New York [harry styles au]

16

16.
Nothing else happened in November; nothing so important to note anyway. My birthday seemed to be the most memorable night of that month. Other than that, I just spent my weeks looking for a job; finally finding one on December 1st. I guess you could call it Santa's good will. It was in the same department store that Harry had taken me for a new jacket in October, the one we both thought was 'too fancy for us'. I worked in the ladies lingerie area, with another girl named Emma James. Emma was nice enough, but I never saw her outside of work. We both worked for the same manager, Trevor Nightingale, who was a real hothead. He would blow up on either one of us for even one small criticism from a customer. But I could deal with it as long as I was getting paid; actually being able to pay Harry back for the long time he had been the breadwinner. Though he didn't seem pleased with the idea of us both sharing the rent, so this meant I had to find new ways of sneaking my contribution to him; leaving it in little envelopes on top of the microwave seemed to suffice.

If somebody would have told me that I would be this lucky a few months ago, I would have laughed in their face. Losing my mother was hard. So hard that I never thought I would have the ability to get over it. Countless nights were spent alone in my childhood bed, crying so hard that I began to scream; using the pillow as a guard against the noise. I hated that. Being alone in my mother's house, without her presence, her shouts from the bottom of the stairs for dinner and her forehead kisses, was excruciatingly difficult. I didn't even have the guts to leave the home without her; reflecting on it, I'm surprised that I didn't die from starvation. The old house would creak, shivers would run down my spine multiple times a day and I grew tired of feeling tired. So I left. I left that house quicker than ever, mainly to stop myself from turning back around and wallowing in my bed some more. And now here I was, with truly good people-- depending on your definition of good-- and finally being financially stable. It may sound cliche, but things were looking up.

It was December 2nd, the day after I had gotten my job and was set to start on Monday the 4th, when Angelina and I were together again. I hadn't seen her for so long since the incident in Beatrix's flat and to say that I was worried was an understatement. I didn't know what to expect. But as I eventually saw her hurrying towards me on the boulevard, I realised that miracles couldn't happen in such negative circumstances. She looked frail, her eyes held on to the largest bags I had seen underneath them and she was wrapped up in a woollen scarf, woollen mittens, a woollen hat, a fleece under-jacket and a thick winter coat. She was usually warmer than this, it was evident that she had grown colder.

"Hey, Angelina."

"Hi, Winona." She mumbled with a smile, my hand wrapping around her back as we began moving along the sidewalk together.

"Have you ever shopped for Christmas decorations before?" I ask.

"Once, when my mother was around."

"Yeah, I only ever got them when my mother was around too." She gave a small grin before pointing towards a store on the opposite side to the road. Its window was decorated with brightly lit Christmas decorations, green and red tinsel lacing the edges of it, and a huge emerald tree was situated directly in the middle of the other side of the crystal glass.

"That looks like the store for us." Angelina commented, taking my hand and guiding me towards it. I could see that there was a slight distance between us emotionally, but it didn't hurt-- I was expecting it. Nobody could expect a girl to jump back to her usual self so quickly after trauma. It's just impossible.

We enter the place to immediately feel a gust of warm heated air. It was larger than I thought it was but the whole area was so full of decor that I couldn't help but feel elated with festivity. Looking around, I also noticed a bright sign referencing a store discount and felt relieved as Angelina had volunteered to pay.