Red String 2 {h.s}

Chapter 16

After dinner, and the kids were all in bed, everyone moved to the lounge area to socialize. Amy happily watched Harry interact with his friends, and laughed at the fatherly role Ben seemed to have with Harry, despite Ben not being much older than him. Amy assumed that he felt protective over him just like Tom did.

"James said you're performing at some Super Bowl event?" Adele asks Harry.

"Yeah, on my birthday, actually," Harry says.

"How old are you turning?"

"Twenty-six," he answers. "Can't get me your album for this birthday. Going to have to think of something else."

Adele laughs heartily, snorting as she does.

"I remember that," Niall joins the laughter.

Harry begins talking to explain, "When I turned twenty-one, she gave me her album '21' as a gift."

"Hey! Tell Amy what I said though! It was a good gift. That's a great fucking album!"

"She said 'I did some pretty cool stuff when I was 21, good luck.' It was a real kick in the ass!" he says chuckling. 

"I thought I was being inspiring!" Adele defends herself with a pout.

"Inside the card was a picture of all of her Grammy's," Harry piles on, flipping her off playfully.

"Fuck off! That's the last gift I get you!" she laughs with him.

"I think this is your year, H," James says.

Harry doesn't say anything but his hand behind Amy's head starts playing with her hair. Amy knows he can be so self-conscious taking praise about his music which is funny because it's not from a lack of self-esteem. But Amy agrees with James' prediction, so she says so.

"I think so, too," she turns her body to face him beside her, placing her hand on his knee. "You've done something really special. It's deserving."

He bends over and kisses her which makes James say, "What about me? I said it first!"

"I've kissed you enough times in my life," Harry responds, smirking. "Niall has a great album coming."

"I asked to listen to it and you told me it wasn't done yet," James complains.

"Harry was at the studio when I was there so he heard some rough versions," Niall explains.

"Amy, what do you do for work?"

"I'm an artist," she says shyly, feeling self-conscious in this room full of famous people. Harry senses it and before he can start bragging about her, Julia, James's wife speaks up.

"She does both photography and painting. She's incredible. She just had a big exhibition in New York."

Both Amy and Harry are shocked by Julia's kind words, mainly because they weren't aware she was familiar with Amy's work.

"Have you seen her work?" Harry asks.

"I practically stalked her photography on Instagram. I even bought her book. I wanted to go to her show in New York but I couldn't get the time off."

"Really?" Amy says, leaning forward on her seat now towards her.

"Yes! I didn't even know that you and Harry were together until long after. I'm fan-girling very hard to be on this trip with you," she admits with a blush.

Amy springs from her seat and rushes over and tackles Julia in a hug, the group laughing at the two of them.

"That was one of the nicest things someone has ever said to me," Amy tells her.