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Chapter 69

Did you stand there all alone?
Oh I cannot explain what's going down
I can see you standing next to me
In and out somewhere else right now
You sigh, look away
I can see it clear as day
Close your eyes, so afraid
Hide behind that baby face

- Cage the Elephant, Cigarette Daydreams

. . . . 

As the inevitable meeting with my parents and Harry approaches in the next few hours, my apprehension and nerves have been getting the best of me. I've sweated through the armpits of the t-shirt I was wearing, created lines in my hair from running my fingers through my roots, and have rubbed my sweaty palms against my thighs every time the reaction of my dad meeting Harry pops up in my mind. Harry has noticed my discomfort and has consoled me every time I start thinking about it. He promised that no matter what happens tonight I still have him to come home with and he'd help me through this. I appreciate the effort he's taking to help me get through this strenuous night, but the anxiety won't go away no matter how many happy memories and thoughts I try to remember to consume the negative ones.

By the time midday arrives and Harry is standing outside of his closet getting dressed into his fancy clothes for his interview, I feel the panic rise up again as the anxiousness I feel returns. I have to be alone with my thoughts for two to three more hours without someone here to suppress them as well as Harry does.

He looks in the reflection of the mirror as he slips his jacket over his upper body and sees me sitting on the bed staring down at my restless hands in my lap, then walks over to kneel in front of me. His soft hands pull mine apart and kisses the pads of my fingers.

"Everything will be fine, and if it doesn't, it will work itself out. We've gone through worse shit than this. Even if things don't go the way we hope, we'll still be together. There's nothing that neither he nor anyone else can say to make me not love you."

Wrapping my arms around his neck, he buries his face into my shoulder, picking up my ponytail and pushing it to the back of my neck so he can kiss my neck.

"Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, you wouldn't be going through this predicament if I weren't here."

"I'd rather be going through with this dinner than not have you in my life."

He pulls back and gives me a warm, kind-hearted smile. "You're one of the best things that have ever happened to me, Violet."

. . . .

As I'm just finishing up putting my hair into a ponytail, I hear the front door open and Harry's velvety voice vibrates through the walls saying that he's home. Next thing I know, he's by my side, shrugging off his suit jacket.

He takes a good, solid look at me in the mirror as I'm coating mascara onto my eyelashes, then once the wand is away from my eye, he takes my hand and holds it against his chest.

"Don't be so nervous. If it does go wrong, he's going to hate me—not you."

"That's the problem. I don't want him to hate you."

"Let's just go and get it over with."

I nod and follow him through the house with his hand still locked together with mine. The house is empty and quiet as we shut the door with Harry locking it behind us. He comforts me the entire ride to dad's house by cupping my kneecap.

Nausea hits me like a punch to the face when we pull up to the townhouse and my heart drops. My palms drip with sweat and my teeth start chattering in my mouth. My door swings open with Harry offering his hand out to me, and once I take it and am up to my full height, he pulls me into a warm, almost relaxing, hug that comforts me only for a second until I look up at the towering house in front of us.