LUCY

Harry helps me to get to the other seat. I put Sherlock's little cage on my seat, grabbed my belongings and got off the car.

"See you tomorrow, call me," I say and I admire his face one more time.

"Okay, be good, Lucy," he replies.

He looks happy like me.

I waved at him and walked to Mandy's house.

I wanted to stay with him but I also want to punch myself in the face. That's why I came here.

Mandy's sister opens the door. She lets me in and I walk to my friend's room.

"Lucy!? Hi!" She greets me, she's sitting on her bed. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

I close the door and sit on the edge of the bed.

"You look tense. What happened? "

"I had a sort of fight with Harry but I started. Cassie told me that he had to suffer, that was a way to see the real Harry. I stayed at his place and I had a nightmare and I felt that the pieces fit, I mean, what Cassie told me and the nightmare. I decided to leave and left a letter and it was wrong but at the same time I wanted to do it. I swear I was very scared and suddenly fear crushed me. But then I just wanted to cry and felt I had made a bad decision but at the same time I wanted to believe that it was correct. A big disaster. "

"Wow."

"And it was a coincidence that I went to his sister's house and after a few minutes he was also there. I was nervous and really sad but Harry...I just...everything he said. For a moment I was crying of sadness and then I cried for happiness and it was a very strange mix. "

"Very strange."

"I'm feeling guilty but I shouldn't, I mean, I did it because I wanted but also because I heard Cassie."

"And now you and Harry are fine?" I nod in response. "That was fast."

"Why?"

"Ryan and I spent days without talking to each other. Such a proud person. "

"I know."

"It's normal to feel guilty, you have heart and you know that it was not quite right what you did. You got it wrong, forget this and don’t do it again, Lucy. "

"I won't, I don't know what happened to me."

"Part of you did this because you wanted, because you felt insecure but don't let anyone control you, remember this is between you and Harry."

"Yes, I know but sometimes Cassie's right. I mean, she knows more than me about these things. "

"Cassie is very toxic. Lately she is acting like a person full of hate and I don't know why. "

"You think?"

"Yup. I heard a bit what she tells you about boys and Harry and make him suffer and she also told me to do the same with Ryan. I'm fine like this, I don’t want more fights with him."

"Yes, I want the same."

"Take off your bag and let's watch television and talk," Mandy offers.

I obeyed. I got rid of my shoes and sat beside her.

"How you fixed things with Harry?"

"His sister helped us, we sat and talked. We said what we felt about the situation and what we felt for the other. "

"No screaming, no slamming doors?”

"We raise the voice a little but we didn't scream at each other."

"I see. What did he say? "

"Hm, that he likes me, he thinks about me constantly, that he's willing to overcome this but with me, our second chance worth it," I reply and tried to hide my smile.

"How sweet," Mandy sighs. "His new version is extremely good to you."

"You think?"

"Yes, he is sweet and cares about you. You're lucky. "

"Yes, you're right."

"I'm so angry and hurt. I tried to fix things with Ryan again and he started to kissing me and all he wanted was to fuck. Of course I didn't do it. I felt like a toy, like I was nothing to him. He's such an idiot.”

"Mandy, I'm so sorry. Please, forget him, he is not worth it," I say quickly and very sad about the whole situation. I cannot believe he did that.

"Yes, I'll move on," she nods. "Harry didn't force you, right?"

"No, he is very patient which confuses me a lot."

"I understand, I would be confused too because just look at that body and his cute face!" Mandy fans herself with her hand. “You must mean a lot to him. The ultimate goal of boys today is just getting vaginas. I know it sounds cruel but is true, Lucy. "

Mandy is right. Our generation is strongly linked to the word sex.

"You think I mean a lot to him?"

"Yes, it's obvious. I am very surprised by his new attitude. Maybe you need to appreciate it more, just stop for a moment and really see what he's doing, what he is saying. Maybe it can help you realize that what you guys have is real. "

"Is that what you would do in my situation?"

"If I liked a boy very much and he made sweet things for me I think it's exactly what I would do. If things don't work you will suffer but doesn't last forever and the good thing is that you learn. That's my opinion. "

"You're such an expert on this, Mandy," I admit impressed. 

"It's just what I learned from my failed relationship."

+

HARRY

I opened my eyes when I hear how someone opens the door of my car.

"Sorry for the delay," Lucy says as she buckles the seat belt. "You were taking a nap?"

"Yes, I'm tired."

