The song for this chapter is once again Don't forget Where You Belong by One Direction. Merry Christmas Eve to Everyone! Enjoy! xo
P.S. There will be another update either tomorrow or the day after ;)
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"Guess what?" Allie barges in excitedly through the doors and props herself at the bar, staring at me intently across the counter waiting for me to reply, what? what? tell me!
"You finally finished your part in our literary review assignment due next week?" I say sarcastically, knowing it was far off from what she actually had to say.
"No, better. My mom just sent me two round-trip plane tickets to Toronto! We're going home for thanksgiving!" she announces giddily. What? No.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously! Pack your bags King! We're leaving in three days!" She claps her hands together in excitement while I stop wiping down the tables.
"No, I mean seriously in a bad way. My dad got me tickets to fly back home for my birthday and I was planning to use them for thanksgiving as well. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to use the other one I had..." I explain to her as I refill the napkin dispenser. Zayn always gives me these jobs to do while he takes most of the restocking and orders. I'm pretty sure it's just to keep me busy and away from actually making drinks. Despite my carnal knowledge on everything Starbucks, I'm pretty much the worst at preparing anything consumable.
"Oh, really? Wow what a coincidence that our parents would get us both tickets to go home..." she ponders aloud as she absent-mindlessly plays with and bends the new straws that I've just put into the straw dispenser.
"Why don't you ask Niall to take yours?" I suggest. Though we haven't really spoken since the night of the party and Harry has made it clear that he doesn't want me seeing him- for reasons he has still failed to elaborate on- I'm sure Niall would love to go home for the holidays. I don't think he's been home since he left three years ago.
She sighs, "I already did. The tickets were supposed to be for him and I to go but he said he was too busy with school to leave right now." I stay silent as I finish cleaning and replenishing the supplies on the counter.
"Well, I guess it works out for the best then. Now I can bring along who I really wanted to in the first place," she says in her once again chipper tone. I make a mock offended gesture at her, a little hurt by her words, but she just continues on.
"Now I can ask Liam if he wants to go." Liam? I can imagine the plane ride already. The two canoodling by the window seat while I'm stuck as the lonely third-wheeler trapped on a plane for six hours with the love birds. Fun!
"Doesn't he have his own family to get to on thanksgiving?" I ask her. Surely he would much rather spend it with them than play meet the parents.
"Yeah, but he doesn't have enough right now to fly all the way to London, so he was just planning to stay here for thanksgiving." I only manage to mumble an oh as she continues to gush about her new trip with Liam.
"How about you? You still have an extra ticket. Why don't you bring Harry?" What?! Is she serious? I'm not bringing Harry home for thanksgiving to meet my father. No way! We haven't really even defined our relationship yet and coming home with me to meet my dad is moving way, way too fast!
"Hey, guys what you talking about?" Eleanor slides into a stool beside Allie, coming from work.
"Our trip back home for thanksgiving." Allie tells her.
"Oh cool! Yeah, I'm going back to San Francisco for the holidays too. Louis is planning to join me as well. I'm super excited!" she beams. I almost forgot that El came from San Francisco, and only a couple blocks away from where I used to live at that! My mind briefly goes back to the dream I had about Eleanor and Ben, and I repress a shiver.
"See Bree! El is bringing Louis home for thanksgiving too! Why don't you take Harry?" Allie pushes me further.
"Uhh, I t-think he already has plans with his family," I lie. I didn't really ask him if he did, but there's a chance he could actually be seeing his family. I have no idea.
"No, his parents don't come back for another week. They almost always spend thanksgiving late since Gemma's birthday is usually just a week after," El says, extinguishing my lie.
"See! Bree you should totally invite him!" Allie encourages.
"I don't know, don't you think it would be too soon to bring him home to meet my dad?" We have been together for barely a month now. It's not like we even officially said that we were dating. After that day visiting his grandma and our kiss, we kinda just acted like a couple and refrained from seeing anyone else besides each other. Nothing formal or anything, until now.
"Yeah, but I think you guys are ready for it. I mean, you're practically a couple now right? Because you sure do act like it whenever you guys are around each other." They both chuckle.
Yes, it's true we are pretty couple-like in public. Harry sure isn't afraid of any public displays of affection. I don't think we ever go five minutes without having some part of our bodies touching when we're together. It's all just going so well and perfect right now, and I would hate to have it ruined.
"I just don't think we are ready for that big of a step yet."
"Oh come on! That isn't even that big of a step. It's definitely not as big as sleeping together, and you guys have passed that." Allie says, and I focus my attention on counting the money in the cash register.
"You guys have had sex, haven't you?" Allie interrogates, causing my cheeks to turn slightly pink.
