Wish I Knew You Sooner

chapter nineteen

A/N: i just wanted to say before the chapter starts that I made Oakland an instagram!!! Y'all should all go follow it @ oakland.wilks !!! okay, okay... enjoy hehe:)

"Soon!"

Harry called out to me as I was about to make it to the steps that led up to my door. I spun around on my heel, a wide grin drawn across my lips at his word. Our word.

"Soon!" I said back.

That word, four letters, was charged with a type of energy that couldn't be described. When we spoke those words, it rang through the air between us like an unspoken promise to not leave each other quite yet. I would see him again, and we make sure of that with what has quickly become 'our word.'

Many people have something like this, like "Okay will be our always." from The Fault In Our Stars. I'd only ever seen the movie once when I was younger, but I remember that part sticking out to me. How a single phrase could mean so much to the right person.

I turned back to head inside, hearing Harry's Jeep drive off once I stepped in the door. It was a change in energy, but surprisingly in a good way for once. Usually my house has thick, negative energy, but right now, there is music playing and my whole family helping to make dinner. My mother was cooking something on the stove, while my sister was chopping vegetables, and my father was 'testing' the wine they got earlier today.

They all greeted me as I walked in, and I felt like this was a real family, instead of a makeshift, wrong puzzle pieces, type. I moved around the counter, hugging my mom while she kept her eyes on the food, but still managing to kiss me on the top of my head, and saying a sweet 'glad you're back sweetie.'

I asked if she needed help, but as she always does, she declined, so I went around to perch myself on a stool at the island next to my father. I began to sing the song that was playing through the speaker, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac flowing through the room. My parents solely believe that music is a universal language, and they shaped me to be the type of girl who could fall in love with a song as if it were a boy or girl.

This song sparked a memory in my head back to what felt like a year ago, but was really just a week.

-

Harry and I had just met on the plane, and we were getting to know each other, asking random questions, when I asked him what his favorite song was. I could vividly picture him tilting his chin up in the air as he thought.

He said "I am a musician, how am I supposed to have a single favorite song when I'm surrounded by great music all the time?"

I just responded with "fine, if not a favorite song, then one with a great memory."

"Landslide by Fleetwood Mac is my mother's favorite. She would sing it to my sister and I as we were getting tucked into bed each night." he explained. I could see the smile on his face grow as he recalled the memory from so long ago.

-

Snapping out of my daydream about Harry, who seemed to consume them all the time lately, my mother turned over her shoulder with the pan still in her hand, looking at me as she began to speak.

"Oakland, you and your sister go to the store to grab some more things for the side salad." she said.

I looked up from how my eyes were focused on my hands in front of me, nodding in response to the request. I got up, moving around the counter to grab the keys to the car, when my sister snatched them up before I could get them.

"I call driving!" she sang her words. I rolled my eyes at how childish she was, even though she was older than I.

We got into the car, the radio playing the local music as Byerly drove into the town not too far away. Once we got to the little bodega, we went inside to find what my mother was asking for. We got the supplies for the salad, quickly moving to the checkout line since our stomachs were growling, yearning for dinner.