Damaged » h. styles au

Chapter 85 - Harry

"You're staying," I said confidently, pushing her away and slightly knocking, pulling her back again once there was no way we could go back.

She was the one to untangle from my arms this time, restraining herself to simply curl her fingers around mine, swinging her feet impatiently and messing with the ends of her hair with the hand that was not on my reach. Scar kept drowning in her insecurity for twenty seconds or so, until the door finally cracked open, and an open-wided Anne showed up, her smile faltering for a brief moment as she finally took notice of the girl next to me, but recomposing.

I was wrapped in her embrace less than a second later, my hands still holding Scarlett's, scared of letting her go.

"Harry, love! Happy birthday!" she cheered, swinging me from one side to the other and making it hard to keep my balance. Scar seemed more uncomfortable than ever. "You're so old, and so tall, what happened to you?"

"Puberty. Growth. The natural cycle of life, I suppose," she rolled her eyes, hugging me tighter before letting go, letting her glance fall over Scarlett, giving her a once over, not-so-discretely. I coughed into my fist, squeezing Scarlett's hand. "Mum, this is Scarlett," she raised an eyebrow at me, crossing her arms, and I felt Scar tensing. "She's my girlfriend."

At that, mum chortled. Scar shivered.

"Well, thank God!" she breathed out, smiling warmly. "I would be so mad at you if you brought a girl home without any sort of commitment to her," I actually laughed at that, turning around to face my girlfriend (never getting sick of saying it), and watching as she just coyly smiled. "Nice to meet you, dear. Hope he's not giving you much of a trouble?"

Scar flinched unnoticeably, reaching her hand out to take my mum's (who turned it into a hug rather than a handshake, but whatever), and shaking her head slowly.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cox," (I had refused to tell her my mother's surname, but she asked Mark anyway - and no, I don't know how she got his number yet - and had insisted on being all polite, when she didn't have to. Anne would be just fine). "And not much, anyway. You raised him well."

I winked at my mother, who just rolled her eyes and muttered a 'liar' under her breath, but turned around nonetheless, inviting both of us in. The rest of the introductions didn't go any worse: dad hugged her even tighter than mom did, and that was probably because he'd known for a while now that I'd finally been in love with someone else after Meena.

Scar and he held a better conversation than the casual chat she had with my mother, but it was mostly about how I was behaving myself, all in all (which was at the same time both relieving and embarrassing. Relieving because Scar didn't have to talk about university, nor her family, nor about how we met or anything related to that, which was great because all of those were sensitive topics. And embarrassing because I had just turned 23 and my parents were still acting as if it was my 7th birthday).

Things with Gemma were the best, though, by far. Starting off by the fact that I hadn't seen her in like, forever. So before I could even introduce Scarlett, I spent about fifteen minutes hugging her and mocking her about the several different things about her appearance just for the sake of keeping a good siblings-relationship between the two of us. The insults were strictly necessary, as much as the smiles we shared after each one of those.

And then, just then, she turned to face Scar, smiling that smile that reflected mine in each way, dimples showing as well as her teeth, her whole face lit up with delight and pure happiness (more than anyone else, actually), only reaching out a hand to her instead of hugging her like our parents had done. That seemed to make Scar relax a bit more: not being put into such an intimate situation. I could tell Gemma was her favorite, just by the little-bit larger smiles she shot at my sister.

But then again, Gemma was probably everyone's favorite, so.

After all the happy birthday wishes and uncomfortable introductions, I pulled Scarlett closer, just because I could, and settled ourselves on the couch in the living room, where my parents shared some casual topic, and Gemma sneaked out for a while to make a 'brief phone call', as she'd said. Probably to her own boyfriend (more like soon-groom-to-be).

"Your family is pathetic," she whispered after she made sure they were all distracted, sinking her lips close enough to my ear to drive me crazy.

I was about to ask her why, not being able to fathom why in the world she wouldn't like them, but then she was grinning like an idiot, and by her eyes I could tell it was just a compliment.

There were not enough words to describe the warmth in my heart at that very moment.

●•Author's Note•●

note: 1. An early HAPPY NEW YEAR TO Y'ALL! I'll only update DMG in 2014 now, so I wanted to wish you an amazing new year, loads of health, happiness and I really hope you get to take a step further toward whatever your dreams are. Thank you SO, SO much for making this an amazing year for me. In 2013 you made me develop myself not only as a writer, but as a person (how cliché, but whatever). Thanks to you, many of my shitty days had a tad bit of happiness, whenever I read your comments and reactions. So thank you, and I hope that you get twice of all the good you made me. AND DON'T FORGET I'LL BE SEEING YOU TOMORROW ON DWA's FIRST CHAPTER! REALLY WANNA HAVE Y'ALL READING IT. Start the year with me, too? 2. Aren't they cute? What did you think of Scar meeting his family? 3. Oh, also check out the intro to my next short story 'Velvety Mornings' :)

dedication goes to:  @LiamsGirl_x thank you babe! I'm so glad you're enjoying this and how I try to do it differently from other fics. Hopefully you'll still be this excited about all the other works I have in mind. Your support means a lot xx

next update: Friday (January 3rd)