The afternoon is filled with phone call after phone call, trying to squeeze in as many family members as possible in the short window of time I allow myself to have. My mom and dad get more time than my aunt or my cousin that I talk to every couple of months but Laurel's is the longest out of all of them.
She actually called earlier in the morning in an attempt to be the first person to tell me happy birthday. Harry beat her by a little since he woke me up with the words, but I didn't tell her those details when we were on the phone. The first conversation was short because we both had things to do and places to be but I told her I would call her back when I got a chance.
After my shopping adventure with Harry we bought a cake from the store and ate it in a park, sitting in the grass under a tree. It wasn't a huge cake but it was still far too much for just the two of us, so the remainder is sitting in a pink box on the table in our hotel room. The frosting was bright yellow and the cake was the kind that looked like confetti, and we ate so fast that we had to lie in the grass recovering, grumbling about our stomachs, for a good half hour.
My second phone call with Laurel was much longer, catching up on things that have happened to the both of us since we last talked. I told her about Harry's extreme sweetness throughout the day and his mysterious party we're attending soon. She told me about college and wished me happy birthday about thirty times. By the end of our phone call I was feeling even happier and more blessed than I was before and the icing on top was Harry smiling widely at me noticing that happiness.
"Do you need help with the dress again?" Harry yells from the other side of our way too large room.
"Only if you promise not to get distracted," I joke, trying to fix my hair as I stare in the bathroom mirror. "We don't have time for any of that right now."
"But, baby," I hear Harry whine, his voice getting closer as he walks toward the bathroom. "I don't think you understand just how good you look in that dress... granted, I think you look good all the time. But it's like my hands have a mind of their own when you have that on."
"Maybe I should ditch the dress then," I laugh, rolling my eyes at Harry's childish tone.
"Well," his head pops in the doorway, smirking at me with his arms crossed in front of his body. "I feel as though that may just add to the problem, not nearly a solution in my eyes."
"What?" I look at him with a confused expression, not understanding what he means. "Why?"
"Because," he shrugs, his eyes traveling down my body. "No dress would mean no clothes, and no clothes means a naked you and an almost too happy me... But you're right we don't have time for that, so the dress must stay on, Greta."
He walks closer, making the gap between us almost non-existent. My eyes are on the mirror in front of me but I'm no longer paying attention to my hair or the eyeliner I just smudged accidentally on one side. They're still glued to the glass of the mirror but instead my eyes are staring at Harry as he strides over with a smirk still on his face.
His hands move to my hips, turning me so my back is to him. They linger, gripping at my waist and tickling at the skin of my back as he moves his fingers to the zipper. I still watch him in the mirror, pushing my curls to the side and holding myself up with one of my hands on the counter. He continues to look down, staying concentrated as he pulls the zipper up, moving my dress together.
When he finishes his hands move across my body again, only this time his arms wrap around my stomach pulling my back into him. He hugs me tightly, resting his chin on my shoulder as I continue to watch our movements in the mirror.
"You're so beautiful," he whispers quietly with his arms still pulling me into him. And I can almost feel him smile as he presses a soft kiss into my cheek.
"Thank you," I smile and try not to blush too much.
"Mhmm," he hums in my ear, rocking us back and forth. "Lucky guy, I am. Everyone at the party will be very envious of me. We'll be quite the head turners with you by my side. May even have to fight off a few that think they have a chance with the birthday girl."
"Don't know how I feel about the fighting," I shake my head, laughing quietly.
"I can skip that part," he joins my laughter. "Maybe just some heavy glaring... or I'll chug a few beers and flex my muscles, you know, to show them how manly I am. I'll scare them off without even lifting a finger. I look pretty tough, right?"
"Yes," I smile as I look at the hat on his head, a feather sticking out on the side. It's one of the many things Harry fell in love with at that cramped store we found our ensembles in. The hat is a bit funny, but the majority of our entire outfits are as well so it fits in. "Wouldn't want to mess with you."
