The Encounter |H.S|

60

I knock on the door of my parents' house, Harry standing next to me with Hazel in his arms while I have her bag over my shoulder. She is in a good mood, fortunately, which made the car drive much more pleasant since she spent the whole time babbling and giggling instead of crying her eyes out.

The door opens and my mother smiles widely at the three of us before pulling us all for a big hug. "Oh, I've missed you guys so much! This is going to be so much fun, I've made plenty of food and Norah is here as well!"

I smile as she pulls us in and takes Hazel out of Harry's arms before striding to the living room where everyone cheers at the sight of Hazel while me and Harry take our coats off.

Harry is surprisingly not wearing a suit, but he looks very good nonetheless with a simple brown sweater and black jeans. It's odd seeing him with anything but a suit sometimes, I know he likes to look professional most of the time for some reason.

Before we walk to the living room I press a kiss on Harry's cheek, sensing his nervousness as he fixes his sweater with an awkward cough. We step into the room, everyone turning their heads to look at us while Harry shifts his weight from one foot to another.

By everyone, I mean my parents, Norah, Sophie and Aaron. There aren't many more people to invite, it's only during very special occasions that the rest of my family gets together, other than that it's just us. But I couldn't be more thankful to have them either way.

"Hey you two, how's everything going?" My dad asks, getting up from the couch to hug me and shake Harry's hand steadily, arching an eyebrow at Harry's distressed face. 

"We're alright, although you did just steal our daughter." I point at my mum who had a very confused Hazel in her arms while laughing, causing her to shake her head with a roll of her eyes while Norah leans back on the couch.

"I'm not going to hug you, I saw you a few days ago." She mutters, reaching her hand to the centre table, a plate with snacks in the middle of it and she takes one, Sophie shaking her head amusingly at Norah's words.

"I didn't want to hug you either way." I cross my arms while Aaron comes closer to hug mine and Harry's legs while Sophie waves from her seat next to Norah as my parents roll their eyes at our behaviour.

I walk towards the kitchen, Hazel's bag still over my shoulder, raising my eyebrows when Harry's hand latches onto mine as he follows me, letting out a sigh when we're alone. I set Hazel's bag on top of the table before he attaches himself to me, his head on my neck and arms around me, causing me to laugh. "I've never been so anxious in my life."

"You're overreacting, mon chéri."

He stares at me dumbfounded, lifting my chin with his index finger and brushing my bottom lip with his thumb while tilting his head to the side. "You're using that on me now?"

"It's only fair." I bite his finger lightly before walking away from him and striding back to the living room where everyone is hanging out, Harry following closely.

I am about to sit down when my mum gets up and sits Hazel on the carpet to play with Aaron, looking around the living room before speaking. "Who is going to help me in the kitchen?"

All heads turn to me as I freeze in my tracks, furrowing my eyebrows at all the stares before crossing my arms defensively. "Seriously?!"

I follow my mum to the kitchen, noticing Harry walking behind me as we reach the doorway, who decided to come with us. For some reason.

"Harry, darling, you don't need to help! I have Eve here." My mum smiles, giving me plates so that I can help her set the table and Harry sends me a nervous glance before shrugging.

"I want to help, it's no bother really." He says, taking some plates out of my hands slowly and putting them on the table while I do the same, smiling as my mum grins at us.

My mum leaves the kitchen, mumbling something about some drink. Harry rests his head on my back as I finish my task with the plates, his arms wrapping around my waist. "I feel like they're avoiding the whole assumed cheating topic."

I turn around in his hold, furrowing my eyebrows at his words. "That's good, right?" I ask as he stares at the doorway before letting out a sigh.

"I don't know." He whispers, causing me to laugh before my mum walks inside and Harry shuffles to break away from me, his panicked stare following my mum as she sets a black painted bottle on top of the table and I immediately realise what she's about to do.

She calls everyone to come to the kitchen and once they do she fills a glass with the drink she had in her hands not long ago, everyone cheering as she does so before Norah sets Hazel in my arms.

"I think that Harry should have the honour to be the one drinking." My mum suggests, side glancing at Harry as he looks around out of shock, pointing at himself questioningly and Hazel rests her head on my cheek while looking at Harry with a grin.

Everyone agrees as my mum gives him the glass, he gazes at me with the glass in his hand and I smile at him while Hazel laughs at his confused face. 

He looks down at it before bringing it to his lips, gulping down the liquor in just a few seconds while everyone cheers, his head tilted back as he does so.

He sets down his empty glass and smiles as we stare at him. "Now you have to guess what it was, if you answer it right, you get to be the first one to put food on your plate," I explain to him, it's something I've always seen my parents doing whenever people came over but I never really participated in it since I was too young.

It tends to be easy, but I believe my parents also did that to have some fun. There was always this competition to be the one drinking whatever my mum decided to give them but it was always fun to even watch.

It avoided a lot of fights about someone getting more food than the others somehow, not because it stopped happening, but because people took it more lightly and didn't find a reason to argue.

"Is it bourbon? It really tastes like it." Harry guesses and my mum takes his plate and raises it in the air even though we were all still standing up, but everyone celebrates Harry's victory regardless.

He grins widely as my mum sets the homemade food on top of the table while everyone sits down, Harry helping me with putting Hazel in the high chair my mum bought for Hazel.

Before sitting down, he presses a kiss to my cheek and my sister pretends to gag while my mum sends her a glare, causing my dad to laugh and reach forward to grab the bottle of bourbon.

"When did you paint this?" My father asks my mum while Harry starts putting food on his plate with a cocky grin and Aaron attempts to mess up his task, failing miserably.

Everyone starts getting food for themselves after Harry's finished and I set Hazel's plate in front of her since my mum had made it especially for her, hearing Hazel squeal out of joy at the sight of it.

Harry touches her cheek before kissing her forehead, causing her to whine while pulling his face away and he widens his eyes before looking at me as everyone else around us chattered with each other.

I help her eat while letting out a laugh, Harry eyeing me as I do so before I speak. "You annoyed her, you kind of deserved that." I shrug, watching as she chews happily while looking around and I take the opportunity to eat as well.

"Rude much? I was just giving her a kiss, is that so bad?" He asks and I nod without even thinking, hearing him scoff before my dad fills Harry's glass once again which causes him to furrow his eyebrows.

"So you loosen up a bit more, you need it."

Quite boring but I hope you're enjoying nonetheless!♡