Off The Ice

Chapter 32

"Want some water before dinner?" I offer as Harry and I enter the front door of my parents' house. 

"Sure."

"Well too bad, you can't have any. And you can't have dinner with us either. I brought you here so you can watch and suffer."

"Then I'll just have to eat something else, won't I?" He whispers, snaking his hands around my waist as we walk down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Don't be gross," I chastise.

"You left that window wide open for me."

"Who says you were allowed to go through it?" Our banter is what is keeping me awake. I'm so tired and my legs are killing me but I'm waiting until at least 9:30 before I allow myself to fall asleep. I need to catch up on that. "Mom, dad, I brought someone for dinner," I say as we enter the kitchen. 

"I hope that someone likes sloppy Joes."

"What is a sloppy Joe?" Harry asks.

We all stop what we're doing, even Peyton and Mila who are doing homework, and we slowly turn our heads to look at him wide-eyed. "One does not simply NOT know what a sloppy Joe is!!!" I exclaim.

"Well I don't. I'm an Englishman, we don't have sloppy Joes."

"Irrelevant, you've lived in America for over two years!!!"

"Still doesn't change the fact that I've never had one so will everyone quit being barmy and tell me what a bloody sloppy Joe is?"

"It's ground hamburger meat and a type of barbeque sauce mixed together and put on hamburger buns and it gets reallly messy and gross but it's so delicious," I explain. "And fair warning, when I eat these I look like a caveman who is just discovering how to cook meat. It's quite an unpleasant sight."

"I might just have to take pictures then," he challenges. 

"Can you not?" I groan before pulling him into the living room and falling onto the couch. 

"Dinner in ten!" Mom calls.

"So, we're almost done with Perks. What are you going to read to me next?"

"I'm sorry?" He asks confused. 

"You didn't think you were done reading to me, did you? No sir, this is a thing now. You have to keep on reading to me."

"You've got to hate it. I stutter and sometimes mispronounce words or accidentally skip lines. I'm rubbish at reading out loud. In my head, in my head I'm alright but out loud I'm shit."

"No, I love it. I think it's adorable." I bite my bottom lip to keep me from smiling so much. "You have to keep doing it."

"I'll consider your request."

"Excuse me, sir, I think you will do more than consider if you ever want me to 'relieve' you again."

"I can do that on my own."

"Yes but you and I both know it's so much better when I do it." I narrow my eyes at him and he throws his head back and groans. "S'what I thought. Now, tell me you favorite books and I'll pick the next one you're reading to me."

He lets out a large breath and rakes his hand through his hair. "Let's see, erm, Time Traveler's Wife, Eragon, The Giver, Series of Unfortunate Events. I'd have to scan my library to get a real list."

"What's The Giver?"

"It's about a utopian society where all of the kids get their special jobs for the rest of their life  and no one has memories of pain and they all dress and look and live the same and this one kid is special and he gets all of the memories and it's bloody brilliant and I love it."