REDAMANCY [h.s. au]

28

Authors note: from here on out, there will be time jumps. I'll always indicate before the chapter starts what the time jump is :)
Just a refresher on the timeline of the story, Harry and Holland run into each other at the park toward the end of January. The last chapter was just Hollands bday which is April 30th.

*minor mention of anxiety

"You, who opened suns in my heart,"
- Alfonsina Storni

⭑Holland⭑

~two weeks later~

One final strand of blonde hair drops out the curling iron, falling into place around my jaw. I make a face at myself in the brightly lit hotel mirror, a bit irked at how bouncy the curls look when I was going for a looser, messier look. The wedding doesn't start for another hour and a half, though, so hopefully my hair settles in the meantime.

Harry, still dressed in his workout clothes, pops into the bathroom holding Ivy who's got her white flower girl dress on already. "I'm going to take her down to Abby and Gem in the bridal suite. I'll be right back up," Harry tells me, leaning forward to kiss my forehead.

"Okay," I say and then give Ivy a little squeeze. She looks angelic in the white tulle with her curls smoothed into a half-up hairstyle. "You look so pretty, Ivy! Are you excited?"

"I'm going to throw flowers at everyone!" She exclaims, arms up in excitement and narrowly missing hitting her dads nose.

He sniffs a laugh. "Not at people. You're going to throw the flowers down the aisle, yeah?"

She thinks about it for a second. "The aisle," she repeats.

"Yes, the aisle," he nods, giving me a look of dad-induced-exasperation before turning around and leaving me to finish getting ready.

The click of the door closing signals me back to the bathroom where my makeup bag awaits. I don't do anything crazy with my makeup, just a little more than I normally do—adding some shimmery eyeshadow and lathering on inky black mascara.

Before Harry is back, I put my dress on. I wasn't exactly sure what to wear. It couldn't be anything too out-there but also nothing too boring, so I settled on a black midi dress. It's got this off-the-shoulder, asymmetrical neckline going on that's just interesting enough to pull it out of the boring category. Plus, the material is actually rather comfortable, so I won't feel like I'm being constricted all night.

And, most importantly, it's meeting-family-appropriate. I have met most of these people before, but it's been so long, it's practically like I'm meeting them again for the first time.

As I'm fishing through my disheveled suitcase in search of my other heel, Harry barges back in, swiftly taking in my appearance, hand on his chest.

"Fucking hell, Holland," he groans in a way that has me clutching the dresser.

"You like?" I do a twirl, knowing it'll only rile him up further.

He closes the space between us. Our chests almost touching, I don't tilt my head up to meet his gaze, but only bring my eyes upward, looking at him through the mascara-thickened lashes. "I'm ready to ditch the wedding and keep you up here all night, so what do you think?" He asks rhetorically, licking his bottom lip.