Bittersweet - Larry

Epilogue

Our parents' marriage fell apart the summer after we had turned 23, but it wasn't particularly surprising. We could tell something was up, so we weren't surprised when they told us. They had asked us to come home, and they seemed to be getting along quite well considering the circumstances, which only proved to me it had been a mutual decision. I was devastated for my mom, but I was also relieved. A part of me was still waiting for Harry even if it was stupid. I couldn't let go. I didn't know how to, and it might have had something to do with the fact that Harry and I had slipped when we shouldn't have. It hadn't happened as often as it could have, but it was enough to make me hope we'd find our way eventually.

The first time we slipped was during New Year's Eve after I had turned 20. It was only natural we spent the night together when we had stayed in town after Christmas. It was tempting to slip into old habits when we were drunk and watching Liam and Zayn make out. It wasn't the first time we spent New Year's Eve together, but it was the first time we lost the strength to stay away from each other.

The second time was during Sophie's 4th birthday party, which was admittedly very, very inappropriate. I can't remember why, but that year it had been easier for everyone to do it at home and not in Harry's apartment. How we both ended up in his old room was a mystery, but we did, and it had brought back a few too many memories. We simply couldn't help ourselves.

The third time it happened wasn't more than three months ago. Harry had decided to visit me out of nowhere with sex as the only reason. He hadn't bothered to come up with an excuse, but I didn't blame him for it, and I let him in without hesitating. It wasn't nearly as dangerous to have sex as it used to be, but the talking was. Especially when it caused us to get no sleep. We drowned ourselves in memories, which didn't do us any good. It felt good in the moment, but when he left my apartment, it left me wanting more. More of what we couldn't have.

Walking through the house always left me with mixed feelings. I hadn't even lived there for a year when I went off to uni, but it was still the last thing I had called home. Harry made it feel like home like he promised me, but there was more to it than that. He felt like home too and perhaps that was why I hadn't learned to call my apartment home yet. He wasn't there, and I could feel it. It was easier during uni because I had a roommate, so it wasn't supposed to feel like home, at least not the way my apartment was.

But I walked through it and stopped when I reached the door to the backyard. I was the last to arrive, but everyone was gathered outside already. Gemma was talking to my mom while Desmond was helping Sophie with her sunscreen. Harry was the first to see me, and he walked towards me with a smile on his face, hugging me tightly when I met him halfway.

"I've missed you," he said.

"I've missed you too." 

He let go of me and there was something different about the look in his eyes. Almost as if he was tempted to kiss me. He always was, and it went both ways, but there was more behind it today. Yet I didn't get to ask him what he was thinking before Sophie shouted my name. I watched her run towards me and caught her when she ran into my arms, chuckling as I lifted her up and let her wrap her legs around me. Sophie had grown into a beautiful girl, but I suppose that was to be expected when you mixed Harry and Leah's beauty. She was a spitting image of Leah, but her eyes were as Green as Harry's.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"Dad is getting me a puppy."

"He is?" I asked, looking from Sophie to Harry while she nodded. 

He just sent me that smile he always sent me when Sophie had talked him into something. She wasn't more than six years old, but she was absolutely brilliant, and she could talk Harry into pretty much anything. Though Harry knew how to say no while Sophie knew when begging was worth it and when it wasn't, so once Harry had told her no, she didn't spend any more time begging. But when he said maybe, it almost always turned into a yes.