Run

Chapter 3


Today we ate with the entire group, all of us at a table in the Bad Dog. Everyone seemed in a much better mood now, with a plate of food in front of them. Tom was with Bella in the kitchen, and there were no other customers. We were getting pretty rowdy. Well it was mainly the others, I was still very uncomfortable around the group, and it didn’t help that I was getting bad vibes from Draco sitting next to me. The way Cedric kept looking at me didn’t help either. When he first told me that I should sleep with him, I had been flattered, and just a little creeped out. Now I was mainly creeped out. I had a feeling that he wasn’t just trying to do a favor for me. I still hadn’t mentioned anything to Draco. I hadn’t had a single moment alone with him.

“ Delivery for Draco.” Bella sang as she walked across the restaurant towards our table. He instantly perked up and jumped out of his seat. Once again they made a small exchange, and Draco disappeared.

“Where did he go?” I asked as Bella got to the table. She waited until she had set down the milkshake she had been carrying to look at me.

“ Probably the bathroom. He knows how much I hate to see him do it.” She said with a smile. It seemed forced though. “ So how was your first night working?” She asked, changing the subject.

“ How did you know I…?” I asked, amazed that she knew what was going on, and could talk about it so casually.

“ I’m Tom’s wife.” She said holding up a ringed hand. “ I hear everything.”
I’d forgotten that she was married to Tom. It seemed odd. Tom gave me the creeps, but Bella was the sweetest person I’d met. There was no way she wasn’t turned off by him. It wasn’t until she began to clear our plates that I noticed the bruising around her wrists.


Draco returned just as everyone was getting ready to leave. We left as a group, walking the two blocks to our spot. Luna and Michael took street duty, standing at the curb, looking good, while the rest of us hung back, lounging on the bench. I sat next to Draco. I got nervous when I wasn’t near him. In my head, there was something between us. But Draco grew more and more distant. At the same time, Cedric was edging closer and closer to me. The problem with Cedric was that he was so sweet, that I had a hard time not giving in, and letting him get close.

By the time Draco told everyone to go in for dinner, everyone had gone on at least one job, except for me and Draco. Someone had asked for him once, but he’d sent Oliver in his place. He’d said that he didn’t want me to get a John while he was gone. I couldn’t read Draco at all. He was like a zombie, barely reacting when anyone spoke to him.

Back at the diner, Draco disappeared again. I had a bad feeling about what was going on with him, but no one else seemed upset, or even worried. Maybe my suspicions were wrong.

“ How you holding up?” Cedric asked. He was seated next to me, as usual. He spent nearly the same amount of time with me as Draco did. I was starting to feel like I was being fought over, except Draco wasn’t fighting for me.

“ I’m okay.” I mumbled. I didn’t want to talk to him. It was hard enough to try to ignore his good looks and charming smile when he wasn’t directing them at you.

“ Did I upset you?” He asked. How was he able to read me so well?

“ No I just don’t feel well, and I haven’t gotten a job tonight.” I lied.

“ That’s a good thing.” He said quickly. “ Remember what I told you? You don’t want it to happen with a John. It’s not something you want to do.”

“ Cedric, You’re sweet, but I can’t sleep with you. It wouldn’t be fair.” I said trying to get him to understand my predicament.

“ Not fair to who? Me? Because this isn’t about me, it’s about you. I just don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.” He whispered, staring directly into my eyes. He was serious, and I felt a chill run down my spine. “ I care about you Harry. Obviously more than anyone else here.”

“ That’s not tr-”

“ Yes it is.” He said, cutting me off. “ You think the others could give a damn about you? They’re all waiting for you to leave. They don’t think you can hack it.”

I thought for a moment. They were right, I couldn’t hack it. I was a mess, and so far I’d only had one job, and I hadn’t even had to do anything. So why was I here? Why didn’t I go try to do something else. There had to be something besides this wretched existence. Suddenly my reason for staying walked over to the table. His blonde hair shone under the lights. He was beautiful, despite the dark circles under his eyes, and the grungy clothes he wore.

He took his place on the other side of me. My hand reached out for his, Draco looked at me solemnly and then took it. I tried not to give Cedric a haughty look, but when I did catch his eyes, they were full of pity. I spent the remainder of the meal in my usual silence. No one noticed or paid me any attention. Draco especially, although his hand remained clasped in mine until we stood up to leave.

Cedric, Oliver, and Luna all left for arrangements made on-line, so Draco decided that the rest of us should call it a night. I got excited, it was early, and I was hoping we might not just go straight to bed. I was hoping that maybe I’d finally have time to talk to Draco without Cedric around.

When we got home, Ginny and Michael went and sat on the couch, sitting closely together, his hand on her lap. Draco sat on the floor beneath them, his head resting against the cushion. I ducked into the bathroom, hoping to be able to pep myself up, but it didn’t work. Instead I felt more nervous as I walked back into the main room.

