Anna || HS

CHAPTER 52

~October 2015~

~October 13th, 2015~

Anna- 21
Harry- 21

Anna POV:

I attempted to recover quickly from seeing the six, or seven, figure painting that Harry purchased because I assume it reminded him of Darcy. I refused to let my mind wander to it reminding him of me. Nothing good could come from those thoughts, especially when we are just starting to rebuild our friendship.

Carving pumpkins together is something that started when we had to carve massive amounts of pumpkins for the display at the bakery during the two weeks preceding Halloween. I'm happy that Harry is bringing this tradition in to our new friendship.

"Anna, what do you want on your pizza?" he calls out, holding his obviously muted phone as he orders our dinner to be delivered.

"Surprise me. You know I'm not picky," I answer with a shoulder shrug and he rolls his eyes, either to disagree with my statement or in annoyance for not offering him any help.

He returns to the room with a bag full of carving tools and a pile of old newspapers. He sets everything down on the large wooden table in the kitchen area and smiles a sheepish smile my way.

"I ordered a small margarita pizza, and one half pepperoni, half everything vegetable. So, hopefully one of those sounds good to you," he says anxiously. rubbing the back of his neck while staring down at the pumpkins and supplies in front of us, lost in thought.

"That all sounds delicious. Relax, Harry. It's just me."

"That's the problem, Anna," he says as his nervous gaze meets mine. I reach my hand across the table and gesture for him to put his in mine. He does, and I squeeze it gently as a form of reassurance.

"I know this is weird. But, I am happy to be here. Are you happy?"

"Of course," he says, looking down at the table and shaking his head up and down. "Of course I'm happy."

"Well, then, since it makes us both happy, let's just keep hanging out." I say, but then feel like I need to add where my boundaries lie right now. I wait for his eyes to return to my line of sight. "Harry, I'm not ready for us to have any conversations about anything other than being friends. So much is changing for both of us right now. Can we just support each other through that?"

Harry's lip curls into a smile and his head starts to nod again before he answers, "I think that sounds perfect. I missed my best friend, and I finally feel like I am starting to get her back."

"Agreed," I smile back at him. "Now, enough of that mushy shit, there are some pumpkins begging to be gutted and given a face."

We carve pumpkins, listening to the new One Direction album, Made in the AM. I feel giddy that I am getting to hear it almost an entire month before it is released to the public, but surely my history with Harry should get me some sort of perks.

I'd heard Drag Me Down and Infinity, as those have been released as singles already. But, when the player switched to track three, Harry pauses it. "This is our next single. It comes out in three days. The video comes out next week," he says, nonchalantly, as he keeps gutting his pumpkin.

"Is this one going to break the internet, too?" I say, somewhat joking and somewhat not, because the last one shut down multiple sites.

"Maybe. I diss Taylor in the song."

"Push play already!"

Harry pushes the button on the remote, with his pumpkin gut-covered finger, and the music fills the house. The song Perfect starts, and as I listen to the lyrics, I wonder what the last year was like for him. After Nadine, was it just a revolving door of women? Maybe it was even before it ended? Was that why it ended? Did I know that side of Harry? Did I want to know that side of Harry?