Little Things

Chapter One

She nodded toward a table situated left of the door. "You can put them there with the rest." 

"Wow," he said, setting them down. "There are a ton of pies."  

"Yours make precisely fourteen."  

"My mother's will be the best."  

"That's cheeky," she said.  

"Maybe so," Harry replied. "But I promise you it's true." He extended his hand and stepped forward. "I don't think we've met before, I'm Harry."  

"Jessica," she said, sniffling. "But everyone calls me Jess."  

"How'd you get to be in Carroll Anderson's cellar, Jess?" he asked.  

"Carroll's my mom," she said.  

Harry shook his head. There was no way this girl lived here. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson moved in six or so months ago. The fact that they had a daughter around his age wouldn't have escaped his notice. "I would have remembered you," he said. "Want to try again?"  

"No," she said. "As a matter of fact, I don't. I go to boarding school. That's why you haven't seen me before."  

It seemed like a legitimate excuse. It was also one he couldn't argue with so he asked the next, most logical thing. "Are you alright there?"  

Jessica nodded.  

"Then why are you crying?"  

Her shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug. "No reason."  

"No reason seems like a silly reason to cry. You can tell me," he coaxed. He nodded to the dessert table. "I've cherry pie. The solution to any problem." 

"Not this problem." 

"Go on," he urged. "Let's give it a go. You never know."  

"It's about a boy," she said.  

Figures. Wasn't it always about a boy? "What boy?"  

"Just a boy. Orlando."  

Harry looked up. The distinct leaves and berries of holly hung from the ceiling. "Judging from the tears in your eyes and the mistletoe you're standing underneath, I reckon you wanted to kiss him, this Orlando?"  

She nodded.  

"What kind of name is Orlando, anyway? Did he want to kiss you back?"  

"Obviously not enough," she said, miserably. "He rang earlier and told me he couldn't come."  

"Orlando is a twit," Harry decided.  

"You think so?"  

"If he weren't, the bloke would be standing precisely where I am."  

She nodded and the corners of her mouth twisted skyward allowing a ghost of a smile to flutter there. "I don't even like him," she muttered.  

"Fair enough," he said. "So the kiss which he is missing out on this moment is his loss, yeah?"  

"I guess."  

She sulked and Harry gave her a gentle poke in the arm. "Ah c'mon love. It's only just a kiss."  

"Not just a kiss," she said. "It was supposed to be my first and he forgot. All the girls at school have snogged. I haven't yet. I'm fourteen in two weeks. It's mortifying." She looked down at her feet, shuffling one across the floor with her hands clasped behind her back.