"Harry, I wonder if we can make a quick stop at my house."

"Why?"

"I want to change my clothes."

"But you look good."

"I spilled coffee and a bit of sauce on my shirt today, I need to change."

I quickly look at her shirt and I see the sauce stain.

"I also forgot the gift at home."

"Okay."

Today is Charlie's birthday and Lucy and I are cordially invited. Mom called me a few times to ask if Lucy would go and if we were fine and that kind of shit. So unbearable.

"Why took you so long?"

"I bumped with one of my little students and he had a question and I couldn't say no."

"It's very easy to say no."

"Maybe for you, not for me."

"Can I kiss you?"

"No, you can't."

"You see? It's easy to say no," I raised my eyebrows and she shook her head.

"Or maybe," she says suddenly and I look at her puzzled. "We have to be honest, right?"

"Bold move, I like it," I smile.

"I don't know why but I'm excited to go to Charlie's party."

"Do you plan to get drunk?"

"On the party of a 4 year old kid? Yes, of course," she answered sarcastically but keeps a smile on her face.

"Are you in a good mood?"

"I guess, I feel...good. How about you? "

"Yes, super excited for this big party. I always stay with Gemma or the other option would be the kids but I'm happy because we'll be together. "

"I'm happy too," she murmurs, her eyes on the street.

We listen to music until we got to Lucy's house.

"It will be quick, 10 minutes," she tells me when she gets off the car.

I have a special surprise for Lucy. Actually it's not a big deal and it's not an original idea but is what I and Angelina agree. She asked me to talk about Lucy and things we used to do, at some point I talked about that time we went out to hear and dance to some Beatles' songs. Of course Angelina's idea was dedicate a piece of a song. It was difficult to find one because they all have meaning for me and I even dedicated one to Emily, which I regret deeply.

I keep the piece of paper in my pocket. I don't know if I should give it to her now or once we are at Charlie's party.

I look up just in time to see how Lucy closes the door of her house and walks to the car.

"Ready, let's go."

And that's what we do. I drive to my mother's house, that's where they are celebrating Charlie's birthday. Nothing interesting is going to happen, there will only be a lot of kids, mothers, Marcel and Barbara.

"Hey, you look cute, I like your shirt," I say to Lucy as we walk to my mother's house.

"Thanks. We match," she looks to my plaid shirt. We don't match but I nod my head.

Her jeans are tight and her shirt is blue. Her hair is tied in a braid and she's wearing earrings.

"Matching as a couple, I like it."

Lucinda rings the bell and I can almost hear how my mother runs to the door.

"Finally!" She smiles and hugs Lucy. "Both are wearing plaid shirts, so sweet!"

We are wearing plaid shirts but with different colors, I don't understand my mother's point.

"Come in!"

We followed my mother through the hallway and headed to the backyard, since is big I knew that the little party was going to be there. And as I said is full of kids and mothers. There is music and also the kids are screaming.

"Don’t leave me alone or I would freak out with all this kids," I tell Lucy and grab her hand.

The next thing we do is greet everyone which is unbearable. The only good thing it's when we finally get to Charlie. Lucy grabs him and we hugged him simultaneously.

Lucy hands our gifts to Gemma and I carry Charlie in my arms.

"And how are you two?"

"Better, thanks, Gemma."

"No problems?"

"No problems," Lucy answers.

"Guys, Marcel is a little lonely, you should go and talk to him," says Gemma and I roll my eyes.

"The party is ruined," I whisper.

"Don't be that way, let's go," Lucy grabs my hand.

I leave little Charlie on the floor and we walked towards Marcel. My cousin is sitting in a corner. What a loser.

"Lucy, hi!" He smiles as soon as he sees Lucy.

"Hey! How are you?" She hugs him.

"Fine but boring. Did you know that there will be a TV show of Flash? I disagree completely, is not going to be good! "

"Really?" Lucy exclaims in surprise. "You need to update me about everything, right now."

I roll my eyes a thousand times between every word they said.

"Hey cousin," Marcel greets calmly.

"Hey cousin," I greet him in the same way.

We grabbed some chairs and sat in front of Marcel. Lucy talks to Marcel while I smoke a cigarette. Anne will kill me if she sees that I'm smoking at this party full of kids.

"Could you turn that off?" Marcel growls staring at my cigarette. "You're very inconsiderate. I don't think it's good for Lucy, remember she's asthmatic. "

"Fuck," I curse and crush the cigarette with my shoe. "Sorry, babe," I apologize.

