Jane

I curled the last piece of hair left and decided to wear a blue dress for my birthday dinner. We were going to a small Italian restaurant, one of my favorite places since I was half Italian. Phoebe was staying in my room so she did her hair right beside me.

My phone vibrated and it was Harry, again. He tried calling me twice after I hung up with him yesterday, and again this morning. I wasn't mad, just disappointed that I let myself get close to him when I knew he isn't emotionally available.

"Boy trouble?" Phoebe asked.

"If I tell you are you going to tell mom?" She shook her head no and I gave in because I needed to tell someone. I explained how I met Harry and how we began seeing each other. I told her about our kiss, the movie, and everything since then.

"He seems mysterious, but I think he's trying to be a better guy, maybe he doesn't know how." She sat on the bed. "Is he cute?" She whispered.

"Yes." I threw myself on the bed. I opened my phone and went to my photos. I had taken a photo of Harry and me on the day of the beach. He sat beside me with a smile and I leaned against his shoulder. I showed it to her making her whistle.

"Wow, he is cute, good for you." She put her hand up for a high-five but I ignored her. I threw the phone behind me excusing myself to go get some fresh air outside.

I walked out into my backyard sitting on one of the lawn chairs. I felt like I was overthinking a lot. So I tried to think of something else to get my mind off of it. Perhaps Harry would come around to the idea that someone could generally care about him. He had mentioned something the day we saw Titanic at his house, which made me feel like he wasn't loved much growing up.

"Growing up my parents were divorced and I saw my mom go through heartbreak a dozen times. My sister was no different, it just made me think 'what was the point of hurting with someone else if you could just be okay by yourself."

The back door opened and my parents stood there. "Come on kid time for dinner." I smiled standing up to walk back inside.

My dad talked to my brother about taking my car and we would go to the family car because there's so many of us. "Mom?" She looked over. "Can I ask you something?" She pulled me aside and I asked her. "Do you think people mimic what they see, like relationships?"

"Yes, look at your siblings. They copied your father and me, moving away to get married and have kids before they even turn thirty." She smiled.

"Great." I sighed.

"Hon, I'm not exactly sure where you're going with this, but people can change." She leaned against a chair looking over at my dad. "My parents were divorced, and I had no siblings or anything, but all it took was your dad to sweep me off my feet for me to want the opposite of what I was raised seeing every day." She patted my head walking over to one of the cabinets. "Here before I forget, I know you don't like presents but I don't care."

She handed me an open box. I looked inside and it was a black camera. "Wow, it's awesome mom thanks." I hugged her and she mentioned how she charged it so I could use it tonight.

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The Italian restaurant was my favorite for two reasons. First, it was delicious. Second, it had the nicest people working here. We were sat down and everyone began talking over each other. I used the camera to snap a picture of the kids and then my parents. We ordered drinks and my sister got me something with alcohol in it.

"Jane, I have a surprise for you but it's outside, in case you don't love it," Phoebe said looking down at her phone. "We'll be back in a few minutes." She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the restaurant.

"What are you doing?" I stopped right outside of the building and she looked around. "Phoebe?"

"Oh here." She turned me around and right in front of me was Harry holding a dozen roses. "Harry? Nice to meet you." She waved and walked inside leaving us alone.

"Jane, happy birthday." I smiled. "Your sister called me earlier and told me you would be here and that I should take my opportunity to ask you something I was too afraid to ask because I'm secretly afraid of rejection. But now that I know how you feel, I'm going to ask. " I didn't say anything. He handed me the roses and I gladly accepted them. "Jane, I want you to be my girlfriend, I'm not going to be perfect at it, but I promise I'm going to try to be the guy you deserve."

"I- you're not just doing it because you feel like you have to?" I asked him. "Don't hurt me, Harry, I wouldn't hurt you, so don't do this unless you mean it."

"I promise." He took a step closer.

"Are you sure?"

"Believe me, I've never wanted anything more." I smiled shyly thinking about the past month and a half or so. It was worth the wait so I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes?"

"Yeah, I'll be your girlfriend." He smiled in relief.

"Okay, good." He smiled wide. "Can I kiss you now?" I put the flowers on my side putting my other arm around the back of his neck to kiss him. He put his arms around me pecking my lips and then my cheek and down to my neck. We pulled away and he let out a breath. "Well, I'll let you get back to your dinner."

I grabbed his hand pulling him back towards me. "Do you want to join us, please?" He looked down at his outfit, he wore a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue button-up shirt. "You look fine," I reassured him, "very handsome."

"My hair is okay right?" I nodded. "Okay." I held his hand with my free one and we walked back into the restaurant. My family sat talking but stopped as they looked over. Harry's hand squeezed mine nervously.

"Okay, everyone this is Harry." They all awed in sync causing me to roll my eyes.

"Harry it's nice of you to join us, dear, how about we get you a chair and you can sit right next to Jane and Holden." My mom offered. I set my flowers at the end of the table while we moved around to give Harry some room. I sat down and it became a little too quiet.

"So Harry, how did you and Jane meet?" Sunny asked him.

He cleared his throat. "We met in one of our classes at school, we were assigned seats and we just started talking. She's the nicest person I've ever met."

"Dude, are you from England or something?" Holden asked Harry who nodded. They all began asking him questions, nothing super personal but some strange.

"You've never met the queen?" One of my nephews asked him. He laughed and shook his head.

We ordered dinner and everyone went around telling embarrassing stories of me. He laughed along but always looked over at me to make sure I was okay. "-so she runs into the kitchen yelling 'where did you put my phone' and I was like 'Jane, you took it with you' and it was in the car the whole time. So she made that huge fit for absolutely nothing and it was the last time I heard her yell like that I swear she got so mad." Phoebe laughed.

Everyone laughed and my mom asked Harry if he had an embarrassing story of me. "Well no, not really embarrassing more just really cute. We watched a movie the other day and she fell asleep and she was talking in her sleep." Everyone laughed because talking in my sleep was something I was known for. "She asked me if I wanted a dog, and I was so confused until I realized she was asleep."

"That's nothing, she can have full conversations with herself." Phoebe joked. She was the only one who knew the best because we shared a room growing up.

When we had finished dinner and my mom 'secretly' told the waiter to bring out my cake, Sunny took a picture of Harry and me and looked at it to make sure we didn't blink. "Huh, you have a tattoo on your hand?" She looked over and tried to see it.

"He has a cross on his hand," I told her.

"No, that one?" Harry looked down and pulled his sleeve up revealing the tattoos I've gotten used to seeing. "Woah, that's a sleeve, you have a lot."

"I didn't know you had tattoos son, you don't seem like the kind to have them." My dad took a sip of water. I looked over at my brother who had a weird face. He never liked tattoos.

After they sang to me, we decided to leave. I walked Harry over to his bike and he scratched the back of his head. "I don't think I could be any more awkward." He said leaning against his bike. "Your family is very welcoming."

"You were great, besides it's the first time and you met all of them at once." He agreed. "You have to go?"

"I work in the morning, but I'll see you tomorrow even if it's just for a little while." He held my hand bringing it up to his lips to kiss. "Bye beautiful."

He put his helmet on and swung one leg over the bike. The engine roared catching the attention of my family on the other side of the parking lot. "Text me when you get home so I know you're safe."

"I will." He waved riding off into the night. I turned around walking back to the car with everyone to go home.

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Thanks for reading. Xx

-k