"Good," he smirks, letting go of me so we're standing next to each other with our arms up against one another. "Now, let's go... we have a party to get to."
I still don't know what this party entails or anything really about it if I'm being honest. I'm trusting Harry isn't pulling me into something I don't actually want. But instead of questioning his intentions or his plan of a party I decide to go along without overthinking too much... in fact, I'm pretty excited about it.
I do one last check in the mirror, fixing the smudged eyeliner and pushing my hair behind my back. For the first time in a long time I put a little effort into my appearance, my curls no longer frizzy and my eyelashes long with mascara. I love the days where I can plop out of bed and put on a minimal amount of effort because the majority of the day will be spent on the road. But it's also nice to get dressed up every once in a while.
Harry's hat adds another inch or so to his already tall stature. I'm not significantly shorter than him but enough that I have to tilt my head up to look in his eyes. We look good, a bit silly with our half serious attire and the finishing touches that are more humorous than anything. But we still look good.
He's in almost all black, his patterned button up shirt barely buttoned. I'm in my gold dress with my hair half up while the rest is falling over my shoulders and back. We do one last stare, straightening any stray pieces and pulling on Harry's coat to get a funny wrinkle out. On the way out the door I grab a small bag and the purple faux fur coat Harry convinced me to get at the shop. Then we walk our way down the hotel hallway, holding hands as Harry leads me to the party.
...
We go from our fancy hotel to another, only this one is even fancier with crystal chandeliers and a doorman at the entrance. Harry grins as we walk through the doors and I move closer to him, still holding his hand and pressing my shoulder into his because I find it easy to feel a little out of place considering our surroundings.
Instead of Harry leading us straightforward and further into the main lobby that is filled with velvety furniture and expensive looking art, he pulls me toward a hallway that's off to the side.
I feel a little out of breath once we're hidden from the hustle and bustle of the lobby. I quickly realize the entire reason for my shaky breathing is because I haven't done much of it since we walked in here, afraid if I do anything too sudden I'll trip on my dress and break something that's worth more than my house in Portland.
When I look into Harry's eyes, realizing that we're not in the lobby filled with people and expensive things, I feel myself ease up. The tenseness in my body and my slight uncomfortableness completely melts away and it feels like it normally does between us. Only now we're dressed in much fancier clothes than we usually are.
"Okay," Harry breathes out, holding on to my shoulders, nearly pushing me into the wall. "So my name is Dan Wells... and you are, your name is Lilah... yeah Lilah works well. You're my wife, got it?"
"Harry?" I stare at him like he's crazy because that's basically how I feel about him right now. I really like him... like really like him, but I can't say I was anticipating any sudden proposals. Especially one that simply claims I'm his wife without asking how I feel about it... or actually Dan's wife in this case. "What in the world are you talking about?"
"It's for your party," he answers like I should understand. "Sorry, didn't explain that well..." he slows down when he realizes why my confusion makes sense. "I sort of overheard a few men talking about a work party they were in Chicago for. It was when we were checking into our hotel. They said something about a Dan Wells not being able to attend and I decided we would be Dan Wells and his lovely wife Lilah... I like Lilah," he looks off to the side, deciding his idea for the name was a good one.
"What?" is the only word I manage to get out, still trying to understand Harry's thought process in this. Even with his explanation it isn't making a lot of sense.
"Yeah," he nods. "They were planning on him coming anyways. Guess he did the RSVP and everything, but things fell through last minute. I thought since they probably already planned around his notification of attending it wouldn't be fair to let that go to waste... so really we're only helping them out."
"I don't understand how you know about this."
"I told you," his eyes get wider. "I was eavesdropping... plus I conducted a bit of research on my own time. Turns out it's the annual celebration party for Cloud 9 Toilet Paper, not sure what they're celebrating since its toilet paper. But it's apparently a very black tie kind of an event. I'm anticipating at least thirty balding men in tuxedos."
