nights; h.s.

44

forty-four

harry

Although it had only been 7 months I had seemed to have forgotten everything. The late spring Carolina I left was nothing like the one I returned to. It was cold, dry, all the trees were bare and pale. Not like it was much different in England, it was just prettier. I sat quiet in Gemma's car as she drove me down the less familiar route to our house. She was happy, excitable, and gushing out all of the things I missed in one breath. The corn fields passed by in a blur as small white flakes fell onto the windshield and the dirt road we sped down. I could smell the cow shit through the glass.

"You haven't said a word." She comments, snapping me out of my gaze. "Oh, um.. just tired.." I responded fast, too fast. She just nodded turning her head back to the road. "Your accent. It's stronger now." She noticed and I gave a fake smile, nodding.

Eventually we reached the house, which took 3x longer than I remembered it taking. I hopped out of her truck, grabbing my bag out of the back seat and struggling with it in the dirt and snow all the way up to the front door.

My hands were dead numb at this point, so Gemma gladly knocked for me and my step-brother Christian opened the door for me. It was only then I realized it wasn't just Gemma, mom, David, and all my step-siblings. It was literally everyone.

y'all davids his step dad ik i gave him a different name but i really don't wanna search through 40 chapters to find one word so lets just deal mmkay

"He's here!" Christian exclaimed, a bunch of 'aye's' sounded from all through the front door as Christian patted my back and pulled me inside, leaving my bag to Gemma.

"Harry!" Everyone seemed to shout in unison, rushing over to hug me. My half-brother Ashton leaped and clung to me, his four year-old sized limbs wrapped tightly around my ankle. I staggered through the crowd of people, half hugging, hand shaking, and fake smiling until I finally got to my mum.

"Harry!" She smiled wide, taking off the cooking gloves she had on and engulfing me in a tight hug. I missed her so much- her warmth, her love, her scent. I saw Amber, David's daughter in the corner with a matching apron on. I smiled at her, pulling her into a small hug as well.

take a shot everytime u see the word hug

Once I thought I was finished, I decided to make my way up to my room and call brooklyn. So I found my suitcase and struggled with it up the stairs, the house looked foreign to me almost. The upstairs was hot and stuffy, the floors were worn and squeaking under my step and all the way up to my bedroom. Everything was pretty much the way I left it. Books still staked, hangers on the floor, schoolwork on my desk. I just pulled my suitcase into my room and immediately collapsed onto my bed, I could practically see the dust fly up into the air.

I fished my phone out of my jackets pocket, going straight for my contacts and picking 'Brooklyn 💕🌸'

The phone rang a good 4 times before she picked up, "Hello?" A low voice said into the phone. My heart sank. "Brooklyn?"

"Harry? It's 5 in the fucking morning, if you're not dying hang up."

"Oh!" I shouted fast, mentally slapping myself for not considering time zones. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that. I just wanted you to know I landed," I responded Brooklyn hummed a 'mhm' into the phone. "Good. How are you?"

"I'm fine, kinda crazy how much I already forgot. I also already miss you."

she laughed. "enjoy your family, don't think about england just be with them, in the moment." She advised.

"okay. well, i gotta go, i'll talk to you tomorrow"

"preferably not at 5 in the morning," she added and I laughed.

"bye brooklyn, love you."

"love you too." She said, I hung up dropping the phone on my chest and sighing. This is what's its going to be like in September- over and over forever. We're not gonna get into the same University, this isn't just senior year apart. It's the rest of our lives.

"Harry?"