"Not exactly," I say, continuing to focus on the money in the register.
"What?! Really? I mean, I thought with Harry's reputation and all that you guys would have already-"
"Allie..." El whispers quietly and nudges Allie, probably noticing my discomfort. It's not like we haven't done anything at all. We have come close several times in our some of our heated make out sessions, we even made it to third base once, but something always seems to come up. It's that I'm not ready to either, I mean, I want to really, it's just never the right timing with us.
"Wait. Are you a vir-"
"Allie!" El says louder, finally shutting Allie up.
"Look, if Bree and Harry want to wait, then that's their business. Besides, it's great you guys are waiting for the right time. I think that's very mature of Harry. But I also think that you should seriously consider on the whole thanksgiving thing, Bree. Harry usually spends thanksgiving with Louis and with Louis coming to spend it with me, he's not gonna have anywhere to go. Just think about it." Eleanor says in a more calm and understanding manner. Well, hearing it like that, I'd feel bad if I didn't spend thanksgiving with Harry. I had no idea his holidays were so, lonely.
"Okay fine, I'll ask him about it later on when he picks me up from work," I say.
"Yay! Oh my gosh, this is going to be so much fun!" Allie squeals. "Okay, well we'll see you back at home. I've got to go tell Liam and pack!" She grabs Eleanor off her stool and they both whisk out of the store into the parking lot. I'm left here to my anxious thoughts about this upcoming trip with Harry and how he will take it.
...
"Hey, you ready to go?" Harry asks as he greets me with a hello peck on the lips and sits down on a wooden stool at the counter. His curls are pulled back in a grey knit beanie that brings out his tremendously pale green eyes and he's wearing a simple white v-neck with his jean jacket overtop and plain denim jeans. He looks absolutely gorgeous and his appearance slightly distracts me from the nervousness I have felt on telling him about the trip during my entire shift.
"U-Uh yeah, I need to talk to you about something first, though." I say slowly as I hang my apron on the hook behind the counter.
"Yeah sure, what is it?" His eyes look deeply into mine and the butterflies reemerge. Just come right out and say it, Bree.
"Hey, you leaving already?" Zayn calls from behind me as he comes out of the back room, just as the words are about to escape my lips.
"Yeah, my shift just ended." I turn around and say to him as he starts to take out some of the food in the display fridge.
"Okay, have a goodnight!" he says, giving me a sweet smile.
"You too." I smile back before turning my attention back to Harry. His eyes are still trained on Zayn with a bit of a dark look on his face.
"So I was saying..." I trail off, trying to gain back the courage to tell him. I am once again interrupted, this time by Harry's lips. They crash onto my own in a more passionate manner than previously when he greeted me. Oh, he's such a distraction!
"Damn, I missed you babe," he murmurs inches from my face with his thumb pressed down lightly on my bottom lip. I love it when he calls me babe. Great! Now I can't possibly go on with what I was going to say after that.
"Now, what were you saying?" He adjusts himself properly on his seat again, but not before taking a small sideways glance in the direction of Zayn. A triumphant smirk crosses his face, confirming that Zayn must have seen his actions.
Harry always seems to be super affectionate whenever we're around Zayn. Though he denies it, I know he gets really jealous of Zayn. Countless times he has tried to get me to quit my job, saying that there are better jobs out there, that he could even get me one himself if I wanted him to. One time he even asked one of his father's friends to call and offer me a job at their firm. I kindly declined, saying that working in an office wasn't really my thing. Believe it or not, I actually like my job here- though I suck at it, I love the friendliness of the staff and customers here, not to mention the unlimited supply of free drinks. I'm actually saving money on buying a shit load of coffee every day, just by working here.
"Oh um, r-right. I-I was gonna ask you..." I stare into his eyes and get lost in the hypnotic colour of them before regaining my train of thought. "U-Uh, I was gonna ask you what your plans were for thanksgiving this year." I am finally able to voice out.
"Oh yeah, well I usually spend it at the Tomlinson house with Louis and his family, but I was just hanging out with Louis today and he told me that he was spending thanksgiving with Eleanor's family. It would be pretty weird if I went to Louis' house without him actually there, so I guess as of now, nothing." That's what I was afraid of.
"Oh um well, m-me and Allie are actually planning to go back home to Toronto for thanksgiving weekend. Our parents sent us both plane tickets." I start.
"Oh well that's great! You're always saying how much you miss your dad, I'm glad you'll finally get to see him again. I guess I'll just see you when you come back then," he says in a less enthusiastic tone.
"Actually, I have an extra plane ticket and was wondering if you wanted to come too. Allie is bringing Liam, so I guess that will make it less awkward for you." I wait for his response patiently. He seems to look at me questioningly as if assessing my own reaction before answering.
