Separately Together

Chapter Twenty-One: Two Bulls1/2

Everyone sat around the rectangular dining room table just glancing at each other every now and again.

Harley sat beside me, and Finnic kept sending dangers his way.

Gander was the elephant in the room that everyone seemed to be avoiding all together for mothers' sake, because it was her birthday.

Finnic completely ignored Harley. Even when he asked him to pass the salt. Harley bit his tongue, but I could tell he had so much that he wanted to say to Harley that he wouldn't for my mothers and my sake.

Gander hadn't spoken, I guess my mother had I briefed him about how me and Finnic felt about him.

It was strange all of us being together but not really together. We were all separated off in our own heads not willing to speak to each other. Liz was even sulking beside Finnic, she had messaged me and told me that she told Finnic that she knew about it all.

It was actually kind of really sad and lonely feeling. I would give anything for all of this awkward tension to disappear, but I knew my family had a lot of working to do before we would be able to sit around this table and smile and laugh with each other.

There was too much built up and I had a feeling that this dining room table was about to be where bust.

"Happy Birthday, Mama." I say quietly.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday." Harley adds in behind me and Finnic scoffs. What was his problem? Good god, I understood he's mad that we all kept something from him but I'm okay, Harley is doing what he promised him, I don't understand where all of the menace is coming from. Is this him finally snapping from us 'dating'? Was he mad about that because this couldn't all be coming from us lying to him.

"Thank you." Mama smiles at Harley and me, but he isn't looking at my mom anymore, he's staring at Finnic with this look of frustration knitting his brows together. Sensing the stare, Finnic looks up and into Harley's eyes.

"What?" Finnic asks.

"I'm about to leave." He says as he looks my way and kisses my forehead. "It was a lovely dinner." He scoots his chair back and so does Finnic before he stood up.

The two share a mutual stare before both of them walk outside and me and Liz share a look of worry.

It isn't long after we start hearing their yelling. Every. Single. Word.

Some of which my mother wasn't aware of ...

"I swore to myself that first night, when she was all bloodied up and scared of her own fucking shadow that it was going to be me, I was going to kill the sick son of a bitch, Harley. Now what? You two are harboring him? Keeping his from me, for what, huh? He doesn't deserve mercy." Finnic's long rant comes first and Liz excuses herself to go tell them that they weren't being discreet, at all.

A flush covers my face and I cough awkwardly.

"What's going on between the four of you?" I look towards my mother that was concerned by what all of this tension was from. She was worried about us making a scene with Gander but somehow this turned into our own scrabble, and I felt like crap, because we couldn't delay this for her birthday. We could put my problems away long enough to enjoy all of her close family together.

"It's silly mama." I say before excusing myself, feeling my father's gaze on me. If I didn't know better, I would think that there was a show of concern in them blue eyes, but Gander wasn't concerned about anyone but himself.

How else would he have been able to leave my mother alone with two kids in a town that was going to swallow her image whole.

I walk outside to find Harley and Finnic nose to nose in the backyard now instead of the front, explaining why the nose grew quieter and all of my business wasn't being displayed for my mom and Gander.