red herring [h.s.]

Epilogue three. (*)

i cannot !! stop!! writing!! these!! epilogues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway i'm having a super shitty mental breakdown day so decided to get lost in my fantasy world and write more for Starry's story <3

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-- The same day --

Stella.

"Darold." Zayn piped up, having me burst out into another fit of laughter.

Logan was basically wiping away tears at this point, "B-Billiam."

Harry hid his face in his hands, shoulders shaking with laugher as he tried to catch his breath, "Jonald."

We had been going back and forth, naming the ugliest male names we could think of in the cafeteria of the hospital while we waited for Erin to give birth. It had been hours, we were all high on coffee and bored out of our minds while also being nervous as fuck for the addition of a little baby into our group.

Knowing Erin and Clive were expecting a boy, we were throwing names out there in a guessing game until Logan came up with 'Cletus' and that's how this part of the game started. Our bellies hurt from laughing so much but at least we were passing the time.

Erin and Clive already knew what they were naming baby boy, but we didn't. They kept us in the dark and had their fun with it, up until we all unanimously decided to name the baby 'Dickie' in the meantime. So little baby Dickie was born as a nickname and Erin and Clive quickly regretted their decision as the fake name stuck around and we always referred to her bump as Dickie.

Erin was eventually fed up with it and told us it started with a T, and from then on it was little baby T.

Seeing Erin grow and grow in these past nine months was honestly mesmerizing to watch. She had that pregnancy glow and just looked... radiant altogether. Clive looked at her with so much adoration in his eyes and their love was one for the history books. I loved their story. High school sweethearts turned into heartbreak until they found each other again years later and rekindled their first love.

I loved how they ended up together, thanks to Clive making the move to Manhattan. They lived in Erin's loft still, the guest bedroom now transformed into a little nursery. The soft muted green on the walls reminded me of the colour of Harry's eyes, and it was something gender neutral which they insisted on. They didn't do the whole gender-reveal thing because they said it was dumb. And I agreed.

The gender of a baby doesn't matter, and Erin and Clive agreed they just wanted a little healthy baby with ten toes and ten fingers. This baby was already surrounded with so much love.

I glanced to my side to see Harry giggling still in the aftermath of the names being thrown around and I shot him a gentle smile. We were both tired and it showed, the argument from before took even more energy than the night we spent apart and laid tossing and turning on our own.

At least I knew I did. Sleeping apart from Harry was my least favourite thing to do but I was simply furious with him the evening before and for once, I was the stubborn one. I didn't fold, I didn't crack, I was insistent on making him feel just how pissed I was. And it worked for a while until I woke up completely tired and had hardly closed an eye.

I missed the warmth of him pressed up against me, I missed his soft little snores into my neck, I missed the subconscious rubbing of his thumb over my bottom rib whenever he slipped his hand underneath my shirt during the night. No matter how much I loved Miss Shark, she was no Harry.