"It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter? Cigarette smoke could cause an asthma attack," Marcel speaks indignantly.

"Marcel, calm down. I'm fine."

"You heard her," I reply. I stand firm but I was so stupid to forget about asthma.

Lucy wrapped one of my arms with hers. I kiss her forehead and Marcel doesn't look away. Maybe he likes to suffer.

They restart the conversation and after a few minutes is time to sing happy birthday. Everybody gather around the main table. Little Charlie looks so happy and scared at the same time. Gemma has a big smile and I can see the excitement and happiness in her eyes. I'm happy for her, she has been a strong and amazing mom.

Marcel and Lucy decided to help Gemma and my mother to cut the cake. I take a sit, I refuse to work. The only productive thing I did was pour myself wine.

Once they finish their work Lucy comes back to me with two pieces of cake. Of course it's delicious because it's a chocolate cake.

Suddenly I remember the paper in my pocket and I remember something more important.

"Speaking of cake now I remember that your birthday is coming, Lucy."

"I never told you, how do you know?"

"Facebook."

"I thought I had deleted my birthday."

"Nope. What are your plans? "

"I don't know, I still don't talk to my mom about it. It won't be a huge party, something simple among friends. "

"I see. Am I invited? "

"Yes. Want to go? "

"Of course I want to be with you but now I think I'm not welcome."

"You are talking about my friends."

"They all hate me."

"Oh, right," she nods slowly.

I bury my fork into Lucy's cake and manage to take a piece of it.

"Adam will be there and he hates me and I hate him. Marcel tolerates me and Cassie hates me. "

"You're right, I hadn't thought about it."

"But I don't think it's going to last the whole night, or am I wrong?"

"Nope, it's very simple and just hanging out a while. Why?"

"You could go to my house after that, if you want."

"Finish my birthday at your house?"

"Yeah, cuddle in my bed and with Sherlock," I shrug. "It would be like a second party, but it will be better and just us," I winked.

She thinks for a moment.

"Sounds good," Lucinda agrees and I can see the change on the color of her cheeks. "I will lie, say I'll go to a sleepover with Mandy, she will help me."

"Lying to your parents, I'm proud of you."

"Yes, I don’t feel so guilty."

"Finally you will turn 18."

"I forget you have 19, Harry."

"Yes, I feel like the old in this relationship."

"That's ridiculous, it's a year of difference."

"Changing the subject, I have something for you."

I grab Lucy's plate and leave it on the table. I take out the piece of paper from my pocket and handed it to her.

"Read it aloud."

She looks at the paper and then at me. She sends a shy smile as she opens the piece of paper.

"I think about you night and day. I need you and it's true. When I think about you, I can say, I'm never, never, never, never blue,” she read the paper as I asked.

"Cheesy as fuck, I know, but The Beatles spoke for me."

"So you are never, never, never sad?" She questioned, raising her big eyebrows.

"Nope, never."

"I like this song. This is sweet, thank you. "

Lucinda leans toward me and plants a quick kiss on my lips. I barely had time to react.

"That lasted like one second," I growled.

"You're drinking wine," she says and grabs my glass to see the content.

"It’s so good."

I don’t want to talk, I want to grab her face and kiss her and do other things.

I rest my hands on her knees and lean in. We stay inches away. When her hand rests on my cheek is when I decided to kiss her. It's short but at least I could feel better the pressure of her lips.

"I think it's weird that we are kissing on this party, we are surrounded by mothers and kids."

"It wasn’t even a kiss with tongue, nobody will be traumatized."

Lucy blushes in response.

"If it makes you feel uncomfortable we can go somewhere else so we can make out with no interruptions."

“Ha-Ha, no way.”

She gets up and grabs our plates.

"I love how difficult you are," I admit and she smiles.

I get up to plant a short kiss on her lips. She looks at me shocked by my sudden movement.

"I have to...I'm going to help your mother."

"I won't move from here," I say, crossing my arms.

"Fine, be right back."

+

LUCY

I am glad that Harry hasn't made any comments about my flushed cheeks. Despite the time, almost a year, Harry still has this type of effect over me.

His charm hasn't disappeared but now I feel like everything he says or does is just for me, now I have more confidence that it's true.

I spotted Charlie playing with a couple of kids. Gemma should be in the kitchen. Anne and Paolo are close to Charlie and they are watching the kids. If Harry sees this I'm sure it won't please him but I understand his point.

