Be Like You

Going out with Harry that day had been a bad idea, there was a reason I never left the apartment and had become a hermit.

Ever since the paparazzi had found out that I was pregnant in August and September it hadn’t been safe for me to leave the apartment. And now that it was clearly obvious that Harry was the father, it wasn’t safe for me to even think about taking James outside without security.

I swapped away whosever hands were poking me in the face, “Go away.”

“Mommy wake up” Harry cooed continuing to poke my face, “It’s Christmas mommy.
Presents!”

“I swear to god Harry, I’m going to strangle you” I muttered slapping his hand away from my
face as I sat up glaring at him, “What do you want?”

He chuckled, “It’s Christmas morning, and our son keeps looking at the presents. I’d like for you to be there when we open them.”

Muttering profanities I threw on a hoodie over my tank top and put my hair up in a bun before heading into the living room and reaching for James who was sitting in his bouncer and staring at me.

“You want mommy to open your presents?” I grinned at him, kissing his forehead and both his cheeks, my smile only getting larger when he started laughing.

Sitting across from Harry on the floor near the tree, I set James down between my legs, his back pressing against me so I knew he was sitting upright. Looking at the mountain of presents, I knew we would be here for the longest time.

Two hours later and two memory cards, we were finally down to the last ten presents.

“To Harry, from Lizzie and James?” Harry read the tag before looking at me confused.

“James and I went online shopping” I grinned.

Harry eagerly destroyed the wrapping paper before opening the box, freaking out and screaming when he saw what we got him.

James started crying loudly getting frightened from seeing Harry jump up and scream, Harry started hushing and cooing James picking him up from my arms, getting him to stop after a minute of bouncing him.

“Where on earth did you find this?”He asked excitedly sitting back down with James in his lap this time.

“Ten different vintage music stores and haggling for hours” I chuckled.

It had taken me almost two weeks and plenty of hours of haggling with the store owner to sell me a vinyl record of the first Beatles record, signed by all of them. I knew Harry would love this present, so I couldn’t back down.

“My present is going to seem so irrelevant compared to this” he complained handing me a small envelop, watching me closely as I opened it confused.

I looked up at him, tears forming in my eyes, “You didn’t” I said in disbelief.

He nodded grinning, “We’re going to Greece”

“Thank you!” I exclaimed lunging forward and hugging him, making sure to be careful with James but still hugging Harry tightly.

“You have another present” he laughed handing me a small box.

Taking my time I opened it only to grin at the necklace, “Harry, its gorgeous”

We spent the next few minutes getting through the presents from both our parents, Harry getting surprised seeing one from my dad; I just didn’t mention the fact that I had bought it
and put my dad’s name on it.

“Alright, now clean this up so I can start cooking for dinner tonight” I chastised Harry after I placed James back in his bouncer.

“Uh Lizzie, where do I put all of James’s things?” he asked confused looking at the pile of new toys had had gotten.

“And that’s why I told you not to buy them all” I retorted with a smirk.

Harry chuckled, “Go cook. I’ll figure it out.”

“Dad” I grinned pulling him into a hug after I opened the front door, “How was your flight?”

“It went alright, where’s my boy?” he asked cheerfully walking into the living room looking for James.

“Oh hello Anne” my dad murmured, giving her a side hug since she was carrying James with one arm.

“I didn’t know Scott was joining us for dinner tonight” Anne told Harry as he joined us.

“I didn’t know” He mused looking at me.

I shrugged taking James into my arms, “Dad, you want to see his nursery?”

He nodded following me into the nursery, looking around the room carefully before at me, “I don’t like surprises Lizzie” he complained, “You could have told me that he would be here for Christmas”.

“Let’s be realistic, he wouldn’t have gone up home without James and I wasn’t staying here without him. Can you at least, please try to be nice to Harry? He’s really trying here.”

Sighing, he nodded, “I’ll try, I won’t make any promises; but only because your mom and Anne were good friends.”

“If Harry thanks you for his present, just nod and smile” I added quickly as we went back into the living room to Harry and his family.

We all gathered at the dinner table, eating and having a good time until my father and Anne started talking, “So when are you two getting married and giving us more grandchildren?” she asked smiling.

I started choking on my drink as I looked at her, “Uh not for a long time. Harry’s going on tour soon and it just wouldn’t be the right time.”

The rest of dinner went by quietly, all of us engrossed in our food until everyone started leaving.

“I’ll pick you and James up tomorrow for brunch?” my dad asked as I handed him his coat.
I nodded smiling, “We’ll be waiting.”

Harry insisted on helping me clean the table and the plates, “So why does your mom think we’re together?”

He cleared his throat breathing in, “I’m sorry, I know I should have made things clear earlier; but she was so excited about me settling down and taking responsibility.”

“But you are taking responsibility” I insisted, “She shouldn’t have this false idea in her head about us being together and having more children.”

“What’s so wrong about more kids? I’m pretty sure you didn’t mind when we made James”

I turned the faucet off, turning to look at him incredulously, “There’s no way I’m getting into
this subject. I appreciate the fact that you’ve taken responsibility for James even when I insisted no. But look at us, we tried twice to be in a relationship and that didn’t work out. I’m not going through that again.”

“Last time, management had a problem with the idea of you being pregnant. And look at them now; they love me being so involved with James. What would they say no about now? They would love the fact that we get back together.”

“We’re not talking about this” I ended the conversation.