Harry’s POV
After I got off work, I had headed over to Luke’s place. He was having a pool party and had asked White Eskimo to perform there. White Eskimo was the band a few of us had formed. We were all right, we knew a couple of songs but not that many. They had scheduled a couple of bands so we’d be able to enjoy the party also. We were planning on going second because I’d be a little late getting there from work and then I’d have to leave early because my mom insisted I be home for dinner with Mr Wakefield and Maedbh. I smile to myself as I think about later tonight. I have to admit; I didn’t mind that they were coming over as much anymore. She had really lightened up at work for a little bit today. I had seen a different side, a happier side. She had actually been smiling during the food fight.
“What you smiling about?” Luke asks with a grin walking over towards me, snapping me out of my reverie.
“Nothin” I say with a shrug. He raises an eyebrow at me suspiciously.
“Is it a girl?” he asks jokingly wriggling his eyebrows. I smirk slightly rolling my eyes at him. “It is, isn’t it!” he says realizing he struck on something. “Who is it? Is it Hannah? You know she’s always been all over you,” he asks prompting. I shrug my shoulders, not giving him an answer. Its not like I could tell him who it really was I had been thinking about. He’d flip out. He’d jump to some conclusion that I actually liked this girl. Which I didn’t. It was just one time in the Bakery. Nothing big.
I’m eventually saved from Luke’s pestering by Will, the drummer, calling me over for a sound check. We sang a couple of songs like Summer of 69 and Valerie. As we started performing, a couple of girls came over and started cheering for us. It caused me to smile. Having people cheering for you was wicked cool. We were always trying to find gigs in the hopes that someday we’d be able to make it big. So far the best we’d had was performing at a friend’s mom’s wedding. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. If we weren’t any good, she wouldn’t have hired us to perform.
When we finish our set, I stick the mike back on the stand and jump off the stage. A few girls come up to me and start gushing about how good I was, how much they love me. I grin, soaking up the attention. Hannah comes over and slips her arm through mine, latching on to me, looking up with a smile. The other girls freeze, as Hannah turns her attention to them. I don’t know what it is about girls, but they must have had some silent communication going on because the other girls excused themselves pretty quickly, claiming they needed to go get a drink or that they were going to go in the pool. Hannah leads me over to a lawn chair and sits me down on it. Only it was more like she pulled me over to the chair and pushed me down onto it. She sits across my lap and wraps her arm around my neck. I hesitate for a moment, unsure where to put my hands because she was wearing a pretty skimpy bikini and I really didn’t want her sitting here. Eventually I decide on just leaning back, supporting myself with my hands. I see a flash of annoyance in Hannah’s eyes that disappears so fast I’m not sure it was even there in the first place.
“You were great up there,” she coos running a hand over the collar of my shirt.
“Erm… thanks.” I mumble uncomfortably. I glance over at Will and Haydn where they were still packing up the equipment.
“Harry” Hannah says angrily, snapping me back to attention. “Were you even listening to me?” she asks with a pout.
“Sorry. I…erm…I sorta started spacing off…” I explain. This earns me a frown.
“I was saying. I was wondering if you were doing anything next Friday. There’s going to be a party you see and I was wondering if you’d like to go.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” I say, “I’ll have to see what I have planned.” This earns me another frown. I guess I was supposed to drop everything to go.
“Harry a little help here” Haydn calls from near the stage where he is struggling to carry his guitar and two amps. I sigh with relief as I quickly stand up, Hannah rolling off onto the armchair.
“I’ll let you know about the party” I say to her as I hurry back to the stage.
“Thanks mate” I say to Haydn as I get back to the stage. He looks at me with a laugh as I grab the amp from his hand.
“You owe me one,” he says, knowing how much I didn’t care for Hannah’s attentions.
“Whatever and whenever” I say jokingly as I pack the amp into the back of his car. We head back into the party and I talk to a few of the guys hanging out by the pool edge, doing my best to avoid Hannah. It gets to be 5 and my phone buzzes. I excuse myself from the group and answer my phone, quickly pulling it away form my ear as my mom shouts into it, asking where I was.
“Where are you? You were supposed to be home half an hour ago to get ready for our guests.”
“I’ll be home in 10 minutes, calm down” I say as I head back out to my car.
“Make it 5” she snaps hanging up the phone.
“Jeez” I mutter closing my phone and hopping in as I drive home.
I pull up to our house at 5:15 and as I step in my mom takes one look at me before telling me to go take a shower. I guess being outside at a pool party all afternoon after spending a morning at work left something to be desired when it came to cleanliness. As I get upstairs, I hear the doorbell ring. Must be Maedbh, I think to myself as I jump in the shower. I start humming Up All Night by Take That from their most recent album as I wash the remains of the food fight out of my hair. I step out wrapping a towel around my waist as I walk into my room. “What are you doing here?” I ask in surprise seeing Maedbh, who had apparently fallen asleep on my bed. She jolts up, sees me standing there, lets out a small shriek, and topples out of the bed. She stands up quickly averting her eyes from me, her face red. I realize she’s avoiding looking at me because I’m in a towel and I chuckle softly walking over to my dresser.
“If you don’t want to see me absolutely naked I’d suggest leaving the room,” I say with a grin, raising an eyebrow at her. I wasn’t sure it was possible, but her face got even redder and she bolted from the room. I chuckle softly, as I change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I turn off my iHome that was playing a few of my songs. When I’m fully clothed, I head downstairs and towel dry my hair, before heading back downstairs.
“Ahh there he is” my mom says with a smile as she sees me. I glance over at Maedbh and see her turn bright red again.
“Sorry I’m late” I say with a smile turning my attention to Mr Wakefield. “I had some egg shell in my hair for some reason.” I say jokingly earning a laugh from him. My mom excuses herself to go check on how dinner is coming, and Mr Wakefield follows her into the kitchen offering to help. Gemma excuses herself to go do some work before dinner, leaving the two of us in the living room. “So…” I say rocking back and forth on my heels.
“I’m sorry for earlier” she rushes, cheeks burning again. I grin.
“It’s really no problem” I say assuring her with a shrug. “What were you doing in my room anyways?” I ask curiously.
“I was just looking around,” she says with a shrug, looking down at the floor. I accept the answer, letting the subject go. We stand there awkwardly for a few minutes, neither one of us knowing what to say. She crosses her arms, tapping a finger on her arm as she looks around the room, doing everything in her power to avoid looking at me. Obviously she didn’t want to be here at all.
“Why do you dislike me so much?” I blurt out suddenly. I hadn’t meant to actually ask the question but it had poured out before I could sensor myself. She looks at me startled. I guess she was as surprised that I’d asked as I was. Before she has a chance to answer, my mom calls us to dinner.
Over dinner my mom asks Maedbh about her home in Ireland and about herself and Maedbh responds politely. I stay quiet for the most part, nobody really asking me any questions, and I not volunteering any opinions of my own. When dinner ends, everyone heads into the living room and my mum brings in a tray with tea. As we were all sitting around I kept trying to make eye contact with Maedbh, to signal to her to go talk elsewhere, but she seemed determined to avoid me. I didn’t know why I was so determined to talk to her, but I felt a need to talk to her alone; to find out what I had done to make her dislike me so much. But I was. I had this need to know. Alas, I was unsuccessful and she refused to acknowledge me the rest of the evening. They left around 10 and Maedbh was the first one out the door. I didn’t even get the chance to pull her aside to talk to her. I sighed with frustration as I climbed up the stairs to my room.
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