“ Draco?” I asked softly. “ Could we talk for a minute?”
He gave me a look that I couldn’t identify, and then stood up. He walked over to his bed, and I followed behind him.

“ What’s up?” He said as he sat down on the bed. I took a seat next to him, and tried not to seem nervous.

“ Uhmmm, Cedric has been talking to me about something, and I wanted to talk to you about it.” He nodded, giving me permission to continue. “ Well I told him that I was a… well a virgin.” I paused, waiting for a reaction. But Draco kept staring at me with his gorgeous eyes. “ He said that I shouldn’t let my first time happen with a John.”

“ He’s right.” Draco sighed. My heart began to beat a little harder in my chest.

“ But then he offered to take care of it for me.” I said slowly, trying not to sound upset. Draco looked up at me. His eyes looked hurt.

“ You should take him up on it. He’s good at it.” Draco mumbled. He looked so upset, but he didn’t let it come through in his voice. My instinct was to comfort him. Obviously he was upset that I would sleep with Cedric and not him.

“ I was thinking maybe you could.” I said softly as I squeezed his hands. His head shot up, his eyes were suddenly filled with anger.

“ No!” He said ina commanding voice. He tried to stand, but I held him to the bed, not wanting to lose this moment I had with him.

“ Why not?” I pleaded. What had I done to upset him so much? He was the one who had asked me to come to this place with him. I was sleeping in his bed every night. I held his hand almost constantly. Why would he freak out over this?

“ That’s not how it works Harry.” He was starting to calm down, but his teeth remained clenched, and his legs were taught, ready to spring away from me the first moment he could.

“ But I thought you would want me.” I said dejectedly. I was ready to just give up.

“ Why would you think that Harry? Because I let you cuddle with me once? Because I let you hold my hand? I only do that to keep you here.” He closed his eyes, and I could see him forcing himself to calm down. “ I’m sorry.” He apologized, without looking at me.

I sat on the bed, my arms still holding him down by his waist and shoulders. He was shivering under my touch. Why was this so hard? I knew that he wanted me. I could feel it. The way his body was reacting to mine. But he had just said that it was all a lie. Why was he fighting so hard?

“ I understand.” the words fell from my lips, barely audible, but I knew he had heard me. I released my grip, and he stayed still for a moment, before he shot out of the room faster than I thought possible.

I don’t know how long I was sitting there before anything happened. I was lost in my head. There were no coherent thoughts, just me floating in the dark. Alone.
It was Oliver who brought me back to reality.

He had just returned from his job, and was looking slightly more twitchy than usual. Normally, he just seemed very nervous, or very hyper. Never standing still. He usually paced, or taped out rhythms with his fingers. The way he moved now, it seemed like his muscles were trying to get rid of the skin on top of them.

“ Hey. Have you seen Draco?” He asked. I flinched when he said his name. Of course he would ask me, I hadn’t left Draco’s side in nearly three days.

“ No why?” I answered, desperate to hide my pain. I didn’t want the others to think I was weak.

“ Just got a delivery, seeing if he needed some.” He said quickly.

“ Junkie! Leave Harry alone.” I heard Cedric call from across the room. Oliver skittered away without another thought. I watched as he grabbed a pencil case from under his bed, and rush over to the corner. When he opened the box and pulled out a syringe, I looked away. I didn’t want to see that. “ I’m sorry.” Cedric said, sitting down across from me in his bed.

“ I talked to Draco about my issue.” I said. I never could lie to Cedric. It didn’t seem physically possible for me.

“ What did he say?” Cedric asked.

“ He said I should let you. That you were good at it.” Cedric started to laugh, but stopped as soon as he caught my face. I was visibly upset.

“ You wanted it to be him?” He asked. I nodded. I knew that it was obvious how much I wanted Draco to want me. “ I wish I could help you there, but Draco isn’t like the rest of us.”

“ What do you mean? Is he straight?” I asked, thinking the only reason Draco wouldn’t like me was because he only liked girls.

“ Straight? Like that has to do with anything around here.” He said with a smile. “ I don’t think Draco has a preference at all.”
I just gaped at him. I had no idea what he meant.
“ Watch.” he said. He got up, and walked over to the couch, where Michael and Ginny were still cuddling. Michael had his arm around Ginny. It finally hit me that they were together. I felt a flare of jealousy. I wanted Draco and I to be like that. Cedric strode over to Michael, and I watched as he grabbed his face, and kissed him. It was an intense kiss, I could see both of their bodies reacting to it. After a moment Cedric pulled away. I expected Michael to either go for more, or try to hurt Cedric, but he just wiped his mouth and rolled his eyes.
“Stupid Faggot.” I heard Michael call as Cedric walked back over to me.

