"Are you sure you have everything?" Harry asks for the millionth time.
"Oh my God! Yes I do mother," I groan rolling my eyes.
"Well I don't want to have to come back for any of your shit," Harry says rolling his suitcase to the front door. I roll my eyes again.
"Always so dramatic," I mumble. He shoots me a look but I just smile innocently.
"Don't leave me!" Louis shouts running into the room. "I'll be stuck here with that woman," he whispers with a acting terrified. I just laugh at his silliness and once again I realize why he and El are so perfect for each other.
"You better watch it. That woman stays awake longer than you do," El warns entering the room and raising an eyebrow at him.
"I was just kidding. I love you honey bunches," Louis says throwing his arms around her in a loving way kissing her temple. I smile at them and I hear Harry fake gagging beside me.
"Stop it," I warn slapping his arm. He rolls his eyes.
"We have to go now or else we won't make it there until midnight," Harry tells me.
"Alright," I sigh. I give El a quick hug and Louis the same.
"Don't destroy the apartment," Harry calls out from the door.
"We'll try not too," Louis smiles.
"I'm going to miss you," Ell tells me.
"We'll only be gone a week," I tell her.
"That's too damn long," she complains. I just smile at her and shake my head.
I pick up my suitcase and walk over to Harry, who politely opens the door for me.
I give him a surprised look and he rolls his eyes. I chuckle lightly before turning to wave at Louis and El one last time. I head over to his range rover and toss my bag in the trunk.
"Hey! Watch it! You'll hurt her," he says rubbing the side of his car with his hand. I give him a look and scoff. I wait for him after climbing into the passenger seat. When he enters he looks over at me.
"Try not to be annoying for the majority of this ride, ok?" he teases.
"Haha. You're so funny," I tell him sarcastically but can't help the smile that makes it's way onto my face.
"I know," he says nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.
"Just drive," I tell him. Once he has pulled out on the road I turn on the radio. I grimace at the bubble gum pop that comes blaring through the radio. I flip the channels until I'm happy with the sound of Blink 182 coming through the speakers. I'm a little surprised when Harry quietly sings along with the song like I do, but I don't show it afraid that he'll stop. He has such a nice raspy sexy tone that I could just listen to forever. I'm disappointed when the song ends but then Gives You Hell by The All American Rejects comes on and my mood brightens again. I love this song because it's one of those in your face songs and I just always want to dance to it and yeah I'm cheesy. I'm over having my own little jam session when Harry starts laughing and so do I.
"You are such a loser," he chuckles.
"I know," I grin at him. "But you love me for it," I finish.
He shakes his head and focuses on the road.
The ride is long and somewhere along the way I fall asleep. When I wake up I hear Harry's voice singing along to The Only One by Somo.
(A/N: Love this song. If you don't know it check it out and comment on the video so I can see who all checked it out.)
His hand is on my thigh and he seems so relaxed. I pretend to be asleep so he doesn't remove the contact and I just listen to him sing. His voice is like heaven and my own personal bliss. I managed to listen for a while without moving, but the air in the car was freezing and I was on the verge of shivering.
"Hey Harry?" I mumbled.
He froze and his voice stopped completely. It seemed like every muscle in his body was paralyzed.
"Yeah?" he croaked.
"Can you turn the heat up?" His body relaxed and he reached up turning the nob to warm the car without a word. His hand didn't return to my thigh and I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I laid my hand down on the console and stretched my feet out. To my pleasant surprise I felt Harry's warm hand fall on top of mine and intertwined our fingers. His hands swallowed mine in comparison, but they fit together perfectly in the oddest way. A small smile fell on my face and I peaked at Harry to find him smiling as well.
"How much longer?" I asked him glancing out the window and looking to our surroundings as if I would recognize where we were. The sky had turned dark and the stars seemed to shine brighter tonight as they scattered randomly above. The moonlight fell over a lake we were passing giving it a beautiful shine. I smiled at the sereneness of our surroundings.
"We'll be there in about 15 minutes," he informed me. I suddenly felt sick. I hadn't been worried about it until now, but what if Harry's mom doesn't like me? Oh my God what if she thinks I'm like some hoe that she's never gonna meet again and treats me like crap? What if she assumes that-
"Are you okay?" Harry asks interrupting me from my terrified thoughts.
"What if your mom doesn't like me?" I blurt.
Harry raises his eyebrows in question before they furrow in a frown.
"She is going to love you. Trust me. If I like you, she'll love you," Harry assures me. My heart flutters at his words, but then I remember that he means in a best friend type like and its like my was just crushed by a boulder.
"Are you sure? I mean I'm not exactly social, and I eat too much, and I'm not exactly the most attractive girl in the world. What if she thinks I'm like a total nu-" Harry cuts me off again.
"Would you stop it? You're perfect Harper. Absolutely perfect," he mumbles that last part. There's a sincerity in his voice that makes me feel like he believes what he's saying, but I am far from perfect. I look over at him and give him a hard look.
"Your biased," I say sternly.
"Would you stop worrying?" he asks before bringing our intertwined hands to his lips. He kisses the back of my hand and smiles at me. I sigh, but stay quiet and squeeze his hand in a thank you.