I decide to talk to Anne to offer my help.

"Anne, hi, do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine, we will clean up later. Are you and Harry having fun? "

"Yes, thank you for inviting us."

"I'm glad you came, for a moment I thought you wouldn't come or that Harry was lying to me again. I met two of his girlfriends but you're the one I like the most, maybe that's why I'm more worried about you two.”

"We're fine, he's good to me."

"It's amazing because Harry is rude to everyone, you make him more polite and less monkey or caveman," Paolo adds, getting into the conversation.

"Harry is polite, he's just rude to people he doesn't like," I reply, a little annoying for his comment.

I defended Harry, however, Anne says nothing. I guess she thinks the same as Paolo but I have to remember I don't know a lot of Harry's life and therefore I can't comment too much about it.

"If you excuse me," I say and both nod.

I go to the kitchen and Marcel is there drinking wine like Harry, maybe it's a cousins thing.

"Why don't we clean up this mess?" I asked pointing with the index the dirty dishes.

"Are you happy?" Marcel asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Yes. Are you?"

"If you are happy then I am happy," he sighs. He still likes me?

"Thanks for update me today, I needed that conversation," I say and try to change the subject.

"Yeah, me too. Our typical conversation," he smiles.

I throw the plastic cups and the plastic dishes in the trash can.

"We should see the first chapter of Flash together, Lucy. Just to criticize."

"Yes, definitely. Count on me. "

"Without Harry of course. Do you remember that time he appeared out of nowhere and we were going to watch a movie? "

"Yes, I remember, it was like the beginning of the story."

"He thought he could control people and that everyone would do what he wanted. Harry was a huge idiot. "

"Yes, I know."

"But holy crap he's completely different now. I don't want to admit it but he is his better version because of you. And I hate to admit it but I was watching you two a few minutes ago and I can't explain the way you look at him or the way he looks at you. It's different and now I can see you two are in love. "

"We weren't doing anything special but you really think so?"

"Yes," he shrugs. "This wine is making me too honest," he says and puts the glass on the table.

"Probably."

"There you are!" I hear Harry's voice and I turned to him. "Lucy, the kids want to play with me, I had to run away."

I laughed at his words.

"It's not funny,” he complains.

Harry walks towards me and wraps his arm around my waist.

"They are children, Harry."

"I just like Charlie," he justified.

"There you are!"

This time is Gemma.

"Lucy, I need to talk to you. Right now, just us. "

"Great," Harry growls.

I don't see a smile on her face.

"You okay?" Marcel questioned.

"Yes."

"I'll stay here," Harry tells me and I nod. "Or maybe I should go back," he adds, looking at Marcel.

I go with Gemma. I don't know what she wants to talk to me. We go upstairs to the second floor; she checks the bathroom and guides me to her mother's room. She closes the door with the keys.

"What's wrong?"

Gemma walks across the room and on her hands she's holding her cell.

"I didn't want to talk about it but I'm scared," she starts talking and her voice is weak.

I don't recognize this side of her, Gemma has been fine the whole afternoon.

"I thought he had left me alone but yesterday Taylor came to my house," she murmurs.

I doubt this is good news.

She sits on the edge of the bed and I do the same.

"I tried to forget but it feels like a heavy weight on my shoulders and it's killing me."

I rest my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm scared."

"He did something to you or to Charlie?"

"He never touched Charlie. He hit me, I hit him. "

My hands cover my mouth. I'm in shock.

"That is horrible. You...You can't let him do that.”

This makes me feel extremely sad. I don't want her to suffer, Gemma is a good person and doesn't deserve this.

“You can’t live this way. You have to tell Harry. "

"I can't," she shakes her head. I see tears running down her cheeks.

"Why not?"

"They have their own problems, everything is very delicate."

"That means nothing, you're his sister."

Gemma shakes her head and wipes her tears.

"Both are capable of a lot of things. Harry would lose his temper and more. "

"This is normal, you are his sister and Taylor is hurting you."

"I'm afraid for them, I don't want the truth to be known. I'll handle this myself. "

"It's not fair to you but you can count on us, you have my support and Harry will help too."

"Can't you see it, Lucy?" Gemma interrupted, frowning. "If Harry knows this I'm sure he would kill him."

"What?"

"I think Harry is capable, capable to kill Taylor and I could never forgive myself for doing this to my brother."

I had this planned but I don't know. Opinions about the chapter?

Merry christmas (almost)