Ps.: Read the first chapter of DWA, maybe? Don't forget soon DMG is over, and maybe you'll need to get attached to some other fic, so. Why not? ;)
87.
●•Harry•●
“Harry, may I talk to you for a sec, love?” I was pulled away from the small talk I was having with Savanna and Davie about some sh–tty TV show by a light touch on my elbow. When I turned around, it was to face my mother with her mouth pressed into a tight line and her eyes showing some sort of guilty, I supposed.
“Sure,” I smiled fondly, turning around to let those two know I was going to leave quickly; also telling them that I would be right back.
When I went to face my mother again, she was already heading to the kitchen, smiling at some of the guests before disappearing into the white door. It only took me a few seconds to catch up and soon enough I was closing the door behind me, watching as she balanced herself with an arm pressed to a stool, back resting against the counter.
“Everything okay?” I asked after a few seconds of silence, mum doing nothing but staring at me.
She breathed out a long sigh, shaking her head slightly. “Harry, please don’t hate me,” she said first, not quite looking at me properly yet. Her loose hand fumbled with the hem of her shirt, fingers twitching nearly unnoticeably.
“What did you do, Anne?” I questioned, voice still a bit teasing. She knew I didn’t really mean it, the way her lips curved up into a small smile proving my theory. As she fell into silence again, I walked toward her, placing one of my hands on her shoulder. “Mum, c’mon, spit it out. You know I can’t hate you, don’t you?”
She finally peered up to look into my eyes, her own seeming a lot guiltier now. I was maybe starting to get worried.
“Harry, I’m really glad you finally decided to move on from that childish love of yours,” she started off, rubbing a soothing hand over the tissue on my chest, but right away I pulled away from her, assuming a defensive position at her first words.
“It was not a childish love, mum. How many times will I have to say it?” I spit out through greeted teeth, glaring at her as she rolled her eyes to the back of her head, breathing out yet another long sigh.
“Oh c’mon, Harold. For the sake of God you were fourteen. Stop making such a big deal out of it just because you couldn’t find another girlfriend after that,” she growled, taking two steps forward so we could be face-to-face again. I took two steps back.
“I didn’t want to find another girlfriend after that. And it was a big deal, but I’m not arguing that with you again! I just asked for you to respect my thoughts but you can’t even-”
“Ok, Harry. Enough of that. I didn’t call you here to talk about this again,” she cut me off, not bothering to close the distance between us this time. I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest as if to get her to keep talking, so she did. “I called you here to talk about your new girlfriend.”
I frowned, uncrossing my arms and letting them fall loose next to my legs. “What about her?”
“I think she’s not your type, Harry. There’s something odd about her and I think you’re going to get hurt, eventually. And the last thing I want is for you to go through that whole drama again,” she reasoned, voice careful, scrutinizing my expression.
“Whom are you to judge whether she’s my type?” I retorted instantly, not even thinking of my words.
“Excuse you? I am your mother, mister! Watch how you talk to me!”
Instantly, I felt guilty of the tone I used with her. I was still boiling with anger, though. Even if she was my mother, she had never made an effort to understand what I had been through, and I was not willing to let her do that again.
“I’m not letting your obsession ruin my relationship, mum,” I spoke slowly after a deep breath, keeping my eyes closed to avoid the stern look she was probably shooting me.
“Sorry?”
This time I actually looked at her. “Charlie,” was my explanation, and she widened her eyes in faux shock. “I know what this is really about, mum. Scar is odd because she’s not all-smiles and sociality at first sight; she doesn’t make light jokes and she doesn’t flatter the way you arrange the house. She’s odd because she doesn’t speak of her plans for the future and world peace, global warming or whatever, isn’t it? She’s odd because she’s not Charlie, right?”
By now her mouth was agape, staring at me as if I was some sort of freak.
“What are you talking about, Harold? Of course it’s not that!”
“It is, mum. You don’t hide it you want me to be with her, you’ve never had.”
“Well, I would be happier if you were dating Charlie, but-”
“The thing is, mum. It’s not going to happen. If you knew me as well as you say you do, you would know Charlie is the one who’s not my type. Being the daughter of your best friend – who’s also obsessed with me for some odd reason – and you should think that is odd, not my girlfriend – is not enough of a reason for me to be with her, alright? Being with someone involves feelings, and affinities, and I have it now. I love Scarlett.”
“Harry, listen-”
“No, mum. Please, you listen to me. Once, try to listen to me. Instead of trying to stick something into my brain, try to understand it: it took me years to fall in love again; whether you believe my last love was childish or not, it consumed me for years. And now I’m finally into someone again. And I would pretty much appreciate it if you could respect it, if you can’t at least agree with it. Can’t you be happy that I’m happy, God. You’re my mother.”
She actually gasped at that, trying to get closer to me again. I walked back once more and she stopped.
“Of course I’m happy for you! Don’t you dare accusing me of being a bad mother, this is ungrateful of you.”
I growled louder, rubbing my hands over my face exhaustedly. “I’m not accusing you of anything! You’ve been a great mother to me since I was born, okay? I reckon you went through hell and back whenever dad spent nights in a row out at work. I reckon you had to take care of me and Gem all on your own for years until he quit, okay? You’re an angel! But mum,” I was nearly pleading this time, literally clasping my hands together as if to make a pray “this is not about how you raised me. This is about my feelings, okay? I also understand you want the best for me, but you can’t choose whom I’m gonna be with.”
Her lips quivered slightly, her hands clenching into loose fists on her sides, trying desperately not to cry. Holy sh–t.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, okay? You’re my baby and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Well, it happens. People break their heart and they move on. Let me worry about that, yeah? Don’t try to force me to be with someone I clearly don’t love. It’s a thousand times worse and it’s frustrating.”