Normally I would think the more explanation that was provided the more I would understand the situation, but this does not seem to be the case with Harry and his excitement for this party right now. The more he talks and tries to explain what is going on the more and more lost my mind becomes.
"Wait, Harry," I put my hand on his chest hoping he'll slow his thoughts down a little. "You're not making much sense... I'm still lost on why my name is Lilah now."
"Because you're my wife," he says seriously, blinking his eyes with a straight face.
There's a strange fluttering in my stomach at his words but I shake my head, trying to shake the fluttering away as well. My brain is finally starting to catch onto Harry's poorly explained plan, but I'm still not very convinced that I understand what we're doing.
"Okay," I nod, trying to remain calm. "So we're going to pretend we're Dan and Lilah Wells... and that we have some reason to be in this Cloud 9 Toilet Paper company party. But really it's supposed to be like this huge pretend birthday party for me?"
"Exactly!" Harry yells, happy that I've figured out his plan.
"But won't they know you aren't Dan Wells... or at least the men who were talking about him will know."
He looks at me like I have a good point, squinting his eyes as he nods his head. There's something about his face though, something mischievous, that makes me realize he's definitely thought this part of it through already. It makes me a little nervous because I've seen this look plenty enough today as it is. What me even more nervous though is that I'm fairly certain I'll go along with whatever he's about to say.
"I got it covered, okay?" he winks. "Just follow my lead..."
His hand grabs mine again and we're suddenly walking out of our secluded hallway and back to the large lobby with fancy things everywhere you turn. I feel a bit frazzled at first, surely showing all over my face that we don't actually belong here. Then I decide to do just what Harry said and I follow his lead, walking with confident strides.
"Please tell me you didn't kill anyone, Harry," I whisper as we walk next to each other. "I don't want to end up in jail because you wanted to get the real Dan Wells out of the way for this party."
"Of course not," he snorts, laughing at my tone, clearly realizing it's a joke. "My hands are clean, sweet girl."
"Good," I nod, smiling up at him. "I like to keep our crime together fairly innocent... you know, just the little things. Murder is a whole different story and probably a deal breaker if we're really getting into it."
"It's a good thing I haven't killed anyone then... or have any plans to," his tone is serious but I can see the glimmer in his eye that makes it clear he's enjoying the silly conversation. "I'd like to keep you around as long as possibly can if I'm being entirely honest."
"Really?" I nearly stop walking, just staring up at him. He smiles at my reaction, tightening the grip on my hand and tugs a little so I'll still follow him.
I know I should be used to this sort of thing by now, except I don't think it's something you can really get used to. Harry could tell me a million times how much he likes me being around and how much he likes me in general and I still think it would cause the same reaction. It's not that I don't believe him or believe that it's possible for him to feel this way about me... it's just a lot to wrap my head around. It's pretty fortunate to have someone who reciprocates my exact feelings back in just the way I need.
Laurel might be my best friend, my best friend I've had since I could barely walk. But Harry's my best friend too. Just because he came along quite some time later and he's only been here for a small portion of time, doesn't imply that it means any less, because that time has been so incredibly significant. I just happen to be able to kiss him whenever I want, while with Laurel that isn't exactly a component of our friendship.
"Remember," Harry whispers as we approach another hallway, leading to what looks like a ballroom. "I'm Dan and you're Lilah... we're married, maybe with a kid and a dog named Toby... yeah that should cover it all."
"Lilah," I repeat my new name. "Got it."
As if a switch just flipped in his brain, Harry goes from silly, affectionate boyfriend to full on businessman "Dan" mode. His posture straightens out, adding more height to his already tall body, his face become a little sterner but he smiles and waves to everyone we pass like he's known them for years. Even with his new approach to the character he's decided to play he still holds onto my hand. And it's not like he's trying make me his trophy wife to this Dan character... because it feels like a lot more than that.
