Leave Me [h.s] (On hold)

Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen- We'll be strangers

*2 weeks later*

-Harry's POV-

Upholding my promise to Noelle had been starting to prove to be more difficult than I had originally intended. As I settled back into my life in Chicago, I found myself thinking about her less and less each day. It's not that I necessarily was trying to forget her, because I certainly wasn't, it was just that there were more pressing thoughts on my mind.

In a sense, I was glad that I had become extremely busy with life. But of course on the other hand I wished that I could just hop back into my car with Niall and drive back down to Oklahoma. There was no doubt in my mind that I missed Noelle, but the feeling that was so consuming a few weeks ago was fading at an alarming rate.

"Harry! Can you come up here for a moment?" My mother called from upstairs. I had been spending a lot of time in the basement since I'd gotten home, it's where most is my memories with Noelle were stored. But nonetheless, I climbed the stairs and saw my mom struggling to reach the top shelf of our storage closet.

"Need some help there?" I asked her with a smirk.

"Well I didn't call you up here for the fun of it. There's an extra box of tree lights up there. Can you grab them?" She asked, sounding out of breath.

"Well what are children good for other than free labor?" I smiled, taking the box of lights out of the closet without even having to stand on my toes.

"Oh haha. Very clever. Now, let's go out these on the tree." My mom said, excitement in her eyes. But behind the excitement was a glimmer of sadness. I knew I was the cause of that sadness. My mom was well aware that this was probably going to be my last Christmas where I was living at home. If it hadn't been so close to the holidays when I got back from my trip I probably would have already been moved in with Niall, who had moved out the day after graduation.

But I wanted to stay just a little longer with my mother, and I knew she was grateful because she was going all out this year, she was sparing no expense.

I grinned and followed my mom into the living room where a huge tree sat near the tv. She was already putting the lights on the bottom of the tree so I sat down on our old black leather couch for a while.

"Who's doing the free labor now?" My mother joked as she got closer to the top.

"You see, it's not exactly the same. You're the mom, you signed up for hard work the day you decided to have me." I chuckled.

"Oh, who says it was a decision?" She said, dropping the remainder of the lights and facing me, a hand on her hip.

"So you're finally admitting that I was unplanned?" I said.

"No no of course you were planned. You just happened a little sooner than I had expected. That's how it is in most cases." She explained, taking my place on the couch as I started putting the lights in the top half of the tree.

"How did we do this when I was young and short?" I inquired.

"Well I stood up on a chair to do the top, but now I don't need to do that anymore." I finished up the tree and sat down next to her on the couch. "So, I think it's about time you told me about your trip. You've been quiet ever since you got home." She asked.

"There's just not much to say. We drove a lot." I lied.

"Oh come on. Something had to have happened. I mean, you went on a road trip with your best friend. That's not something that is uneventful." She prodded. I so badly wanted to tell her about Noelle. She had loved Noelle just as I had, but something still held me back.

"Really mom, we had a great time. We just didn't do anything worth mentioning." I shrugged. Noelle was just something that was so personal. I found myself being selfish about her, as if I wanted myself to be the only person who knew about her. I knew that the whole concept was both idiotic and impossible, but by keeping it from my mom, it felt like maybe Noelle was just mine and nobody else's.

"Well, I guess I'll take your word for it. What do you say I start some dinner? Or would you rather go out?" My mom asked.

"I'd like to just stay in tonight." I smiled at her.

"Alright. I'll get to it then." She smiled back and made her way into the kitchen. I just sat there on the couch, bathed in the light from the Christmas tree, until dinner was ready.

-Noelle's POV-

"Jett! Get down here now!" Marion hollered at the base of the stairs. It's a very rare thing to see all of my foster siblings in one place because it only happens about once a year. When we decorate the Christmas tree. It is like a sacred tradition to Wes and Marion that their family gets together to decorate the Christmas tree. I personally don't even consider all of us a family. We don't even have a crazy drunk aunt that buys shitty gifts from garage sales every year. It's not a family without a crazy aunt.

I explained that logic to Zack just before Wes went around telling everyone to meet in the living room and all he had to say on the matter was that he'd never had a proper family because he'd never had an aunt, crazy or not.

Then I began to think that I never had a proper family either because I never met my aunt and never would. My dad had told me about her once, and back then I had wished so deeply that this mysterious aunt would come save me and my brothers from my father. But she never did. So I gave up on the idea along with plenty of others.

"Are you just going to sit there or are you going to help us?" Zack complained as he hung candy canes on the tree.

"This is part of the tradition." I said simply.

"What, you sitting on your ass?" He inquired.

"I'm not simply sitting on my ass. I'm like the supervisor. And as the supervisor, I think you need to bring me one of those candy canes." I smirked at him.

"I think that you're full of shit." Zack said, unable to hold back his smile. He threw a candy cane at me and I smiled widely at him.

Me and Zack had grown close in the last few weeks, and I had grown to like him. I mean he was a huge smartass, but so was I. We got along pretty well given the fact that I don't ever get along with anyone. I knew that Wes had noticed, and he couldn't be happier that I was finally 'opening up' as he called it.

I didn't really consider it as opening up, I just thought of it as me being less of an asshole for once.

I sucked on the candy cane for a while until the end was sharp enough to actually cut my tongue, then I bit it off.

"Good work kids. I think this might be the best we've ever done." Marion said in her 'I'm such a proud mother' voice. I hated when she did that voice because we weren't even really her kids. Just a bunch of rejects that ended up in one place.

"You say that every year." Jett retorted, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. That kid was just next pleased with anything. But then again, neither was I. I smiled at his comment because it was extremely true, and Marion knew it. She let out a sigh and didn't say another word.

"Okay can we all leave now?" I asked.

"Fine. But dinner will be ready in about an hour." Wes said, still facing the tree. I nodded even though he couldn't see me and retreated up to my room. I attempted to turn on the light, but I soon remembered that the bulb had been burnt out for some time now. I could've easily changed it, but for a long time I yearned for the darkness. Now I wanted to be able to see so that u could draw. I pushed the black curtains away from my windows, allowing light to pour into the room.

I sighed and sat down on my bed with a pen and my sketch pad. I drew for a short time before becoming immersed in memories of Harry. I looked down at the spot on the floor where he had slept and willed him to be there again. I thought about him less than I had a few weeks ago, but I still missed him. My only fear was that me and Harry would become strangers. I dreaded the day when that fear became a reality.

Note: It took me so long to update I'm so so so sorry. I got busy with school and just life in general. This wasn't a very eventful chapter but it's getting there! Thank you so much for reading and feel free to leave me any feedback :) I love you guys.