model call || h.s

37.

sorry this is a shitty, short chapter and so, so sorry it took so long to get up!

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Three weeks later

Harry rubs her shoulders as they step onto the subway, and miraculously, only a few photographers follow them onto the train. The couple ignore the three men like they've been trained to do so. Nora uses her thumb to wipe the tiny beads of sweat away from Harry's upper lip. "It's quite warm today, isn't it?" He quips, a cute smirk playing on his naturally pink lips.

"It's summer, baby."

"I know, I like it." He slinks his arm around her hips. "You love summer, don't you?" She nods.

"I really do...I look cuter in summer clothes too."

"I think you look cute in all clothes."

"Mhm..." Nora's head gently hits the pole that she's leaning against. "I usually love surprises, especially birthday surprises, but Harry...I'm just not really in a good mindset for anything big...it's not big, is it?"

"I've got no idea what you're talking about." His adorable grin completely gives him away.

"You are the worst liar, honey..."

"M'not lying!" Nora laughed and placed her palm on his cheek.

"Just...promise me it's not big?" Harry sighs and nods.

"I promise." They stay on the blue line until they get to Hell's Kitchen, and then they get off. It's four in the afternoon, but the sun is still beaming down, making everything much warmer and much more unbearable. "We're almost there." Harry notes as he pulls her along with him, her hand securely in his. They're followed by a few photographers, but at this point, they don't care. Finally, in one of Port Authority's many alleyways, Harry pulls her into an unmarked door. They walk down a long dark hallway and Nora can see vivid colors at the end.

"Is this a gentleman's club or something?" Nora teases and he pushes her in front of him, laughing as he does so.

"Keep walking, brat." They emerge into the brightly colored room and Nora's face lights up as she sees the small crowd. Her parents, her siblings and Eric are all standing in the lavish bowling alley, smiling at her. Nora's eyes fill up as she looks from them to Harry and then back again. Everyone has a pointy party hat on and Lara and Nick blow party whizzers with bright smiles on their faces. She hugs her mom first, and she doesn't want to let go, but then she has to and she let's her father embrace her in a bear hug.

"Happy birthday, my baby girl."

"Thanks, dad." She goes on to hug Lara, Nick and Eric and they all smash her with death grip hugs and she loves every minute of it. Eric hands her a icy looking mojito and she takes one long sip.

"Happy birthday, Nory." Her brother-in-law gives her one more hug, "I love ya, kid."

"I love you too. Thank you..." She looks around at her family and then she looks at Harry and he's smiling and chatting with her parents, and she's absolutely in awe of how lucky she is to have him. He did this, he put this together, knowing that it's exactly what she would have wanted. He catches her gazing and he smiles and excuses himself. He saunters over, hands behind his back and a knowing grin on his face that Nora could not be more in love with.

"Hi..." Nora loops her arms around his hips and smiles up at him.

"Hello." She says, giddily.

"Is this okay?"

"You know the answer to that..."

"Can I hear you say it though?"

"This is exactly what I wanted. It's perfect, you're perfect and you are the very best boyfriend and...I love you to the moon and back." His dimples are prominent and he hugs her tightly.

"I love you past the moon, Nora." He kisses her neck. "All I want is for you to be happy, you know that."

"I do know that." She pulls away enough to kiss him. "Thank you so much, baby."

===

"Get her home safe, please, Harry..." He nods as he slips a very drunk Nora into an awaiting cab.

"I will...you get home safe as well." He quickly kisses Samantha and Lara on the cheeks and then hugs Nick, Eric and Elijah goodbye. Nora waves wildly from inside the cab and her family waves back. Then Harry slides in beside her and closes the door. "You are quite inebriated, aren't you?" She giggles.

"No...just a little bit tipsy—buzzed...maybe drunk. I'm not certain."

"You're not certain, hm?"

"I'm not certain, no." She hiccups. "I could be totally plastered—what do you call it? Smashed?"

"I rarely call it smashed."

"I've heard you call it smashed..." She plays with her fingers, trying to remember, then she sticks six of them up. "Like, this many times."

"That many, huh? Since you've known me?"

"Mhm." She nods.

"Right, that's not that many times then. That's six times."

"Okay...whatever, Harry." He chuckles and pulls her closer to him.

"You're silly when you're smashed."

"Seven!"

"Okay, okay..." He folds some loose hair back behind her ear. "Did you have a good night?"

"I had...the best night. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"You're welcome, baby. Happy birthday."

"It's over in one hour."

"I know, so we better make the most of the rest of it."

"What are we gonna do?" Harry shrugs.

"I guess we'll have to wait until we get home." The drive is long and the traffic is horrible, so by the time they arrive back at Harry's loft, Nora's grown slightly less drunk, and she only has seven or so minutes left before her birthday is officially over. They hurry upstairs, ignoring the photographers outside his building.

"You know, I wanted to have sex, but now I'm just tired and I think I wanna just watch something and fall asleep." Nora says, already removing her clothes.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sleepy." He agrees. Magellan is out cold, sprawled out on the pool table, and Maude is curled up in a ball on Harry's pillow...nothing looks more inviting then cozy cats and nice, cool sheets. Harry and Nora brush their teeth, both only clad in their underwear, then they crawl into bed.

"What do you wanna watch?" Nora asks him.

"I don't care. Something funny, maybe?" She turns on Always Sunny and they laugh for a few minutes, but soon enough, they're both out cold, just like the cats.