It's obvious to me that we are some of the youngest people who will be attending this party and in some ways we stick out like a sore thumb. Harry doesn't let this falter his confidence though as we walk to a desk that has a sign reading "Check In". In some ways I think this gives him even more reason to prove that we are supposed to be here.
"Good evening!" an overly excited woman greets us as we approach the desk. Her hair is huge and her lips are bright red but even if with her slightly over done appearance I feel at ease that she doesn't seem to think we are in the wrong place. "Are you two here for the Cloud 9 party?"
"Yes," Harry nods quickly. "The name is Dan Wells."
She continues to smile at us as she acknowledges what Harry just said, turning her head down to read through a list. I watch her finger as she moves it down name after name. Harry squeezes my hand a little tighter and I turn to look up at him. He's staring forward, biting his lip and I can tell he's a little unsure if this is going to work or not.
"It says here that you cancelled last minute," she tells us, still looking down and reading the paper in front of her. "Did that change again?"
"Yes," Harry nods again, not missing a beat. "There was a problem with communication... bit flip floppy for a moment, but yeah I had always intended on coming. Am I still invited to the party?" he bats his eyelashes, asking the question in an extremely endearing tone. It's enough to get a giggle and blush from the woman at the desk and I know from the admiration in her eyes that we're in.
"Of course Mr. Wells," she smiles at him. "Sorry for the confusion... and this is?" she nods toward me.
"My wife," Harry answers quickly, moving his hand so it's no longer holding onto mine but instead wrapped around my waist. "This is Lilah. I was under the impression that I got a plus one, is this still true?"
"Yes, yes," she almost looks embarrassed, like she should have realized this.
"Lovely," Harry smirks, looking over to me. "I think we'll head inside then... is it just through the doors?"
She nods, pointing in the direction of the room. Harry gives her one last grin, thanking her for her time and then we're walking through the wide doors and into a ballroom with huge ceilings and floors I'm fairly certain have gold in them.
The grandness of the room we walk into is enough to earn a gasp from me and a small chuckle from Harry at my reaction. He waltzes his way through people and I move with him. I notice that he still waves and smiles to people we pass, still giving off the impression that we are a real part of this company, but my attention is more focused on the décor of the room and trying to take in how extravagant it is.
I find myself questioning why a toilet paper company would have such an elaborate party, one where people clearly wear expensive clothes while sipping from expensive drinks. But I don't let my humor in it show too much because I'm much more impressed with everything else around me.
Harry walks us to a table, claiming that his is where Dan and his plus one we're directed to sit. I hope that the rest of the occupants at our table don't personally know Dan and question why we are pretending to be him but Harry doesn't seem to show this worry as he sets his hat down on the table.
"This is amazing," I tell Harry with my head still searching around in an attempt to look at it all. "Did you know it was going to be this... big? Or did you just get lucky?"
"I had some idea," he shrugs, acting as though it's totally understandable that we're standing here now. "It's a bit more than I was imagining though... don't expect there to be any birthday cake here, but maybe some dancing and bubbly drinks. Does that sound okay?"
I don't answer his question right away, my eyes observing the shimmer of the large chandelier in the center of the room. There's a slight roar around us, people talking, people catching up with each other or proposing some new idea for toilet paper. It's full on party mode in this ballroom with a band playing jazz music in the corner. The entirety of it takes my attention away from Harry which is a very, very rare thing to happen.
"Shit," I hear him again, sounding more distressed now. "You don't like it... this is like Vegas 2.0 with me assuming things without thinking how you would feel about it. I didn't mean to overwhelm you with this Greta, I thought-,"
"Harry," I turn to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He automatically shuts up, nearly holding his breath as he waits for me to finish. I rub my hand on his shoulder, patting softly and start again. "This is perfect... really. Yeah, I'm a bit flustered and I feel a little out of place but this is great and you're great... and I'm excited for my birthday party."
"Really?" he winces as he asks the question, like he thinks I'm just telling him what he wants to hear.
