⎯⎯ 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖

" 𝕴f you could be an animal for the rest of your life, what would you be?".

Harry opens his eyes to look down at a curious Darlene staring up at him with the most serious look he's ever seen her  wear.

"You're serious?", he laughs making her nod.

"Hmm", he glances away tapping his chin as he thinks urging his brain to give him a proper answer.

All the while, her stare remains unwavering patiently waiting for him to reply.

"A cat, I think", he turns his eyes to her.

She perks an eyebrow clearly amused.

"Really? Why?".

He shrugs, "I don't know, they're cute and they have the liberty of being lazy the whole day without anyone complaining about it".

When she still looks unconvinced, he sighs hiding his face in the pillow.

"And because you like cats".

That has her laughing and swatting at his arm, the very sound of her giggles serving as music to his ears.

He smiles at the sound, at the crinkling of her eyes and the light snort that accompanies her adorable laugh.

It feels unreal when he's in her presence, she feels unreal to him.

So magnificently perfect.

Harry goes to open his mouth about to pass a teasing comment when her giggles slowly turn to small childish snicker.

And the doorbell rings.

Darlene, in an instant, goes quiet and Harry, reassuring her to stay huddled up under the covers, walks out of the bedroom in nothing but a pair of sweatpants loosely dangling from the lower part of his body.

He pulls open the door devoid of any thought but freezes the moment his eyes meet the sharp blue ones.

The same eyes that he's gotten so used to admiring.

Darlene's eyes.

And here stands the woman she inherited those damningly beautiful eyes of hers from, with a puzzled scowl on her face.

"Is Darlene here?", Kate asks narrowing her eyes at Harry slowly taking in his appearance and the lack of a shirt on his tattoo covered torso.

"Uhh", his eyes grow wide at her scrutinising gaze and he clears his throat, "uhm, yeah. Yeah".

When he stays firmly put, her eyes squint even more.

"Can I come in?".

Snapped out of his daze by the half irritated half amused tone of her voice, he nods scrambling to get away from the door so that she could enter.

He shuts the door behind her and she watches him fidget with his rings clearly uncomfortable in her unannounced presence.

She glances around at the discarded take away boxes lying on the coffee table and sighs shaking her head at the scene in front of her.

As if on cue, Darlene comes hurrying out of the bedroom still struggling to wrap her robe around her.

One glance at Harry and she knows that her mother has already managed to intimidate him into silence.

"Mum. Hi", the blonde waves awkwardly.

"Dar, why aren't you ready?".

She furrows her brows, "Ready for.....what?".

"For Joe's football game. You promised you'd be there", Kate huffs.

Darlene, in simple terms, looks almost ready to run back into her room and never come out.

How could she be so stupid and forget that the game was today?

And that her mother was going to pick her up?

Having Harry around at such a.....delicate time is like begging to be bombarded with questions she'd rather be disowned than give an answer for.

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Sorry, I'll.....I'll go.....get ready".

"Hold on".

She freezes at the sound of her mother's voice, the words clearly being synonymous to 'we need to talk and this man next to me is going to be here for it'.

"Yes?", she smiles awkwardly hoping to diffuse the situation by a bit.

And her mum's frustration.

"Will you introduce us or.......", Kate jabs a finger towards Harry who has recovered surprisingly fast from his awkwardness and is now eyeing Darlene with a smug curiosity.

She wordlessly scoffs at his expression.

"Harry, this is my mum. And mum, this is Harry, my......."

The words seem to be stuck right on the tip of her tongue so Harry decides to take the lead.

"Boyfriend. I'm her boyfriend", he grins extending a hand out.

Kate glances from him to the extended hand and slowly takes it in hers giving it a firm shake.

"Darlene never told me she had a boyfriend", the older blonde curls her lips.

"Well, I guess she was just worried you'd start preferring me over her".

That earns him a surprised laugh.

"Isn't overconfidence fatal?", Kate raises an eyebrow.

Harry shrugs, "Not when it comes to me".

Kate laughs again shaking her head as she diverts her attention to her daughter looking at the two of them converse, horrified.

"Go get changed, hon", the middle-aged woman clears her throat.

Darlene nods slowly backing away and practically sprinting to hide in her room far far away from Harry charming her normally skeptical and overprotective mother into liking him in just the span of a few minutes.

***
i'm afraid this week's gonna be the last one w regular updates since college starts from next week and i am #dying 🥰