“ Nothing matters?” I asked, starting to realize the mentality everyone here seemed to have. Cedric replied with a sad smile.

I went to bed before Draco returned from wherever I had frightened him to. At that point I was so upset with him that I didn’t care. Cedric had shown me that there was no reason for Draco not to take my virginity, except that he didn’t want me. So I would work on not wanting him. I didn’t lie to myself, I knew that whatever strange hold the blonde had over me would not break easily. But I was strong. A hell of a lot stronger than they thought I was.

I woke early the next day. The sun was still high in the sky. I got up, and quietly got dressed. I left the room, ignoring the blonde body on the couch. It was unusually cool outside. Fall was approaching, that meant the nights would start getting even colder. Not something to look forward to. I made my way to the diner, I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t know of anything else to do. Bella was at her usual place behind the counter when I walked in.

“You’re up early.” She said with her light smile.

“ Got to bed early last night.” I replied. This would be my first test, seeming normal to Bella.

“ You hungry?” She asked. I told her no, but she brought me some coffee just to sip on. We spent a few minutes making small talk. I complained about the approach of winter, and she made jokes about the different “ regulars” the group serviced. Apparently laughing about how weird the Johns were was a regular pastime here. I guess that was an easy way to keep yourself sane.
“ Oh and this one guy. Cedric told me he hasn’t seen him in months, but for a while he was around every night. He made Cedric call him Wormtail, and he used to dress up as a baby, and have Cedric change his diaper and rock him to sleep.” we both burst out in laughter at this absurdity.

“ Bella, you are so sweet. I think you’re the best part of being here.” I told her once we calmed down again. She blushed, and refilled my coffee. The sun had set, and I knew that I only had a few minutes left alone with Bella, and there was something I really wanted to ask her. “ Is Draco on drugs?” I asked softly. She avoided my gaze. The moment suddenly turned uncomfortable. “ I’m just curious. Well curious and a little worried.” I said, backtracking. I knew she cared for Draco, and if she knew I did too, she might be willing to help me get him.

“ I’m sorry sweetie, but that’s really between him and me. Talk to him about it.” She said with a forced smile. I agreed, and drained my cup of coffee. It wasn’t long before the others showed up. I saw the relieved look Cedric gave me when he saw me at the counter. Had he been looking for me? I looked to Draco to see if he was relieved to see me as well, but all I got was his zombie-like stare.

“ Hey guys.” I said, plastering a fake smile on my face. I was ready to start playing the game. I purposefully sat down across from Draco, and just as I had planned, Cedric took the seat next to me. I spent the meal talking and joking with the others. I spoke more in that one hour than I had in three days of living with them. They all seemed to be happy I had finally opened up. I realized now that what I had thought was coldness was really them being uncomfortable with my sullen silence. Cedric seemed the most excited by my change. He was beaming the entire time. I found myself faking the smile on my face less and less as we talked. I really liked everyone. Oliver was such a spaz, it was hilarious. And Ginny was a sweet heart. Luna, the blonde was quite the air head, but she was as nice as could be. Michael seemed like a really normal guy who could get along with anyone.

We left, all happy and joking, except for Draco who lagged behind, still in his own world. I tried my best to ignore it, but my body wouldn’t listen. I found myself slowing down to his pace. He didn’t look up, but I saw him shudder when his hand brushed against mine. I fought the urge to take his hand as we walked inches away from each other. Of course Cedric noticed and also slowed down, keeping up a conversation with me.

We all took our places when we got to our little spot. Luna was picked up within twenty minutes. The rest of us sat, Cedric was nudging closer and closer to me, and in the cold, I didn’t really mind. I needed to concentrate on other things.
A car slowed to a stop in front of us, and Oliver went up to the window. The rest of us stood still, waiting for the verdict.
“ He want’s Harry.” Oliver said, turning to look not at me, but at Draco. The blonde shook his head no. Oliver turned back to the car to relay the information. Without thinking, I stood up and walked over to the car. With a little more force than necessary I pushed Oliver out of the way.

“ How can I help you?” I asked, flashing what I hoped was an alluring smile. Before he could answer, Draco was right beside me, his head bent through the window, our cheeks touching.

“ He’s new, I’m escorting.” He said with authority. “ Do you have a place?”

“ Yeah I do, how much for full service?” The man asked. I was about to answer, but Draco beat me.

“ One grand, he’s a virgin.” He said quickly, never taking his eyes off the potential client.

“ The fuck he is.” The man spat. “ None of you little whores are pure.”

“ But I am.” I said quietly. The man turned and stared at me with his watery eyes.

“ For a thousand you better be a damn good fuck too.” He said sharply, and hit the unlock switch on his door. We both hopped into the backseat, and the John drove us away.