I am literally on the verge of a heart-attack by the time we pull up to the cabin. Harry releases my hand and I'm left cold by the sudden departure. I don't have much time to think about it though, because Harry's opening my car door and trying to pull me out.
"Come on, Harper," he groans pulling on my stiff limbs.
"No. I can't do it," I tell him gripping onto the door handle.
"Haven't you ever met a friends parent before?" he asked crossing his arms.
"Of coarse. But this time it's different. I actually care about what she thinks," I say not thinking about the words that are rushing out of my mouth.
"Why?" Harry asks a smirk forming on his lips.
"I don't know! I just do," I tell him exasperated.
"Buttercup," he says softly, but I won't look at him. I know what he's doing.
"Buttercup, you'll freeze out here," he says moving closer to me. I feel his hot breath on my cheek as he brushes his nose against it softly, brushing his lips against the skin every now and then. My heart race increases again, but for a totally different reason this time.
"I hate you," I mumble. He grins and backs away grabbing my small hand in his larger ones. I allow him to pull me out of the car and lead me to the trunk. We release hands to retrieve our suitcases and Harry closes the trunk of the car. I follow him to the door and try to keep my breathing under control. He doesn't even knock. He just walks right in and I gape at him as he keeps on strolling into the sizable cabin. I suddenly get my ass in gear and walk scramble inside the house and out of the cold.
"Thanks for leaving me," I mumble when I catch up to Harry. He has stopped and I look up to see why. I see a beautiful woman standing there, a young beautiful girl who looked a little like Harry, and a man. I realized that it must be his family and I stop short of breath.
"Hey mum," Harry grins dropping his suitcase and sweeping her into a hug. The way he greets his mother was so sweet and unexpected that I smile involuntarily as I watch the interaction carry out.
"Hey. Oh, my baby's so grown!" she exclaims.
"Mum," Harry pulls back slightly and looking at me. All attention is turned to me after that. I stand there awkwardly not sure of what to do.
"You must be Harper," Harry's mom calls politely smiling at me. I smile and move forward as if to shake her hand, but she pulls me into a hug.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Anne. Harry's mother. Wow, you're even more beautiful than Harry said," she grins.
"Mum," Harry groans and I swear a pink tinges his cheeks. Does he really talk about me?
"Oh, don't be so sour," Harry's mother calls to him playfully. He rolls his eyes and Anne introduces me to the rest of the family.
"This is my daughter Gemma and this is my husband, Robin," she says sliding an arm around his waist and kissing his cheek. I smile at their interaction.
"I'll never get tired of hearing that," Robin says to her and she grins.
"Oh, are you guys newly weds?" I ask. Harry didn't often talk about his family. I hadn't even known he had a sister.
"Yes. We are," Anne answers a gleam in her eyes that I wanted to have one day. I glance at Harry to see him turning away from me and to his sister.
"Hey Gem," he says wrapping her into a hug. She wraps her arms around him as well.
"Hey Harry," she says lowly soaking up the hug her brother was giving her. I once again smile at their interaction. Harry was a completely different person around his family. This was a soft side of him even I hadn't seen. I felt privileged to even get to witness such a site. He seemed so care free and gentle and loving. He looked comfortable. He looked like he felt safe. Like he didn't have to be something he wasn't for once. It was a beautiful side of him.
He smiled over at Robin once he had broken from the hug and he gave him a quick, manly hug, but there was still a loving tone about it. My heart clenched knowing that Harry had a good loving family. Something I never had. Even before the cheating and the lies and the divorce, I didn't have a family. My home had always been broken. I don't even know why my parents had been together. They were so wrong for each other. Complete and total opposites on the inside. I couldn't help but compare Harry and myself to my parents. What if we ever did get together? Would we end up like my parents? I shook away the thoughts remembering the company in front of me. I smiled at Gemma and move forward to shake her hand.
"Hi. I'm Harper," I introduce. She smiles back a beautiful smile and I don't even understand how a family could be so perfect. Harry was as flawless as could be and so were Gemma and Anne. What was it with English people. Are they all supposed to be this attractive?
"Hi. I'm Gemma," she shakes my hand.
After the rest of the introductions we head to the living room area of the cabin.
"So are you two like..." Gemma trailed of waving a finger between Harry and I. I almost choke on air and avoid looking at Harry at all costs.
"Uhh, no," Harry says. I feel my heart shatter at the words. I had gotten the message by now, but it still hurts every time I hear it.
"Yeah, not even close. We're just good friends," I tell them going along with Harry's words. Harry's jaw sets a little and we glance at each other at the same time. I hope he doesn't detect the almost sad look in my eye. I want to say I notice the same look in his eyes, but I don't want to fool myself. He made it clear he doesn't feel that way about me and I can't help, but keep reminding myself of his words. They seemed to haunt me. Especially when we were close.
"Oh," was all she said. it goes quiet for a second and I rack my brain for something to say, but Anne beats me to it.
"So Harper, tell us about yourself," she says. It's a polite statement and I could easily decline, but Anne was hard to deny. Harry was the same way, but I had learned to deflect his puppy eyes. Most of the time.
I really didn't want to tell them about me. I was truly not that interesting. My family hadn't been nice like this. Not in the slightest. I was a truly messed up child with an even more messed up family, but Anne was so sweet and I didn't want to decline the chance to offer up at least one or two things about myself. So I draw in a breath and begin.