Love Like Only A Family Can

Chapter 5

"Alex! Wake up buddy!" I groaned and sat up. As I stretched, I rubbed my eyes while letting out a massive yawn. I heard Harry laughing softly and I looked at him and then to my alarm clock. It was 7:30!

"Why are we up so early,Mister Harry?" I said groggily.
"Because it's Sunday! And don't call me, "Mister Harry!" I'm not your teacher, kiddo!" I nodded, still tired. "We have to go to church. Come on, buddy! We need to be outta here by 8 o'clock so we can have breakfast with my friend. Then I gotta register you into the church system. So wake up! I'll help you dress if you need me to."

I slid out of his bed and went to my room to get an outfit from yesterday. I took back some jeans and one of the button-down shirts he had gotten me before we left the mall.

He helped me with the buttons and then brushed my hair back to make it look somewhat reasonable.

'I really needed a haircut' was all I could think while he combed and brushed and put gel and whatnot into it. It looked really nice when he was finally done and I watched him shave his beard down to a sort of faded look.

He looked really nice with the suit he was wearing. He even had a tie on!

We met Ollie and Wes at the car. Ollie was wearing khaki shorts with a button-down, baby blue shirt while Wes was wearing jeans and a  red polo button-up. We got in the car and drove to a small cafe that was right next to a giant church.

We sat at a large booth even though there were only four of us.  We chatted about randomness until a couple with a baby came and sat with us at the booth.

"Hey Harry!" Said the woman who was holding the baby. "Hey boys! Hello!" She said looking at me. "What's your name?"

"A-alex... ma'am." I said sheepishly. Hey! I was shy around new people!

"Nice to meet you Alex! I'm Iris! This is Eddie!" She said gesturing to the baby boy. He looked around 2 years old. Then the man came back with a high chair and sat down next to Iris. He took the baby, greeted Harry, Wes, and Ollie, and then looked at me.

"Hey bud! I'm Barry!"

"H-hi," Harry, who was sitting next to me, squeezed my shoulder as if to say everything's alright. Then we ordered breakfast and everyone began to talk about things I didn't really care about.

"Where is Brendon?" Ollie asked suddenly.

"Oh! He and Sarah were running late." Barry answered, "They said to meet them st the church."

Then we finished and headed to church. Harry registered me and Wes, Ollie, and I went to a juniors class.

At 10:30 Harry picked us up and we went home to eat lunch. Wes and Ollie helped me set up the bed sheets so that way Harry could sleep in his own room that night. Harry was making burgers while we watched TV in the living room.

"BOYS!"

"Coming!" We ran into the dining room and sat at the table. Well, Wes and Ollie ran. I walked cause my legs ached from shopping the day before. The burgers were really good and I got seconds. Obviously.

I went to my room to play some of the games on my iPod when Harry came in and sat on the foot of my bed. I put the iPod down and looked at him expectantly.

"So... as you know Alex, I work at the middle and high school here. As the principal. So I won't be here tomorrow." He looked down guiltily. I looked at his sad face. He really did care about me! Nobody had "cared" about me since I was like... 7!

"That's fine..." I trailed. Was it fine? It was only my 3rd day with this family and they would be leaving me for the entire day. Or would I have to start at the end of school! That would suck!

"So I'm going to have my friend over tomorrow. His name is Brendon. He designs formal shoes. High heels mostly."

"O-okay."

"You... aren't upset?" What did he say? Why would he care if I was upset?

Then it hit me that if I said I wasn't okay, he'd do something about it. He wouldn't just not care. These people weren't like every one else.
"No. I'm not. Thank you, Harry. For everything."

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at me. Then he did something totally unexpected. He took my face in his hands and rubbed my ears with his thumbs. I immediately tended up. It was what my mother used to do to get me to fall asleep. No one had done anything so soothing to me in years. I relaxed into it. He leaned down and kissed my forehead and then released me. Then he turned on my TV and left my room, closing the door behind him. 

A/N: Who got those Panic! At The Disco references? Man, Brendon is making those high heels work everywhere, isn't he?