The Real Reed

Chapter 39

And I've been sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool
For a while now, drowning my thoughts out with the sounds

                                           
                                                -Halsey

Reed's POV

"Hello butterfly." Po says cheerfully as I enter the living room to see him kneeling in front of the TV.

"Not funny." I grit, as I plop down on the couch, reaching for a chip from one of the bowls on the table.

"C'mon, you love them." Po smirks as he plops down beside me on the couch, while I reach for a chocolate chip cookie.

Things with Po had quickly gotten back to normal after his and Harry's fall out that day.

He came back from getting breakfast and acted like nothing had happened; like he hadn't looked at me like I had killed his puppy, or practically run out of my room like it was on fire.

I was a bit nervous when he first got back. I didn't know if I was supposed to apologize. But at the same time, even if I did, I wouldn't have known what exactly I would have been apologizing for.

A part of me felt it was his conversation with Harry that had had him on edge and I understood. Po was just trying to be protective- he always was.

I know he knows I had heard most of their conversation, but he didn't bring it up, and neither did I.

His accusations of Harry using me for sex had left me on edge and with a bad taste in my mouth, but I bit my tongue. I knew he was just trying to be protective and he only wants what's best for me.

I also harbored the guilt of silently and unconsciously constantly choosing Harry over him, so I bit my tongue even harder.

When he came back from the waffle house that day, I didn't ask why he was so set off because I knew that I couldn't look him in the eyes and lie if he asked me anything about Harry.

I didn't ask, and he didn't say anything about it either; we had both actively avoided any form of conversation about it. And we seem to have moved on from it.

Po is currently setting us up for a marathon of Christmas movies.

It was a pre-birthday tradition we had been doing for over five years now. We'd spend the day before my birthday just lounging around and binging on whatever we could get our hands on in Po's kitchen as we drowned in Christmas movies for hours on end.

Since I was a weirdo, and I only technically liked Christmas when it wasn't Christmas.

The movies were great, but there was something obnoxious about how all the stations played Christmas themed movies and series the entire period. What if I was just in the mood for some plain ol' Scary movie or The Scream?

I would even take a Friends reboot any day.

"I love butterflies, not getting my nails done." I correct him, admiring the shiny blue butterflies gracing the white nail polish on each fingernail while trying to ignore the resentfully obnoxious length of the nails.

"Well, now you get to take them with you everywhere. So, you're welcome." He tells me smugly as he picks a chip from the bowl on the table and pops it into his mouth, munching away in glee.

I ignore his cheeky smile as I snuggle into him while he wraps the both of us with the comforter he brought from my room.

We both stay silent as Home Alone comes on. The both of us remaining in a comfortable silence, snuggled up to each other and occasionally reaching over the assortment of snacks on the table as the movies play on after each other.