***READ PLEASE THIS IS IMPORTANT***
I received an invitation to participate in a contest to get my book published. (They didn't specify which book) and I really need your help for this because the contest is run by votes, the book that gets more votes wins.
Which book would you like to see published? (If you're on a computer just comment which number, if you're reading on your phone highlight the number and leave a comment)
1- Knocked Up
2- The Flight
Thank you so much in advance!!! This really means a lot to me!!!
You can enjoy the chapter now. :) Byeeee
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We came downstairs after leaving our stuff in the room, I wasn't denying the possibility of having a warm meal in this stormy night even less to a friendly person like Jossie. In the living room there was at least sixteen people, all gathered around a large wooden table with chairs of different taste. They all chat about different things while they pass a basket of bread around the table, until they notice us both standing by the corridor.
"Oh, look! Jensen, make place for the young couple. I'm sure they want to sit together." Jossie says while holding a big pot with cloth gloves.
"Thank you." I say while walking to where Jensen is placing the chairs for us. Harry sits right beside me trying to put a smile on his face.
Next to me there's a red haired man already eating his pot, using a piece of bread as a spoon to hold some of the vegetables on the soup. It smells delicious even from here. A young boy places two bowls in front of us and Jossie came right away to fill them. A woman from the other side of the table passes us the basket of bread and I take it with a smile.
If there wasn't a sign outside saying this was a motel, I would believe we were just a big English family sharing a nice warm meal before going to bed. I can't help but look at every person on the table. There's a couple at the end of the table, the woman that passed me the bread, with two kids and a baby around them, all of them with bright blonde hair. Next to the couple, there's a boy with black rimmed glasses and a book on his free hand. There's a group of five talking in another language, Swedish if I'm not wrong, all of them wearing soccer jerseys. Then, right next to us, there's a middle age couple that don't look so interested in making conversation.
Harry remains quiet next to me, eating his soup in silence and looking straight at the wall. I know he didn't want to stay the night but he has to understand we had to. I move my eyes to the wall as well and catch myself looking at a collection of porcelain plates hanging on the wall. Very colorful with different themes.
"All of them were made by Jensen's ancestors. Aren't they lovely?" Jossie notice we were looking right at the plates, she sits next to Jensen in the middle of the table. "He even made some of those. Tell them, love."
"Oh no, I'm too shy." The bald man shakes his head while his entire face gets consumed in red. "I'm not that good of an artist."
"I think they're beautiful." I compliment him, making him blush even deeper.
"Frances is an artist as well." Harry says out of nowhere, he's been so quiet since we got here that it actually brings goosebumps to my skin. "She makes amazing drawings."
"Do you, love? That's wonderful." Jossie smiles at me, waiting for an answer.
"I... I'd like to think I'm decent." I blush as well, not as hard as Jensen. I forgot Harry saw one of my drawings back in the flight. I even gave it to him, if I'm not wrong.
"She's being humble. She's amazing." Harry says taking a spoon to his mouth. "By the way, the broth is delicious."
"Thank you, love, old family recipe." She says with a warm smile, biting on a piece of bread. "Its all in the herbs!" She whispers but loud enough for him to hear.
She then started telling everyone at the table all kind of family tales, gaining all of their attention but mine. I was more focused on Harry's arm now resting around my shoulder as he listened to the story. This is all so weird, its feels like no time has passed since we were together in that flight. All my amazing adventures seem to be pushed back as he caress my shoulder with his fingers, its like they didn't happen at all.
I don't want to be focused on all those tiny little things. I can't let myself think of that, I just can't. Next week I will be gathering my things to move to Barcelona and this is making me very confused. And its been, what? Five hours together, tops? He does that to me, it confuses me.
When I focus back on the conversation the couple at the end of the table is telling the story of how he asked her to be his girlfriend ten years ago and how they got married five years later. It makes everyone on the table look at them in awe, Jossie's face is pink while she holds Jensen's hand.
"What about you two? I want to hear your story." The lady, named Daisy, points at us. That makes me blink a few times, glancing at Harry and leaving a giggle out.
"Oh, ah, we... We are not a couple." Harry chuckles nervously, slowly moving his hand out of my shoulder.
"Yeah, we... Are just friends." I say feeling my cheeks flush.
"Just friends? That's how the young generation calls it now?" She chuckles glancing at her husband.
Harry chuckles as well, looking at me making me smile at him. "We met in a plane, actually." He says giving me one of his famous smirks. "She was sitting next to me and... That's how everything started."
"That's it? There's no magic in that story." One of the girls wearing a jersey says to us, her English sounds funny with that accent.
"Well I bet its only beginning for them. They look great together. Don't they, love?" Jossie says to Jensen, moving the conversation to another topic. Thank God.
They clear the table and then they serve tea with cookies, or biscuits, as they call it. Harry and me sit on one of the couch in the living room, everyone around us sparse in the room, moving the chairs to their usual places and keeping their chats. I take the warm cup in my hands, just to warm me up. Even with the heater on, I still feel a bit cold.
