Thank you all so much for 4k. Like, I didn't even think this story would get 100 reads let alone, 4 thousand. That's so amazing to me. Y'all are amazing.
Enjoy. Pic is me and my sister and my nephew (my other sister's baby) on Christmas.
Harry's POV:
"Where we going?" she sighed. "Do you have a cigarette?"
"You'll see, and no. That's the last thing you need right now," I replied, rolling my eyes as we continued to head toward the house.
"You don't know what I need." Kindness, a good meal, maybe even a hug. The rest of the ride was silent and we finally pulled into the driveway.
"Why are we here?"
"C'mon," I smiled, texting Louis not to come home. No, we weren't going to do anything sexual, but I planned on cooking and baking and seeing where we went after that. Walking inside, I strode into the kitchen, Neely following behind. "Sit." Watching as she sat down on the bar stool with a skeptical look, I sighed as I grabbed the apron off the pantry door and tied it around my waist. A pang of nervousness rushed through me at the thought of telling her what I was making her. I'd not made this since I was a child before- well, we'll get to that.
"I'm gonna make you dinner and dessert."
"What are you gonna make?"
"I'm gonna make you something I made my mother when she found out she had cancer," I choked out, clearing my throat. "I'm making you spaghetti, albeit, the dessert won't be as simple, I hope you like it."
"Alright Chef Ramsay, let's see you work your magic." A smile spread across her face. She actually smiled. Sighing as I walked to pull a bottle of wine from the wine room we had, I quickly picked and walked back into the kitchen to cork it.
"Buon cibo, buon vino, buoni amici." (I actually do know some Italian, but it's rough lol)
"What's that mean?" I smiled, only picking up on good wine.
"Good food, good wine, and good friends in Italian," she smirked.
"I know a little bit of Italian," I countered.
"Let's hear it."
"Pizza, pasta, ravioli." We both burst into a fit of laughter as I opened the wine and grabbed two glasses and a decanter from the cabinet.
"Can you handle wine?"
"I grew up on this stuff. My uncle owns a bunch of restaurants. All this does is make me sleepy." I nodded, decanting the wine and sitting the bottle on top of the cabinets beside all the others, putting the cork in the glass vase next to them.
"You save the bottles and corks?" she asked, looking up at the countless bottles that lined the cabinets.
"It's kind of a thing Louis and I do. When we were younger and we would travel over the summer, we kept the bottles of wine we had even if we'd only had a sip. Some of those bottles we've had for five or six years."
"My uncle does that too."
"During Christmas time, we line them with the small lights and it looks super cool," I gushed, feeling rather stupid telling her about it. "I know it's stupid, but it's just something we do."
"It's not stupid," Neely said quietly. "I think it's really cool."
"Thanks," I blushed, pouring the wine between our two glasses and taking a sip of mine. Watching as she took a sip of hers, I hoped she didn't see me looking at her neck, fighting the urge to just pull her close and kiss her.
"Um, I wanted to apologize," she said quietly after a few minutes as I pulled out the ingredients to cook.
"You have nothing to apologize for," I shrugged, taking the pot to the sink and filling it halfway with hot water and turning on the stove.
"I do," she sighed. "I was out of line for getting so upset this morning and treating you the way I did; the way I spoke to you was not cool either. I shouldn't have turned to Colby and texted you what I texted you."
"Thank you for apologizing, it means a lot. I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have tried to make you eat this morning and I shouldn't have made you read your journal to the class. That was out of line."
"It means a lot that you apologized. Can we just like, not fight anymore? I'm not big on fighting," she giggled.
"On really? I couldn't tell," I teased.
"Hush," she laughed, standing up, her glass of wine in hand. Watching as she took a long sip and sat it against the cool marble counter. Her hands traveled up my arms and to my neck, a stupid smile spreading across my face.
"I missed you today. Honestly all I could think about during conditioning was how mad I was at you and how the veins in your neck were popping out." Our lips met and I felt her smile against mine. A her fingers ran through my hair, she kissed me again and my arms fell around her waist, pulling her to me.
"You are beautiful," I murmured, kissing her forehead softly before turning around and feeling her arms snake around my waist, hugging me from behind.
