“There you are; enjoy your meal.” I smiled as I received a couple ‘thanks’ and made my way back to the kitchen.
“Hey Natalie, can I talk to you?” I heard Dan ask as I passed him.
“Sure,” I nodded as I followed him to his office.
“Have a seat.” I did so tentatively as he sighed out a breath. “Natalie… when I hired you I loved your enthusiasm. But your performance hasn’t been up to standard recently.” I blinked slowly as I nodded, knowing where this was going. “I’m sorry we have to let you go.”
I sighed out a breath, “Okay. I will turn in my apron.” I stood and pulled off my apron handing it over to him.
He nodded a thanks and I left the room, walking to the break room. I gathered my things and punched out my time card for the last time. The lonely, silent, drive home was quite depressing. All I wanted was a cup of tea and some cuddles.
Once home I made my way inside calling for Harry. I dropped my things in the foyer. “Haz where are ya babe?” I called as I turned the corner into the lounge. I stopped dead in my tracks and squeaked out a little ‘oh’ as I saw blonde hair and green eyes smirking up at me.
“Babe eh? So you two finally made it official?” I stayed quiet as I tried to place where I had seen her before. She stood and made her way towards me, “We haven’t actually met yet. I’m Gemma,” she smiled sweetly as she stuck out her hand.
“Oh,” I blurted out as I shook it. “Harry’s sister.”
She nodded though it wasn’t a question. “And you’re Natalie, Harry’s girlfriend.”
I smiled as I blushed slightly, “Yeah.”
“Good then,” she said as she abruptly turned and made her way back to the couch. “Harry is out golfing with Niall. He doesn’t know I’m here; I found a rather mushy note in the kitchen, said he’d be home later. So I am taking you out to lunch.”
“Oh you don’t have to-”
She waved her hand in dismissal, “Nonsense. I need to get to know the girl that my baby brother is seeing.”
I chuckled, “Fine then. Can I change first?”
“Sure; I’ll be here waiting.”
I nodded as I bolted upstairs and pulled off my sweaty work clothes. I tugged on some clean jeans and a baggy—well baggy on me because it was Harry’s—jumper and ran a brush through my hair. I made my way back downstairs to Gemma, who was admiring the photo of Jen and I that I had placed by the sofa.
She smiled as her eyes briefly met mine then returned to the photo. “Is this your sister?”
“Yeah.”
“You were so young.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled out with a smile.
“I’d love to meet her someday,” she said as she fixed the picture back into place.
“That might be a little hard.” Her eyebrows knit together in question as she stood. “She died a couple months ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged with a small smile on my face, “I’m okay. I’m healing.”
Her smile was sympathetic, “Good. So lunch then?” I nodded and we made our way out to a car parked across the road that I really should’ve noticed when I drove in. “I know of this nice little diner round the shopping center. I am in need of new shoes. What d’ya think?”
“Last time I went shopping it was for bride’s maids’ dresses for Perrie’s wedding. So shopping for myself sounds really nice.”
“Good then.”
The ride to the diner was comfortably silent and we arrived and were seated within twenty minutes of leaving. We ordered shortly after that and made small talk, mostly about me, throughout the meal. We were nearly finished when an unexpected, deeper, question came up. “Are you in love with my little brother?” I nodded slowly in response. “Why?”
I chewed slowly thinking it over. “Well…” I began once I had swallowed. “He treats me proper-”
“No, no, no, no,” she waged a finger at me with a playful smile, “That does not count.”
“It does for me,” my voice was small. “The guy I dated before Harry… didn’t. He beat me.”
Her eyes widened, “Oh my gosh.”
I nodded sullenly, “It counts for me.”
She nodded, “Right, sorry.”
“He also makes me feel special and loved. He protects me, like he did from that guy I told you about. He’s always there to talk when I need it. He comforts me makes me feel better in the crappy times; like when my sister died. I was terrible after that happened, especially to him. But he still put up with me and even helped me recover from it,” I had a fond smile on my face as I finished with a small shrug. “He completes me.”
Her nose scrunched up, “Oh gag. Sorry I asked,” she giggled teasingly. “But seriously… I’m glad he has you.” I smiled at that as we finished up lunch and then hit the shops.
We stumbled in with loads of bags a few hours later laughing loudly.
“Gem?” we heard a confused rasp as we dropped our bags on the kitchen table. We turned to see a shirtless Harry with damp curls and low slung joggers on.
“Hey baby brother.”
“Hi babe,” I said making my way to him and giving him a sweet kiss.
“Hi,” he still sounded confused as he wrapped an arm around me and directed his attention to Gemma. “I didn’t know you were coming?”
She shrugged, “Just thought I’d pop round.”
He chuckled, “It’s not quite poppin’ round Gem. It’s a three hour drive,” he said in a mocking tone with a smile. They shared a look that puzzled me before laughing at each other. His attention then directed to me, “I thought you were at work?”
“Oh, I got sacked,” I shrugged.
“Oh,” he replied at shot Gemma a look.
“I didn’t know,” Gemma defended.
I shrugged, “It’s alright. I enjoyed the afternoon with her, Haz.”
“Well I must be off; hotels have a cut off time of when you can check in,” she grabbed her bags and started to make her way out.
“Nonsense,’ I imitated her actions earlier. “You will stay here with us,” I stated.
“No offense, but I’d rather sleep in a bed than on your couch.”
“You can sleep in my bed.”
“Then where are you going to sleep.”
“In his,” I shrugged and motioned to Harry.
Her eyebrows quirked as a smirk played at her lips. “Gosh Gem not like that!” Harry quipped with flushed cheeks.
“Oh so you haven’t then?” Harry and I shared a look of embarrassment before our eyes fell to the floor and our cheeks flushed with our small smiles. Gemma feigned a shocked gasp, “You dirty dogs.”
“Oi, come of it,” Harry complained in a small voice as Gemma chuckled at us.