Family Ties

Chapter Sixteen

"Do you remember the time Jonas was dating that blonde, skinny girl? He met after one of his basketball games, Her name was Tammy or Tamara, no it was Tara." I nod but feel a bit confused, what has this to do with anything?

"And do you also remember that weekend your mother went to Paris for a so called business meeting but we all knew she was going away for the weekend with her ten years younger assistant or better fuckbuddy?" A frown covers my face while I try to recall the memory. I nod my head while my stomach turns around, I don't like to talk or think about mother and I really hope she has nothing to do with this.

"I remember," I say. "Mother was away with her boy toy, Jonas was at Tara's house so we had the house for ourselves. We were so happy we would have all weekend for the two of us and we spent the whole weekend in bed and had..." I swallow my next words and start to blush.

"That's the weekend I'm talking about!" knowing what I wanted to say Harry looks at me and smiles shyly.

"It was an amazing weekend, except that you made me work out." I glare at Harry and he can't hold his smile.

"You are the healthy, sporty one, remember, why do I have to suffer?" I say when I drop down exhausted and sweaty on my bed. Harry lays down next to me, his is laying down on his right side and he is facing me.

"We don't have many chances to be completely alone so when we are finally alone I want my girl with me as much as I can." Harry pushed some hair behind my ear and kissed cheek before he nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck.
"Next time I will watch you work out." Harry laughs, starts to tickle my side and my eyes flutter close.
I open my eyes and freeze when I think I hear a sound coming from downstairs.
"Shh I think I hear something!" I whisper. Both Harry and I don't move and silently listen to the noises of the house but it's so silent, you can hear a pin drop so we relax again.
"I think you were wrong, you probably heard something outside." Harry said before he kissed my nose and he got up from the bed with my little hand in his bigger one he pulls me with him.
"Come on, we smell, let's shower together." giggling I follow, already having forgotten about the noise.

Harry rubs his face and flips his hair back. "That noise you heard, it wasn't nothing." I look up to Harry with big eyes.

"We had been working out in the garden and somewhere during our time outside, Jonas had entered the house through the front door and went to get something from his room." I stare at Harry, is he joking?

"How? Why?" I try to speak some words but I'm too shocked.

"He saw us outside and thought we just were working out together but then he heard us talking on the bed and go to the bathroom to shower together. He then knew what was going on."

"Huh Jonas knows? All this time? Why did he never say anything to me?" Harry gives me a look that clearly tells me to shut up.

"A couple of weeks after, I was at your place but you weren't home and Jonas said he wanted to discuss something with me."

Harry's memory
We sat on the brown carpet in Jonas room, against his bed, I had no clue what he wanted to talk about.
"I broke up with Tara." he started. The way he said it was kinda emotionless, I already thought he wasn't completely into her but wasn't totally sure so it didn't make sense that he wanted to talk about her.
"Why? Did something happened?" I looked up to him but he shrugged
"I discovered she wasn't honest to me, she was fooling around with another guy too. I really don't like dishonest people. You know that right?" I nodded but didn't understand why he wanted to talk if he acted like he didn't care about the break up.
"I'm sorry it didn't work out, man but I'm sure there will be another girl." I pat his shoulder.
"Are you seeing someone at the moment?" I frowned, this was the weirdest conversation I ever had with him but knowing it definitely wasn't the right moment to open up about our relationship I shook my head.
"A couple of weeks ago, I was at Tara for the weekend. What did you do that weekend?" he asked and at that moment everything clicked. Jonas had been acting differently since he came back from Tara's that Sunday. He didn't talk much, didn't want to hang out with me, snapped at me for the littlest things. I had asked him what was wrong but he said he was okay so I thought he was just stressed or something. Knowing Jonas he would tell me eventually or you would tell me if you knew about it.
"Jonas, I..." I wanted to explain but Jonas held his hands in the air and I stopped talking.
"My sister, Harry? Really? How long is this going on?" Jonas started to pace around his room, frustrated pulling his hair.
"No don't tell me, I don't want to know. How could you betray me like that, Harry?" I didn't know what to say because he was right, I did betray him. I should have been honest with him from the start.
"Jonas, I'm sorry but we didn't know how to tell you and we were scare you would be angry." I said while I stood up from the ground.
"This isn't just a fling. We want a future together, I love her and she loves me!" I tried to explain but it only got him more angry.
"Oh god are you serious?" he looked at me with so much anger in his eyes and then he pushed me against that dark blue wall in his room.
"You are ruining her life." He groaned in my face. Jonas had never been in a fight but I thought he would beat the crap out of me there and then. But he didn't, he looked at me intently before he let me go.
"Get out of here, Harry and don't bother to come back!" he yelled at me and I did what he told me. I was devastated after that day and I have to admit it hurt that he thought I would ruin your life, that I wasn't good enough to be with you.

