Sycamore Tree // H.S. (HIATUS)

fifteen

-little trigger warning ahead, there will be one scene mentioning slight sexual harassment, which will be marked with *, please take skipping it into consideration if it could trigger you-

New York has taught you, that in bed, Harry's accent becomes ten times stronger. New York has taught you that Harry wanted to ask you when you slept over at his house, but he thought you'd say no. New York has taught you, that Harry is a world famous superstar who still misses his mom when he hasn't seen her in a while.

Harry spent Christmas in England as usual, you spent it in Paris.
Each year, your family comes together in either London or Paris, pretends everything is okay until two days into the New Year and then everyone goes back to their normal lives.

Your mom and her boyfriend have made a grand meal for everyone on Christmas Eve, you spent Christmas Day together in her apartment before everyone cramped into Pierre's old VW and he drove you out to your grandparents house.

Everything reminds you of Harry. The car, the music Pierre is playing, the country roads and even the village itself. Even though you spent most of your summer's here as a child, the village is marked with 'Harry' now.

You haven't talked to him besides a quick phone call last night, he isn't sure if he can come for New Year's Eve. He has to go back to London to work on the album in between Christmas and the new year. You can't lie, you've been more than disappointed; before you left New York he promised to be with you and now he's not sure anymore. You know he wants to, but he also has a deadline for the album. You know how conflicted he is, and he hates that he might not be able to see you, but he can't change it.

Your mom and Pierre are going to be out with their friends, but you wouldn't want to spend the night with them anyway. Claire is going to sleep over at her friend's house, Elsie, Felix and your dad are unsure whether to stay or take a train back to London.
You want them to stay, even if Harry comes, because you haven't told them about him yet.

"That's pretty impressive, where did he get it?" Pierre asks you after dinner, you showed him the camera Harry got you. The film is used and needs to be developed and you know that he can easily do that in his office.

"Los Angeles," you reply, "can you get the film developed until New Year's Eve?" Pierre takes the camera from your hands.

"Consider it done, Lucille," he says. It baffles you that you ever hated him. He has an enormous impact on your mom, whenever he is with her, she doesn't dare to pick a fight with your dad; he calms her down. She on the other hand, talked him into quitting his job and become a freelance photographer and helped him with the start funds. And it worked, he's been really successful the last year. And all that aside, he shows genuine interest in you and your siblings, he tried really hard to get to know the family and it worked, even your Dad likes him.

"I'll take you to the office when we get back tomorrow and show you how it's done, okay?"

"Thank you," you say, "that means a lot."

It's not only you and him the next day, Felix came with you because just like you, he doesn't have a lot of friends in Paris. He was only four when you moved, the only friend he has are your old neighbors.

While Pierre was developing your film, he sent the two of you on a challenge through the city. It's the first time in a while you actually spend time with your little brother.

"So how are things with your girlfriend?" You ask as the two of you walk down by the riverside. It's the day after Christmas, everyone has returned to their jobs, it's mostly tourists grace the streets.

"S'going good," he says, shoving his hands into his pockets, "I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, though." He sits down on the half wall separating the river from the street.