new kid / h.s

30

K A T

"It was Kimberly's first day at Eastern today." I told Harry when his car pulled into my driveway. He just nodded and pecked me on the lips, opening the driver side door and stepping out.

I led him into the house and we lounged on the couch for a while, considering that his parents were yet to come home from work and he wanted to spend time with me. I felt truly honored.

"Where is she?" Harry asked suddenly. "Kimberly."

I shook my head. I had no idea, and now that Harry had brought it to my attention I felt bothered. "I don't know. She should have gotten home by now. So this is weird."

Harry nodded in agreement. "We just had a meeting with Zayn, now Kimberly is missing. Kat, this timeline isn't looking very nice."

My heart was pounding against my rib cage at this point. I remembered what happened to my mom. She still won't tell me what happened to her before Harry saved her and it's like she's forgotten. But I know she could not have.

"Maybe we should go out into town and look for her." I suggested but Harry just blankly stared.

He said, "This town is pretty huge. It'd be very hard to find her."

Harry was making more sense than I was, and with every second my worry and concern was growing stronger. I didn't want anything to happen to her because of me.

Just as we were about to head out anyway, the front door opened and in came Kimberly-- wearing shin guards and shorts, along with a tee.

Maybe with everything going on, Harry and I had become a little too paranoid.

"Hey guys." she chimed, as if she had gotten home on time and everything was all right. "Didn't I tell you that I signed up for field hockey?"

"No." Harry said firmly, concern showing in his voice. "Is that where you were... just now?"

She nodded with a goofy smile. "Duh! Where else could I possibly be?"

Harry and I glanced at each other knowingly at the same time.

I managed to laugh it off. "We were just worried, that's all. But you're fine, right?"

She sighed, "Yes, Kat. Stop letting your motherly instincts take you over when you aren't even a mother." she giggled playfully and nudged me in the shoulder lightly.

Harry managed to smile through it all but my head was still spinning in major circles. "So, how was practice then?"

"Fun." Kimberly said, suddenly losing her jumpy demeanor. Something had definitely changed in her mood. "I scored goals. It was fun."

"Doesn't sound so fun." I said suspectingly.

Her gaze averted from me. "Well it was." she more or less snapped, and stormed up the stairs to the guest room. Harry looked at me uneasily.

"Something is definitely up."

I nodded. "She hadn't even brought up an interest in sports before today. And she isn't even sweating."

Harry seemed like he had been overworked with anxiety lately. There were deep circles under his eyes, and his hair that was usually neatly contained with a headscarf was now hanging freely.

"We can talk about that later. Want to come over for dinner?"

My mind floated back to what happened the last time I came over for dinner. Our first kiss. The thing that sparked it all. And that was only last night.

With a helpless smile now plastered on my face, I said "Yes." and Harry grabbed his keys for us to leave.

"Later Kimberly!" I called to the second floor, and I heard a faint response.

Harry led me out of my own house and we got into his dad's nice car. Just as he was about to drive out of the driveway, I remembered that I had left my phone on the counter inside.

"Hey, I'll be right back." I told Harry, earning a weird expression from him. So I added, "Forgot my phone."

Harry chuckled. "Hurry up, love. Anne is home and so is Des."

I sprinted up the front stairs and used the spare key under the doormat to get inside. I headed to the counter, but I was surprised to see Kimberly in the kitchen-- wearing a glimmering red dress.

"Wow." I said to her, stunned and confused. "That dress is very pretty."

Her face turned red, as if she didn't want me to see her in it. "Thanks." she simply said and turned her back to me to get something out of the cabinet.

I peered over the counter to see her crouched down on her phone instead. "What's it for?" I asked, "The dress."

She didn't answer immediately. It took a bit of waiting, and she must've realized that I wasn't going anywhere because she turned to face me and looked very guilty.

"Just trying on my prom dress." she said lowly, and bent down to the cabinet again.

I frowned to myself, trying to make sense of what happened and what was happening, and forgot to grab my phone as I strolled out of my house and toward the car.

"Ready?" Harry asked and I buckled my seatbelt, lips pursed because I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him what I had just seen. I wasn't ready.

"Yeah." I confirmed meekly.

He smiled cheekily and gripped the steering wheel tightly, the engine already turned over. "So you've got your phone." he was still smiling, his shining green eyes piercing mine.

In that moment I realized I forgot the reason I had gone inside in the first place, but if I told Harry that he would have known that I saw something while I was inside. So I just nodded and put his sunglasses that were sitting on the dashboard on my face.

"You look remarkably cute in those." Harry commented with a smirk, and pulled another pair from out of the glove compartment.

I kissed Harry on the cheek. God, I loved to do that. "Now we both look cute." I cheesed, and with that we were on the road.

As happy as Harry made me, what I was withholding from him made my stomach feel like it was holding a tons worth in weight.

And I wouldn't be able to live with that, whatever it meant.

*

Sorry that I haven't updated in six days, I've taken up a sport and it's been hard to get into a routine of practice, going to the amusement park (bc I love it and I have a season pass), doing work around the house, and making time for writing. I might not update every day but maybe every other day. and trust me when I update, they'll start being quality updates. 1000 words or longer.

thank you for reading and I'm sorry again :)
-amira