"You're being quiet." Harry points out, waking me up from my daze.
He's right, I'm being awfully quiet since we stand up from the table. The truth is, I just can't push the thought of us as a couple out of my head, and I shouldn't be thinking of it right now. Or ever. Its so weird. If anyone at the table knew the entire story, they would think we are just a couple of strangers that meet up after a long time. Its not sane for me to keep that thought in mind.
"Yeah, just thinking." I say, taking the cup to my lips and taking a sip. "Its surprising that you remembered my drawing skills."
"Oh, I would never forget." He chuckles to himself, placing his empty cup of tea on the coffee table in front of us. "Have you keep drawing?"
"You know, from time to time. I have been focused on other things." I say, trying to remember the last time I took a pencil and a paper in my hands. Probably three months ago. "I did a drawing of the Eiffel tower, I'm sure you'll love it."
"I can't wait to see it. You know that's my favorite city." He gives me a smile, moving his hair back away from his face.
"Here, you can take my hair tie." I give it to him and while he is tying up only the top of his hair, Ben, Daisy's husband, sits next to us.
"I have been thinking. You have a very familiar face to me." He says looking at Harry, his eyes mid closed. He is holding one of his kids on his leg, the little boy is about to fall asleep. "Have we met before?"
I turn to look at Harry, he moves his eyebrows slightly up but then after a moment he relaxes, playing it cool.
"Have you been to any Manchester matches?" Harry asks out of nowhere. His expression makes me doubt if he knows this man at all or if he's making this up. "The bar, next to the stadium? I used to go there after every match."
"I'm from Manchester!" The man says excitedly, he looks totally convinced so maybe they do know each other. "I used to go to every match until, you know, I become a father."
"I never missed one." Harry says, something in his smile makes me realize he is making this up. "I'm a true Red Devil fan."
"You got your card?" He asks standing up and getting his wallet from his back pocket. He slides a card with the Manchester United logo on a side and his face in the other.
"Oh, I don't have it with me. I left it at my mum's long ago." He says easily, like if it was the truth.
"Benny!" Daisy calls for her husband while she stands in the corridor, the baby in her arms is long asleep and the little girl's holding her hand is about to fall too. "Time for bed."
"Right away, Dee." He gives her a smile, now realizing the boy in his arms is sleeping as well. "Well, it was a pleasure. Harry, right?"
"Yeah. Rest well, mate." Harry says shaking his hand before he walked away.
I waited until they were up the stairs to turn to Harry, leaving my cup on the table and hiding a grin on my lips.
"Was that true?" I ask, even though I already know the answer.
"Not a single bit." He says letting a chuckle out, squinting his eyes closed while he laughs. "Never been to Manchester for more than a day. Let along to a game."
"You dirty little liar." I open my mouth amused. "Why did you lie?"
"Maybe its hard to believe but that happens quite a lot. Specially with adults." He says crossing his leg, letting his boot hang on his knee. "They have seen me before but can't quite remember where, so I just play along. Besides, I don't want to be recognized here in the middle of nowhere."
"Mmm." I giggle, moving my legs up on the seat. "How did you know he was from Manchester?"
"I just know things, Frances." He smirks just like he did a couple hours ago back in the car. "And the keys that were hanging on his jeans had a key chain with the team logo."
"That explains it." I giggle, moving my eyes front looking at Jossie cleaning up all the tea cups and plates hanging around. I yawn out of a sudden, stretching my arms above my head.
"Wanna go up?" Harry asks looking at me. I crack my neck with my eyes closed and then nod my head. I can't wait to go to sleep, the whole day its kicking in just now.
We say thank you to Jossie and Jensen before going upstairs. They have been so attentive to us and everyone else staying here. When I reach the door I start thinking about taking a warm shower before getting inside of the bed, inside the warm cozy floral sheets. Then I remember we left our bags in the car.
"Oh, wait. I need to get my things from the car." I stop in front of my door, letting the keys hang from the doorknob.
"Don't worry, I'll go." Harry says turning the doorknob open and taking the key with him. "Stay here. I'm sure Jensen has a big umbrella somewhere."
"Okay." I say while getting inside of the room.
Once inside with the door closed on my back I let all my emotions consume me, just for a few minutes. I jump girly while my cheeks blush and my stomach fills with butterflies. Its been such an amazing day so far and it hasn't even finished. I'm with Harry again, I still can't believe it. And he's been acting like such a gentleman with me. I know I shouldn't be thinking about this but I'm letting myself enjoy it for just a few minutes, while he's not here.
I sit on the bed finally taking my shoes off and letting my back fall flat on the bed, spreading my arms on the sides. When I fall, the bed leaves a loud creak sound, even with every little move you make the bed creaks. At least is comfortable, and also smells like lavender. I
Harry arrives in no time, kicking his wet boots at the door and leaving them there.
