Act Two // Book One

Chapter Sixteen

Lexie was the name of the lady Samantha spoke to when she called a few days ago to RSVP herself and Harry for Gwen's memorial picnic. She sounded older than her name gave away. She sort of gasped when Samantha said Harry would be attending, but Samantha guessed she was shocked he was showing up for a lot of reasons.

Now that the day of the picnic had arrived, Harry was absolutely losing it and had been since the moment Samantha walked into the house that morning.

He'd changed his shirt six times and kept switching between basic jeans and something more dressy.

He walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt. Samantha looked up at him. He raised his eyebrows,

"Well?" He demanded.

Samantha jumped slightly,

"Oh sorry. Perfect. You look fine."

Harry sighed with exasperation as he walked past her,

"We're gonna be late. I can't find my keys."

"They're over there on the desk." Samantha said, pointing to the desk.

Harry sighed again as he walked over to the desk and grabbed them,

"I feel like I'm not even in my body."

Samantha giggled to herself. She'd never seen him so out of sorts. He really was nervous. When she looked up he was staring at her. She immediately wiped the smile off of her face,

"Well you look fine and it's ok if we're late. Probably better actually."

Harry scratched as his shoulder,

"I dunno if I can do this."

Samantha walked over to him,

"Hey..." She said, calling his attention so he focused on her, "This is just a picnic. There's no pressure. You're just nervous because it's been so much time." Samantha had no idea what possessed her to reach forward and take his hand, but it didn't seem odd or inappropriate that she did, "Why are you nervous?"

Harry's breathing seemed to be shallow, like he was fighting for air into his lungs,

"I just," He started, "I walked away from all of them."

Samantha nodded,

"Harry, no one blames you for anything."

She squeezed his hand, smiling when he squeezed back,

"All black is a little morbid...sure you wanna make that statement?"

Harry looked down at his outfit,

"Really? I was trying to fit in. You think I should-" He looked up when he heard Samantha's soft giggles. He narrowed his eyes, "I hate you sometimes."

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Samantha pushed herself out of Harry's Range Rover as she glanced across the park to the huge picnic a few hundred feet away from them. It was a lot larger than Samantha expected. There had to have been at least 200 people there. There was a huge tent that Samantha assumed was where the food was and a few different activities where the kids could get their faces painted, a balloon animal or jump around in the bouncy house. If Samantha was younger, this place would've been her dream come true.

While Samantha got lost in the picture before her, Harry could barely get his legs to work. He had agreed to this meeting, he wanted to know about all the people Gwen had saved. He just wasn't sure today was the day for that. He still felt so fragile and closed off from the person he used to be.