Remembering Harry Styles

Chapter 18: Listen Up Closely

   The curly haired boy stands outside of Claire’s as he casually sips on his soda. I chuckle as I stand right in front of him. He insisted on staying outside and not heading into a girly store, but I felt like he should for a payback reason. I grasp his hand and walk towards the store. “No, please. If you love me, then you would let me stand right here.” I shake my head and giggle.

   “I do love you, but you’re coming inside anyway. It’ll be a quick stop, I promise!” I reassure him. He groans and walks behind me like a lost puppy. I peek around at hair bows, hair extensions, hats, shoes, and entirely anything girly. I glance around to see Harry trying on Minnie Mouse formed sunglasses. He puckers his lips together in front of a mirror and does a peace sign. The cashiers laugh and snap a quick picture of him. Turns out, he’s actually enjoying this store.

   I stand next to him and grab the same sunglasses he picked up. “Enjoying yourself there?” I tease. Harry laughs and brings both of the Minnie mouse sunglasses to the cashier. The lady rings it up and asks him if they could take a picture together. Harry pays and gladly poses for a picture.

   Harry skips over to my direction and rips both of the tags off. “How about this time we go to Victoria Secrets?” he whispers in my ear. I roll my eyes playfully and drag him out of Claire’s.

   “What, did you mean talking about lingerie? I meant like their makeups and perfumes…” Harry confesses. I shoot him an abnormal look and arch an eyebrow. Was he trying to tell me something? Harry laughs again and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

   “I’m joking, babe.” I nervously giggle and snuggle closer to his chest.

   “Please don’t do that again,” I reply sincerely.

   Maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. His raspy and deep voice gave me this impression that made me feel irresistible along with his warm breath blowing against my neck. It had this soothing and calm effect on me as he spoke his sorrows. I didn’t quite get what he was talking about with the two years separation and how he was sorry for not sticking by my side, but whatever happened in the past was destined to be in the past.

   I pushed the thoughts aside for a while and tried to feel comfortable and stress-free. Hours have passed and no one appeared to check up on me. A light and shining sunbeam is shimmering through the hospital blinds. I glide my hand against the light feeling hospital bed. I didn’t enjoy the weird scent of it, but I loved how they felt soft and light. A swirling pool of numbness occurs in my stomach again as I clutched it tightly and groan in pain. I leaned over this metallic arm rest they had on the side of the bed, and pressed the red emergency button.

   Minutes later, the same nurse that visited last night enters the room. On a white tray she holds are the same white pills I took earlier and a glass of water. She sets the tray down on the table besides me and watches my monitor to see my heart rates. She writes them down on a piece of paper and inserts it in an invisible slot by the door. She slightly smiles and adjusts my bed to make my back arch up a little.

   “Good morning, Rosie! I’m assuming the pain is coming back, yeah?” She questions. I nod my head and lean sideways to retrieve my pain killers and water. Another nurse enters with a tray filled with red Jell-O and liquid foods. She sets the tray in front of me. I tilt my head sideways and insert the spoon in the Jell-O. Liquids from the inner middle are slushed as I stir it. A disgusting feeling stirs around in my stomach.

   “Do I have to eat this?” I asked her. The nurse notices my nauseating feeling for this liquid food and laughs. She nods her head and stirs the Jell-O around to make to less watery along with the dark yellow apple sauce. What kind of foods is the hospital distributing these days? I’m sure it depends on the patient on the health condition, but they could at least make it look appetizing for the people eating it. I forced myself to dunk the silverware spoon in the applesauce and swallow it down. To be honest, it doesn’t taste that bad than it looks.