Then we went for dinner at a semi-nice place. I HAD to do something fun, so I told the waitress it was her birthday and they came out singing with a slice of cake for her and a lit candle. She was pissed at me, but I could tell she liked it. She was all smiles through her pissed-off-ness. Heh. When we went back to her place, I wanted her birthday to continue till midnight, and there wasn't much time left, so I decided to slow dance with her. I made a playlist on her phone, with all the slow, romantic songs she had, and played them, and taught her to slow dance. She'd never done that before, so she was excited to learn. I taught her the formal way, and the "school dance" way, and then we did it our own way. Which was close, barely moving, and basically like a long, tight hug, while swaying a little bit to an entire song. With lots of loving glances, and smiles during it. She told me it was the best birthday she'd ever had. Which was nice. But then while talking about past birthdays, I found out it was the ONLY birthday she'd ever had. I almost shed a tear...but I kept it in. I controlled myself. I just wanted her day to be only about her. I'd cry later, if I thought about it. How terrible for her. I thought they'd do SOMETHING at the home for people's birthdays. I mean, they did, but basically they always have a cake around, because so many birthdays come up all the time, so they give you a slice, and have whatever employees they can scrape up at lunch, come and sing to you, with a single candle on the slice of cake.
Janel said Bonnie usually got her something small. So I guess that's something. As long as she's in my life in any way, shape or form, I will always celebrate her being born with her. No matter what. She deserves it.
Janel has a caseworker, still, and she comes to visit Janel every few days. It was every day at first, but as she learns more and more how to handle her own life, she comes less and less. She helps Janel budget her bank book, and plan meals, grocery shop, pay bills, etc....all that real world, grown up stuff. Apparently Janel has a LOT of money, because she'd gotten money from the state for years, in an account set up for her in the group home, but she never really spent much. A little on music, and stuff like that.....so she was surprised to see how much money she had to learn to budget! So was I!
She's still not a big spender, so that's another good trait she has. Sometimes I have to convince her to spend money for something she wants or likes. I keep telling her YOLO!!
The apartment was furnished by the state, too. She had a little say, so things look cozy and cool in her "crib". She loves it. Her own place. She's a wiz on her iPhone, too. She Googles everything, all the time, just wanting to learn more and more about everything there is to learn about in life. Everything she missed out on in the home all those years. And we Face time all the time when I'm away.
Somehow, we made it until a week or two after she got into her apartment, until the public found out who I was dating. (well, we weren't dating until after she spent her first night in her apartment.)
That was close! I'm sure it had to do with Tammi. My lawyers gave Bonnie some money to keep an eye on Tammi, and try and get her to keep quiet about Janel and I back when she lived there. Make sure she kept my visits a secret. Being loving, caring Bonnie, she kept a close eye on Tammi, and her state of mind, and sure enough, she informed the lawyers a while later, that she was talking about it a lot, so the lawyers met with Tammi and gave her a lump of money and a contract to keep quiet, because she'd started realizing that she had a "story to sell".
I just didn't want the hassle. I just didn't want to have to try and explain everything to the public and my fans. I didn't want to subject Janel to all that, either. No one needs to know her background. It's private, personal stuff. I always wanted her to feel normal when she was with me, and if people knew her story, they'd make her feel not normal. So there were sooo many reasons why I didn't want people to know about Janel till after she had her own place. For me. For her. For the group home residents. For everyone.
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The Resident // Harry Styles H.S.
FanfictionJanel survived abuse and neglect as a child, at the hands of her adoptive parents. When they died, she lived in the woods, just trying to survive each day. When she was found, she was stuck into the government system and forgotten in a group home b...
