Stage Lights || H.S.

the fire

Anne's home cooked meal was something I had never experienced in my life. But then again, everything with Harry felt brand new to me. We sat on the dinner table, the sky was going from dark grey to dark blue outside, the day fading away. We had bread, pasta, sauce, meatballs and wine, and chatted along for hours. Then when dinner was over I helped her clean up while Harry turned on the fireplace out in the living room.

Now we sat in front of the fire, Harry's body stretched out on the couch with his feet resting on the center table, his grey t-shirt looked soft and his shorts comfortable. I sat next to him, one of his hands rested underneath his head as he laid there lazily, and the other on my thigh, his thumb rubbing my skin, his fingers sometimes squeezing me as he watched whatever was on the TV. It was almost as if he claimed me his, as if there was a crowded room for him to do so, or if he wanted to be as close as he could.

His hand ran up and down my thigh again, a smile ghosted on my lips, he didn't seem to realize or notice at all that he was doing so, it was such a natural move that caught me off guard and sent me to the stars. A small black and white kitten jumped up on the couch next to me, Harry giggled at my reaction.

"That's Dotty." Harry said, reaching over me to stroke her black fur.

"Well, miss Dotty scared the crap out of me."

"She's very friendly. Doris is probably hiding, she's more shy. I'm surprised Dusty hasn't made an appearance during dinner."

"God, how many are there?"

"Only three. Dusty is the oldest, we got her when I was young." Harry glanced over at me, he was so close I could notice the blonde ends of his fluttering eyelashes. "Hope you're not allergic."

"I'm not, it's just..." He sat up and picked up Dotty, he placed her on his lap, she meowed and licked her paws letting him stroke her. "I was never allowed to have a pet growing up."

"Not even a fish?"

"Nope."

"Well, for your luck these girls are very calm. Except for Dusty, she can get a bit territorial with mum or me. Remember when you said you imagined Camille's head exploding? Dusty is probably watching us right now imagining yours."

I couldn't help but laugh, making Dotty scared enough to jump away of the couch. "Happy to know your cat is plotting my death."

"You better not make me choose, Dusty has had my heart since I was a kid."

Harry was so close to me his minty breath was brushing on my cheek, I couldn't help but touch his hair, letting my fingers get tangled with his short curls. His hand fell back on my thigh pulling it close to me, his eyes glanced down at our legs touching and back up at my eyes then my mouth. I kissed his lips slowly and softly.

I just wanted to feel it and with my eyes closed and his lips on mine I felt it all. The warmth coming from the fireplace, the taste of his mint gum, the softness of his lips and the roughness of his fingers, the smell of his shampoo and his vanilla cologne mixed together.

He broke our kiss, his eyes traveling around my face and a smirk on his lips. "I wish I had a camera with me to capture this right now."

"Why?"

"So I can remember how I felt right at this second."

"I won't let you forget." I said.

"Good."

Harry leaned in to kiss me again. He pressed his lips against mine, and then on my cheek, my nose, my forehead making me laugh. "This thing that you call a beard is scratching me."

"Oh. It's scratching you?" He raised an eyebrow, leaning even more in, kissing me all over letting his beard scratch my skin on purpose. "Is it? Scratching you?" He kissed my neck making me laugh and push him away. "Say you like it."

"Nope."

"Say you like my manly grown out beard." He joked. We both knew Harry couldn't grow out a beard.

He pulled away when we heard footsteps approaching. He left a peck on my lips before adjusting himself on the couch again to the same way he was before: stretched legs with feet on top of the center table, one hand behind his head the other traveling on my thigh. I looked over the couch to find Anne walking into the living room with a photo album on hands and a large smile as she looked down at it.

"Haz I found the halloween pictures." She said.

"Mum..."

"What? Gemma said Luna wanted to see them." Anne sat down on the edge of the couch next to me. "Here it is."

She placed the photo album on my lap, pointing at one of the pictures. Harry and four other guys were dressed up for halloween, him with a Scooby Doo costume that was actually pretty simple and impressive.

"Oh how adorable." I looked up at him, he looked down at the pictures before huffing and looking back at the TV.

"Everyone loved that costume." Anne explained.

"The girls thought it was sexy. Gave Emily a night shell never forget." He crossed his arms, sinking into the couch.

"I'm sure she loved shagging a boy dressed as Scooby."

"Shagging? You're British now yeah?" My cheeks burned and I'm sure they turned red.

"She's been hanging out with you too much, right Luna?" Anne flipped the page. "Here's Haz with his mates in his old band. And here's Haz and Gem ready to go to church on easter." She pointed out. "This is Harry and Abi, his first girlfriend."

"That you know of." He mumbled again and I elbowed his side.

"Here's at Mc Donald's on vacation, Harry's the one in green. Straight hair and all. "Here's another one, this one's Gem and that's Des." She flipped the page. "This is Harry with a bra on."

"Mum, that's enough." He jumped over me and closed the photo album.

"C'mon Haz, it's my job as a mum to embarrass you in front of pretty girls."

"Oh I know, you've been doing it my whole life."

Anne put down the album on the center table by Harry's feet, pulling the flowers away so he doesn't knock them over on accident. "Tomorrow you should take Luna to town and stop by the bakery, they're always asking about you."

"I don't want to cause a scene."

"Everyone thinks you're in London preparing for tour, I'm sure no paparazzi followed you out here. Everyone really misses you here and they don't really have social media to see how grown you are, that's all."

"Okay. I guess we can stop by quickly."

When he said that her lips opened in a wide smile. "I'm going to bed, I'll see you two in the morning before you leave." She turned to me. "Don't let him stay up late, make sure he rests a bit before driving back tomorrow, all he does is work work work and he's never-"

"Mum."

"Okay. Okay." She laughed, tapping my knee. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Anne. Thanks for dinner."

"No problem, love."