as it is || harry styles au

seven

h a r r y

     "What's up your ass?" my best friend, Isaiah, smacked me on the back of the head as he walked by.

     "Other than the 35mm going bust?" I grunted out, taking a screwdriver to the back panel of the projector.

     Half of our customers were of the older generation born in the sixties or so looking for a nostalgic feel in their films. The 35mm projector was used to show the classics, and with it malfunctioning, we wouldn't be able to do that. Hundreds of Camden residents would be disappointed, never mind the fact that we'd be losing thousands in revenue.

     "You were pissy before it stopped working."

     "Did you ever think that telling me I'm pissy would make me more pissy?"

     "Only someone who is pissy would say that."

     Finally, I heard the whirring of the projector kick on, and I breathed out a sigh of relief at the $75,000 we wouldn't have to spend to replace it.

Lonely Cinemas was Mum's baby and while the profit made was a pretty penny, having to spend a chunk of it on something that should be lasting us at least another few years would hurt. The name 'Lonely Cinemas' came from the location of the plot of land the drive-in took up. It was on the border of Camden, leading out into the woods and T hrough the trees and brush was a two-lane road stretching out for five miles until you hit the next town over, Midvale. You still got good cell service through and through, so it didn't quite qualify for the middle-of-nowhere, but the setting of nothing around except tall fir trees set a moody atmosphere that gave it the name 'Lonely Cinemas'.

"There. Not pissy anymore," I declared, turning the projector back off and stepping away from it.

"You wanna talk about Ivory?"

Isaiah had never met Ivory because he lived in Midvale growing up and we didn't go to the same high school. He moved to Camden to work for our district's fire department, and we met soon after. For someone who'd never met her, he knew a lot about her from drunk nights and heart-to-hearts over the years. He knew practically everything about her from the adjectives I used to describe her perfume to the foods she was allergic to—all because I couldn't ever stop myself from running my mouth.

"I saw her yesterday morning," I offered.

"That's why you didn't show up yesterday?"

Yes. "No. Will needed help setting up his new flatscreen. You know he just moved into his new apartment."

"That's funny. Will and I were cooling down the fire on Hillshire Street last night." He leaned back against the office desk with an amused spark in his eyes, arms crossed over his chest.

Fuck. I forgot he worked Tuesday nights.

"Talk to me, man. You always loved talking about her. She—"

"That was before she came home with a kid that wasn't mine, okay?" I snapped out. "I'm fighting really hard not to fall into old habits. It's hard enough that she's always around, but her kid is amazing, too. Not that I ever thought I'd dislike the kid, but..." I shook my head.

As much as I wished to the world that Jamie was mine, it just wasn't possible. Not unless I missed her having a fucking test tube the last time we were together and collected my sperm then ran over to the doctor the next day to get our shit frozen for six months.

I'd have to ask and make sure.

"I thought you only talked to the kid once?"

I sent him a side-eyed look. He wasn't seeing the point, and the fucking point was exactly that.