After (Larry Version)

~*Chapter 95*~

"Where's Liam ?" I ask Harry when we take our seats.
He takes a bite of a croissant. "I don't know."
"Um, you said he was looking for me?"
"He was, but I don't know where he is now."
"Harry, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full." His grandmother appears behind him.
I notice him take a deep breath before he turns to her. "Sorry," he mumbles.
"I wanted to see you before I go—God knows when I will see you again. Can you save a dance for your gammy?" she asks oh so adorably, but he shakes his head. "Why not?" she asks him with a smile."

I realize now that it wasn't just shock that had Harry rattled before. There's a tension between them that I can't quite put my finger on.
"I'm on my way to get Louis a drink," he lies and leaves the table.
His grandmother laughs uncomfortably. "Well, he's something, isn't he?" I'm not sure what to say, my first instinct is to defend him, but it seems she is joking.
She turns to me sharply. "Is he still drinking?"
"What? N-no," I stutter, completely caught off guard. "Well, he only drinks every once in a while," I clarify as I see him walking toward us with two flutes full of pink liquid.

"He hands me one and I smile and lift it to my lips. It smells sweet when I tip the glass back to take a drink, and the bubbles spritz lightly, tickling my nose. It tastes just as sweet as it smells.
"Champagne," he informs me and I thank him.
"Louis!" Karen practically shouts right before she wraps her arms around me. She has changed out of her wedding dress and into a white knee-length wrap dress, not that she looks any less stunning. "I am so thrilled that you two came! How was it?" she asks. Karen is the only person who would ask how her own wedding was,she is too kind.

"It was so lovely,it was beautiful." I smile.
Harry puts his hand on the small of my back and I lean into him. I can sense how uncomfortable he is between his grandmother and Karen, and now Des is making his way over to us.
"Thank you for coming," Des says to Harry and holds out his hand to shake.
Harry obliges and quickly shakes his father's hand. I notice Des start to lift his arm up to hug Harry , but he lowers it before following through. Still, Des' face is full of excitement and joy.

"Louis , you look handsome, dear." He hugs me and then eagerly asks, "Are you enjoying yourselves?"
I can't help but feel a little awkward around him now that I have a deeper insight into who he was all those years ago. "Yeah. It's a nice setup you've got out here." Harry does his best to praise his father. I put my hand on his back and rub small circles to ease him.
Harry's grandmother coughs and looks at his father. "I didn't know that you two were speaking."
Des rubs the back of his neck, a habit that I suspect Hardin got from him.

"Yeah. Let's talk about this another time, Mother," Des says and she nods in agreement.
I take another drink out of my glass and try not to dwell on the fact that I am drinking underage in front of adults. In front of the chancellor of my school.
A waiter in a black vest walks by with a tray of champagne, and when Des grabs a flute I cringe. But he hands the glass to his new bride and I relax, extremely glad to see that he isn't drinking.
"Want another?" Harry asks me and I look at Karen.
"Go ahead, it's a wedding," she tells me and I smile.
"Sure," I say and Harry leaves to get me another glass.
We talk about the wedding and the flowers for a minute, and when Harry comes back with only one flute, Karen gets concerned and asks him, "You don't like the champagne?"

"Oh yeah, it's good, but I already had a glass and I'm driving," he replies, and Karen looks at him with adoration clear in her brown eyes.
She turns to me. "Do you have time to come by this week? I ordered some seeds for the greenhouse."
"Yes, of course. I am free anytime after four all week," I say.
The pleased yet astonished look on Gammy's face is obvious as she looks back and forth between Karen and me. "So how long have you two been seeing one another?" she asks Harry and me."

"A few months," Harry tells her quietly.
Sometimes I forget that no one outside of our—well, Harry's —group of friends knows that we despised each other up until two months ago.
"Oh, so no great-grandchildren for me anytime soon?" She laughs and Harry face flushes.