leather journal / h.s

26

M A R Y

my phone chimed from another notification, making my mom groan in irritation.

"can't you turn the sound on those things off?" she huffed, and jett chuckled in agreement. leave it up to my little brother to side with anyone who isn't me. "you're already texting each other enough."

harry giggled at his own text, making me curious as to what he sent me. i just ignored my mom and looked down at my phone.

harry aka bae: or is it purple? yellow plus blue equals green. not purple. amarillo pluso azul igal verde

i basically snorted.

me: what kind of spanish class did you take??? bc that's no where near right, like at all

harry aka bae: actually... i didn't take one. i was home schooled.

me: really???!! wtf and you never told me??? what was it like?

harry aka bae: just kidding i went to public school and dropped out to join one direction. well i mean try out for the x factor.

me: i was bored and looked up some fetus pics of you, whatever they call them, and they were so cute. you literally looked like a little cheese puff.

i saw that he had just read my message and worry spread through me, before i looked up to see harry covering his face in embarrassment. "harry." i pried, and poked either of his sides to get him to look at me. he laughed as a reflex, trying to push me away in an attempt to get me to stop ticking him. his cheeks were rosy red and he looked flustered.

"mary." he said slowly, looking at jett who was staring at us. "i was the ugliest thing when i was that age. ugly."

i rolled my eyes. "you're much more fun to talk to over text." i said, careful with my tone not to hurt his feelings. that was the last thing i wanted. "it just seems like behind a screen you have much more confidence and you can say anything you want."

he raised an eyebrow in suspicion as the car hit a bump. "like..?"

"you called me cute." was the first thing i could think off of the bat, because those words had effected me so greatly. "you said, 'you're cuter'."

harry pointed a finger at me, and jett just laughed. he opened his mouth to speak but jett beat him to it. "he called you cute?!" he exclaimed, his voice a high shriek. mom turned around and held up the toy handcuffs for jett to see, silencing him at once.

"you called me cute first." harry argued, and i just assumed that's what he was starting to say before he was so rudely interrupted by my little bother.

now it was my turn to shy away, because it was true. harry was right; i had called him cute first. that was an accident.

i mean, i meant it. i just didn't mean to text him that. it was just like something took over, yelling at me from the inside to do it.

go ahead, the voices told me. he won't mind anyway. he likes you back, maybe even more than you like him.

"we're here!" dad boomed, snapping both harry and i out of our deep thoughts. though, i wondered what it was that was on his mind.

the lights on the car turned on with a simple click, and dad leaned back to talk to us for a second. "now ive never actually harbored a celebrity, a-list at that, and taken him into a restaurant with me. so bear with our trying family as we work our hardest to make sure you go untouched."

harry looked terrified. maybe it was because he was used to body guards. well, now all he had was my scrawny mom, my dad who's best weapon would be mom's purse, jett, and me. that must've been a hell of a downgrade.

"okay." he said meekly after he put all of that together in his mind. i put my phone away in my pocket and we all hopped out of the car.

"here." i said softly, and harry turned around to face me with a dimpled grin. i handed him the ray bans i had mentioned earlier, and dad climbed into the trunk and pulled out a blonde wig with a green snapback.

harry put all of the accessories on and looked absolutely ridiculous. i still wanted to kiss him, though.

"snazzy." he joked with a goofy grin, snapping his fingers. i laughed lightly and this time, i was the one to lock our hands together. it just felt like the norm now; like our hands were those last two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly. except, i was struggling to put together the rest.

we walked into the brightly lit restaurant, and harry complained of headaches. "get over it." i had joked in a snappy tone, earning a grimace from harry that made his dimples pop out. "and stop making faces. people will see your dimples and be like 'oh! who's the only hot celebrity with very cute dimples??? oh that's right, harry styles!' and then they'll all jump you and rip your clothes off and i don't want to see you naked."

that scared harry enough.

we chose a booth table, our seats by the window. i sat next to harry, and harry sat next to jett. mom and dad were on the other side of us, giving harry and i the eye. like they thought we were up to something.

"what?" i asked innocently, batting my eyelashes. harry just stared at me and i could swear i saw his eyes fluttering as well, but in a different manner.

eventually a waitress came up and asked what drinks we wanted. we all got cokes. except for harry, who went with a tea.

"why?" i asked in disgust.

he stared at me proudly once the woman was gone and out of sight. "it cleanses the mind, heart, body, and soul."

my eyes probably rolled to the back of my head.

silence would be the exact opposite to describe dinner that night. all harry did was talk to mom and dad about healthy living and his kale shakes that he wanted us to try and get this: my parents actually want to try one of those things. i know they're going on a detox but seriously, if harry makes it then i doubt it will be of good quality.

we paid our bills and left, and then started our journey back.

"it was nice having you for our family dinner." mom said as we took off. harry just smiled in contentment, his hand in mine and his other hand rubbing his full tummy. "maybe you can come next saturday."

i tried to stop him but it was too late. "actually, mary and i are going to that fest--"

he realized his mistake. "oh." he said dumbly. i couldn't help but laugh.

mom shook her head in disbelief. "so you and penny aren't going?" she asked, and i gestured no.

"we're not friends anymore." i said simply, and harry gave my hand a hard squeeze. my stomach did an intense dip at the pressure and contact.

"you're not?" mom turned to face us, and she saw that jett was already passed out. "why not?"

harry looked at me with guilt laced in his features but i wished he knew that none of this was his fault. her liking him was just one of the underlying factors. the main one was that i lied too much. i was at fault, not harry. if only he knew that.

"just your average fight." i lied, feeling bad about the untruth i had told at once. usually it felt good, an adrenaline rush and a surge of power, but now i just felt weak and small.

mom nodded in agreement and turned back around, her eyes on the pitch black road that only had our headlights to illuminate them.

i turned back around to talk to harry when his grip on my hand limped.

"har--" i started, but when i glanced i saw him fast asleep, mouth slightly parted but his hand still in mine nonetheless.

he was smiling in his dreams.