No judgement

2

"Sorry, sorry! I lost track of time. Look at you! You're all grown up now." His aunt Amelia said and ruffled his hair.

He smiled from the sight of her. She looked like she came directly from the '70s. She had a dress with a flower pattern and a lot of necklaces around her neck and her long brown hair was draped over her shoulders.
"You're a hippie now?" Harry grinned.

"Oh, hush. Come on! Is this all of your bags? I'm parked outside. We need to hurry. I'm not really allowed to park there." Amelia said and grabbed two of his suitcases.

Aunt Amelia was fifteen years younger than his mum and was something of a wild spirit. He was actually surprised that his mum let him move in with her. She wasn't exactly known to be the responsible one. They hurried outside and Harry cackled when he saw the yellow minivan parked outside.
"You really are a hippie!"

Amelia just grinned at him and threw his bags in the back. Harry took a seat up front and buckled his seatbelt. As soon as they were on their way Amelia started to talk.
"This is going to be great! I'm so excited that I get to spend some time with you and oh, you're gonna love the community!"

Harry wrinkled his eyebrows.
"The community?"

"Well, I sort of live in a commune. We're eight people living together at the moment, well nine with you. Don't worry. You'll have your own room and all." Amelia explained with a sheepish smile.

Harry cackled out loud again.
"There's no way my mum knows that!"

"Well, she never asked and I sort of failed to mention it." Amelia admitted.

"She will lose her mind when she finds out." Harry grinned.

"Well, I'm not gonna tell her. Are you?" Amelia asked with a quick glance at him.

"I guess not." Harry answered amused.

"Good! Give it a chance. If you really don't like it we'll move somewhere else just the two of us. Deal?" Amelia asked.

"Deal!" Harry grinned. He was going to give it a try at least and what his mum didn't know she didn't have to worry about. 

Amelia spent the whole car ride to Holmes Chapel asking him about his interests and what he liked or not. She was easy to talk to and it felt like she really wanted to get to know him. It wasn't the first time he met her. She had visited them in Ireland a couple of times over the years, but it wasn't like he knew her inside out. She had always been his mum's much younger, crazier sister to him. When she noticed and complimented his nail polish he knew that they would get along great.
She didn't sound judgemental at all.

It was later that afternoon when they finally rolled into the community and Harry looked around curiously. They had reached a big farm outside town. People flooded out from the house to greet them. Okay, it was only seven of them but it looked like a lot more. Amelia turned to him and smiled.
"Let me introduce you to my family. They're all excited to meet you."

Harry felt shy all of a sudden but he got out of the car and followed Amelia closely behind.
"Hi everybody, this is my handsome nephew Harry."

Everyone said hi and smiled at him. They were standing in a row and Amelia took him on an introduction round.
"Harry, this is Steven and Alex. They're a couple as you can see and our garden experts. We grow our own crops here."

"That's cool. Hi, I'm Harry. Nice to meet you." Harry smiled and extended a hand.

Steve and Alex smiled brightly and were talking at the same time while they shook his hand.
"Oh, look at that nail polish. Gorgeous!" Steve said and examined his nails closely.

"Your coat is fabulous!" Alex said.

Harry giggled.
"He's adorable!" Steve cooed.

"Okay guys, don't scare him." Amelia said amused and brought Harry with her to introduce him to the next couple.
"This is Mitch and Sarah, our musicians in the group. Sarah is a drummer and Mitch a guitarist. Harry here has a great voice. You should totally jam together."

"You like to sing?" Mitch asked.

Harry blushed.
"Yeah but mostly in the shower."

"We would love to hear you sing sometime." Sarah smiled.

Harry nodded his head. They probably just said that to be nice. They moved along to the next couple.
"Tom and Mary. They started this community."

"Welcome sweetie. I hope you will like it here." Mary greeted and Tom shook his hand.

"Finally, Troy, our newest member." Amelia said.

"Let me guess, your boyfriend?" Harry grinned, eyeing Troy. He was a good-looking guy.

Amelia blushed.
"Uhm, no, we're just friends."

From the way Troy was looking at his aunt, he was sure that would change soon.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Hi Troy, I'm Harry."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Troy replied and shook his hand.

"Well, now when introductions are in order, let me show you your room." Amelia smiled.

"We thought you would like some privacy, being a teenager and all so we set you up in the room on top of the garage but if you want to stay in the house instead we can arrange that." Mary said.

"The garage sounds great actually. I'm not used to living with this many people. No offense, you all seem lovely." Harry hurried to say.

"No offense taken. You're always welcomed in the main house." Tom answered.

Amelia went over to the minivan and opened the back. The rest of the people in the community hurried over and grabbed his bags. Okay, he might have gone overboard with the packing but he loved clothes and he had a lot of them. They walked over to the garage and took a stair to the second floor. Harry looked around with an excited smile as soon as he reached the top stair. The room was great. It had an open construction plan and held a small pantry, a walk-in closet, and a toilet with a shower. It was frugally furnished but he liked that. 

The small kitchen island had two stools around it. There was a queen-size bed, a small sofa, a small tv and a desk with a chair.
"This is perfect!" He said, sounding excited.

"We're glad you like it. Dinner's in an hour. Come on guys, let him settle in." Amelia said and they left him alone. He took a seat on the couch and looked around. He would like it here.