What About Forever {l.s}

XXVII

Harry's POV

It was Thanksgiving day.
   "Mum?" I started. She had just finished tidying up the dining table and was now busy washing up all of the dishes from our feast. Everyone was now full-bellied and hanging out in the livingroom but I promised her I'd stay and help her clean up since she had also cooked for all of us.
   "What is it?" She asked, still fixated on suddsing up her favorite serving dish that had been used for our stuffing.
    "Well first off, dinner was lovely. You have got to be my favorite cook."
   "Oh Harry, you're making blush! But cut to the chase, what are you after?"
   "Okay um, so I promised Louis I would go over there after dinner so we could spend some time together today. I just don't want to be rude by leaving..."  I told her.
   She handed me a plate to dry.
    "That's fine, honey. I'm sure no one will mind. I'll drive you over. I need to stay for a few and chat with Johanna anyway," I was very lucky that my mum and Louis' were so close. They talked on the phone every day and if not, they would go to eachother's house and have tea together. Before I was exposed to their strong bond I had always thought that I was too clingy. But after seeing my mum and her best friend hug eachother only after being apart a few days.  I realized why Louis and I were how we were. It's only bad to be so close to someone if you lose them, because what do you do then? Your other half is gone.
"These dishes need to be finished first though." My mum told me.
    After cleanup, mum and I drove over to the Tomlinson's. Several cars parked in their driveway made me second guess being there, knowing that a lot of his family was with him too.
    Immediately after walking in, I felt like an art exhibit as everybody's eyes turned to judge every part of me that was visible. I just stood there awkwardly while my mum started a conversation with his mum and grandma about the homemade apple pie she brought for them.
    "Harry!" Louis ran in, breaking the awkward tension with a hug.
I breathed him in. Everytime we held eachother it was as if I were a desert and he was the rain, and it was like everyone had been telling me that the drought would never end, but then there he was, the fresh rainfall bringing all of the life back. He made it so that flowers could grow within me, daisies in my bones and roses in my hair. By the time I pulled out of his arms I had a whole damn garden in my heart.
    "Happy Thanksgiving." I said.
    "You too."  He replied with a smile that made my stomach hurt.
    "Harry, I know you've already eaten but you're welcome to sit with us while we eat." Johanna said. "Dinner's almost ready guys!" She called to the men to my right who were occupied with beers and sports on TV.
I went up to each of them with a welcoming hand and my name.
"Very nice to finally meet you. Johanna always has great Harry-Louis stories to tell us," Said Louis' uncle, his mum's brother. "You guys always get yourself into the craziest things. I can imagine Louis is the bad influence out of you both..." He grinned to Louis.
"Oh yeah, what an act you're putting on for them Harry! Trying to come off as a gentleman," He shook his head. "Let me tell you, you haven't seen the real him. Harry's one wild guy." Louis joked.
    Louis and I hung out with Louis' uncle until Johanna rangled up the whole family for dinner. There was his mum, his dad, his grandma and grandpa on his mums side, two sets of aunts and uncles, and four little kids on top of all of his sisters. So I guess you could say it was a full house.
   We all crammed into the dining table, I sat next to Louis of course. I felt out of place as everyone began chatting and digging into their food while I sat with them uncomfortably. But Louis noticed and started to make conversation. For a while it was just Louis talking to me, until the thin redhead in front of me, his dad's sister, initiated the questioning.
    "So Harry, how's school for you? I hope you're doing better than Louis is."  She said with a chuckle.
    "It was just my social studies class that I was struggling with! But I'll have you know, I bumped my 58 up to a 70!" Louis bragged.
   "Oh, well that's good! Proud of you Louis."
    "Yeah, but Harry's much smarter than me. He's like a straight-A student." Louis said.
     "Uhh, A's and B's." I said shyly, wanting to make a good impression but not wanting to brag either.
    "Do you have a girlfriend yet? We keep waiting to hear that Louis' brought a girl home, but I guess he's waiting for 'the one.'" His other aunt who was sat in front of me asked. She and the redhead both watched me awaiting my answer.
    "Aunt Carol..." Louis interjected seeing my red cheeks. It was then that I realized I had been introduced to his family as Louis' friend and nothing more.
