Flowers in the Window || W2S

18

not gonna lie I was a lil tipsy when I wrote this chapter. I hope it's coherent. enjoy :)

"Harry, you do realise that when you tell people to meet you on Becker Street, people will interpret that as 'meet me on Becker Street' and not 'meet me on the street right at the end of Becker Street, and also I'm not even on the street to begin with, so double fuck you'?"

It was the following week, and after you'd spent the whole day by Margot's bed side-counting down the minutes until she was finally released from hospital-Harry had insisted you come and meet some of his friends. You were very excited-he spoke so highly of them all. And you'd seen them around school before-the six boys, definitely. Besides you, they were the only other people he spent his free time with. And you were admittedly also intrigued by whether or not they, too, were in on his secret.

Right now, you were being approached by a short brunette girl-the one who had just told Harry off for his misdirections-and a taller boy with dark curls and a matching beard. The girl got to your table, huddled away in the cafe's corner, put her bags down, and then your eyes met.

"Oh my god, you're just as pretty as he said you were! I'm Freya, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"You too," you smiled, returning her hug.

The man finished saying hello to Harry and turned his attention to you. "Hey, I'm Josh. Nice to finally meet you after how much he bangs on about you all the time."

Laughing, you took his outstretched hand, and almost helped. Because his hand was unreasonably cold. Icy, in a weird way. And it wasn't soft like most hands were, or even calloused. It was almost like it was..made of metal.

He was eyeing you curiously, watching your reaction. Your face hadn't changed-you'd made sure of that, afraid to upset him when this was your first time meeting. He smiled, a look that instantly made you feel more comfortable, and then let go of your hand to lean closer and ask "Do you know?"

"Do I know about the spiders? Or some other secret I'm definitely not in on?"

Josh leaned back and grinned. "Nice to see you know. He's not trusted someone with that little piece of information in ages."

You took your seats and began to talk, Harry's arm resting on the back of your chair. You warmed up to Josh and Freya immediately-they were just two incredibly lovely people, and they formed a cute couple. There was something about the two of them together that made them seem oddly comforting, like their bond was a warm hug, enveloping anybody that they spoke to together, drawing them in, to a place where you could be whatever you wanted.

In the middle of the conversation, Freya got up to use the bathroom, leaving you, Harry and Josh at the table. Harry took your hand and started running his thumb across your knuckles, bringing your attention to how anxious he suddenly looked. You couldn't blame him-the cafe had gotten a lot more crowded, and you hadn't noticed until now, too preoccupied with answering every question the happy couple was lightly throwing at you.

"You okay?" It seemed a silly question given the look on his face, but you needed to ask.

"Yeah," he replied, settling his other hand on your leg. "Are you? Freya can be a little intimidating sometimes. It's only because she's interested."

"I know," you replied. "I like her."

"Good. She likes you too, I can tell. I'm not surprised, though. Look at you."

The sound of Josh coughing made you jump and broke you out of the little moment that hadn't even really started yet. "I am still here, kids."

"We know, grandad." You played rolled your eyes at him. "I like you too, if that's what you're after. You're cool."