Remember When

Chapter 3

Harry rolls over and knows right away he's not in his bed. Cracking one eye open the first thing he sees is Jackie, and then everything that happened the night before came flooding back. Propping his head on his hand, Harry just stares at the beautiful girl in the bed beside him. After driving her home the night before he ended up carrying her into her apartment because she fell asleep, when he first picked Jackie up, Harry thought of all the times he did that when they were kids, she didn't weigh that much more now than she did then, hell she's not that much taller than she was then he thought with a smile. Once he got her to her room she had woken up enough to tell him where her change of clothes were, but naturally wasn't much help in putting them on herself, once he had her changed and tucked in Jackie grabs his hand and begs him to sleep with her like he used to when they were kids. Hell, Harry couldn't tell her no, he missed her to much, so he pulled his jeans off, laid down beside her and held her close until she was asleep again.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Jackie asks Harry in her sexy morning voice.

"Just making sure last night wasn't a dream, that you're really here." Harry says in his own sleep rough voice.

Jackie blinks several times before giving up and buries her face into her pillow. "God, you have no idea how much I've missed you." She sobs.

"Hey." Harry says, pulling Jackie to him. "Jack, please don't cry.  You're here now, and no one can separate us again." He whispers as he holds her close.

"I know, but I've been so miserable without you. It's almost like I lost a part of myself when I had to move and leave you." Jackie says, not realizing she was revealing how she felt to Harry.

"I do know, Jack. I felt the same way." Harry admits. "When I realized what time it was and that I'd never see you again, I lost it. It took mom and Gemma days to calm me down." He tells her, pulling away so he could kiss her forehead. "Now come on, dry those beautiful eyes and get dressed. We'll go get your truck, then swing by my place so I can change for work. Then we'll go to mom's cafe for breakfast, I'm assuming she hasn't been told you're home so it can be a surprise."

Jackie nods, then slides out of bed to gather some clothes to put on. While she's in the bathroom Harry puts on his clothes and straightens up the bed, as he's doing that he sees a stuffed bear sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Walking over to the chair, Harry picks the bear up, he recognizes it as the one he won at the school fair, he gave it to Jackie teasing her saying it was almost as big as her. Hearing the door behind him open Harry spins around.
"You still have this?" He asks, still holding the bear.

Jackie smiles. "Of course. My college room mate always made fun of me." She says with a shake of her head. "I've slept with him every night since you gave him to me, well except for last night." Jackie says shocking Harry.

Harry is just about to ask Jackie if she's ready to leave when his phone rings. "Hello? No we were just about to come there and get it. Hang on I'll ask." Harry says. "Jack do you mind if Liam drives your truck to mom's cafe? That way we don't have to drive across town and back."

"It's fine with me, it'll save time." Jackie says.

"It's fine Liam, we'll see you there." Harry says before hanging up. "Come on, we still need to run by my place so I can change for work." Harry says as he takes Jackie's hand and leads her out the door. Once in the car Jackie looks around.

"You know this place still looks just like it did twenty years ago, yeah there's been a few changes here and there, but over all, it's still the same." Jackie says.

"Yeah, about the only thing that has changed is some of the people who live here." Harry says. "We've had a few new people discover our little paradise and fall in love with it enough to call it home, a lot of the same people from when you were here are still here. Some have moved to the mainland, only to come back to visit, other are gone." Harry sighs.

Jackie places her hand on Harry's arm. "That has to make your job hard, knowing most of these people most your life and having to give bad news."

"The one thing I hate about my job, but at least that doesn't happen to often." Harry says as he pulls into his driveway.

"Oh my God." Jackie's jaw drops. "Harry Edward Styles, what the hell?" She snaps as she gets out of the car, looking at the house in front of her.

"What, you think you're the only one who can remember childhood dreams or promises?" Harry teases as he wraps his arms around Jackie from behind her and puts his chin on the top of her head. "When this baby came up for sale last year I jumped on it, the whole time I was moving in all I could remember was us talking about some day owning this place together." Harry whispers. "Tell you what, anytime that tiny apartment starts feeling to cramped for you, call me. You can move into our dream home." He laughs.

"Don't tease me like that Harry, I'm not done unpacking." Jackie says, elbowing him. "I might not ever get done if I know I have a home like this to move into."

"So don't unpack, move in here. Hell your only five minutes from your office. You can rent the apartment out to someone else." Harry says.

"Can I think about it? I just got home." Jackie asks.

"Of course. Take your time." Harry smiles as he leads her to the door.