Light (A Harry Styles Fanfic)

Chapter 5

A few days passed and it was finally Christmas Eve. I woke up, stretching and yawning. "Good Morning! It's Christmas Eve!! We have to get baking." I rolled my eyes a plopped back on my pillow. With and groan, I sat up and pushed my hair back. My mum left my room as soon as she saw me getting up. I was always a morning person, but today I just wanted to go out and play hockey.

Ever since I was a little kid, I lived winter. My birthday is in February so I grew up in snow. When I was six, after the accident, Gemma needed something to keep her occupied so we went to the ice rink. I remember pulling her along and helping her the whole time. One day, a hockey coach, came up to me and saw how good I was at skating. Because of him, I now play hockey whenever I have to take a load off.

I walk over to my dresser and grab black jeans and a Ramones shirt. I slip it on and walk to the bathroom down the hall. Our house is very small with only 3 bedrooms on one floor. We have a small bathroom with just a shower, no bath tub. My fathers bar was destroyed after he left. My mum always hated his drinking habits.

"Good morning, mum." I smile as I enter the kitchen. Gemma is sitting at the island with her phone in hand. "Gem, what's up?" She just looks at me and smiles. Since the accident, she has brain damage, but she can still speak some sentences. People just need to give her a chance to learn more. She's 20 now, but she can't move out yet.

My mum doesn't think she would be safe in an apartment by herself. I can remember over the summer, how they would argue almost for five hours at a time.

"It smells great." I take a seat by Gemma and look over her shoulder. She's on Twitter and she is scrolling through her feed. "Haz, I have over 3,000 followers." She remarks as she opens up her profile. I'm so proud of her. She has been addicted to this stupid boy band for almost two years now. I think it's a waste of time.

I decide to check my phone while my mum is baking, what smells like cookies. *Merry Christmas! We defiantly will hang later. ICESKATING? At 1?* She's a little pushy, but I like it.

*sure. I'll bring my skates.* I lay my phone down on the counter and decide to help my mom. I put on an apron and begin mixing more batter. My mum has a pan in her hand with maybe, 30 rows of cookies in it. They look like sugar cookies. "You two can decorate them for the neighbors." I rolls my eyes, "Mum, I'm 17. No." I walk out of the kitchen as my mum laughs. Gemma joins her and I can't help but join them.

When I reach our Christmas tree, I take in the smell. It's a scent that can only be described as "Christmas". I think we're going to our friends house for a party today, but we usually leave early. "Harry, can you put on one of those sweaters?" I literally want to throw up, "NO! I'm not wearing one of those stupid..." I trail off when I make eye contact with my mum. "Sure."

I've been trying to control my bipolarness. I hate it. I lash out at my mum for nothing. I can feel my phone buzzing in my pocket and it's my old mate, Louis.

"Hey! How you been?" I am so excited to hear his voice.

"It's going well. Just got home from work. Yeah, I had to work on Christmas. It sucks. But how's America? And don't forget, its long distance." I just laugh and try to remember the times when I was happy.

At school no one messed with me. I had a crew consisting of 4 other lads. We were called "The Brew Crew." We had parties every Friday and Saturday. We had a frat house that we would all stay in when we had a girl stay over. We ruled our school for almost 2 years. During sophomore year, I remember Louis' mum passed away while sleeping. After that, Louis and I got really close. We told each other everything. It was like we were girls of some sort.

"Yeah, it's good." I lie.

"Have you got a special lady? And speak up, I'm driving." He almost yells into the phone. "Nah, how are the other lads? I haven't spoken to Niall in a while. " I try to remember Nialls hair color when I left. He was always dying his hair. He even dyed it purple for a girl. They eventually broke up and he bleached it back.

"Ah, he's alright. He's actually with a girl, Hannah? You remember? At The diner we would go to after school everyday? Yeah she was our waitress and one day, Niall just fell in love with her. He claims that she's changing him. He even got braces! And he stopped dying his hair all those ratchet colors." I can hear Louis laugh through the speaker and it feels like he's right here. "Mate, I miss you." He turns down the radio and I smirk, "mate, don't get all soft on me. Oh, I'm flying in with Liam during your spring break!"

My heart literally leaps out of my chest, "why?! Oh my gosh this is great news!" I can't contain my excitement. I cover the speaker and whisper to my mum that I'll be back later. She nods and probably thinks I'm going to go to the rink, like I usually do. Well, in that case, she's correct. I'm nervous to meet E there, but with this weather in Illinois, I want to ice skate.

"Liam and I were talking.." Louis behind and I start my mums car up. "Eleanor was being a bitch to Liam. I never even noticed it." I roll my eyes. The thought of that girl; her perfect hair, her perfect car, her perfect nails, her perfect boyfriend, ew. "Yeah... Never really fancied that lass.." I feel bad because Louis was generally happy with her, but she treated everyone like shit.

"Eh, I dumped her about a week ago. She made Liam really upset." I wondered what would make Liam upset, he wasn't the type to be sad. Even when his Nan passed, he looked on the brighter side of things. "Yeah, she was insulting Danielle." Oh. Liam was always protective of people he cared about, "yeah, that's a low. Even for Eleanor." He growls in the line and I decide to spare him the pain of thinking of her and changing the subject. "So what are you doing for Christmas?" I ask, "Are you with family?" He takes a moment to respond. "Yeah, I think. I got in a fight with my mum after you left. We haven't spoken since." I take this piece of information and try to think of shit Louis would say. He was always one to say what he felt. That's why he had trouble making friends.

"Louis. Why did you say?" I feel like I'm scolding him, when he is an adult who can make his own decisions. "I just told her how I felt. She's getting married soon and she's pregnant. Again with twins. I have enough on my plate, I can't be with two more girls." I feel deep sympathy for him, but he needs to learn to grow up. "Louis, I don't think she would purposely get pregnant. It was probably a mistake, but she needs you. She needs to have you support her through this. Don't you think she's worried?" As I finish my speech, I switch lanes and glide onto the highway. "You're right. You're always right, why didn't I call you earlier?" He laughs towards the end but I don't see what's funny. "Louis call her. Tell her you want to see her for Christmas!"

"Okay, I'll call her. I'll text ya later, mate. I'm at the book store. See ya later." We exchange our goodbyes for about two minutes. When Louis finally hangs up, I am just pulling up to the ice rink. There is no one here except Barbra. She is the lady who is usually working on holidays.

Through the years of coming here, I have learned that she has no family left. Her husband died in the war about 10 years ago. She still sets the table for two each night and she drives his car. We have become close and she usually helps me with my skating skills. Even though she is in her mid 60's, she can skate better then half the teens who come here.