The Weeks Between • HS

Week 19 • Harry *

I fucking love her and I almost told her last night. When she called me her boyfriend, it wasn't lost on me how monumental that moment was for her. It wasn't just a word to her. It was a full shift in our relationship; a shift that she has been unwilling to make in her past and one that she was even unwilling to make for me... until yesterday.

Last night, for me, seemed like a glimpse into our future. We had dinner and cleaned it up together while listening to music and dancing in the kitchen; taking full advantage of the fact that I could wrap my arms around her and pull her into me as often as I wanted to. After our kitchen dance party, we took the girls outside to play in the yard until the sun started to set.  We pushed them on the swings as their laughter created the soundtrack for a core memory that I'll never be able to forget. Nola was pushing Hattie with a permanent smile on her face, but the smile would change when she caught me staring and our eyes would meet. It was softer. It was a smile that I noticed she only ever gave me.

Then, we took the girls inside and worked together to get them ready for bed. We kneeled on the floor in the bathroom, side-by-side as they had their baths. We tag-teamed getting them dressed before I read the twins a story on Mia's bed while Nola fed Hattie on Lottie's, so they could listen to the story, too. Somewhere between her calling me her boyfriend and us sitting in the twins room as a little family, it dawned on me that I loved her.

Now, for the last hour, I've been watching her sleep and contemplating just whispering those words over her, so that my brain will stop telling me to say them out loud. It would be safe to do right now, because her breathing hasn't changed yet, the way that it does when her body is waking up. Her soft features haven't gained the tension they do when her eyelids are about to flutter open. If I did, she wouldn't know that I said it, which makes it tempting to do, but then I'd run the risk of her hearing me and the moment being less than magical. So, instead I just observe her beautiful body laying next to mine and think about all the ways we experienced one another in the past twelve hours.

She finally begins to stir and I smile. When her eyes flutter open in the mornings, their color is different than it is for the rest of the day. It's like the sun hasn't kissed the golden brown into her irises yet, and they pop a green with a hint of turquoise that I only get to see first thing in the morning. Hence why I'm usually awake before her.

I lean down to kiss her forehead as her petit body stretches partially underneath me, her arms wrapping around my waist to pull me on top of her. I brace my upper body with my elbows, so she can still move freely beneath me, but our centers remain glued together. Her hands move from my waist to my ass and she squeezes before she suggestively shifts beneath me. I pull back long enough to look into her eyes and ask her what she needs. I am met with her doe eyes and the simple answer, "you." I oblige with one quick stretch to the nightstand drawer and a hasty wrapper tear. I don't even lift her tank top off of her body before I am inside of her, pleasuring her through the wakeup call she deserves every morning that she wants it.

Our spent, sweaty, bodies fall back onto the bed as we wait for our breathing to regulate before sharing another word. The first words she says, as she is slipping her underwear back on, are, "we didn't lock the door." It's true. I unlocked it last night after we finished but this morning it slipped both of our minds.

"Sorry, love."

"It's fine. We just need to be more careful. I know they are used to you being around now, but I still don't want to explain sex to my three year olds."

"Not do I," I say, the idea of them walking in making me a little queasy. "I promise to lock it tomorrow morning," I say as I get out of bed, which earns a swat from Nola.

"Where are you going?" she asks, her face in the cutest little pout.

I lean down to kiss her, holding her chin turned up to me with my thumb and forefinger. "Shower." I start the water and somewhat expect her to join me, but she doesn't. So, I do my business and exit the shower and dry off. Then, I remember that I didn't being any clothes in with me, and the girls could wake up at any minute. So, I put on her robe that's hanging on the hook. Wiping my hand over the mirror to clear a spot for my reflection, I scan over her products to find some moisturizer for my face. Then, I notice that she set out a brand new toothbrush for me to use, so I open the package and search for the toothpaste so I can brush my teeth.