Heroine (A Harry Styles Fanfic)

Nine.

Lobster.

My lunch sits before me, untouched. Steam no longer wafts over top of it. It's been sitting so long with its eyes starring back at me, it's gone cold. I was six the first time I seen a cooked lobster. Our keeper Nina made is special for Leonardo.

"You don't like grilled cheese?" Nina asked the young boy I had never seen before that day, sitting across from me at our breakfast table.

He shook his head, and his golden hair shimmered under the light. "No, it tastes like burned toast," he finally diverted his eyes off the plate before him, and looked up at Nina.

She laughed while throwing a hand towel over her shoulder. "Burned toast? Boy, the grilled cheese ain't ya problem, it's whoever's cooking it," she grabbed his full plate and began walking back toward the kitchen. "Grilled cheese is Miss.Nicola's favorite. She'll tell ya how good mine is." She clicked her tongue as the boy continued to watch her walk away. "Burned toast! Ha! I'll go make you a sandwich,"  the swinging door muffled her voice as she continued on her ranting.

Before he could catch me studying him, I focused on my grilled cheese. I took a big bite out of it, making clear my admiration for the meal. He watched in silence as I pretended not to notice.

"My names Leonardo, and I'm six  years old in three days." He reached his arm out across the table and held out his hand for a shake.

I glanced up at him taking my time to finish chewing my food. Disregarding his gesture, I dabbed at my mouth with a cloth napkin "Then you're still five," I stated matter of factly.

His little face fell. "I guess," he agreed.

I was disappointed. He gave in so fast. He didn't even try and fight me on it. He wasn't wrong, three days shy of  six was basically six. What a pushover! I shook my head deciding he didn't have much determination.

"If you don't like grilled cheese, then what do you like?" I asked him, suddenly slightly annoyed with his presence. He didn't like grilled cheese, and he had no back bone.

"Lobster," his face lit up. "I only ever had it once but it's the best thing I've ever eated."

I wanted to correct his grammar. The best thing he ever ate. I concluded however, that not all kids have the kind of advantages that I did at that age. I homeschooled one on one with two different tutors as day. I had my own library filled with too many encyclopedias, and way too much time on my hands. I was extremely educated for six years old. Educated and alone.

You can imagine how surprised I was the next day, when the boy was sitting at the table again. He smiled at me while my stomach flipped. I can remember trying to decipher if I was really hungry for my lunch, or if I had butterflies. I sat in my seat, and waved keeping all my other emotions in check. Having someone new in the house was very rare. Two days in a row was unheard of. I couldn't get too excited, because I knew it wouldn't last.

"Good afternoon Nicole,"

A small giggle escaped from me. "It's Nico-la,"

His smile stretched across his face, and he blushed. "Oops," he separated the syllables, "Ni-co-LA."

It was then I decided he was okay.

We couldn't be friends knowing I'd probably never see him again, but maybe just for that moment...I could pretend.

The swinging door opened and in came Nina with our lunch. "I may have overheard you telling Miss.Nicola you liked lobster yesterday." She placed our plates before us, the smell wafted and my stomach instantly flipped. The big red creature laid dead, eyes starring up at me. A little bowl of melted butter sat next to it. It's not like I never heard of a lobster, and I certainly knew what it was. My parents even ate it. I just never had one sitting before me so close. My parents always spared me the sight of it, I guessed. In that moment I understood why.