salute [h.s]

december 14 - receiving horrible presents

"It's just, I mean, I like it," Louis said slowly, choosing his words very carefully, "but it's just sort of a small gift, isn't it? Compared to what I got you, at least."

Harry was glad someone else had said it because it would have made him sound like a shit boyfriend if he'd come right out and said that this was nothing compared to the new camera lens he had wrapped upstairs waiting for her to open. He knew that the other guys had made a generous contribution to her NPO for her present and relative to that, the hats were lacking.

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Bea said quietly, frowning hard at the ground. "You don't think that my present is good enough."

"It's not that —" Liam was quick to say but the damage was already done. When Bea looked up, she was furious. It had been a very long time since Harry had seen Bea get this angry about anything.

"So because I didn't spend hundreds of dollars in a store on something that you don't need anyway, my present doesn't count, is that it? I guess it doesn't matter that I made them myself. I bought the yarn. I knit the fucking things. Doesn't that give it some worth?"

"Bumblebee —"

"Don't, Niall." Bea surprised them all by jumping to her feet. "I can't believe this," she said with a shake of her head, laughing sardonically. "I can't fucking believe this."

"Sweetheart, calm down," Harry said because she wasn't handling herself very well and it had been a long time since she'd grappled with her emotions like this. She'd been off her medication for a while now and he didn't want to do anything to push her back toward it.

"Don't tell me to calm down," she said in a low hiss that signalled trouble ahead. Harry had a feeling they'd really overstepped the line on this one.

She stormed quite suddenly from the room, stomping her way through the hall and up the stairs. Harry's eyes drifted upward, following the sounds of her footsteps. He cringed when she slammed a door shut.

"Should someone go after her?" Zayn asked, looking pointedly at Harry like this is your job, deal with it.

No one needed to move because Bea was on the move again and she stomped her way right back down the stairs. She came back into the living room hefting a huge cardboard box that was way too big for her to manage. Harry jumped to his feet to help her. She slammed the box into his chest so hard the he lost his breath, wheezing a bit.

"Bring that to the car," Bea barked at him and then she sent a withering look to the four other boys sitting on the floor of the living room, looking absolutely petrified. "Get dressed. We're going out."

"Where?" Niall asked nervously but Bea was already gone, muttering under her breath as she threw open the coat closet and yanked her coat out.

"Get up," Harry hissed at his bandmates, eyeing Bea warily to make sure he hadn't caught her attention. "Do what she says."

He wasn't sure what to do with this Bea. She never got mad at them like this. He'd seen her furious like this with her mom and with Ally but never with him or the other boys. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He figured that doing what she said would appease her.

He hoped so.

-

Bea drove them into London, weaving through the streets on a path she had obviously taken before. Harry watched warily from the front seat, his eyes trained on Bea the entire time. Niall and Zayn were in the backseat, completely and utterly silent, and Liam and Louis were following in a car behind. Bea had yet to say a word the entire way. Harry wasn't sure if that was a good thing and a bad thing.