Reconnecting

Chapter 7

Jade P.O.V.

Not that.

Not that.

No way, too pink.

Not that.

When did I even buy that?

"They're here!" John's yell comes from the front door and I dump the clothes I'm holding onto the ground to charge down the hallway. My Aunt, Uncle, James and my cousin, Dylan, had come over for the weekend to visit. My aunt had heard about my date and had brought some clothes for me to try on and given what I'd found in my wardrobe, which was nothing, I was going to need them.

Time Skip: Two Hours (What, I'm a girl I need time to choose clothes) (and even more to actually get ready and do my hair and makeup and jewellery and everything else when I go for the date.)

The males present had gone out to get lunch after spending the last two hours chatting and giving feedback on my outfits. I was used to just having one protective male, my dad, monitoring what I wore out. Now, I had four.

Lunch eventually arrived and was promptly devoured by six starving people. And the dogs who kept jumping up onto the table or our laps to try and get some food... they got a lot due to the fact that they had the best puppy begging eyes any of us had ever been confronted with.

As you probably guessed by now, I said 'yes' to the date. It was tonight and I had thankfully already decided on my outfit with the help of aunt and had decided on makeup and hair style.

Over lunch I discovered that my cousin had also taken up working at a pet shop as well as an IT assistant, my aunt worked part time as a teacher and pet-sitted; something I'd always wanted to do. My uncle was a lawyer, and James used to work as a taxi driver and now works at a bank.

Maria came just after lunch and got along well with everyone. Dylan turned out to be good friends with one of Maria's cousins, so the two had met before at her cousin's birthday and shared stories of Maria's cousin. James and John seemed to be discussing questions to ask Harvey once he got here. I had been plotting ways to get Harvey out without him being interrogated, but was beginning to realise it was hopeless. My uncle was listening to Dylan and Maria's stories and occasionally giving James and John ideas on questions. All three of them earning themselves disapproving looks from my aunt who kept telling them 'not to scare the poor boy away with a police interrogation.' My aunt and I had been playing with Angel, the husky puppy, while the two kittens wondered around the kitchen.

The puppies had sniffed everyone, getting pats and strokes from everyone until Angel had come over to us and Lyla, the golden retriever puppy, had settled in James's lap. The kittens had first settled on Dylan and Maria's lap before moving on to my uncle and James. Luna, the black and white kitten, battled with Lyla for space on James's lap, before the kittens had resumed their travels around the room.

We were all seated around the kitchen table. John at one end with Maria on his lap and James and Dylan on either side of him. Uncle Tom was sitting next to James while my aunt Cathy and I sat on the ground to play with the animals as they came by and occasionally stood to get pet food or toys.

Harvey arrived to pick me up at 5 o'clock. I'd taken an hour to shower, get dressed, do my makeup and hair and then ran around freaking out about what I needed to take. Ah, the life of a single female, teenager or older.

We had dinner at a fancy restaurant. Harvey had a reservation for a table with a view that overlooked the water. The food was good, and having spent a lot of time together at the station meant that conversation flowed pretty easily. I learnt that Henry has two sisters, one older and one younger and that he had always dreamed of becoming a police officer. I told him about my home life; I was the only child still living at home throughout most of my school life. I had only dated a couple of guys but had embarrassed myself when it came to anyone I actually had a crush on. As I had told my best friend then, my love life was, and still is, a desert.

"So what are you doing out here?" Harvey twirled the tiny umbrella, in his drink, between his fingers.

"I'm taking a gap year before I go to med-school. I want to become an anaesthetist." All true but there were others reasons why I'd decided to take a gap year and leave the country.

"Nice. I'm going to happily pretend I know what that is." Yeah, most people do that.

"From what I know and gather, they work at hospitals, have the training of a surgeon but their main job is to administer anaesthetics during operations and monitor the other machines. I think they also help with the briefing of the patient and the family before and after the operation."

"Ah, so why do you want to become a doctor?"

"I like helping people. And I'm generally interested in medicine. Why do you want to be a policeman."

"Huh, okay, well my reasons for joining the police are quite similar. I want to help people, and protect them. And stop people from doing or continuing to do bad things, like stealing... plus the whole gun, uniform, and handcuffs make you feel kind of important."

I laughed at the last part. "So that's why you only flirt with people when you're in uniform, huh? It gives you an ego boost." I surveyed him over my glass. "Not that you need one." I gulped down the rest of my drink as Harvey laughed.

"Quite possibly. Although when I'm faced with beautiful women, such as yourself, I can flirt no matter what I'm wearing." Queue the mad blushing. It was quite obvious that I hadn't been on any dates or been around anyone I particularly liked in quite a while. My cheeks felt like they were on fire due to the flirting and compliments that Harvey had been throwing out in his sentences for the duration of the evening.

After a while more of drinking, eating and talking we headed off. Both of us had early morning shifts at the station. I'd taken a job as a general assistant. I just helped whoever needed help. So Harvey dropped me off at home. He walked me to my apartment and I spotted the glint of an eye magnified by glass out of the corner of my eye seconds before Harvey kissed me.

Stopping Harvey with a hand on his chest, my eyes never left his as I spoke to whoever was looking through the door's peephole. "John or James or Uncle Tom, whoever it is unless you want to see this I suggest you move away from the peephole."

Harvey's chest vibrated with laughter under my hand. Right up until I kissed him.

You know what they say in the song. Kiss him goodbye at the door and leave him wanting more.