     "What? Sorry honey, I don't mean to pry." She appologized.
   I looked to Louis for help but he avoided my eyes.
    "No, it's okay. I'm just not looking for anyone right now. I'm content with what I have I guess." I said.
    "Fair enough." She accepted. "How 'bout you?" She asked Louis.
    "Yeah, what's going on with that, Lou? You trying to focus on your studies or what? I'll bet you have a girlfriend and just don't wanna bring her round here and have your folks embarass you. I remember hiding plenty of girlfriends from my parents when I was your age." His uncle chimed in. Little did he know it wasn't a girlfriend Louis was hiding.
    "No, I don't." Louis simply answered. He didn't joke along like he would normally, instead just told it as it was with a stone espression.
   "Ya know, if you are looking for someone, my coworker, Jill, her daughter is beautiful." The redheaded aunt mentioned. "Oh and smart, she's so grown for her age. Lovely, lovely girl. I think you'd like her, if you want I could-"
    "No. No, thanks for the um, offer but I already have someone that's smart, and mature, and I'm happy."
    "I knew it!" The uncle exclaimed.
     His aunt's eyebrows scrunched up. "But you just said that you didn't-"
    "He said he didn't have a girlfriend. That's what he said."  I interupted, growing annoyed.
   It took them a minute to get it and when his aunt did, she froze. Mid-cut of her slice of turkey, she obnoxiously dropped her knife onto the plate creating a loud clink that isntantly quieted the room.
   "Are you trying to tell me he... he's.." She was now the only one speaking, everyone else chewing in silence and confusion.
    I glanced at Louis' mum who looked nervous and I think she probably knew as well as I did what was about to go down.
    "Harry's my boyfriend." Louis announced, confirming the confused family member's sudden speculation.
    I looked down at my lap, my face feeling like it was on fire.
    "Louis-" His mum attemted to stop him.
    "No!" He continued. "No, I'm not going to sit here and pretend, I'm going to tell people who I love about the guy that I love because I'm not ashamed of it, and why are you?! The only thing holding me back from talking about how great my relationship makes me feel and how happy he's made me is the fact that he's not what you expected. If he were a girl this wouldn't be an issue!"
    "You knew about this. When were you gonna tell us Johanna?" His aunt asked.
    "There was never a good time to bring it up-"
     "A good time?! A good time! There never will be, a good time to get this kind of news! But the least you could do for your son was tell us about it so we could pray for him and try to help him move past whatever he thinks he's doing."
    "You know what," Louis stood up. I saw tears in his eyes but he was holding strong. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I love a beautiful person. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you acting like this is some sort of sin or something that I've been burdened with or, or something that I've chosen to fault myself into, because trust me I've heard it enough. But I'm not going to let you make this into a bad thing, we are not a bad thing, what we," He looked at me. "What Harry and I have is something truly great and if you can't see that then I'm sorry, I feel bad for you I really do and maybe everyone should save their prayers for you because clearly  you lack the ability to feel something as strong as love but I do, and it's not something I've 'gotten myself into'. I'll scream this sin to the world because I'm so over shallow people like you and I'm not afraid anymore. And keep your coworkers 'lovely' girl, I already have what I need. Happy fucking Thanksgiving."
   
   As I layed against Louis on his bed,  trying my best to comfort him, his mum walked in without even knocking.
   We said nothing, just looked at her expecting her to yell at him and escort me out of their house. But she didn't.
   She sat quietly at the edge of the bed. We didn't move a muscle, not wanting to waste any remaining time we had with eachother.
    "You weren't too far out of line, Louis." She waited for a response and got none. "I'm sorry, both of you. It's unfair, I know, but some things are never going to be easy for you. Things are going to be harder than they ever should be because people are entitled to their feelings and opinions and it sucks, but just remember no matter how hard they make it for you, it's not easy for them either."

Updating on monday instead of the weekend and this chap is long, its a flashback if you didnt catcht hat yet haha and i havent proof read it yet but i kinda like a lot of quotes from this one so i hope you enjoy xx Emily