazing."
"Occasionally. But she always had a soft spot for you." he said stroking my cheek.
"Let's get inside and freak them out."
"Ready when you are..." and we went our way towards the front door.
It was actually one of those white doors. With this knocker thing on it. Really? And there were these little trees in pots lining the front steps. One on each side. All that was missing, no there it was. A welcome mat.
He was about to turn the door knob when the door opened on it's own.
But it was Gemma beaming at us.
"You gotta get up sooner if you want to catch me unprepared Trager."
"I would never dare to think of such thing my First Lady." he said bowing down.
"Come in come in. And tell me what you think. But listen, there is an issue with Harley's room." Gemma explained as we walked in. We stepped right into the living room. It looked amazing and was freaking huge. You could see the kitchen through a very big pass-through and one wall was almost completely made out of windows so you could see the garden.
"Why? What's wrong with it." Tig asked with a little panic and anger in his voice.
"Well.. the last time we actually prepared it, it was for a 4 year old girl." Gemma answered not even slightly impressed by my father's tone.
"When I look at this sexy young girl standing next to you I doubt she is still into horses on a pink wall."
"Gemma..." Tig warned at the same time Jax came out of the kitchen with an annoyed "Ma..."
"What? I mean look at her."
"I don't wanna hear anybody referring to my daughter as sexy, at least not for a while. You tell that to your little friends and might as well write it on your right hand young boy." Tig pointed at Jax.
"And why the hell are you even showing that much cleavage." He turned to me.
"Is that question 19?" I tried to look cute playing dumb.
"Harley..."
"It increases the chances of people stopping when you hitch hike." They all just stared at me. "We are still glad I came back right?"
"We'll talk about that later. So her room is still...like that?" Tig turned to Gemma and I felt a huge relief. I didn't want to get in trouble on the first day with my father.
"You spent hours in there making sure the horses were identical. I told you I would take care of it. That didn't mean I would change the interior every few years." They kept on nagging at each other. I looked around and saw Jax...checking me out? He must have felt my stare cause his eyes met mine and were looking at his mom instantly. I must have imagined that … right?
Now I was looking at frames on the wall that had caught my eye. You don't put frames on the wall when there are no photos.
Feeling like Sherlock I got closer to check them out.
And what I saw stole my breath. Those were pictures of me. On my third birthday. My my mom and Tig and on the beach. There was one of me still in the hospital as a baby, wearing a onesie with the reaper on it. Where did they get all this reaper stuff from?
I found one of me, and a blonde boy and one wearing a beanie. Jax and Opie. They looked like they were 7 or 8 so I must have been 2 or 3. Jax war caring me on his back and Opie tried to spread his mouth with his finger sticking his tongue out. Right next to it was a picture of us sleeping on a couch. Me in the middle and a huge blanket was covering us.
"Ring any bells?" I jumped a little. Jax was standing next to me looking at the same pictures. And he was talking to me.
"Ahm.. well kinda. It feels familiar but... doesn't bring back memories or something like that. Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. It's not your fault. All that matters is that you are back."
"Yeah... that's why you look at this 3 year old me on this wall rather than at ...me." He finally met my eyes and we stared at each other. A thousand thoughts seemed to cross his mind and he finally took a breath to answer.
"Harley. Do you still wanna see the room?" Gemma interjected, saving Jax from having to continue speaking to me.
"Gemma stop it." Tig groaned.
"You spent months on it. She should at least see it before we repaint everything and buy new furniture."
"There are fucking horses everywhere!"
"That you painted!"
Gemma and Tig were screaming at each other like little kids.
"I took riding lessons." I screamed into the room and it had the wanted effect. Theyboth shut up and were looking at me.
"I mean. I had a horse phase when I was 10. But then the thing with mom happened and I lost interest therefore Nana convincing me to join the cheerleading."
"Cheerleading?" Jax and Gemma asked shocked.
"Point is." I kept talking. "I'd love to see what you planned for my 4 year old self." I smiled at Tig and he smiled back.
"I want you to know that I had to endure a lot of jokes for that crap from the club. So I either expect a joyful scream or silence." And then he walked down a hall that lead to the bedrooms. I took it as a sign to follow him. He stopped in front of a door which left no doubt to be mine. 'Harley' was beautifully carved into the wood. I needed to touch it to make sure I didn't hallucinate it.
"Wow."
"Yeah. There are a lot of hidden talents in the club munchkin. You ready?" he asked but I had a feeling he was more anxious to see it than me.
He opened the door and at first I was blinded by the sunlight that came threw the window. But then all I saw was pink. But damn it, it was beautiful. I walked inside. What I saw was every little girls dream room. The furniture was all pink and white. It looked like a marshmallow world. Except for a reaper in white and pink outlines on the wall above the tiny bed.
"Oh my god." I said turning around with tears in my eyes. "You did all of this?"
But Tig was silent. He himself looked at every little detail but at the same time at nothing at all. I got a weird feeling in my stomach.
Without any warning he turned on the spot and broke through Gemma and Jax to run through the hall. We heard the front door open and close with a loud bang. The next thing was an agonizing scream of heartbreaking pain that was heard all the way down the street.
xoxoxox
It was almost eleven pm and Tig still hasn't shown up was trying to keep me busy with searching for furniture in catalogs. It was fun even though I kept repeating to myself 'That's too expensive'. She wouldn't hear none of it. Apparently the club had some money on the side for emergencies. I wondered how my room counted as emergency, but she would just keep bringing up the horses, so I just kept on turning pages and marked some things that would spark some interest.
She finally decided to mention the elephant in the room.
"He will come back honey. It is rough for him too. Seeing that room...propably tore up a lot of scars. That hurts like shit."
"I know. I wish I could help somehow. To take away some of that pain you know..."
"You made a lot of it disapear the second he saw you. It's just gonna take some time. He would never admit it but I guess he feels betrayed and Tig being betrayed is not a Tig I want to spend a lot of time with."
"I feel betrayed too!" I got up from my seat. "What the fuck was this woman thinking? I bet she burned her house down herself. Who does that? I always knew there was something wrong with her. I just thought there wasn't more than her depression. And believe me. That was a lot to deal with. If it wouldn't have been for my Nana I would have starved to death by 8. My mom forgot to eat. Can you imagine that? But it all makes sense now. She lost it. She had a man, she had a kid, what caused a total meltdown."
"Denise was depressed?" Gemma asked. There was a sadness in her eyes I thought only little kids showed when they didn't get the ice cream they wanted.
"Yes... I mean. Wasn't she always?" I sat back down. Now this was weird.
"No. She was always so full of light. There was nothing that could have brought down the smile of her face. She always found a way to dance in the rain. She made the best of everything."
"Ok … sorry to interrupt but that was so not my mother. By the time I turned 9 she only got out of bed to pee."
"What happened...?"
I wanted to say something sarcastic but the first time in my life something in my mind told me to just shut the fuck up.
The front door opened and Jax walked into the house. Followed by Tig. Gemma and I both got up again.
There was dead silence. Nobody dared to move a muscle or even breath to make a noise. So I just followed my instinct.
I walked towards my father and just gave him a hug. Cause that's all I could do for now.
Xoxoxoxoxoxox
so what do you guys think?
I hope you like it. Any theories about what truly happened? Let me know ^^
now remember to do something good today or tomorrow (depends what time it is when you read this, let me also know please!) Just hold the door for somebody or give that person that crosses eyes with you in the subway a smile. Spread some love and respect in this madness our world has become...
All Love
Joey
