Wonder ❄️ | h.s. |

Chapter Six

"This is so dumb," Harry says under his breath, picking at the green frosting of a cupcake.

"You know what's dumb?" I respond, looking around the room, hoping none of the sweet volunteers heard his insult. "That you're 24 years old and need a babysitter."

"I don't need to be babysat," he protests, taking a large bite of the cupcake.

"Seeing as you skipped the last meeting, you kinda do."

Harry grumbles a response, which I ignore. Following his behavior at the last Winter Wonder Fest meeting, I have now been roped into attending meetings in order to keep an eye on him. As if I don't already do enough for that kid.

Picking up a cookie from the refreshment table, I continue. "Also would it kill you to loosen up your too-cool-for-this attitude?"

I had been hoping that the past two days of hard work at Angelo's would've changed his perspective, but I had been wrong. While working had tired him out, Harry still seemed to think he was above his mandatory volunteer work. And now, thanks to him, I'm having to spend my Sunday afternoon chaperoning him instead of napping following my early morning shift at Chester Pike's.

"I don't have an attitude," Harry mutters, and I shoot him a look. He's been sitting at the meeting for the past hour with his arms silently crossed like a defiant child. "Okay, maybe I haven't been participating, but I have nothing to add."

I laugh at the concept: "Says the man who has something to say for every second of every day. You're the most opinionated person I've ever met, but you can't find some input as to whether we should use blue or white fairy lights?"

"I have opinions when things matter," Harry rolls his eyes, pulling out his phone even though he knows that it never has service outside of the apartment.

"This matters."

He peeks up at me from his phone, looking through his dark eyelashes. "Oh yeah, it's so important whether the lights are blue or white."

"Okay, that was a bad example," I say, plucking the phone from his hands so he actually has to pay attention to me. "But all the little details matter. They add up to the greater experience, and that matters. Don't you care about building good experiences? You're literally a performer."

"I care about experiences like arena shows, not some backwoods block party." With that, Harry turns to face me and holds out his hand for his phone.

"Of course not, why would you?" I dismiss, shoving the phone into his hand and turning my back towards him. I did not get enough sleep last night to keep my temper in check.

"What? You can't disagree with me—this fair is not the same as a world tour," Harry defends himself, coming around to my face. "How many people come to this? Like a couple hundred? I play to entertain thousands of people at a time."

"Well not anymore you don't," I snap. It was a bit of a low-blow, but he's being an asshole. He deserves it.

Before he can reply, Mrs. Blake calls the meeting back together for the final decisions and closing minutes. Quickly, I take this as my moment to get Harry far away from me and go back to my seat, leaving him in the dust with his half-eaten cupcake.

***

About 30 minutes later, the meeting officially adjourns. Still not over Harry's stupidity, I ignore his looks beside me as I silently put on my coat and begin walking out towards the car.

Harry follows me, cautiously. I've never been this quiet with him.

Once we exit the building, I see that it's started snowing. Nothing heavy, just a light dusting. But enough to make Harry's shoes dangerous. Using this to my advantage, I begin walking even faster knowing that he won't be able to keep up out of fear of slipping in the snow.