kaitlynn rose // h.s

early suprise

three weeks later

It's Friday night, my birthday is four days away, and I'm knee deep in homework. What a party.

I've been panicking over my homework and over the three student papers that need revising for the writing center. Currently, I'm working on my own paper at Harry's house. It's currently almost eleven pm. I've practically lived at his kitchen counter this week. I've seen Erin twice in the last five days. I'm not sure why, but my workload has been heavy this past week. I'm exhausted but powering through.

My dad is getting set up for a new job already, which is great. He says it'll probably be temporary until he can find something better, but it's better than nothing. They had to borrow some money from my aunt to pay for rent, but they should be back on their feet soon. I hope.

Harry wanders down the stairs at about eleven thirty and wraps his arms around my waist. I keep typing away to finish my thought, trying my best to ignore Harry being cute and placing soft kisses along my neck and shoulder.

"Baby, come to bed," he mutters quietly. "It'll still be here in the morning."

I wrap up the paragraph and lean back into him, a sigh falling from my lips. I hit save and then close my laptop. If it weren't for him coming down here I probably would have worked until I fell asleep at the counter. I turn and stand up from the bar stool, giving him a kiss on the cheek before heading towards the stairs. He follows after me, turning off all the lights on the way.

I head into the bathroom to brush my teeth while Harry climbs into the bed. I join him after I'm done in the bathroom and changed into his tee. I lay on top of him instead of next to him, which makes him laugh tiredly.

"Hi," I mutter.

"Hey there, sweetheart," he smiles.

I reach down and press my lips to his. His arms wrap around me tightly in response.

"Love you," I mumble before pecking his lips a few more times. I roll off of him and cuddle up to his side instead. "Good night."

"Good night, Kaitlynn. I love you."

The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of Harry singing downstairs and the smell of waffles. My first thought was how lucky I am to have him. My second thought was that I'm exhausted. I slip on my sweats and toss my hair up into a ponytail as I stumble into the bathroom. I wash my face to wake myself up before I head downstairs.

"Good morning, baby," Harry smiles at me as he glances up from the strawberries he's cutting up. I kiss his cheek on my way over to the coffee pot, which was already full and ready for me.

"You're awfully chipper this morning," I mutter as I grab a mug from the cupboard. I pour some coffee, add creamer and then go over to sit on one of the bar stools.

"Well one of us has to be," he teases, smirking at me.

The timer for the waffle goes off and he moves it onto a plate. He slides the plate in front of me and then moves the berries to a bowl, sliding that over as well. He gets some coffee for himself once he's poured a new waffle in the waffle maker. Once he has his coffee, he comes over and sits next to me.

"Any plans for the day or just more homework?"

"Um," I think about it for a second. "I think just homework. I have to finish my paper, start research for a project, and I'm hoping to start the three papers I need revised for the writing center by Friday."

He nods. We talk for a few minutes before the timer goes off for his waffle. As he gets up to get it, the doorbell rings.

"Could you go answer that, love? I'm expecting a  delivery today."

I nod and slide off of the bar stool. As I swing the door open and see who it is, a scream falls from my lips involuntarily. Standing there with a bag and a box at his feet was my brother, who I had not seen in a little over a year, before he relocated to a different military base.

"Holy shit! Jackson!"

I jump on him and wrap my arms around him tightly. He laughs as he hugs me back, stumbling a little from the impact of me jumping.

"Hey, little sis," he mutters.

As I back up from him, I realize there's tears in my eyes. "How are you here right now? What is going on?"

Harry comes up behind me and wraps his arm around my waist. "Surprise."

"It was you?! Who am I kidding. Of course it was you."

Harry reaches forward and shakes my brothers hand before we both step aside so Jackson can come inside. He hands me the box that was by his feet and we all go into the kitchen.

"By the way... I took your brothers number from your phone while you were asleep about a month ago," Harry smiles at me.

"I tried to come down for your actual birthday but I've got a training starting tomorrow, so this was the best I could do."

I wrap my arms around Jackson again, giving him a proper hug this time. "I'm so happy that you're here," I mutter and I cuddle up to him. "Thank you for coming. I can't believe you're here."

"Training is in San Fransisco so thought I'd come bug you for a day."

I'm urged to open the box that he'd brought in, so I wander over to it. It's two cakes shaped like a two and a one that has berries and flowers. It's probably the prettiest cake I've ever seen.

"Oh my god cute!" I smile over at Jackson. "Even though you're early and I'm still twenty. Thank you."

Harry makes Jackson a waffle as we both sit down at the bar and get lost in conversation. We talk about his training coming up, about dad and our younger siblings, about my school, and then slowly get around to talking about Harry. I can tell Jackson is still trying to figure him out and is in big brother protective mode.

"So Dad has met you?" Jackson asks Harry. We both nod. "Hm. How did that go?"

"Other than the fact that I fought with dad and had like four anxiety attacks, it went fine," I huff. "That was a rough trip. I definitely got drunk in front of all of our family at Christmas. Aunt Rose had to take my glass away."

"Oof. That bad? I love being home for the holidays but I so did not miss the drama this last Christmas. Which uncle was it this time?"

I laugh. He knows so well. Jackson and I are two years apart and we've always been closer due to the age closeness in comparison to Aiden and Maddy. We were also old enough to really understand and be impacted a lot more by mom's sickness. After she died, he was kind of my only friend. For this reason, we spend a good amount of time going over how I've been and how my anxiety has been recently. I tell him honestly that it's a mix of good days and bad days, but Erin and Harry have made it so the good days overpower almost all of the bad.

We sit there for multiple hours while I catch up with my big brother and let him get to know Harry better. Eventually we decide to head out to explore or do something that isn't sitting at Harry's kitchen countertop. We'll probably only end up wandering around and then eating more before Jackson has to leave at about three, but it's better than doing nothing I guess. Harry and I go upstairs to get dressed, leaving Jackson in the kitchen. When we get to Harry's bedroom, I grab his hand to stop him.

"Thank you for arranging for him to come here," I tell him quietly as I step closer to him. I wrap both arms around him and he hugs me in return. "I can't believe he's here. It means the world to me that you would do something like this for me."

"Of course, Kait," he mutters back, pressing a kiss to my head. "I'm glad he was going to be in state this week. I think it worked out quite well. Happy early birthday, my love."

"Already the best birthday ever and it hasn't even happened yet."

He smiles, sending me a wink. "It'll only get better from here, babe."