in time // h.s.

xxvii. harry

Twenty-three years old...

Matty had decided to tell Joanne about me suddenly popping the question. I knew this because on Monday morning I woke up to find six missed calls from my mum. The fact she'd tried to call so many times did not bode well. I could envisage the steam from her ears increasing each time she hit the redial button, only for her call to be left unanswered.

Deciding to bite the bullet and get the conversation over with, I called her back straight away from under my duvet, closing my eyes in preparation for the bollocking I was about to receive. Following our conversation the previous week I knew, once my mum found out, I'd have to own up to being a prize idiot, or plead ignorance... whatever I said, there was no way she was going to let me act as though I'd done nothing wrong, or let me get away with it.

"What on earth have you gone and done?" she shouted down the phone. I was glad Alex had already left for work, otherwise she'd have definitely heard her shrieking tone, and I've no idea how I'd have explained that one.

"I thought you'd be pleased," I said. That was a lie. I knew mum would be angry at me, I just hoped her anger would subside quick enough so that I could take Alex over to celebrate, the longer I left it the more suspicious she'd become, I didn't want her thinking my mum didn't like her. That was why I'd said we should wait before telling our parents, suggesting it would be nicer to do it once we had the ring and could tell them face to face. Alex, who, unsurprisingly, liked the idea of getting her finger blinged up first needed little convincing.

"You said you liked Alex," I cheekily continued.

"Oh, I do, you know that," she said, thankfully losing a bit of the honking volume in her voice. "And, yes, I'm very pleased that Alex is going to be a Styles one day."

"Well, then..."

"That's really not the point, though, is it?" she continued.

"Isn't it?"

"No, and you know it, Harry," she said with exasperation. "I told you what Matty had planned."

"And?"

"And? And?!" she shouted. "Less than a week later you've gone and ruined it."

"How?"

"By getting in there first, that's how."

"Mum, it's not like that."

"Just tell me one thing, had the thought even crossed your mind before I told you about Matty asking Meyvol and Salvador? Answer me honestly."

I screwed up my face before giving her my answer.

"No."

I couldn't lie about that, besides, it was more of a leading question than an actual inquiry, she knew what I was going to say before I said it.

"Oh, Harry," she groaned.

"What?"

"What have you done?"

"Nothing, mum... it's not going to affect him doing it."

"Of course it is, he's not going to ask her now, is he? He'll have to wait, and not just weeks, months!"

I hadn't even thought of it like that, but mum was obviously right. There was no way Matty would ask straight after I had, even if his own proposal was going to be properly thought through and planned. He wouldn't want his proposal to overshadow mine (he was gentlemanly like that) or, even worse, for it to look like he was only doing it because I had. Janet would have hated the overlap of celebrations, and he knew it. I'd realized he was annoyed the day before, he'd been full of smiles when we first walked in but then hardly said a word after Alex told them, other than to mutter his congratulations. It occurred to me later that, having sought Janet's parents' approval, I might have been next on his list of people to speak to about it, perhaps he'd have found a quiet moment at the pub to tell me, the idea made me feel crap. I'd been so apprehensive about Janet's response that I hadn't even thought about what might have been going through Matt's mind.