"So you want me to come home with you for thanksgiving and meet your dad?" Oh no, I knew this was a bad idea to ask him. I should have never listened to El and Allie.
"U-Uh umm I-I mean, it's just that I had an extra ticket that I didn't want to go to waste and you don't have any plans so I thought... I don't know if you wanted to... you don't have to of course it's up to you. And it wouldn't be like a formal and weird sort of meet the parents thing I mean, I think my dad would be pretty cool about it. Like, we don't have to make a big deal about it or anything... I just thought it-" I ramble on uncontrollably until Harry places his large hands on the sides of my face to grab my attention.
"Bree!" He stops me midsentence. "I would love to spend thanksgiving with you."
"W-What? You would?" I ask in shock.
"Yeah! I've really never been to Canada before and I'm great with parents. I mean, your mom already adores me, I'm sure your dad will too." That's true. My mother practically loves him. More than her own daughter it seems. Though I doubt he'll have the same effect on my dad. I have always come first in my father's eyes and though I have never brought a boy home or even mentioned the subject of boys to him, I'm sure he'll play the protective father role when Harry gets there.
"You don't think it's moving too soon?" I ask him.
"No, not at all. Of course, unless you think it is."
"Um, well I guess not. It's not like we're getting married or anything- it's just one weekend." I say, more to convince myself rather than him. "I guess I would be okay with it."
"Yeah! Plus, I wouldn't wanna spend thanksgiving with anyone else but you and your family," he says, making my heart practically melt onto the counter. This is going to be great! I hope.
...
After the long six hours on the plane, not to mention the two hours we spent in Detroit on layover, Harry practically has to carry me out into the terminal where we retrieve our luggage. Allie almost looks like that female villain character with crazy curly hair, played by Helen Bonham Carter, in the Harry Potter movies, only blonde. Jet lag doesn't do her good and she's even grumpier than I am. He hugs me tightly while placing soft kisses on my forehead while we stand on the escalator taking us to baggage claim. We spend another thirty minutes trying to retrieve our bags off of the belt, most of them being Allie's.
Finally, a good hour after landing, we are able to make it out into the pick-up waiting area. Harry holds my hand tightly as we roll our luggage down the walkways among the throng of other passengers looking to find their loved ones. I peak my head over and attempt to stand on my tippy toes in hopes of seeing the familiar loving face of my father, but to no avail, see nothing.
"Bree!" A voice calls across through the crowd and I turn my head to locate the voice. There, standing next to a boarding sign, is my dad. My dad whom I haven't seen in months is just mere meters away from me. His features are the same- bald head, green eyes, slight beard, glasses. But something seems different about him. A sort of fresh and new quality about him. Maybe it's the lighting? I can't really put my finger on it. Harry and I make our way over to him, the smile never leaving my face.
"Oh Honey Bee, it's so good to see you!" my dad beams as he embraces me in a bear hug. Once we pull away, Harry immediately replaces my hand in his.
"Who's this?" my father asks in confusion. His hazel green eyes go from me, to Harry, to our intertwined hands; a look of distaste crosses his face.
"U-Umm dad, this is Harry my-"
"Phil, dear!" a voice calls out. I turn to see Allie's mom heading for us. She also looks as I remember seeing her last- highlighted blonde bob, bright facial features, blue eyes. However, there's something different about her as well. New makeup, perhaps? She sees Allie and her smile brightens. Wait, dear?
"Oh Allie, my baby!" She rushes up and holds a frizzy and tired Allie in a tight embrace. "And you must be Liam! Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you, Allie has told me so much about you!" she beams at Liam once she and Allie pull out of the embrace.
"Bree, you still haven't told me who this is," Dad says. So maybe he's not going to be as fine with it as I thought.
"Phil, honey. We should get the kids' stuff loaded into the car, there's only a fifteen minute holding limit for the parking spot." she tells my father as she gently touches his shoulder. Dear? Honey? Am I the only one seeing this right now?
"Dad, what's going on?" I question my father suspiciously.
"We'll talk about it at home, Bridget."
"No, I want to know now." I stand my ground. Harry squeezes my hand a bit but I ignore it.
"U-Um well...after you two left, Maura and I got to talking and..." he trails off. Is this going where I think it's going?
"Your father and I are together!" Allie's mom says cheerful before grabbing my father's hand in her own. Did I just hear that right?
I look over to Allie and her expression mirrors mine. Even Harry's face bears the shocked and a bit uncomfortable look. This can't be right.
My dad and Allie's mom? Allie's mom and my dad? Together? As in, together as a couple?