Chapter 29

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The following weeks passed in a rush. Winter came and went, Harry turned 16, and soon enough we were well into March.

“Harry fill out the damn application” I shout, shoving the slip of paper into his chest. He holds up his hands refusing to take it, shaking his head.

“No, I’m not doing it. I changed my mind. I’m not good enough,” he says shaking his head.

“Harry Edward Styles” I say using his full name threateningly but he doesn’t listen. Instead, he takes the piece of paper with a shake of his head and crumples it up, tossing it into the trash. “I’m not good enough for the X-Factor. Not this year. Maybe next.” He says ending the discussion by picking up his backpack and heading towards the door. “I’ve got to get to the bakery. I’ll call you tonight” he says as he slips outside. I shake my head with a sigh, fishing the ball of paper out of the garbage and flattening it out. He was good enough this year. He just needs a push, I think to myself, justifying what I was about to do as I begin filling out the application for him. I knew Anne agreed with me and she’d sign what needed signing. It was for his own good.

Two weeks later, Harry knocks on my door. I open the door, seeing him standing there holding an envelope in his hand, an eyebrow raised at me. He holds up the letter and I see the X-Factor logo on it and the guilt written across my face is obvious. “So I got quite an unusual letter today” he starts. “Apparently, the application I sent in was accepted and I’ve got an audition. I’m supposed to queue at 10 on April 11th. See the thing is, I don’t remember sending in an application. Would you know anything about this?”

“I… uh.. well… you see…you weren’t going to…your mum helped!” I protest weakly, praying he wasn’t mad at me for this. I watch the smile split his face and he quickly pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.

“You’re the best Maedbh,” he says squeezing me tightly.  A wave of relief crosses over me. “So you’re not mad?” I ask relieved. He lets out a laugh, releasing me.

“Are you kidding? Thanks to you I might be on national television! I have a chance to live my dream! You’re the best girlfriend a guy could ever ask for,” he says pressing his lips to mine.

“Music Man!” Caellum interrupts running down the stairs. Harry pulls back just in time to catch Caellum as he launches himself at Harry.

“Hey buddy” Harry says with a laugh scooping him up and settling him on his hip. “Guess what?”

“What?” Caellum asks excitedly. Whenever Harry came over, Caellum was pretty much glued to his side until Uncle Simon dragged him away. He refused to call him anything but Music Man and seemed to idolize Harry, which made sense since Harry treated him so well.

“I’m going to be on the TV in a couple months” he says with a grin. Caellum’s eyes go wide and he looks to me to see if Harry is being serious. I nod my head with a smile as he looks back at Harry.

“Really?” he asks in disbelief.

“Hopefully” Harry says with a smile. “What do you say we go get some ice cream to celebrate?”

“Yea!” Caellum cheers. Harry laughs throwing me a wide smile.

“What do you think, should we bring Maedbh along?” he asks Caellum, glancing over at me his eyes teasing. I hold back a laugh, as Caellum seems to ponder it.

“Only if I can have a big scoop” Caellum finally concedes, looking at me, his eyes full of hope.

“Deal” I say with a grin and Caellum cheers again. He quickly squirms out of Harry’s grip and rushes back upstairs to get his coat and shoes on. “When he can’t go to sleep tonight, its all your fault” I say jokingly. Harry grins with a nod.

“How’s his memory doing?” Harry asks, his smile wavering slightly as he drops his voice to keep Caellum from hearing.

“He’s doing better. He’s been getting flashes of memories. It drives him crazy. I think he’s more upset about it then we are now.” I reply quietly.

“What about you? Does he remember you?” Harry asks. I shrug slightly.

“He thinks he does. But I’m not so sure. I think he’s retelling stories we’ve told him in the hopes of him regaining his memory.” I say, the subject immediately ending as Caellum races back down the stairs and out the door, grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him quickly out after him.

We get to the store and Caellum runs to the glass, pressing his face against it as he looks down at the variety of flavors. Harry and I follow him up to the counter at a much slower pace.

“What can I get for you three?” The employee asks as the three of us look down at the flavors.

“Chocolate!” Caellum pipes up instantly. No surprise there, for all the rush he had to look at the flavors, he would always choose chocolate. To him, nothing topped it.

“I’ll have a scoop of the honeycomb,” Harry says. I look down at the flavors debating my selection. Normally, I was like Caellum and would instantly select chocolate. But the flavor of the day looked interesting.

“I’ll have the Nutella one,” I say. Caellum glances up at me, a flicker of confusion crossing his face but it’s quickly erased as the worker hands him his cone. I try to pay for Caellum and I, but Harry insists on treating us, saying we were celebrating his chance at fame. We settle down at the table and start eating our ice cream. Harry and I start talking but I quickly notice Caellum’s silence. I pause, glancing over at him, seeing him staring at me, the look of confusion back on his face, his ice cream melting in his hand.

“Is something wrong hun?” I ask.

“You get chocolate,” he says, his voice laced with confusion.

“What? No I got Nutella. You got the chocolate,” I say but he quickly shakes his head.

“No. You always get chocolate” he insists. It finally dawns on me he was talking about previous encounters and I rack my brain to see if Uncle Simon or I’d ever told him stories about going for ice cream.

“How do you know that?” I ask slowly.

“I remember it,” he says proudly when he realizes he’s right. “You get chocolate, daddy got strawberry, and mommy got cookie dough,” he says, straining to remember. My mouth drops open and my gaze flicks to Harry who’s just as awestruck. Did he actually remember?

“Uncle Simon never told you that?” I ask cautiously, a feeling of euphoria beginning to settle over me, as Caellum eagerly shakes his head no.

“Caellum this is great!” I shout, my ice cream dropping onto the table as I sweep him into a hug. “You remembered something!”

“I told you I remembered things,” he says with a laugh. I release him, wiping away tears of joy that had formed in my eyes.

“Why are you crying? I thought you’d be happy” Caellum says the smile on his face faltering.

“I am happy” I choke out. “These are tears of joy. Cae, I’m so so happy” I cry pulling him into another hug. Everything was falling into place perfectly.

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Hey everyone! I hope you all like the story so far. We are almost at the end. By the looks of it there will be 2-3 more chapters, depending on how I put it all together. Let me know what you think of it so far! I really love reading everything you guys write. Vote and Comment below! :-)

Also, some of you have been asking what Will looks like, and I finally found a close enough resemblance to who I was thinking. Posted the pic over there -->

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