Paper Rings - HS

02

I could hear the sound of my heart beating in my ears, the floor beneath my feet was slowly turning into jello. Every year on June eleventh I had mourned the day my best friend moved away. I could still picture the way he had his face against the foggy car window as tears cascaded down both our seven year old faces. I thought we'd never find each other again.

"Kaitlyn..." His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

Harry's half full cup was now on the floor, cheap alcohol now covering his Adidas trainers as he stared at me in disbelief.

"This can't be happening, is this real? Someone pinch me for gods sake." He spoke frantically now, I continued to stand in silence as I stared at the now grown up Harry as he stood across from me at the other end of the kitchen island.

Before I had a chance to fully process the fact that my childhood best friend was standing in my kitchen, I was being embraced by strong arms. Harry had a death grip on my tiny frame as we stood in front of the three new people I barely even knew, but we didn't care. Not a single fuck was being given. In this moment it was just Harry and I.

I wrapped my arms around his lean torso, gripping the material of his shirt as if he would slip through my fingers at any second. I was holding onto his body for dear life and I had every intention set to stay like this until the world ended. Burying my face into his chest as he embraced my trembling body, tears spilled down my cheeks and onto his sweater, sure to leave a stain. He smelled of fabric softener, the same familiar scent filling my nose as it brought back a flash of childhood memories.

Like a movie, the memories filled my mind. Harry and I playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, building blanket forts on rainy days and begging our parents every weekend to let us stay up all night to watch Harry Potter together.

I was snapped back to reality when I heard Harry whisper in my ear.

"Don't ever let me out of your sight again, yeah?"

I nodded, finally pulling out of the hug just enough to see his face; he had changed so much but in a good way. His dimples never once leaving his face as we stared at each other, tuning our small audience out until we were interrupted, our small personal bubble no longer existing.

"Could we get some context here?" Ryan demanded, holding her drink in one hand and the bottle of vodka in the other.

I took a small step away from Harry, looking down as he shuffled to stand beside me swinging his arm over my shoulders to pull me into his side as we faced Ryan, Madison and Louis.

"Kaitlyn and I grew up together, she was my best friend for years." Harry smiled down at me as he spoke.

I finally looked up, taking a cleansing inhale before speaking.

"Harry was my only friend for years, when he moved away I never thought we'd ever see each other again."

I nervously swayed as the three of them nodded slowly, staring at me and Harry.

"So you grew up together and haven't seen each other in how many years?" Louis began to question.

I began to do the mental math, coming closer to an answer by the second but Harry beat me to it.

"On June eleventh it was twelve years."

I looked up at him shocked, it felt longer. I truly never thought this moment would come but by the good grace of the universe here we are, in my London flat together.

—

A few hours had passed since the initial shock of Harry and I finding each other again and we had all migrated from the kitchen to the living room. We were all relatively drunk at this point except Louis who was driving.