Royalty

Forty Two

a/n: thank you so so much for 4 million reads!!

I stepped into the familiar lobby, looking at a few of the new decorations for the Fourth of July weekend. They were very festive but also very elegantly placed along the desk tops. Twenty times better looking than the ones at my building.

"Good morning, Harry! How are you doing today?" Albert greeted me from behind the main desk. For once, he wasn't working at the door.

I smiled brightly at him as I made my way over, "I'm doing great, thanks for asking. How about you?"

"Good to know. I'm well, thank you."

The two of us conversed for a little while, talking about what was new and exciting in our lives. I told him about the Eagles concert the previous night, and he told me about his three grandkids that gave him a call the other day. It was kind of random, but I did enjoy getting to know who he was and what made him smile. I mean, a lot of things can make him smile, but it was cool knowing what he loved outside of his work.

"So, do you need me to send you up to see Ms. Lutes?" He asked, beginning to search his jacket pocket for his elevator key.

I nodded my head and smiled, "Yeah that would be great if you could."

He walked over to the elevator and pressed the button, waiting for the doors to open. It wasn't long until I stepped inside the car and was on my way up to the top floor. I probably should've texted Summer to let her know that I was coming over, but I had gotten used to just showing up unannounced or showing up with her.

As the doors opened to her place, I could hear a lot of shuffling and frustrated groaning. I cautiously stepped into the hallway, slowly making my way into the main room. I could see the place was a complete mess. Blankets and pillows were scattered all over the floor and bags of popcorn were just sitting half empty on the coffee table. They might've been leftover from her little movie night, but who knew.

Suddenly I heard a loud thud beside me just before a sweater landed on my head. It scared the shit out of me, making me yelp in surprise just as Summer walked out of the hallway from upstairs.

"Oh my god!" She held her hand to her chest, gripping onto the stair rails with her free hand. "Harry, I didn't know you were coming over."

"Sorry, I should've called you first," I pulled the sweater off my head as I looked down to see what had made the loud noise. There was a medium sized duffle bag beside my feet, haphazardly put together and thrown my way. As I looked back up at Summer, she nervously ran her hand through her hair. "What's all this? Are you going somewhere?"

She started walking down the stairs, sighing in the process, "Yeah, I'm just going to go some place for the night. Or two. I don't really know yet."

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, I stepped over to her and took a hold of her hand, "Are you okay? You seem stressed out."

"Oh I'm fine. Just-"

"Don't lie."

Summer looked up at me and slightly slumped her shoulders in defeat, "Okay, I'm not in a good mood. It's just my parents are really irritating me right now. They haven't talked to me or acknowledged my existence for the past four months, and suddenly they come out of nowhere and want to start publicly telling me what I can and can't do. They didn't even wish me a happy birthday." Her voice barely cracked, as if she was about to start crying. She paused and exhaled in frustration as her eyes were closed. When she opened them back up, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "I'm just going to get out of here for a little bit. It's just a mini vacation of sorts. I need to take my mind off of all this bullshit."