"We'll agree to disagree on that one," she blushed, leaning her chin on my shoulder. Shaking my head as I stirred the ground beef, she finally let go of my torso, her hands slowly running across my back and stomach before she grabbed her wine glass and sat back down. Relieved we finally apologized to each other, I felt obligated to apologize for not really looking into the issues she was facing. Staying quiet as I cooked, I finally turned on the wireless speaker I had, connecting it to my phone and putting on a smooth jazz ITunes Radio station.
"Is this fine?" I asked, grinning at Neely.
"If you're 60 years old," she teased.
"You pick," I laughed, handing her my phone. Watching as she typed, music flowed out of the speaker and I heard the familiar strum of one of my favorite songs.
"When I'm fat and old and my kids think I'm a joke
Cause I move a little slow when I dance
I can count on you after all that we've been through
Cause I know that you'll always understand," she belted out and began to dance around the kitchen. I couldn't help but laugh and sing along.
"When I'm fat and old and my kids think I'm a joke
Cause the stories that I told, I tell again and again
I can count on you after all we got up to
Cause I know that you truly understand
I won't act my age, no I won't act my age
No, I'll still feel the same around you
I won't act my age, no I won't act my age
No, I'll still feel the same and you will too
Hey!" We both began to laugh and I nodded my head along with the beat as I cooked.
"When I can hardly walk and my hair is falling out," I paused, whistling along.
"We'll still stay up till morning
We'll throw an after party, oh yeah, oh yeah!" Neely laughed at me as we both sang the rest of the song and danced around the kitchen together. Jumping around, giggling like little kids, I dipped her on the last beat of the song and our laughter filled the kitchen. Sighing as I lifted her back up, my smile not falling, she kissed my cheek and walked to get her wine glass, pouring more inside, her lipstick staining the rim.
"What station is this on?" I asked as Steal My Girl came on and I started to dance a little bit again.
"Pure Pop. I love this song," she beamed.
NEELY'S POV:
I sat there, watching him cook, music playing, singing along and laughing. My heart swelled at the fact that he seemed to like The Way Back as much as I did. (Lol yes, I went there) He actually had an amazing singing voice. Was there anything he wasn't good at? Sipping slowly on my second glass of wine, I kept an eye on Harry as he moved around the kitchen, looking so smooth and graceful. Nodding my head along as Uptown Funk played from the speaker, I laughed at Harry dancing back toward the stove.
"I'm too hot, hot damn," he sang along and I couldn't help but laugh even harder. I hadn't laughed like this is so long, I had almost forgotten what it was like to really laugh.
"Julio! Get the stretch!" Lifting his arm in the air as he took a sip of wine, I began to see how he seemed to have so many friends.
"You're amazing," I sighed, my stomach slightly hurting.
"I don't do this for everyone," he grinned, turning back to the stove and turning the noodles off.
"Is tipping permitted?" I teased.
"Absolutely," he smirked, taking the pot to the sink and dumping it in the strainer.
"Don't fry bacon naked." We both slightly chuckled and he just shook his head.
"You're a trip."
"It's a joke my uncle uses. He's old."
"I'm sure he's not that old."
"He's 56."
"Oh. Okay. He's kinda old," he shrugged.
"My mom would've been 53 this year! They're both old!" I laughed.
"When is your mum's birthday?" he asked and I knew he was treading lightly.
"August 26th."
"Yours is September 3rd, right?"
"Yep," I nodded. "Best birthday present ever!"
"I'm sure you were." I only nodded, taking another small sip of wine as he pulled plates out of the cabinet and sat them on the island in front of me.
"We can make the dessert together," he beamed, spooning he bow tie noodles evenly between the plates.
"That sounds fantastic," I teased.
"Not that kind of dessert," he blushed. "I have a cake recipe from Louis' nan, Olive and it's absolutely divine."
"I love cake. What kind is it?"
"Triple chocolate ganache we a raspberry liqueur drizzle. She used to make it all the time for the holidays when we were younger and Louis and I would go to town on it."
"Oh my God, that sounds so good." My mouth was watering just talking about it.
"Alright," he sighed. "Spaghetti a la Harry. Hopefully it's not too awful. The sauce may be a little sketchy because I haven't made it in about 15 years."
"I'm sure I'll love it," I smiled, taking a bite. It was amazing.