"It looks like a hurricane out there. Not even the umbrella was enough." He says placing our bags on the bed, I sit up grabbing mine and opening it.
"Thank you, though." I say while taking my wash bag out.
"Don't worry." He stands in front of the bed, moving his bag to the chair in the corner. "You... Don't mind sharing a bed. Do you?"
"Oh, no, not at all." I say as I stand up, hiding my blushing cheeks from him as I walk in the bathroom. "Its just sleeping after all."
"Yeah." He just says sitting on his side of the bed, spreading his legs front and resting his head on a pillow.
"I'm going to take a shower now." I inform him with the toothbrush already inside of my mouth.
"Go ahead, I'll be resting a bit." He says closing his eyes, his hands behind his head.
It takes me a little too long to set the perfect temperature for the water and even more time to get out of the shower. It was so warm inside that I didn't want to leave so soon. I finally do, rinsing my body and wrapping my body around a towel. I clean the steamed mirror with my palm and take a look at myself. My cheeks are naturally flushed now, they have been like this since this afternoon.
It feels good to feel this way. So giddy and warm inside. I have to bite my lip to suppress the sweet sensation. Even when it feels good, its so wrong. I shouldn't let myself fall for his game again, I'm not sure if I'm prepared to go through it all over again. It was really hard for me to get over him, even when we just shared ten simple hours back then.
Fuck, this is so complicated.
I push the thoughts behind me and open the door, holding my towel secure. When I step outside I find him looking straight at his phone, he's sliding his finger on the screen.
"It took you some time." He says finally moving his eyes up, I look away while I walk to my bag to get my Pj's.
"Sorry, it was really warm. I didn't want to step out." I say with a giggle, taking my clothes out.
"Well, its my turn now. I'll be right back." He says taking his entire bag inside of the bathroom and closing the door on his back.
While he is inside I dress quickly in the only pajama set I own. Its a white shirt with a cookie monster on the front and blue shorts with the word 'cookies' on the back. My sister gave it to me so long ago and I still haven't bought another pair. I put on a pair of socks and place my towel behind the door, walking back to the bed and grabbing my phone.
Soon enough the water from the shower starts falling, the sound fills the whole room mixing with the rain outside. I start texting my sister but after a moment I yawn, my eyelids feel heavy so I give up, closing my eyes with my phone still in my hands. I don't know if it was the sound of the shower, or the relaxing feeling after taking one, or the lavender scent coming from the sheets, but in no time I drifted to sleep, my arms hugging a pillow.
-
I blink my eyes slowly, forgetting for a moment where I am or why am waking up. Then, the sound hits the wall again waking me up a little more. A constant sound of creaking and tapping on the wall. I move my head up the pillow just checking if this is real of if I'm still dreaming.
"Its been an hour and a half..." Harry says from next to me, making my heart jump to my throat. "And they keep going at it."
"What? Who?" I ask confused, scratching my eyes and stretching while inside of the covers. I don't even remember tucking inside.
"Can't you hear? They are conceiving baby number four." He says with a tired voice, letting a sigh out.
"Is that... Are they...?" I sit up with my elbows, widening my eyes at him. I see him nod his head and that makes me gasp. "Oh my God."
"Oh yes. You missed the first round while you were asleep." He says taking something to his mouth and taking a long sip. The room is pitch black, the only light coming from the window next to me and its faint by the curtains. "I don't know how you didn't wake up before."
"I guess I was tired." I say sitting up, my back now on the headboard. He takes a second sip and its when I notice he's drinking the wine that was on my purse. "Harry, are you drinking?"
He turns to look at me, his green eyes still very powerful even in the darkness of the room.
"Mhm." He says with a weak smile. "You were sleeping, they were moaning and I couldn't sleep. I needed something to keep me distracted."
Suddenly a loud groan fills our room, and the rest of the country for that matter. It makes me giggle slightly, this is so uncomfortable but at the same time so funny.
"I thought you didn't like alcohol." I say trying to hide my amusement.
"I don't." He chuckles faintly, taking another sip. "It does help, though."
I turn to grab my phone from the bedside table checking the time. Its thirty past midnight, I slept for almost three hours. The rain its not falling so harsh outside but its still falling heavily, it still doesn't go well with the creaking of the bed in the room next to us.
Suddenly, the moans from the woman start getting higher and higher. We both stay quiet listening to the whole show. She yells: "Oh, Benny, Oh Benny" Repeatedly, very high pitched as the creaks come quicker, until they slow and finally they end. We hear a loud "Oooh, yes" from Ben, and a last creak on our wall.
"To baby number four." Harry moves the bottle up, taking the final sip from the wine.
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A/N: Okay so I was inspired and wrote the next chapter right away :) (Its 11:47 PM, Sunday 15.) I will probably post the chapter tomorrow or tuesday, I'm a terrible human bean. Bean. Yup, bean.
This scene its not over so just wait a little bit until I write the next chapter. Probably a few minutes from now. Okay. Okay bye. ily
(Don't forget to comment which book! xx)