Eve pov
I am shocked, it is so unlike Jonas to react like this. I feel sorry for Harry too, I should have been by his side through all of this then maybe everything would have ended differently. I don't know what to say but I want to show Harry I support him so I take his hand and give it a squeeze, it probably isn't easy for him to talk about this.

"He ignored me for days after that, I thought he needed time to get used to the idea and then would be okay with it. But then one Friday, he waited for me at my house and wanted to talk. He said I had to end our relationship because you have a cold hearted mother who doesn't give a shit about you, you already lost your father and if I would keep seeing you, he would never speak to you or me again." My head snaps up. It suddenly all makes sense now...

"I can't believe this, who does he think he is? And what a hypocrite for threatening you but not saying a word to me!" I say angrily. I want to yell at my brother and beat the shit out of him because he took away the one good thing I had in my life.

"I thought about it for a couple of days, I really didn't want to let you go. We had made plans for when you would go to university and I wanted a future together. I felt like I was stuck, if I stayed with you, Jonas would leave and if I told you, Jonas and you would get in a fight and you probably would stop talking to each other. I couldn't let you lose another family member, especially not because of me." Harry sighs, his eyes are glassy.

"So you left." Harry nods his head while he looks down at his long fingers and plays with his rings.

"I got an offer from a publisher in Manchester and took it. I wanted to say goodbye to you but I knew if I did, I wouldn't be able to leave. I didn't really want to go but I knew it would kill me if I had to see you around and probably go on with your life while I wasn't allowed to be in it." Harry stops talking and gives a sign with his hand to give my glass, I obey and watch him refill both our glasses with ice and tequila. Obviously needing it, we both take a big swig before we put our glasses back on the night stand's next to us.

"I had a hard time at first, I didn't know a person there and I didn't like the job or my new flat, everything sucked. I wasn't able to get you out of my head and thought about you all the time. But at some point I realised I had to make the best of it because I wasn't able to change the situation. Till the moment you showed up here I regularly thought about you, wondered how you were and how your life was." Harry looks up, I see so much pain and sadness in his eyes. Now I realise Harry has suffered as much as me from our break-up, maybe even more. I don't know if it is the right thing to do but I move over and crawl in Harry's lap and put my head on his bare chest. Instinctively Harry puts his arms around me and kisses my hair.

"I'm so sorry, Jonas didn't have the right to treat you this way. I'm sorry it made you move and you didn't like it there and that you lost your friend and I'm sorry I blamed you for everything all this time. I'm so sorry." tears roll over my cheeks. Harry doesn't say anything, he just caresses my hair, the way he knows I like it.

"Is there more I need to know?" I asked after a while.

"No, I think that is it. I had some arguments with Jonas and at first I tried to make him see what really was going on between us but soon I realised he didn't want to understand. He always was my best friend but after that it wasn't the same anymore. We kept in contact and called every week but our bond got more superficial. Till Toby died and I was so lost, he helped me out of that black hole and we became housemates." Harry sighs, he clearly is having a hard time. I don't know what to say, I'm so overwhelmed by all this new information.

"It will be hard but I promise not to say anything to Jonas." I pull away from Harry.

"Thank you, Harry and I'm sorry for everything. I think I need to be alone now, I need time to process all of this." I say crawling from the bed.

Harry nod his head. "That's understandable but I'm always here for you, if you need me." he says with a silent voice but I am in my own thoughts and don't hear him. I open the door but stop and turn to Harry.

"Just so you know, Jonas was wrong, you were good enough! When I was your girlfriend, I was the happiest I have ever been." I say before I leave the room and cross the hall, back to my own room.

Hi 👋🏻
Did you see this coming?
I hope you liked this chapter, let me know your thoughts.
Enjoy the weekend.
All the love,
K. x