Always You

66. Family Gathering

I watch from afar as Harry chats away with Beth. Beth is my sisters best friend and I had to remind her five times not to flirt with my boyfriend. I am not watching them because I am jealous, because I certainly am not, but I am chuckling to myself at how uncomfortable Harry gets every now and then.

My guess is that he is feeling uncomfortable and a little awkward because she is doing what I told her not to do. Flirt with him. Harry loves giving compliments but he does not like receiving compliments. For such a polite and handsome guy, you'd think he would get used to it and start accepting it.

Today, between thirty and forty people are gathered in the backyard of my parents home because my mum organised a family gathering. Our closes family and friends are here today and I never realised how small our backyard was until there are so many people in it.

As a kid I would run around freely and get excited over how big our backyard was. Well, now as I look at it, it does not seem as big anymore. But I love this homely environment. I was raised in this home and one day I cannot wait for children of my own to play around in this very same backyard as I did.

My thoughts about my future are soon interrupted by my flustered mother who is racing around the yard like a mad woman. She is stressing so much. She almost tripped over Tori's toy dog that she has been obsessed with lately. Rachel tells me she is begging for a real puppy but seeing as they are soon going to welcome a new addition into the family who will take up 99% if their time, Rachel doesn't think it is the right time to get a puppy.

"Mum, you need to relax and enjoy yourself." I take the cheese platter from her hands. "Let me take this around to people and you have this" I hand her my glass of wine that I had only taken two sips out of. "Enjoy yourself."

"But don't forget the camembert is on the left and the bl-"

"Mum" I cut her off before her brain explodes. "I know the difference between these cheeses. Go enjoy yourself."

"And if we run out of biscuits they are inside on the thir-"

"Mum, I will smoosh this cheese in your face if you don't go enjoy yourself within the next three seconds."

She takes a deep breath in before exhaling. A small smile makes its way onto her face. "Okay, thank you Hailey" she places her hand on my arm for a moment before leaving and joining a circle of her friends.

I just want to see her enjoy this night too. After all, she is the one who put in all the hard work to organise it. It is not easy getting everybody together during their busy lives. We had to do this in November instead of December like usual because it was the only weekend everybody was free.

I walk around the yard, offering cheese and biscuits to our guests.

"Taken over from your mum I see" Ryan says as he takes a biscuit from the board and dips it into the sweet corn dip. "Yum, that's nice. I haven't tried that one before. What flavour is it?"

"Sweet corn" I point to the side of the container it is in. "And yes, I was worried she would have a panic attack from the amount of stress she was exhibiting. You got player of the year award at your football presentation. Well done."

"I did" he smiles proudly. "How did you know about that?"

"Your mother was chatting my ear off about an hour ago telling me how good you are."

Ryan rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "She is just bias."

"Maybe, but I do believe her. You were always in the local papers and when I used to watch you, you were a stand out player. You are really good at what you do. Being an athlete isn't easy. You have a strict diet, training schedule and bust your ass every weekend to play the best you can for your team."