Until I Find You Again // Book One

Chapter 5

Niall's house was already full to the brim with people for his annual barbecue. I could hear the bass from the DJ in the backyard. I shook my head and glanced down at Lucy. I probably should've left her at home considering the beer would be flowing freely but other kids would be there and I could take her home later if things got to be too much.

I pushed the front door open and glanced around to survey my surroundings. There were people everywhere, most of them I knew and they all smiled and waved when I walked in. Every window in the house was open as well as the glass folding doors opened from his kitchen out to the huge deck on the back of his house.

It was barely 2 and they'd already tapped into the 2nd keg. I sighed. This was definitely going to be one of those parties.

Niall jogged in from the kitchen and kissed my cheek. He picked Lucy up and balanced her on his hip,

"Hey...Fizzy is here. She's gonna watch all the kids." I nodded,

"Oh...ok."

Just as he finished, Fizzy ran in, pulled Lucy out of his arms and ran off with her. Fizzy had watched Lucy before, I had no real reason to be concerned.

Bobby, Niall's dad, gave me a quick hug and a hello before turning back to the grill to flip burgers. Johannah and her new husband were standing off to the side of the deck talking to Lottie and Louis.

Harry was seated at the table with Liam and Sophia. He glanced over at me, his smile faltering a bit before turning back to Liam and Sophia.

I hated this. Usually this would be the point where Harry would get up and make some kind of remark about how late I was or the fact that I was dressed in jeans when it was 90 degrees outside. I'd narrow my eyes at him and ask him if he missed me and make some comment about his hair and the humidity.

But this was entirely different now. He barely acknowledged my existence. It made me anxious and sad which was a combination I knew well but never in the presence of Harry. I sighed and grabbed one of the red Solo cups and filled it with beer. I would definitely need to be buzzed if this was going to continue this way.

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Once the sun went down, the activity in the house ramped up. It seemed that people kept arriving even though the house was already crowded. It took me 10 minutes to get to the bathroom and it was barely 50 feet away from me.

Lucy was having fun though and in the end that's all I really needed. She liked playing with Louis' sister and brother.

Someone had started a FIFA tournament on Niall's gaming system in the living room and every once in awhile the entire room would erupt into cheers and screams.

I stopped drinking after the third beer. I just wasn't in the mood. Harry was doing a really good job of giving me the cold shoulder and it bothered me more than I wanted it to. Especially considering all the things I needed to tell him.

It would be a lot easier to tell him these things if he wasn't already pissed off at me. A wish I could tell probably wasn't going to be granted.

Harry rarely got angry with people for anything. He generally went with the flow and avoided drama. But if there was one thing that would make Harry immediately cut someone out it was if he felt he was being lied to. Which made sense. Harry was a pretty understanding, non-judgmental individual. Why someone would choose to lie to him was something he just couldn't conceive of.

This was a big part of the reason I was so terrified to tell him about Lucy. He wouldn't understand why I'd kept it from him. I wasn't even sure I had adequate words to explain it to him.