Reticent

Chapter Four; spelling bee

As Harry and I stood in our bathroom, getting ready for bed, he told me the full details about his day. He told me about Gemma and how she's doing.

"I'm actually quite excited about Bex living with us. When I pulled up, I heard her dad yelling at her. He called her every name in the book." He said, rinsing his toothbrush. "Except daughter." He frowned.

"Well, she's in a better place now. I think we should lighten up on how we treat her. She's not broken, just lightly scratched. Seriously, we can't keep reminding her how horrible her life was, alright?" I rub lotion on my arms and up to my neck.

"You are so sexy when you mom people." Harry narrows his eyes and bites on his rinsed out toothbrush.

"Oh yeah? I can be your mom?" I put my hand on my hip and turn my body to face him.

"Mm." He grunts.

"Harry Edward Styles, you better clean your room before grammy comes over! Lord knows she can't stand the smell of your unwashed boxers." I do my best impression of Anne.

"No, stop." Harry shakes his head, putting his toothbrush back. He leaves the bathroom and covers his hands over his ears.

"Why do you have sticky magazines under your bed? I raised you better than that!" I chase after him, still mocking his mother.

"Alright. It's creepy." He laughs and pushes me on the bed. I lay on my back, laughing.

"Why is the bed lumpy?" I sit up and keep my elbows secure behind me.

"What?" He asks, laying in the bed next to me. "It's not lumpy?" He looks at me.

"I know." I smile and jump on top of him.

~

After going to work, then sending a care package to Halley at the post office, I come home. "I'm home!" I yelled as I walked through my front door. Harry was sitting on the couch, watching tv. He looked at me and smiled, his mouth full of food. I laughed and walked to the bar, setting my stuff on the counter.

"What did you send her?" Harry asked, still talking with a mouthful of food.

"A few pictures and some of the stuff she asked for." I tell him, looking through the mail on the counter. Ads, bills, dentist appointment post cards, and more ads. "Are you going to take Avery to her appointment next week?" I ask him, waving around the appointment reminder.

"Yeah."

"She's getting her braces tightened, so have pain killers and her strawberry kiwi smoothie or whatever she gets." I walk into the kitchen.

"Yes, dear." He says, emotionless.

"I'm starving!" I groaned and walked to the fridge. On the door, I saw a picture of Avery holding up her first place spelling bee trophy. Below that picture was Halley and Avery, sitting in a booth, covered in chocolate ice cream.

I smiled at the picture and looked at another one. One picture caught my attention. I grabbed it off of the fridge and looked at it closely.

It was a picture of Harry, standing next to Avery. They were both looking straight and not at the camera. Avery was looking on her phone while Harry was looking forward. It looked like they were in a park or by a river or something?