i'm dead | harry styles

chapter eleven

Invited inside, Reese prepares me a cup of tea. I sit with Bartholomew who's listening to the radio with an antenna and I look around, finding a shelf of picture frames. There's one of Reese giving Harry a piggy back ride. They look like they were fifteen or less. He's smiling on the picture, dimples exposing and tongue out. He looks happy. Not the fella I know.

"You never get to know Harry." Bartholomew remarks, hoarsely. There's join in between his fingers. "If God exists, he knows I've tried to straighten him up. To talk to us, to trust us. It's like we're unable to control that child."

"We've lived together almost forever and we've learned he's a man of many faces, but hides them behind..."

"...a mask." I finish for her and she nods agreeing. She hands me the tea with a warm smile. I begin to blow it and lower it to my lap. "I've noticed."

"You look so surprised about this. He usually does this; you never really know where he stands with you. But of course, you've known for such a little time."

"Yeah." I take a sip and burn my tongue, but play cool, so she doesn't have to know. I'm on the verge of tears, not for my throbbing tongue but because I'm - I'm on my period. That's it. Period. "You think you know someone and it turns out to be... a stranger."

"Is it hot, love?" Reese looks down at my tea.

"It's perfect." I give her a toothy smile. "Did I interrupt something? It's like six."

"Oh no, we were just listening to the football game in the radio. Nothing important. We have yet afforded a new telly. The old one stopped functioning."

"Reese we don't need a telly."

"You don't need one." Reese responds back to her father.

"Oh yeah."

"How do you guys know Harry?"

"My dad was friends with his father."

"I fell in love with Reese's mother back in America, she was there doing some training and she told me if I wanted to move to UK with her, so I did." Bartholomew asks, "I began to work at a laundry company where Harry's father was my boss."

"They got along well and he would always invite us for BBQ to know his family. Harry and I were little kids so we basically grew up together. He would even stay over every weekends."

"How was he like?" I look back at the picture frame, the one he looks really happy.

"Like a normal boy, really." Reese says, dreamily. "He was like my brother, fun and enthusiastic little brother."

She stands up and picks up a picture from the shelf. She hands it to me. It's a family picture of Bartholomew, his wife and Reese.

"Her name was Tricia. I looked a lot like her." She says. "She died few years ago of lupus."

"Your mom was gorgeous." I tell her. She sheepishly agrees.

"She loved Harry." Bartholomew catches my attention and I stare at his sunglasses. "He considered her as a second mother." Reese nods and I hand the picture back. "When I got eye cancer and started losing my eyesight, I told Harry's father that if something ever happened to me, to take care of Reese. And he said back... if something ever happens to them, to take care of Harry. So it happened and we took him under our wing."

"I bet Harry appreciates you. I mean, the things you've done for him. You gave him a new family. He considers you as a family. He doesn't need to tell me."