I kept some details to myself when explaining to my mother where I'd be today. It seemed more convenient and less time consuming to leave out my potential boyfriend, Harry, and the fact that he is yes, the son of my mother's deceased boss.
Harry's going to be going to the hearing of his father's will with his sister, Erin. I wanted to be there for Harry as much as possible, so I ditched Charlie and Martha to offer my care to a cold, stolid Harry, who even now as he dresses in a navy blue button up, refuses to speak about his thoughts and/or emotions. Seems typical, but if I were him, I'd be doing the same thing, so I don't bug him about it today. Maybe another.
He runs his hands over his face, rubbing his fingers against his eyes and sighing to himself. I sit on his bed, eyes wandering around the tidy, organized room. This is my first time here in his house, or his aunt's house, and after a short tour, it seems like a homely, neat home. I wasn't surprised to see Harry's room organized, and candles placed on every other surface. He does not like turning on the lights.
When he turns to me, I look at him almost instantly. His black pants, and leathery shoes, and the navy button up seem like good colors on him. I send him a small smile before standing up, taking quiet steps towards him before standing before him. He looks down at me, and whispers, "I really don't want to do this."
"But you will. And I will be here when you want to cry," I tell him firmly, though not a second does my voice fail to show compassion.
The annoyance is clear on his face, but he grabs my face in his hands, squeezing my cheeks and leaning down to place his lips over mine. My eyes shut as well as his. I grab his hands from my cheeks and gradually move them away from my face, placing them on my waist that he hugs carefully seconds after. It carefully pulls my body to his. The soft kiss deepens slightly, only for us to pull away when there's a soft knock on the opened bedroom door.
Erin peers in and gives us a smile. She wears a beige blouse and a pair of black pants with nude heels. Her brown hair, alike to Harry's, is pushed away from her face and into a pony tail. Her eyes are apologetic, feeling intrusive as she gently tells Harry, "Sorry to interrupt. But we've got to go and I can't get a hold of Katherine. I was supposed to leave Nathan with her."
Harry lets go of me and briefly brushes his hand against mine as he does so, out of accident or on purpose, but I don't know. He reaches into his back pocket to pull out his phone; he checks the time. "She could be somewhere there isn't any reception. If she got caught up at work -- the calls might not be coming in?" He suggests lowly, glancing at his phone again.
"Oh, well. I guess I'll take Nathan with us," Erin responds, leaning away from the room.
"I could stay with Nathan," I say out of nowhere, my mouth blabbering on its own. It's not as if I said it and regretted it -- part of me wanted an excuse not to go home to my thoughts. Erin looks at me, raising her eyebrows in surprise while Harry glances towards me in a somewhat similar manner. "I love kids. Plus, I don't have anything going on."
Erin seems pleased as she reassures, "Would you? I mean, it's okay if you don't want to.."
"No, it's fine," I smile, looking away from Harry. "I'll be happy to."
"Oh gosh, thank you, Tara. I promise he's a sweet boy."
When she leaves the room, Harry turns back to me with a stolid expression, shaking his head and asking, "You love kids?"
I chuckle and he manages a tiny smile. "Yes, actually. I happen to be very good with them."
"I'll keep that in mind," he murmurs, and I give him a curious look as he adds, "If you marry me, say in however many so years from now, if you can still handle me then...then we'll have enough kids to supply a daycare purely out of our genetics alone."
My eyebrows furrow and my lips curve into a goofy smile, denying myself the imagery of Harry and children because this is a serious day, but I can't help it. "You're lucky I don't get freaked out by your honesty."
"Then maybe that's why we'll get married," he scoffs sarcastically, and I manage to grin wider. He then sighs to himself and snatches his wallet from his bed, looking down before gazing at me again. "What's your plan, babysitter?"
"I carry all the Harry Potter movies with me in my car," I explain. Harry gives me a look. "You know...emergencies."
"You're going to sit my nephew through hours of Harry Potter?"
I nod, humming gently. "Mhmm." I smile as Harry gazes up at the ceiling in an I can't believe this, moment, and I respond by getting on the tips of my toes, pressing a soft, quick kiss on his lips. My body moves from his, but he pulls be back for a harder peck, wrapping an arm around my waist. I run my knuckles over his jaw, sharing repeated short kisses with him until we lock eyes. A feeling of impulse almost makes me confess my strengthening feelings for him, but I send him a soft smile, whispering, "You'll be okay?"
He nods.
Eventually, Erin and Harry make their way out and I'm left with Nathan in the kitchen. Their kitchen is just as immaculate as everything else, and fanciful with all the right things and decorations in place. I get the sense Katherine spends a lot of time decorating their home, or even has much pride in it as well.
