Un-Tying the Knot {h.s.}

Chapter 34

As he peers at his reflection, he can see the frown plastered on his face, the deep wrinkle lines threatening his brow as his eyes are darker than he's ever seen them. For a moment, he doesn't even recognize himself. He looks old, so much older than he ever remembers looking, the spark from his eyes long gone. He reaches up to toussle his hair, a habit he's had since he was a kid, hoping to shake the age off of him. Unfortunately, he's not a 20 year old pop star anymore. There are no girls screaming for him, wishing he was in their bed and playing with his long locks. No, now he's a washed up musician stuck in a corporate job with a fiancé that loves to make him miserable. And who hates his hair.

"She has a preliminary guest list here, and some options for the menu..." I trail, interrupting him from his thoughts.

"Do you like me better with long hair?" he asks, ignoring my previous words.

All I can do is blink at him. To be fair, I've never seen him with real long hair. His hair now is what I would consider an overgrown short styled curling messily at the ends.

"Erm...I dunno." I shrug, not sure what else to say. "As I said, she's got the menu here—"

"Cause when I was younger I didn't like it long, and now that I'm older, I kinda like it —" he continued, as if he didn't hear me. "I mean, it's kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, ya know — when it's humid and stuff, but I like it. Hey! What do you think of Eleanor's hair?"

He looks over at me, in which I can only raise an eyebrow at him before dropping the ridiculous bag Eleanor had gotten me for Christmas. "Are we seriously talking about hair right now?" I laugh.

What is wrong with him?

"Yeah, I dunno..." he offers, blinking hard before reaching for the papers in my hands, getting comfortable again in his office chair. "Guest list, that's what you said this was, right?"

I nod, a portion of my dark hair getting messily in my way as I pull my scarf off before I have a chance to pull it gently behind my ear, the actions making the melody swell in his mind, replaying one chord and then the next. He shakes his head, forcing himself to stop watching me as he fully has the stack of papers, looking through them. It doesn't take long before his brow furrows.

"Shit. I don't know half of these people," he slows, biting his bottom lip as he flicks through page by page.

"Oh, sure you do," I offer, rounding the corner of his desk and leaning over it and his shoulder to look with him, my hair falling a little into my face again, letting the scent of mangos assault his nose from the close proximity.

He looks at me, frowning. Since when did my hair smell like mangos? It was supposed to smell like cherries.

"Look — you know them!" I offer. "The Russels. You and Eleanor had lunch with them a little bit ago..."

"Did you change your shampoo?" He interrupts, his voice surprisingly demanding.

"Umm...yeah?" I offer nervously, running my fingers through my hair as I stand. "Does it bother you?"

"No," he sighs, shaking his head, trying to focus on the paper in his hands. "It's just different," he says quietly. Everything is different.

His chest tightens.

"Harry! I'm leaving for the day!!" Hannah calls from outside his office, offering him a small wave before her heels click away down the hall, announcing her departure.

He doesn't respond, just staring at the multiple pieces of paper in his hand, scanning name by name that he might vaguely recognize, but wouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd if he had to. His eyes continue to search, page by page, until he finally finds his family on the bottom of the last page. Finally! His guests. Unfortunately, his chest constricts again as he goes to flip it over, but that's it. The only people from his side were his parents, sister, grandparents, and cousin Lauren. That was it. The last page.