Turn

Chapter 26

The smell of bacon and pancakes lifts me from my sleep. I get up and walk straight into the kitchen. Harry is standing by the stove flipping pancakes. Cautiously, I move to him, and wrap my arms around him from behind while still holding onto the sheet. He jumps a little, but then rotates his body to face me. He is always glowing in some intriguing way that makes him adorable. I kiss him on the nose and he scrunches it.

"Good morning sunshine," He smiles then kisses me.

"Good morning," I say then lean my head into his chest. All infuriating things such as Kristen fleet my mind when I am in his arms.

"Someone's being quite lovey dovey this morning," I smile into his shirt and inhale his scent. "I made breakfast, you like pancakes right?" He kisses the top of my head.

"Who dosen't?" I smile then move to let him finish. I take a seat at the already set table and just watch him work. I watch as his muscles slightly flex through his shirt when he flips a pancake, I like when he turns his head to glance at me and the light hits his green eyes making them sparkle, and I really like the fact that he is coming over to me with a plate of food.

He sits himself across from me, and I dive right into stuffing my mouth. 

"What do you want to do today?" He asks taking a mouth full of pancake.

"Evict my cousin," I say with my mouth full. He lets out a chuckle and I smile at him.

"Why?" He smiles.

"She called the police because I didn't come home last night," I say and take a sip of milk.

"That's mad! I guess she has a reason to worry with the attack and all, but she shouldn't have called the police!" He agrees. I like that. 

We finish our meal making mindless conversation. I volunteer to clean since he cooked, but he isn't having it. I watch him do that task as well, butting in a few times to dry the dishes. Once we finish cleaning he stands against the doorway.

"So what do you really want to do today?" He asks.

"I know!" I smile and walk past him. I race up the stairs.

"Oh no! I wanted to go out today," He shouts from downstairs. I smile at him as I rumage in his drawer for a clean T-shirt. I find a gray hoodie with some strange design on it, I slip on my leggings without my underwear, I twist on my bra, and tug on his hoodie. It is a little too big, but it suffices just finely. I love it.

When I walk back down the stairs he is waiting.

"It's not that I don't want too, because believe me I do, I just want to-" He stops when he sees me walk past him for my boots. I pull my still loose hair, free from the sweatshirt and turn to look at him. 

"I see you found my sweatshirt, and I also see that you are not wearing underwear," He grins a devilish grin and I feel my cheeks heat.

"How can you tell?" I say twisting my body to look at my butt.

"It's a gift," He says holding out his hands. I smile at him and grab my purse.

"Ready to go?" I ask standing by the door.

"Uh yeah, any chance you are gonna tell me where?" He says pulling on his boots. I shake my head and he grins and follows me out. 

Once outside I hail a cab in no time. Harry lets me in first, while he is getting in I whisper the address to the overweight cab driver with little to no hair. He nods and waits for Harry to shut the door. 

The cab speeds out into traffic, wasting no time. I take the cab ride as an opportunity to lean into Harry. I grab his arm and wrap it around me. I like being held by him, it provides that sense of comfort that I never really had. He leans into me as well and I feel a warmth, it is strange but I need more of it. I stare out his window as the cab drifts down the street with no traffic. 

With in a half hour the cab pulls up. I pay him and tip him a good amount and we exit his cab. Harry looks at his surroundings.

"The Zoo?" He says with smirk.

"Yeah the Zoo, it's a lovely day, and lovely animals await inside! Let's go!" I tug at his shirt and pull him to the gates, I feel young. I have never had the chance to go out and be a real kid, and when I first moved to New York, the Zoo was the first place I went. I pay for both our admissions. I hook my arm in his and rush to the first exhibit. 

"Giraffes! We have to go see the giraffes!" I squeak out. He doens't say anything, just smiles, and let's me lead him to the giraffes. 

I pull open the doors to the exhibit and I spot the tall orange mammals. There arn't as many people in here as there are outside, I rush over to the bench right in front of the gate, and pat the bench for Harry to sit.

"This is so not like you," He smiles and kisses my ear. 

"Can't I like animals?" I say and bring my knees to my chest and admire the majestic animal before me. I feel Harry's eyes on me and I want to snap at him and tell him to stop, but I can't. 

"Rosa Kosta has a soft side," He drapes his arm around me and pulls me closer to him. I roll my eyes at him.

"I just wish they let them free, though I like them very much, it's kind of sad that they won't ever see what it is like out there where they belong," I say after a while.

"Hm," Is all I hear from him. When I look over at him his face his set in a frown, and his forehead is crinkled. He stares on at the giraffes and I reach over and touch his face, his face immediately softens at the touch of my hand.

"Next?" I ask and he just nods and stands. We walk outside hand in hand. "What do you want to see next?" I ask. 

"Flamingos, definitely." He says not even checking the sign. We walk down the path towards the Flamingo pond. 

"You have any Zoos in Chicago?" He asks.

"Yeah we have two really good ones, I never really had the opportunity to go, but when I did it was the best, and also the aquarium and the art museum, oh! And the field museum!" I say jolting each word. He watches me as I talk about the animals and the art and the artifacts.

"I'd love to go there sometime," He says looking down.

"I'd love to take you there sometime," I surprise him with a kiss. Soon enough we approach the pond and there are dozen's of pink birds, just flocking. It really is breath taking. 

"Where have you always wanted to go?" He asks out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" I say asking him for clarification.

"Like if you could pick any place to go in the world right now, where would you go?" He explains.

"Australia, maybe India, no i'd go to Venezuela!" I say changing my options. "Fuck it, I'd go everywhere and anywhere," I smile not being able to decide.

"If you take me to Chicago for winter break, and show me all those great places. I will take you to all those places next summer," He suggests and I smile at him because I know he won't, no one would ever do that, but I agree anyways.

"Okay deal, if I take you to Chicago, you take me to Australia, India, and Venezuela," I smile and turn my attention back to the herd of birds. 

"Next?" He suggests after a good five minutes of bird watching. I nod. "You're turn," He says pointing to another map of the zoo.