It Could Be More | ✔

02. You Almost Died!

When he was in sixth grade, Grayson broke his leg skateboarding. I'd seen it happen. His leg bent in an unnatural position. His screaming. It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

That's the thought that came to mind when I fell through the floor of Demarcus Lancaster's tree house. My body on the ground. Limbs bent in ways limbs shouldn't be bent.

But the ground never came for me.

Corey caught my arm. His hand folding around my forearm, keeping me from breaking every bone in my body.

"Give me your other hand."

Despite practically running from him before, I did what he asked. I knew when to be stubborn, and now wasn't the time.

He pulled me up easily. So easily, in fact, that he underestimated his own strength. The momentum sent us crashing to the dirty tree house floor. I fell on top of him, my head banging against his chest.

The tree house shuddered from our fall. I glanced up at Corey. The boy who had saved my life. Or, at the very least, saved me from breaking a bone or two. I opened my mouth to thank him, but he spoke first.

"Off."

My eyes narrowed as I pushed myself up on my hands, hovering over him. "Excuse me?"

"Get off." He didn't wait that time, practically pushing me away from him. He stood, dusting himself off. "If you want to stay in this death trap, be my guest."

I sat there on the grimy floor, staring at him in disbelief. Asshole.

"You're welcome, by the way," Corey said once we were both safely on the ground outside.

A small crowd had gathered when I fell through the floor. Now that the excitement was over, they went back to the party. Demarcus reattached the sign I removed from the tree house, announcing that it was off limits.

I turned to Corey. It was easy to meet his eye since we were practically the same height. That meant he could see the disdain I felt towards him with no trouble.

"First of all, I would've been fine if you hadn't come up there bothering me."

He let out a harsh, breathy laugh. "If Gray wasn't my best friend, I would've let you fall."

My jaw dropped as he turned and walked away. Was he serious?

"Harlow!" Liah rushed over. "Harlow, oh my God. Are you okay? I heard you almost died."

I shot another look at Corey's retreating back. Apparently, I almost did. "I'm fine," I told her, tearing my gaze from him.

"You're bleeding." She said, flashing her phone light at my legs. There were a series of small cuts on my shins. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"I think I just want to go home."

This party was meant to be my coming out party. Everyone was supposed to see that I was my own person, disconnected from my brother. So far, all I showed them was my underwear.

Liah nodded, slinging an arm around my shoulder and guiding me out the side gate to get to her car. "I'm thinking, brownies and bad horror movies?"

I sagged against her. "Yes, please."

• • •

The next day, I woke up to a string of messages from Grayson. I deleted them all without reading them. Then, for good measure, I blocked him. He was gone. Miles away and still acting like he was my dad.

Aside from the messages, I also had an alert reminding me I had an order to finish that month.

My family wasn't struggling, but we didn't have a lot left over after all the major things were paid off. That meant I had to support my own book buying habit. Since the idea of food service and taking orders from anyone didn't appeal to me, I monetized what I did best: nails.