I look at Nathan. He has a striking resemblance to Erin. The light eyes, the straight hair, and the same facial structure only with chubbier cheeks. Nathan sports a monster truck t-shirt and dark jeans, with light up shoes. I didn't think kids still wore those, but he seems to be a fan of them as he refuses to look at me, tapping his feet again and again to watch the red lights from his sneakers.
"So...how old are you, Nathan?" I ask.
He sighs heavily, whispering, "Nine."
"Oh...that's cool. I'm nineteen."
Nathan nods his head and still does not look at me. The silence engulfs us again and I grimace to myself, racking my brain for something. I guess we could start our Harry Potter marathon now.
"Do you...do you like Harry Potter?"
Something clicks and he looks up at me, making eye contact. "My favorite book is Order of the Phoenix." His voice grows in volume, eyes widening.
"Oh my gosh, that one's mine, too!" I catch myself off guard, seeming too excited over our common favorites.
"Dolores Umbridge deserved to get her butt kicked by centaurs," he comments with a laugh, and I can only agree with him.
In a few minutes, I've ran to my car and grabbed the movies and put them into my laptop. I asked Nathan if there's anything he'd like to eat, and if he has any allergies. I found out we both have a habit of eating too much take out, and his favorite is Chinese, which happens to be mine as well. I make a mental note to let Harry know I'm dumping him for Nathan.
I order the take out as we begin the first movie. Throughout the Philosopher's Stone, he makes commentary and I take a shot of putting in my thoughts as well. Nathan happens to be a very smart kid, regardless of the temper tantrums he has during baseball games. He has a lot of knowledge of the variety of creatures in the Harry Potter series and he won't rest until I know them all as well.
By the time we've reached the Prisoner of Azkaban, we've both stuffed our faces with noodles. Nathan gives me all his broccoli, and I give him my fortune cookie. "What do they say?"
Nathan frowns at the small paper in his hands. "Your shoes will make you happy today.."
I chuckle. "Is that true?"
"Yeah," he lazily breathes out, placing the paper on the living table. I pass him napkin so he can wipe his cheek. He shoves the fortune cookie into his mouth, not hesitating to open the one I gave him. He muffles out, "This one's supposed to be yours. It says, A very attractive person has a message for you."
We both fall silent until Nathan huffs and throws the paper onto the living room table with the other one. "That's dumb," he mutters.
My laugh is brief as I say, "I'd like to know what the message is."
"Probably you're a dork."
I gasp, and he laughs loudly, almost spilling his chewed up fortune cookies on himself. "Am not a dork!"
"You keep your Harry Potter movies in your car," he says, swallowing the cookies.
"That's second time today. Harry said the same thing."
"Well, Uncle Harry keeps his Pokemon cards in a display in his closet," he giggles, giving me a mischievous look.
My eyebrows furrow after I snort. "What? How do you know that?"
"Because I found them! And he told me that I couldn't touch them because they're rare."
"How rare?"
"I dunno!" He shrugs. "You like Pokemon?"
"No. More of a Zelda fan. But I will be making fun of Harry for this. For a long, long time."
"Don't tell him I told you. He'll be mad," he insists.
"I won't."
When we've gotten to the end of the Goblet of Fire, Nathan is knocked out. It starts to get dark outside and chilly inside. Nathan's wrapped himself in a blanket and gave me one, knowing where Katherine keeps her blankets. I am cocooned in a fluffy pink blanket, eyes fluttering shut just as the front door opens.
The lights in the house are off until someone walks in and turns them on. I look, half asleep, towards them and see that it's Katherine. She has dark, curly hair and light eyes. Her face is contorted with confusion until she sees me and Nathan, registering the mess of take out we've made and the end credits of a movie playing on my laptop.
I sit up, blinking and whispering, "Oh, hi. I'm sorry we've made a mess. But --"
"No, it's okay, honey. You're Tara?" I nod and she adds, "I got caught up at work and completely forgot that I was supposed to take care of Nathan," she grimaces, glancing at the sleeping boy. "By the looks of it, you're pretty good with him. I'll clean up. You can keep sleeping."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I got it from here. I'm Katherine, by the way. Harry's aunty," she muses, giving me a polite smile. I smile back and lay back down, closing my eyes. As I do, there is faint shuffling heard as Katherine cleans up. I snuggle into the fluffy pink blanket again, swearing I'll only rest a little while longer.
. . .
Someone's lips touch my nose. At first, I'm confused. A groan pushes past my lips and I move away from the touch, only to open my eyes and see a pair of green ones. Instantly, I turn my head to see the couch empty beside me. I look at Harry again and he's staring, hands folded on the couch in front of me as he bends his knees to look at me.
