Our Story: Harvey's Life

Silent Night

She threw him a bottle of water and walked to the living room. He followed her and they sat on the floor. Nobody said a word for about two minutes until Jason broke the silence.

"You're having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah, you?" She asked.
"The company's having some problems, you almost died, but I guess that's enough for me to worry about."

"I remember the face you made," she laughed. "You were crying!"

"Hey," he pointed a finger at her with a smile. "Don't blame me, I thought you were gonna die."

"You looked so emotional," she laughed out loud. "Like you were about to lose your love."

"It was like that," he replied. "It felt like my whole world was crumbling down."

"You shouldn't get hung up on a person like me." She took a gulp. "You deserve someone better."

"You are someone better. You're the best!" He faced her. "You're not giving yourself a chance to be loved."

"Yeah, because I don't wanna be loved." She replied back, flailing her arms around. "Everyone who loved me ended up leaving. Grandma did, a lot of people did."

"I won't leave, I promise." He assured.
"I don't need promises. No, I don't like promises."

"Should I sing you a song?" He asked jokingly.
"With that voice? Pass," she chuckled.

"Hey, don't insult it until you hear it."

"Okay, let's hear it," she said sleepily.

Wait, where is the doziness coming from?

"You're insecure," he started solemnly. "Don't know what for, you're turning heads when you walk through the doo-or-or."

"Hey, it's One Direction." She smiled dreamily.
"Don't need make-up, to cover up. Being the way that you are is eno-ug-ugh. Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you."

She was already dozing off. He looked at her and smiled.
He moved closer to her ear and whispered,"Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed but when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell. You don't know oh, oh, you don't know you're beautiful."

He felt weight on his left shoulder. She had gone off to dreamville. He smiled and pecked her forehead.

"Goodnight," he laid himself down and placed her head on his chest.

The light woke Jason. He placed his palms to avoid the sun rays coming in through the raised curtains. Tess's arms were placed on his chest and her head on his shoulder. She was still fast asleep.

"How can you look this good in the morning?" He muttered and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Morning Tess."

He crouched beside her and adjusted her sleeping position.

"You guys slept here?" Barbie yawned as she walked down the stairs.
"You're up, good morning." He greeted.
"Good morning."

"Yeah, we kinda fell asleep here." He smiled, trying to use his hands as shields to block the sun from her face.
"You like her, don't you?" She said, approaching him with a glass of water.
"I love her," He collected the glass. "She's cold,weird, independent and so beautiful. I wanna make her mine."

"There's competition."

"Who? Johnson?"Jason chuckled. "He's not interested, I can see it."
"Not Johnson, Luke."

"Luke? Yeah, I know he used to like her but...."

"Used to?" Barb scoffed. "He loves her so much." She whispered and Jason moved closer to her. "I saw how he cried when she was leaving. I see how he looks at her, I see how he's concerned for her."

"But, he told me he was over her. He said he was moving on."

"That face doesn't look like someone who's moving on. Tess is my daughter, I want the best for her. I don't think she'll ever get married. But if she's ever going to, I'll be glad if it's you or Luke," She patted his back and walked into the kitchen.

"Pancakes," Tess muttered from her sleep.
"If you want them so badly,wake up," David said from his spot on the dining table.
Barb had prepared food and went to call the team to join them while Tess was still on the floor and Jason was beside her.

"You know she's not gonna eat right?" Jason reminded them.
"No, she goes crazy for pancakes," Barb added. "Pancakes are her life, with maple syrup."

"Uhm, shouldn't you put a shirt on?" Diana directed her words at Jason.
"No," He replied, still trying to block the sun rays.
"He's so whipped,"Mitch forked a piece of pancake into his mouth.

She stirred in her sleep. She moved around slightly. She started sweating. Breakfast was already over and everyone was just lounging around. The rapid sweats worried Jason. She was groaning.

It seemed like a dream.

Jason tried to shake her to life but it was futile.
"Help me!" She suddenly screamed and woke up. Jason pulled her into an embrace.
She was whimpering.

"It's okay, shhh," he comforted her.

They were still in this embrace when Luke walked in.

"Good morning?" He greeted, raising am eyebrow at their proximity. He was dressed in an all black suit.
"Hey," Jason waved and turned to look at Tess.
"Tess?" He called but she was completely unresponsive.
"Did she faint?" Luke rushed to the kitchen and fetched a bottle of water from the fridge.

They splattered the cold liquid onto her face and she woke up.
"Theresa, you okay?" Luke asked worriedly.
"Tess, are you okay?"

She squinted her face and stood up, away from Jason's embrace.
"Will you please put on a shirt?" She said.
"That's the first thing you say to me?" Jason asked and walked upstairs.

"And you," she faced Luke,"did someone die?"

"No, I'm visiting Lucas today. I thought you might wanna come along." He explained.

"Oh,I forgot. Of course I'll come, lemme just take a quick bath." She rushed upstairs, passing by Jason who was fully clothed, coming down.

"Can I talk to you?" He faced Luke with his arms crossed across his chest.
"Sure but I only have time until Theresa's ready."

"Why do you keep calling her Theresa?"

"That's what I've always called her. Is there a problem with that?" He asked.
"You should start calling her Tess. It suits her more."
"She never complained about how I called her. I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do."

The two men were standing, facing each other. It felt like they were fighting for love.
They were fighting for someone who wasn't even thinking about them.