"Yes really," I nod, smiling at him.
The amount of effort he's put into this day has already gone way past my expectations. I've always celebrated my birthday but it's never been this big of a deal. Even as a kid my parties were small and my gifts were minimal. I've never been bitter about it, a little acknowledgement was all I ever felt like I needed, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was loving this right now.
It feels like it's Harry's mission to make this the best day it can possibly be and I don't think I can even begin to explain how much that means to me. He already does a sufficient job of making me feel like the most important person he talks to everyday... but I've felt that even more since I woke up this morning. He's put so much effort into making sure I'm happy on my birthday and I continue to feel this now.
He sighs out relieved, finally believing me as I continue to smile at him. "Alright then, Lilah," he smiles as he say's my made up name. "Let's go schmooze some toilet paper people... enough schmooze to get some booze, yeah?"
I roll my eyes at his joke, laughing as I shake my head. I feel his arm wrap around my shoulder, pulling me into him and he kisses the top of my head quickly, almost like he's trying to hide it from everyone else in the room. His hand slides down my back as we move forward, walking back into the crowds of people to convince them that we belong here. And even though I know these people aren't here for my birthday party or anything even related to me... it almost feels like it when I look up at Harry and he's smiling proudly back at me.
...
"I'm telling you Richard," Harry nearly yells across the table, in deep with a conversation with a man who rocks a large mustache. "Wet wipes aren't going to last... I think investing time into the standard stuff, making it cheap and durable is the way to go. And as far as the cute character thing is concerned, that's only going to get us so far. What's the point of a cute marketing scheme if our products are crap?"
I burst out laughing at Harry's words, having to cover my mouth because it comes out so suddenly. Even with Harry's entirely serious conversation he lets out a little chuckle at the ironic words while talking about toilet paper. We seem to be the only ones who find this humorous at our table however.
Luckily for us, no one knew Dan at our assigned seating. I don't know much about this Dan character or what role he plays in the Cloud 9 Toilet Paper company but he isn't a memorable name or face to the people we have been interacting with at our table. That, or they know Harry and I aren't who we say we are but decide to play along anyways.
"Now tell me, Dan," Richard's deep voice grumbles as he talks. "Where did you say you were from again?"
"Boise," Harry replies without any hesitation, barely blinking an eye. "Idaho."
"But we don't have a branch there..."
"It's a new development," Harry's quick to stop him before Richard's suspicions grow at all. "I'm in the process of getting something started there. We're trying to broaden the market more and frankly there are a lot of Idaho residents who use other brands that I think we'll be able to persuade our way if we go in and create jobs."
I try to hold in my laughter again, not being able to envision how a toilet paper company could possibly produce that many jobs. But even with my doubts in this idea Harry is very convincing. So convincing that it's to the point where I'm staring at him with so much admiration, just waiting for the next word to come out of his mouth.
"You're smart, kid," Richard points at Harry, squinting his eyes as he nods his head. "I'm expecting to see things from you in the future."
"Righto Richard," Harry nods at him and then turns his head to smirk at me. I grin back because I understand and then Richard moves onto a conversation with another person who ate dinner at our table.
When I look around the table, watching people I've only met in the last few hours interact with each other, I feel this strange joy that I wasn't expecting to happen. I knew Harry would make this daunting party easy and fun but I didn't realize I would feel this happy while being surrounded by strangers, most who are easily twenty years older than us.
I know it's not the strangers who are causing this feeling, because the only person responsible for this joy is the one sitting right next to me. It's the person who stops talking and stares at with me with so much intent when I open my mouth to say something that I almost always forget why I wanted to say something in the first place.
It's the person who rests his hand on my knee under the table, tapping carefully and never fully letting go. It's the person who snuck us into this extravagant party of toilet paper people, convincing the handful we've interacted with that we were invited in the first place. Harry is what makes this party feel like it's meant for me... for us.
"Care to dance?" I hear him whisper, his lips moving close to my ear as he leans in. "Promise not to step on your toes."
