The Parent Plan » Harry Styles

Chapter 6

– Athena & Jake –

   Eavesdropping – automatically, that word is assumed to go under the 'bad' list. As in, it wasn't a good thing no matter what the situation may be. People would frown upon this if one was caught doing such, because it's an invasion of privacy and sometimes, you hear things you necessarily don't want to hear. But sometimes, you hear things that could be beneficial – like Athena and Jake had.

   Liam's words played through both of their heads, mostly Athena's though, "You know, there's something about you that's good for Harry." She noticed such thing as well when Monica and Harry had first talked to each other because there was something there she hadn't seen before. But now, she could establish that it was a good way – Harry was looking at Monica in a good way, and Liam noticed it too. This was a good sign for the parent plan.

   In Jake's mind, he thought of the next step to take. He too had heard Liam's words and when he had, he knew that he had to keep Monica and Harry seeing each other. There is no guarantee that they'll see each other when dropping their children off. Sometimes Monica actually wakes up on time – specifically her work days – and she can only drop Jake off before heading to the studio because of some older clients.

   That's it.

   "I know what we can do," Jake spoke up, looking up from his lap to meet Athena's sharp jade eyes. The two were sat on the living room sofa, the television turned on but at a low hum. Athena had been leaning against the arm, staring down the hall of where she had seen her father disappeared to – she had noticed that his eyes were puffy and red, no doubt he cried at the mention of Katelyn.

   "What?" The blonde questioned, sitting up and looking over to her friend.

   "Take dance lessons," he said with a shrug of the shoulders. He knew much about his Mother's business because of the many times she'd drag him there after school and before he had gone to school. He'd watch Monica teach all ages to dance, as well as the parents (of the younger students) sit in the bleachers outside of the studio, watching through the glass windows until the lesson was over. Harry could be in those bleachers.

   Athena wasn't really fond of dancing – maybe it was because every time her father tried to dance it was quite horrendous –, she actually preferred drawn art over performance art. She liked how many colours there were in this world, it amazes her to no extent. And sure, she was basically raised around performance art (what with her father and uncles once being in a band) but it didn't thrill her.

   In any other situation, she'd automatically reply with a hard 'no' but not this time. This wasn't a selfish decision. She wants her father to find happiness in someone – like Monica – and since she hasn't seen him trying to do so, she had to take matters into her own hands.

   "Okay," she murmured, tugging a few loose strands behind her ear. She'd do anything to make her Father happy.

.

   A few minutes later, five people were sat at the table with various sized piles of spaghetti placed onto five plates. Athena sat at the head table (it was something Harry had always done because she enjoys seeing everyone at the table) with Jake on her left who sat beside his Mother and Harry on her right, with Liam beside him.

   Liam was first to break the silence – apart from the clanking of forks against plates. "So, Monica, what do you do?"

   "I, uh, I own a dance studio just a few roads down," she replied. Jake watched as her eyes snapped from Harry to Liam in an instant.

   She had been staring at him for the past few minutes of silence. Probably because Harry had been silent ever since returning from the bathroom – where he had repeatedly washed his face – and Athena could easily detect that it was because of her mother. Once his mind drifts to her death, it's hard to think of anything else. Plus, it's quite noticeable because he was pushing his food around the plate, his head tilted down so that his hair covered his eyes.