9: Blissful Tragedy

After riding in silence for a short while, "How much longer is it, anyways?"

Looking at Clyde after growing bored of watching open fields and scattered barns go by, Harper mutters, "Feels like we've been on this road forever."

"'Bout ten minutes," Clyde chuckles, glancing at her briefly, "It's only been thirty so far, darlin'."

Shifting in her seat away from the door, Harper pushes the radio "On" button.

"--campus is stunned by the unfortunate suicide of a student at Donnaville University within hours of the incident that took place earlier today. Suffering the loss of a young woman that hung herself from the roof of her dormitory, our hearts and prayers go ou—."

Harper smashes the power button off, "I can't believe it," she draws out Clyde's interest by her reaction.

"That's so fucked up! I wonder if she was dating the guy that got killed in the theater," scoffing and shaking her head, "What the fuck is going on up there?"

Nodding with hindsight, "Guess it's a good thing I left. I couldn't -imagine- dealing with all THAT shit on campus while I'm trying to focus on school."

Clyde double takes Harper suspiciously before settling to keep his eyes on the road, "What do you mean someone got killed in the theater?"

His eyebrows furrow as he looks at her again in time to see Harper shrugging nonchalantly.

"On my lunch break I saw it on TV. I didn't know the guy– but he was in your brother's grade," crossing her arms before cupping her chin, "There's -no- way someone random decided to go and end it all, just like that, unless she knew him, right?"

Quick to judge from assumptions, "People are so fucking weird nowadays," crossing her leg over her knee, her shoe carelessly scuffs his glovebox.

Tossing her hands, "How can you just throw your entire life away just because you lost someone?"

Clyde clenches his jaw, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, "I don't think it's weird to kill yourself when you lose someone you love. That's somethin' shitty to go through and you don't know what they had."

Sucking his teeth, emphasizing, "-And-," he takes his eyes off the empty, rural road for a second, "You're just guessin'. What makes you think the deaths they're related?"

"You're kidding, right?" scoffing, Harper plants her feet on the floor while grabbing the seatbelt securing her chest, "I hope you don't think I'd kill myself if -you- died before me. Dying is a part of life– we all go sometimes. Why the fuck would I want to snuff out my WHOLE future because of ONE painful point in time?"

Stiffening, "Damn baby," he pauses and shakes his head with a sigh, "If I knew that's how you felt about suicide, I might not've rushed to marry you…"

Fumbling with one hand to retrieve his open box of cigarettes from the sunglasses cubby, he works to get one between his lips before putting the pack back.

Offended, Harper turns in her seat to look at him incredulously. He wouldn't have married -her-? He's such a bastard to say that after everything he's put her through. She's the one that -shouldn't- have rushed to marry him.

"Why wou–?!"

Talking with the paper and tobacco stick hanging on between his lips, "Dad killed himself after mom's funeral. Car accident from a drunk driver on her way home."

Lighting his cigarette with a cold exterior, he inhales sharply before taking the stick between his index and middle finger to turn the wheels through a bend in the road, "He didn't wanna live in a world that she wasn't in."

Exhaling coolly inside the cabin with no regard for his passenger, "And I don't blame him," Clyde makes eye contact with his wife.

Pressing a button on the overhead panel, the sunroof slides open with a quiet whirring, "He was a difficult man…no one could've loved him like -she- did."

Stunned, Harper is at a loss for words.

Recalling the times they spoke about family, she never remembered him mentioning anything like -that-. Did he withhold it, or was she so drunk on one of their dates that she didn't remember?

Realizing it's his word against hers, she treads with caution, "I'm sorry, I di–."

Waving his cigarette-holder hand between them to dismiss her, "I didn't tell you, and you didn't ask."

Sitting up straight, his spine popping as he shifts in his seat, "It happened when Cal was twelve. I -just- turned eighteen. I got the legal right to be his guardian 'cause I couldn't stand the thought of him ending up with someone that didn't give a fuck about him."

Sucking in more poison, "When I said, "My bro is all I have,"" he looks at her with a vulnerability that she didn't know he was capable of, "I meant it—'til I found you."

Nodding to Harper, he faces the road while ashing in the black, cup-holder ashtray.

Tucking already tucked hair behind her right ear, staring at the brown wood rosary hanging from his rearview mirror, "But I thought you said you were going to take me home and show me off to everyone…"

Baffled, she cocks her head to the side and analyzes his face, "Who is "everyone" if no one's there?"

As her heart softens towards the man that's peeling back layers of his past for her, an uncomfortable knot forms in the pit of her stomach. Harper sits back in her seat with a slow, deep breath while facing forward to look out past the hood of the car.

The cherry of his cigarette burns bright in the afternoon sunlight dimmed by tinted windows during his long inhale, "Home," Clyde's voice goes low, "Is a big ass house I've been tryin' to pawn off since before I met you. That bitch is -expensive- to keep up on top of Cal's school--even with the grants and scholarships."

Siphoning smoke through the corner of his mouth with a forced exhale, "That's why I was so tapped I had to sell my bike for that ring," he glances at her hand then the road, "But you're worth it."

Strumming free fingertips on the steering wheel, "Being with you made me want to keep it and renovate it," his left hand slides down the side of the wheel and a strong forearm rests on the door against the glass before his knee begins to bounce.

"Because of the life you're used to, I figured keepin' it would be the -only- way I could give you the luxury you deserve 'til -I- can go to school and make money like your dad."