The Adjacent Room [h.s]

Chapter 48

'What the fuck!' Ben shouts, and I imagine from my seat at the breakfast bar that he's throwing his arms in the air in frustration. This is the third time Harry has beaten my precious brother Ben, who now apparently goes by BL, in his newest obsession, Call of Duty. Ben..BL, has been trying to one up Harry at every chance possible since we arrived in New York earlier today. First it was who has more expensive jewellery, then it was who has bigger biceps, and now it's who's the better Call of Duty player. BL has always been a video gamer, and he prides himself on being a Twitch streamer, and now Harry has taken top spot in all three categories and BL's ego is bruised.

'I don't know what to tell you, mate.' Harry laughs, giving BL a friendly pat on the shoulder as they walk out of the living room and into the kitchen, to find me sitting at the breakfast bar, working on the latest blog post. My mom is in here too, peeling potatoes for tonight's dinner.

Harry gravitates over to me and places his hands on my shoulders, resting his chin on my head as though he's going to read over what I've written so far. This post is all about sustainable fashion.

'Get off my sister, mate. She's not going to disappear if you don't touch her for two seconds.' BL retaliates, charging up the stairs. For a 24 year old, I don't think behaviour like this is considered typical or functional.

'It's just a game, Benjamin, please be nice to Harry! He's going to be your brother in law any day now!' My mom disciplines, in her own unique way, shouting to make sure he can hear her while not taking her eyes off the potatoes.

'I fucking told you it's BL!' BL shouts from somewhere upstairs.

'You know, I hope that new boyfriend of his does him some good. I mean, yelling at Harry Styles of all people.' Kelli-Anne states casually, eyebrows raising at the mention of Harry's name.

'Harry, mom. Just Harry.' I say, drumming it into her head, yet again, that we don't like Harry because he's famous.

'You can go with Harry Styles if you prefer.' Harry shrugs, a smirk crossing his face when I turn around to look at him with a judgemental glare. Apparently Harry only likes Harry because he's famous.

'Oh..Harry! I've been meaning to ask you.' Kelli-Anne remembers, removing her focus from the potatoes and placing her peeler on the counter, resting her hands on the edge. I have no idea what we're in for now.

'Anything for you, Kelli-Anne.' Harry grins, with that stupid flirty smile. If this kitchen flirtation continues I'm retracting all past promises and ending things on the spot.

'Sophie might have told you, but I wanted to name her Anna.' Kelli-Anne begins, and Harry nods in genuine recognition. I told Harry in Jamaica my mom nearly named me Anna, and I'm impressed he remembered. 'And that was because I was thinking, like mother, like daughter, you know? With my name being Kelli-Anne, and then my eldest being named Anna, I thought it would be quite a unique way to make sure everyone knows how close my daughter and I are.'

'Your unborn daughter at the time.' I interrupt, pointing a corrective finger in the air, humoured that she's still going on about this 27 years later.

'Either way, sweetheart.' She says, brushing me off. 'Anne and Anna, being the similarity, obviously. Anyway, Daivick and I were talking about it last week, and I still think we should have gone with Anna, but he was firm that it had to be a name not related to my name. I said I would be okay with him naming a future son Dave, but he just wasn't having a bar of it.' She rambles.

'What's the question, mom?' I ask, laughing. Sometimes I need to pull her in when she gets lost in one of her rambles.

'Well, I want Harry's opinion. What name would have been better?' She asks, as though it's a normal question. Harry breaks out into a grin, laughing at the whole situation. His finger goes up to brush against his nose while he ponders the question, brow slightly furrowing. It's like you can see his brain working to come up with a response whenever he answers a question, and he's thinking hard right now. He gets a playful gleam in his eyes just as he opens his mouth, and I already know he's going to say something I don't want to hear.