Soulmate Search // larry

'The Neighbors Hate Us Enough'

"Ah! Harry! Stop it! Knock it off, Harry!"

Harry and Gemma woke up around one that afternoon, and the birthday boy decided that he would rather have a quiet, relaxing day spent with his family over running all around for different adventures. So, his parents joined their children in the living room and they all played board games for a few hours, while snacking on waffles piled high with whipped cream and sprinkles and chocolate syrup and powdered sugar.

They all laughed when Gemma bet that they would probably die from all the sugar.

After that, Harry and Gemma changed into their bathing suits and went swimming. Harry took it upon himself to push his little sister into the pool, which she certainly did not agree to. And now they have been in the cool water long enough for their fingertips to wrinkle up, but neither is ready to get out.

So, Harry continues to squirt Gemma with the water gun, screams emitting from between her lips that they're sure all of the neighbors can hear. That's when their mother, Anne, opens the sliding glass door and steps onto the porch, hands on hips as she stares at them.

"Will you two shut up?"

"Make him stop, Mom!" Gemma squeals.

Anne rolls her eyes, wondering why the two can't figure out their own problems. "Alright, Haz, that's enough. The neighbors hate us enough as it is thanks to the Mountain Dew Incident-"

"That was an accident," Harry says, lowering the water gun.

"Yeah! How were we to know that they were going to explode like that?"

"And the butterfly catastrophe," Anne continues.

"Yeah, but the look on old Ms. Grimes' face when she saw them was pretty hysterical," Harry laughs.

"And the baby mishap."

"Okay, that wasn't my fault," Gemma says, remembering the time that she accidentally brought the wrong child home from the park while babysitting. "They were like clones of each other. She was like Toby's doppelgänger."

"She was a completely different gender than Toby!"

"Yup, I know. Found that one out the hard way."

Harry's mouth drops open before he erupts into a fit of laughter.

"It's called changing a diaper, Harry."

Anne sighs, but the corner of her lip twitches up into a smile as she shakes her head. "I think it'd be best if you both got out now."

The siblings groan, but clamber out of the pool anyway and wrap towels around their waists.

"That's fine. Lou wants to Skype anyway," Harry says, shaking some water out his hair. Gemma giggles, thinking that the action resembles that of a dog.

"It would be nice if you introduced us to her," Anne says. "You talk of this girl so frequently. I would love to put a face to the name."

Harry's eyes grow wide as his mind frantically searches for some kind of an excuse. He stutters out a string of words, not quite making any sense. His sister immediately comes to his rescue.

"I'm sure they want to date a bit longer first. Plus, H tells me that Lou is rather shy," she says.

Fortunately, Anne believes this small fib and disappears into the house. Harry lets out a sigh of relief and pulls his little sister into his side, squeezing her shoulder as a sign of gratitude. The two head inside, splitting off to their separate rooms in order to shower and change.

Once Harry is clothed again, he situates himself on his bed, opening his laptop and clicking on the Skype icon. Before he has a chance to call Louis, Gemma comes bursting in.