“I know you’ve never loved the sound of your voice on tape.....”
Matilda’s POV
“Mum, dad! What are YOU doing here?” Georgia asks with a hint of tone in the word you. Luckily her parents don’t notice.
“We missed our precious little princess too much to let you spend Christmas alone!” her mother says throwing her arms around her daughter.
“Mum I’m not alone, I told you Matilda would be coming back again this year, just like last year. Just admit that you didn’t believe me and you didn’t trust me enough to look after myself.” Georgia scowls at her father, who she knows is the culprit for their sudden trip home.
“Oh can’t you just be happy to see us without starting an argument with us? Maybe we missed Matilda too, did you ever think of that?” her father asks, shaking the snow out of his hair and embracing me in a hug.
“Oh I missed you guys too Peter,” I laugh trying to lighten the mood. I could feel Georgia’s tension from a mile away. I needed to get Harry out of the house as quickly as possible. Just as I thought it I heard footsteps on the stairs. I look behind me to see Harry softly cascading down the stairs, wiping his eyes sleepily, and wearing nothing but his Calvin Klein boxers.
“Georgia, what’s all the noise? Some of us are trying to-“ he stops mid-sentence when he realizes the two new occupants of the living room.
I look at Georgia and see the whole room turn slow motion and the changing facial expression on Peter’s face lets me know I need to do something and fast.
“Harry, baby! What are you doing out of bed? I’ll be up in a moment I told you,” I say skipping over him and wrapping my arms around his waist. I regretfully kiss him on the cheek and turn him around, patting his bottom on the way up. “I swear that boy never listens to me.”
“Harry’s your boyfriend now?” Vanessa asks me looking extremely confused.
“Yes I met him when I was travelling around the UK for the last six months. It was so funny when I found out him and Georgia had a fling together. I burst out laughing and messaged Georgia straight away. I thought I’d invite him down because he told me how much he missed London. I hope you don’t mind, we can find a hotel if you’d like? I know it might make you a bit uncomfortable Peter.”
“No he can stay for as long as he’d like Matilda, don’t be silly!” Vanessa interjects before her husband can even open his mouth. I can tell she knows exactly what’s going on. “I think Peter would love having another male in the house to help him lose his battles with the females.” I laugh to lighten the mood and surprisingly it works and Peter and Georgia both loosen a bit.
“Well I’m going to go to bed. I’m beat,” Peter announces before kissing his wife and daughter goodnight. He gives me a slight nod and smile and hauls himself up the stairs. “That’s one thing I didn’t miss about this place, these goddamn stairs.” He calls down once he reaches the top.
“Now, you two definitely have some explaining to do.” I look at Georgia and I can see in her eyes she’s thankful and relieved that it’s all over but there’s a hint of something else, jealousy?
Georgia’s POV
“Good morning all,” Matilda smiles as she enters the kitchen. Obviously she can’t feel the tension that’s brewing under the surface of the kitchen.
I take a little bit of joy in watching the smile drift from her face as she realizes the awkward silences between everyone. We move around each other awkwardly, no one looking in up and no one even hinting at conversation. I glide in and out of the cupboard, allowing my father to slip in after me, Harry sits at the bench eating his toast, the sound of his crunching the only real noise in the kitchen. Matilda puts the kettle onto the stove and starts to make a coffee, the clinking of her spoon hitting her cup fills our otherwise quiet ears. The kettle starts to squeal and every head turns to grease it off. Matilda turns off the stove and pours the boiling hot water in. I wonder what she’s thinking as she does it. ‘If I pour this boiling hot water on myself would anyone even flinch?’ ‘It’d give me an excuse to get out of this nut house.’ I shake my head at my own thoughts and sit next to Harry at the bench. Mum and Dad head out of the kitchen silently. I hear dad’s keys jiggle and the front door open and close.
“Well thank fuck they’re gone,” Harry mumbles between mouths full of toast. He stands up and walks over to me, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me longingly. “The bed felt so empty last night, I was so cold without your warm body next to me.”
“I know baby, I missed you too. Matilda thank you so much for what you did last night. I don’t know if my dad bought it but it gave him a reason not to go ballistic.”
“Hey I’m here to help but you are eventually going to have to tell him. You two haven’t seen each other in almost two years, are you going to be able to keep your hands off each other for the entire time Harry’s here?”
She has a good point and I know she’s right but I just keep running this scenario in my head, where I tell my father that Harry is back to be with me, and he bashes Harry’s skull in with his fist. I can’t get the image of Harry’s bruised and battered face out of my head. I want to hold telling my father the full story for a little while, just in case. I know Harry will eventually have to go back soon but whether I go with him or stay here will deeply depend on my parents’ feelings about Harry. I know my mum is completely on board with me and she thinks the whole thing is “the greatest love story of the 21st century”, in her exact words, but she knows my father better than anyone and even she has little faith in him letting me go. One thing she’s forgetting though is that I’m eighteen and my dad can’t control me for the rest of my life.
“We could try?” I respond to her with little faith in myself or Harry. Both Harry and Matilda both turn their heads to me with blanks expressions on their faces.
‘Couldn’t we?’ I thought to myself.
*Two weeks later*
Georgia’s POV
I thought I could do this but I can’t. I can’t sit by and watch my best friend and my boyfriend canoodle each other and I’m not the only one struggling with it.
“Hey Georgia, it’s Niall. I think we need to meet up and talk, so uh call me back when you get this message.” I listen to the message over and over to try and gather a tone from Niall but I come up with nothing. He gives nothing away. I text him and tell him I’ll meet him at the café near my house. The same café I met up with Ruby almost two years earlier to discuss Harry leaving. It seemed like a pretty important place to have these life altering conversations and I basically lived at that café from the day after my meeting with Ruby. It was a special place to me.
“Hey Niall, how are you?” I ask cheerfully hugging him. He hugs me back half-heartedly and just simply smiles. He jesters to the seat across from him in the booth and sits himself down. I sit down quickly and just order a cup of tea.
“So I’m sure you know why I’ve asked you to come here today?” I nod my head at him and he continues, “I’m not comfortable with this whole scheme you have going on with Matilda and Harry. I get that you don’t want to tell your father about Harry because of the circumstances surrounding your relationship but you obviously must know how difficult it is to watch the person you love be with someone else, even if they are only faking it. I really want to be able to come over to your place and spend time with my girlfriend without having her jump up and sit on your boyfriend’s lap whenever your dad comes home from work. Matilda’s a very good actor and sometimes I get the feeling she’s actually enjoying it when I know she’s not, I just get lost in the whole idea of it all. This is me stamping my foot down. It has to stop. I want Matilda to be able to come spend time with me at my place, stay the night, watch movies, cook her dinner, like couples do and I’m sure you do too. Now don’t get this confused, I’m telling you I’m taking my girlfriend back, I’m not asking.”
As I take in all Niall has just told me, I’m overwhelmed with the feeling of relief that I’m not the only one feeling all of these feelings. I have to tell my father about Harry and I, this is hurting too many people and I’m one of them.
