Out of the Ordinary

Chapter 14

Harry brought his hand up to my hair, tangling his fingers in it just below my ear, "Couldn't agree more. And thank you."

"For what?" I'd asked, completely bewildered as to what he could be thanking me for.

"Understanding." Was all he'd said in reply.

It seemed a silly thing to thank me for - understanding. If I was honest with him (and myself) it was as much a selfish decision for me as it was an understanding one to him. Irrational fear of him being ashamed of me (I knew he wasn't) aside, there was a large element of wanting to keep him a secret, too - totally to myself. So keeping our relationship from the world felt like a pretty good idea to me overall. It made a lot of sense.

But sense did nothing to lessen the weight of my apprehensions now that we were out in public. It was as if Harry's nerves from before we left had detached from him and latched onto me. I felt myself staring at everyone we passed, waiting for them to stop, scream, curse me out for being with him... something.

Harry seemed as cool as ever, and even seemed to find some amusement in my anxiety. He didn't grab my hand though, or run his fingers down my arm, or curl my hair behind my ear. He kept a safe distance between us, and touching his shirt aside (which I was reasonably sure no one had taken any note of), I followed his lead.

"Do you want to just sit somewhere, or should we keep going?" he asked, sunglasses pulled down over his green eyes as he looked at me.

"I -" I dodged a man on roller blades on the path, "Maybe we should sit. If you want to, of course."

"I'm fine with either," he said touching my elbow for a moment to turn me to my right, "But I see a nice looking tree over there with lots of shade. Maybe we should sit for a little while."

"Fine with me." The tree was huge, and sitting on the slight incline of a hill. I was surprised that no one was sitting under it, and sped up a little towards it, hoping to beat any other park-goers there if they had the same idea as us.

I sat against it, smiling up at Harry proudly, feeling nervous for a variety of reasons as he sat down across from me, back to the rest of the park.

"How's this?" he asked, as he settled his arms on his bent knees.

"Perfect." I said, staring past him at the people enjoying the sunshine and fresh air around us.

It was so much like that first day - right before I met him. The surroundings were the exact same, down to the feel of the humidity in the air - not overbearing, but enough to make my armpits sweat (I kept my elbows propped on my knees to let them air out). The sun was shining, people were laying out soaking up the rays, playing catch, reading, laughing and chatting. It was like time had stopped here in Central Park, like I could've been the same girl I was two months ago, walking through here thinking the most exciting thing on my horizon was getting to read a new book I'd been forced to ignore for months.

"You can stop scanning the general populace, Mads, I think we're safe here."

Little had I known that there was something - someone - looming over my horizon. Someone whose smile was more captivating than the most breathtaking sunset, whose touch warmed me more than sunlight ever could, and whose eyes held the ever-changing colors of the ocean, and lit up like a glint of sunlight on the ebbing swells.

I just hadn't been looking in the right direction.

"Someone has to look out for your well-being, seeing as you don't seem to want to do it for yourself." I smiled and picked at the grass around me, pulling it out blade by blade.