She shook her head stubbornly, swallowing dryly the lump in her throat. “She loves you, Harry. And she’s such a good girl. Trust my mother instincts, I know what’s best for you. This girl you brought here today-”
“Don’t,” I pointed a threatening finger at her, not bothering with the way she seemed taken aback, more hurt than I’d ever seen before. “This conversation is over now.” I turned around and curled my fingers around the knob, ready to leave, but then I remembered something. “Oh, and please make me a favor? Keep pretending to be nice to my girlfriend. Your fondness has always been one of the things I admire the most about you; don’t make me change my mind.”
And then I left, left the room and left her standing in the middle of it with what seemed a lot like disappointment and hurt taking over her features. None of it really mattered when the door was fully open and I was greeted with a lost Scarlett hugging herself and looking at me with wide eyes.
There was a beat of silence before it finally hit me.
“Did you just-?”
Scarlett shook her head, obviously dismissively, whilst looking down at her feet, seeming quite hurt, too. But before I could apologize for all the sh–t my mum had made her hear, she was looking up again, opening her mouth to say something. I let her.
“I gotta go to the hospital, Harry,” she announced lowly, analyzing my reaction.
Some sort of despair took over me. “Why? Are you not feeling okay again? I’ll drive you there, if you need to. Really, I don’t bother leaving here-”
“Harry, I’m fine. You can stay and enjoy the rest of your birthday with your friends. It would be quite rude if the birthday-boy just left his own birthday party. I’ll get a cab or something.”
I frowned, watching as she smiled weakly before standing on her tiptoes to peck my lips. I grabbed her shoulders before she could do so, pushing her away so I could look her in the eyes.
“What are you gonna do there?”
She took a deep breath, resting her heels back on the ground and looking at me warily. “Zach called?” she asked instead of stating, arching one eyebrow as if challenging me to decipher the rest. Nothing. “And, uhn, Tyler’s sort of been in an accident? And I really need to go there and make sure he’s okay, or something like that.”
My heart stopped in my chest, the air failing at reaching my lungs. “Scarlett, please. Not again.”
“Harry, please,” she begged, looking at me with despair, her eyes also beseeching for comprehension. “Look, it’s not like I’m leaving you for him,” I rolled my eyes, the irony on the tip of my tongue, ready to roll out as something like ‘no, of course not. You’re just leaving me on my birthday to look over your ex’, but she interrupted me before I could say such a thing. “I’m not, Styles,” she assured again, more fiercely this time. “I’m yours, okay? You know that, I’ve left that pretty clear to both Tyler and you. And it’s not like it’s my fault. Do you really think I planned all of this to happen on your birthday?”
“You don’t have to go,” I murmured right away, stubbornly, just like I did when I was seven. Or so.
“Ugh! Don’t do this,” she warned softly, kissing my cheek. “Don’t act all childish just because you know it’s cute. Listen. I’m gonna check on him to see if he’s okay. He asked Zach to call me because he wanted to see me, and so I’ll give him this privilege. But it’s all. Once I’m sure he’s alive I’ll come back, okay? And you could come with me, but it’s your party. You deserve to have a bit of fun.”
I stared at her for a while more, making sure she was being serious, and apparently, she was. Scar had this fond smile showing up, and somehow the words ‘I’m yours’ were still warming me up inside, so I nodded shortly, accepting there was no way I was going to change her mind, whatsoever.
“Check on him and come back to me,” I pouted, enlightening the mood. She nodded enthusiastically, standing on her tiptoes again and this time I let her reach my lips. I felt like I needed to kiss her properly, though, and so when she went to pull away, I grabbed her waist and kissed her again. Properly. “Love you,” I whispered against her lips, pecking them one last time.
Just before she pulled away fully, I could swear I’d listened to a “you too”, and I didn’t let it slide as a smile spread wider on my lips and she left through the front door.
When I walked back to the clump of people in the middle of the room, I was greeted with a glass of beer shoved into my hand, a series of wolf-whistles (those bastards couldn’t mind their own business even when I was with my girl, could they?), and maybe a few questions on why she had left.
That wasn’t really the worst, though.
The worst was when, ten minutes later, my mum left the kitchen with a smile I knew was nothing but fake showing up, her words still playing inside my head, judging and disapproving; and Scarlett leaving me to make sure her ex was fine was not helping one bit on getting my point across.
But mum wasn’t right. The little squeeze my heart was giving me was pure drunkenness.
●•Author's Note•●
note: 1. I'M SORRY. I'M SO, SO SORRY. I LOVE ANNE, OKAY? AND I KNOW HARRY AND HER HAVE AN AWESOME RELATIONSHIP, AND I KNOW SHE DIVORCED FROM DES, AND I KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I WROTE REALLY HAPPENED, BUT BEFORE YOU HATE ME, KEEP IN MIND THIS IS AN AU, AND I MADE UP EVERYTHING I WRITE, SO. I don't know why the capital letters. Just don't go and throw shitty comments like "this is not what happened to his parents", because I know it, and I've gotten comments like those when I first wrote about Anne and Des still married. Only a really few of you do that, because 99% of my readers are lovely and you understand what I do, but I just wanted to make that clear. 2. Well. Now I want you to tell me what you thought of this. Scarlett heard it all. Oops. On the next chapter you'll know what happened to Ty.
dedication goes to: @ITSALL4_HARRY sorry. She had to go. You know Scarlett. But, hey, don't worry. Harry isn't hurt. Much. And by the way, yes, there is gonna be a MTJA update soon, I'm working on it :)
next update: Friday (January 10th)
Reach 1000 votes for early update. Best comment gets a dedication. Love you all lots, Dani xx