Upside Down

Chapter nine

"Meredith!" Bree said excitedly, opening her arms to hug her cousin.

"I missed you so much, cousin." Meredith said, excitedly. She then turned to Harry, a huge smile on her lips. "And you're Harry Styles, aren't you?"

"Oh, no..." Bree tried to take the attention out of Harry, like he wanted to, but he interrupted her.

"Yes, Harry. Harry Styles. The boxer." He said while shaking her hand. "Meredith, is it?"

"Yes! You're a quick learner." She said, a seductive smile on her lips. Harry smiled back at her. Bree had never seen that smile coming from him and she knew they were flirting which bothered her a little. She didn't say anything else though, going to the kitchen where her mom and aunt where already catching up.

"So, who's hungry?" she asked.

Harry and Meredith sat next to each other, in one side of the table. Jay was sitting right next to Harry, on one top of the table. Bree and Adeline where directly facing Harry and Meredith and Marie was facing her nephew. The two sisters talked during the entire dinner, telling stories from when they were younger and making everyone laugh. Harry and Meredith seemed to be connecting very well. Bree could see them exchanging looks and laughing seductively at each other during the whole dinner. She tried to shake off the weird feeling on her throat.

Jay was also talking to her cousin and his most recent friend until he realized they were flirting with each other. During the rest of the dinner, he kept quiet, just watching the two and his own sister. He knew Bree was feeling something about Harry which made him happy because Bree never allowed herself to have a life ever since she found out their mother was sick. But he knew it was being hard for her to see Harry that close to her own cousin. He noticed her sad smiles as she looked down whenever the two would laugh at each. And that was killing him.

When they all finished eating, Adeline and Marie decided to go to the backyard and sit on the rocking chairs as they chatted about life. Everyone thought it was better to give them some space, so they decided to go to the living room. Meredith and Harry were still talking and flirting while Jay was texting his new friend. Soon after, he said he was going out to meet her, leaving his sister awkwardly sitting next to the two love birds that were already too touchy. She decided to leave them alone and walked back to the kitchen, where she started to set all the dirty dishes on the washing machine.

"I was wondering where you could be." Meredith said, a few minutes after, entering the kitchen.

"Just cleaning everything up." Bree answered simply.

"So..." Meredith started talking but stopped. Bree knew her cousin and she knew the blonde girl wanted to ask her something, so she stopped what she was doing and looked at her.

"What do you want, Meredith?" she asked.

"How do you even know I want something?" she protested. Bree just rolled her eyes, making the girl sigh. "Okay, I do want to ask you something."

"Spill it up."

"Is something going on between you and Harry?" Meredith bit her bottom lip and looked at her cousin with hopeful eyes.

"No!" Bree said loudly, almost in protest. "Why are you asking me that?"

"I don't know, Bree. He is in your house." She stated the obvious. Bree took a deep breath.

"I just helped him. I'm still helping him. That's all."

"So, you wouldn't mind at all if I asked him out?"

"I wouldn't but I don't think he'll accept that." Bree looked down at the washing machine and kept doing what she was doing before her cousin interrupted her. "He doesn't want anyone to know he's here. Plus, he's fragile right now, he has some bad injuries. You can still ask him though."

Her cousin just nodded her head and thanked her, before exiting the kitchen. Bree was sure Harry would never go out with her. The main reason was that he didn't want people to see him there. Also, he was still in a bad shape and he needed to rest a lot.

At around 10pm, Marie got up and called her daughter, telling her it was time to go. They said their goodbyes, the two sisters giving each other a warm hug like they always did. Meredith hugged Bree too. She then hugged her aunt and kissed Harry's cheek before finally leaving. Bree sighed. She loved having family over, but she couldn't deny it was very tiring.

Adeline went to bed short after, telling her daughter she needed to rest. Bree just nodded her head and kissed her mom's cheek before sitting on the sofa next to a smiley Harry.

"Your cousin is nice." He said.

"Yes, she is..." Bree nodded; eyes locked on the tv.

Bree was still confused about Harry's actions. She couldn't understand why he would tell Meredith who he really was instead of trying to cover it up so it wouldn't blow his disguise away.

"You never told me you had a cousin." Harry spoke again, looking over to his side to where Bree was sitting. Her eyes were still locked on the tv.

"You never asked."

"Is everything okay?" he asked, frowning his eyebrows while looking at her attentively.

"Everything's fine." She finally looked away from the tv and to him. "Just tired, I think it's time for me to go to sleep."

Harry just nodded his head. He could tell something was off about her, but he didn't want to push his luck either. It could be that she was sad about seeing her mom and aunt together, since it was the only time he had seen Adeline so happy and so... alive. Or, she could just simply be tired, like she said she was. Either way, he decided it was best to let her go when she got up and started walking to the stairs.

"Don't forget to take your pills. They're on the counter." She said when she reached the stairs.

"I will." Harry said. "I have a date with your cousin on Saturday." He blared out.

"What?" Bree stopped in her tracks and looked to where Harry was. He looked back at her and licked his lips.

"I have a date with Meredith. On Saturday." He repeated.

"I thought you wanted to rest and stay low."

"And I do. But I also really loved meeting Meredith and when she asked me, I just couldn't say no." he explained. "I really hope you don't mind..."

"I don't!" Bree interrupted him abruptly. "I'm going to sleep."

She didn't even let him say another word as she rushed up the stairs to her room. She couldn't believe that Harry could change so much just because of a hot girl he just had met. Bree was disappointed but she kept telling herself that she didn't care. And she thought that if she said it to herself times enough, it would become true. But truth was it didn't...

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Edited