ripped jeans | hes

fifty eight

Hi. I feel like I've been gone for a while. But I'm back and better then ever. Love you all. - G

The first thing that I noticed when I sat down at the dining hall were Harry's purple tulips standing delicately in the glass vase in the middle of the table.

I smiled softly to myself.

Harry sat to the right of me. Dad sat at the head of the table, with Mom sitting directly across from me and Alec across from Harry. All the food, including Harry and I's cupcakes, was spread out across the table, the thick aromas making my stomach grumble and my mouth water.

Man, all this food just looked amazing. If I knew anything about my mother, it was that she was an amazing cook and an even better interior designer.

After saying a speedy prayer, we began to feast. I was still pretty on edge and generally confused about the whole Harry thing, but I was determined to have a good meal with my family...and Harry.

I glanced over at Alec, who was chomping into his juicy turkey, making me smirk. "Enjoying that, Al?"

"Mmph?" He attempted to respond, his cheeks full with turkey.

I waited a few seconds for the casual conversation between Mom and Dad to pick up before whispering to Alec. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." He blankly shrugged before continuing to shove more food down his throat. "This is really good, Mom."

"Thank you, honey." My mom grimaced, her voice strained. "Next time, chew before speaking."

My father raised his champagne glass with great pride. "Before we continue this fabulous dinner made by my wife herself and with a little help from us, I would like to make a toast" I expected him to kiss mom or to show his appreciation, but he kept talking and she didn't mean to mind at all. "I'm just so happy to have us all together...finally. With Addison at college, Alec about to go to college in the fall, and my busy schedule, it's like we never get to have dinner anymore as a family. With the addition of Harry, who we welcome with open arms." My dad grinned at Harry and he gave a closed-lipped smile in return. "It was great to meet you, Harry."

"Pleasure's all mine." Harry's accent became incredibly thick.

"Treat my daughter well or I'll kill you-"

"Dad." I barked. "Seriously? Can we not do this right now? Please?"

"Right. Of course. But just letting you know, my dad's in the CIA." Dad winked to Harry and everybody laughed. "But anyway. I just feel so blessed for us all to be together. Nothing is more humbling than being surrounded by the ones you love. So, cheers to us finally being together."

"To being together." We all raised our glasses before swallowing the golden liquid, letting the warm bubbles sizzle on our tongues and into our chests, making us feel warm.

"Harry, don't you find it kind of weird that you don't celebrate Thanksgiving but you're here right now?" Dad asked as he set down his glass.

"Ah, I actually used to celebrate Thanksgiving back home, as weird as that sounds. It was just another reason to get the whole family together and decorate the house. We didn't follow the usual traditions, we usually made a joke out of the holiday, in all honesty. My family is pretty strange." Harry chuckled, looking down at his full plate.

"Well, do you two have any plans tomorrow? Or are you leaving in the morning?" Mom asked.

"Uh," I cleared my throat and Harry placed a hand on my knee. "I have to meet with a teacher tomorrow, so we'll be gone before noon. Maybe Harry and I will just go on a walk around the city and get some coffee or something before we leave."