"Hey," I whisper, my voice lacking in power. I sit up and realize I'm still wrapped in the fluffy pink blanket. My laptop is shut on the living table, the take out cleaned, and it's still dark outside. I register that I'm not home and that Harry's back. "How was it?"
He shakes his head. "Hard. But...I'm okay. I take it as you slept well?"
I don't comment on his lack of detail, assuming it's been a day for him. Nodding, I murmur, "Yeah. What time is it?"
"Nine. Erin made me do plenty of shit, completely unnecessary," he says tiredly, and he glances up at my hair before lightly smiling to himself. He reaches out and combs his fingers through the bird's nest I'm sure my hair resembles right now. I press my lips together and scrunch up my nose when I feel the knots. "You look so cute when you wake up."
I scoff softly, lazily leaning over and resting my head on his shoulder, face buried into his neck. He still bends and doesn't seem to mind, stroking my hair as I mumble into his skin, "Reason number five hundred why you should marry me."
Harry makes an amused snicker and lets me lean on him until he stands. I begin to unwrap myself from the blankets, as he asks, "Are you going home?"
I nod, yawning. "Yeah. Katherine's really nice, by the way."
"She's too nice. Gets irritating after a while," he says. "And why don't you stay?"
Standing up, face to face with Harry, I send him a exasperated look. "Because even though I'm a legal adult, it doesn't work that way for my mother."
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry for even suggesting it. It's not like you wanted to eat fancy fruit salads and watch dorky movies with me, in my bed..." he starts.
"Would you be shirtless?"
"Of course."
I grimace and whine, "Oh, fuck."
He laughs. I grab the blanket behind me and walk away from Harry as following behind me, he questions, "Would you be shirtless?"
"Obviously, babe," I turn briefly to wink at him. I remember where Nathan found the blankets, and as I turn back, I begin to fold it. Harry takes it from me, though, and places it in the closet for me.
"I like that," he lowly, gently mutters in my ear before pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. I nearly squirm, giving him a warning glance. He sends me a slight smile, and I can't help but wonder what's going on inside his head.
With a tired sigh, I look up at him, naturally frowning. "I know you're not fine, Harry."
"Yeah, I know," he breathes, reaching up to run his hands over his face. "But I will be, like always."
"Can you at least tell me one thing?"
He pauses, searching my displeased face. "He left me money and a letter. I haven't opened the letter. I've got no reason to upset myself more. And I'm thinking about getting my own place."
"You've been thinking about it?"
He nods. "Yeah. I need a place. Katherine's starting to date again and it's getting weird."
I chuckle softly, shaking my head and ridding myself of the amusement. "Okay. Sounds good. I wish I could stay with you tonight, but the shirtless-ness will have to wait."
"Damn it."
Eventually, he walks me out, but not without a heavy, dopey kiss with my hands in his hair and his on my back. He temps me when he kisses my neck, but I find the holy strength to scold him for it. I drive through the dark, lonely streets on the way to the apartment. A few of the block kids and my neighbors are on the front steps, their parents elsewhere. They play with dice, and one of them has an iPod, which grabs the most attention. I walk between them, shuffling into my bag to grab the front keys.
I walk the stairs to the third floor. The second I swing the door open, I find my mom cuddled up on the couch. A bowl of soup in her hands as she tiredly stares at the television, her favorite soaps with the sexy Cuban actor is airing. Her brown curly hair is thrown into a bun, pajamas on. I smile at her only to notice the way she glares up at me. I've done something. I don't know what, yet.
"Hey, ma."
"Quien es el muchacho que te tiene tan enamorada?" She questions. Who is the guy that has you so in love? Her perfectly done eyebrows raise as she awaits my answer, but I'm too confused as to how she knows where I was, or at least with a guy. "Charlie told me, tonta. He came by and opened his big mouth."
My eyes roll back in pure agitation. Of course it was Charlie. "Yeah...he's a guy that I like. Big deal."
"Big deal? No, mija, this is a huge deal. You lied to me today."
"No, ma. I just didn't mention him. I didn't lie, though," I defend, setting my bag down on the dining table. She follows me carefully with her eyes.
"So...what's his name?"
"Ma..."
"Como se llama, Tara." She demands assertively. What's his name.
"Harry. His name is Harry."
"Is he white?"
"Ma!"
"Solo es una pregunta!" She exclaims. It was only a question!
Taking a seat next to her, I look over at her as she does to me. I grab the blanket she has and shuffle underneath it. I wonder if she'll ever realize the Harry I'm talking about is the same Harry that she knows. I rather not say it, however, and I softly respond, "He's handsome, nice, and intelligent. You'd like him."
"I don't mind as long as you are safe," she reminds me.
"I know, ma."
n. expect another update soon. the conversation Tara and her mom have is literally what one sounds like with my mom.