"Yes," I turn to him, nodding quickly. "Though, I can't promise the same."
"I'll live," he shrugs.
We excuse ourselves from the table, careful not to interrupt anyone's conversation about furthering the profitability of toilet paper. Walking side by side, weaving our way through the many tables separating us from the dance floor, Harry does a funny shimmy with his shoulders already dancing to the music coming from the band.
Harry pulls the moves out with a snap of his finger, quickly spinning me into him while moving his other hand to rest on my waist. We move with the music, dancing in circles while we try to keep up with the quick pace.
Our dancing is simple, neither of us having much knowledge on how to dance to the music from the band besides an easy sway. Harry does throw a few twirls in though, holding his hand up for me to turn quickly to the point of dizziness. With the few glasses of champagne throughout the night I find myself only being able to handle so much before I try to convince him to be the twirler.
"If I could," I hear Harry's voice as the music slows down, slowing down our movements as well. "I would make every single person in this room sing happy birthday to you... every last one, Greta."
"Oh," my eyes go wide at the thought of it. "That'd be embarrassing."
"Embarrassing?" Harry laughs. "What if I sang it right now? In front of all these people."
"Still embarrassing," I smile up at him. "Only it'd be embarrassing for you in that case... but it'd also make you my favorite person, probably ever."
"Ever?" he says the word loudly, dramatically lengthening it out.
"As long as it doesn't turn into a duo karaoke session, yes," I continue to tilt my head up to look at him, the smile not fading in the slightest as we rock back and forth. "You'd definitely be up there in the rankings."
What he does next comes as a surprise in some ways, and in other ways it's absolutely what I was expecting of him. The words of the song begin to fall from his mouth, singing happy birthday and I feel my smile grow even larger. His voice is low, nearly whispering as he sings to me while we dance.
I move my head to rest on his chest, feeling the vibrations as he continues to hum out the words. He does sing to me in front of all these people, the majority of them people we've never even talked to, but it's so quiet that I know it's just for me. We rock back and forth, one of his hands is intertwined with mine while the other rests on my hip and I listen to every quietly sung word that comes from his lips.
It's the sort of scene I imagine would zoom out in a movie, one where it starts up close to focus on us dancing together and end showing the vast amount of people around us and how we only bother to look at each other. We didn't have a problem fooling people that we really were Dan and Lilah Wells, an essential part of Cloud 9's fictional branch in Boise Idaho and Harry's been pretty successful in fooling me that this party is supposed to be for me. But this moment feels like the real thing.
"Thank you, Harry," I whisper back to him once he finishes singing the short song to me. "Thank you for being on that bus that day... you know, when you let me sleep in your lap?"
"How could I forget?" I feel him laugh quietly.
"I didn't know what I was doing until you came along... even then I was a little unsure. I still don't know what I'm doing half the time but that doesn't scare me nearly as bad anymore. You mean so much, Harry. I don't think this would be anything without you."
He's silent for a moment as we dance. I can't see his face or read his body language because the side of my head is still resting on his chest. I can hear the beat of his heart though and that's enough for me to know he feels the same way.
"You're my favorite person too, Greta," he whispers. "Ever."
...
Hey guys! Just wanted to say I have SO much love for all of you... so, so much. And I really just want you to know how much I appreciate you reading my stories.
Just so you kind of know where we're at, I'm anticipating about 10-15 more chapters in this. I have it mostly planned out structure wise but I kind of change my mind when I'm writing sometimes. So yeah, the end is approaching.
Again, thanks for being patient with the update... I've decided I need to balance out my life a little more evenly because I have so many things I want (and need) to put my time into. So because of this updates will probably be a little less frequent at least until the school year is over. But I'll still be writing as much as I can so that will only be so true. Also, random... but I've been listening to the soundtrack from the movie Her on repeat for the last two hours and it's beautiful and you should listen to it. Okay, byeeee.