Burn

Summer was in the air, the warmth spreading over the back of Rae’s yard. There was not a single cloud in the sky, the blue such a strong and proud color, it was hard not to admire it. The smell of burgers and other grilled food items wafted through the air, and there were several splashes in the pool.

Louis turned around, glancing away from the grill as Harry tackled Liam into the pool, both of the boys going down screaming. Rae, standing next to Louis shook her head and opened a beer, handing it to the boy who was grilling. He shook his head, accepting the beer from Rae.

Trystan was yelling threats at Niall who was threatening to take her in as a birthday gift, and Trystan was demanding respect on her birthday, insisting she didn’t need to go in. Rae found it comical.

A month ago, Rae would have never assumed the small group would be formed in her back yard for a nice birthday afternoon for Trystan. Being that Harry was no longer drinking, they deemed it inappropriate to go to a club. So they settled for backyard bliss.

A month. Rae could hardly fathom how in a month, things had slowly pieced themselves back together. Harry’s violent episodes were few and far between, he didn’t so much look at alcohol, and Rae had not been the cause of his anger since that fateful night.

No longer was Rae his fuse, no longer did she spark his anger. Rae was now the glue that held Harry together, and everyone else was there to make sure that was the case. They had grown into one, weird little family.

“What are you smiling on about?” Louis questioned Rae, flipping a burger over. She glanced at him, narrowing her eyes at his sassy tone. Louis had quiet the knack for sounding bitchy, but he pulled it off. Rich bastard. “Well, you’re really baring your teeth, but smiling is the nice word.”

“I’m not baring my teeth,” she defending, smacking him in the arm. He swatted her back, trying to flip the rest of the burgers as she hit him repeatedly. It was there every day routine. “You wish you had this smile.”

“Sorted.”

“Anyways,” she said dramatically, watching Harry pull himself from the pool, “I was smiling at us. Our little… family honestly sounds too proper. Our group of-"

“Tossers?” Harry suggested, catching the end of their conversation. She gave him a doubtful look as he pulled a funny face, crossing his eyes and bringing her into his soaking wet chest, making her squeal. “You looked a bit dry, sorry.”

“Hm, sad that’s the only way you can make me wet.”

Louis burst out into a guffaw of laughter, clapping his hands with it. Harry pulled away, looking down at Rae with a very mischievous glance. She pursed her lips into a smirk, trying not to laugh. “You are a liar, Miss Bastian.”

“I would be boring if I wasn’t.”

“You are far from boring,” he promised, leaning forward and pressing his lips against hers. Rae leaned into it, putting her hands on his strong chest for support, tasting the mint on his lips from his gum earlier. It tasted perfect on him, as always. Pulling away Harry grinned, holding her firmly by the waist. “You know you’ll pay for that comment later, yeah?”

She grinned evilly. “That was the plan.”

“Ugh,” Louis groaned, waving his spatula at them, shaking his head and shielding his ears. “Please go talk about your shagging somewhere else. It was bad enough that I thought I was going to have to explain to the police you weren’t being fucking murdered last night.”

Harry and Rae both laughed, Rae wrapping her arms around his abdomen and laying her head against his chest. Rae fit to Harry’s body perfectly, like her own personal lock and key. “If I do recall, it’s my house.”

“If I do recall,” Louis mimicked, giving her a look, “there are inventions called, gags or pillows. Really depends on what kind of kinky things you’re into.”

“What in the bloody hell are you talking about?” Zayn asked, coming up and looking hungrily at the food that was almost finished. He gave the three of them an odd look. “Having a threesome, are you?”

“YES!” Rae shouted, throwing a hand in the air at the same time Harry and Louis both replied with a negative. Louis and Harry both looked at her and she gave them an innocent look. “No? Alright, never mind. Scratch that.”

“You’re an idiot,” Louis affirmed.

“The biggest,” Harry agreed, then was interrupted by his cell phone. He looked at it on the table, letting go of Rae and going to look at it. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Mum. I suppose I should answer…”

Harry walked away and Rae turned to face Louis and Zayn again, giving them a smile. “Aren’t you worried?” Zayn asked, nodding his head towards Harry who had answered the phone and walked to the far corner of the yard. Rae turned to look at him. “It was his mum after all.”

“Nah,” she replied, turning around and shrugging. “After everything we’ve gone through, a parental disruption is nothing. It’ll be good practice for his patience, I think.”

Zayn smiled, shaking his head. “You sure are hard to put down.”

When Louis finished grilling, he plated the food, passing it out. Liam pulled himself out of the pool and joined them. Everyone sat down the to table, not worried about Harry who was still on the phone. As long as he wasn’t throwing his hands or yelling, they did not have to be alerted.

As they ate and drank, Rae kept a careful eye on him, but enjoyed herself as well. she was pleasantly surprised to find that Louis was excellent at cooking, which was good; Trystan was rubbish at it.

Movement caught Rae’s eye and she saw Harry returning, a strange look on his face. Setting her burger down, she dusted off her fingers and rose, chewing the food in her mouth and meeting him halfway, swallowing the food an examining his face to see if he was alright.

“I’m fine,” he said, laughing slightly as she examined him with her eyes. They were a shade of sea foam green, that afternoon. “Long story short, my parents are getting a divorce.” She blinked in surprise, leaning back with it slightly. She had not expected that. “Mum was the one who called… she was very- sad, I think. She said she knew apologies meant nothing when years she didn’t act as a mother.”

“She said that?”

“In a lot more words, yes.” He licked his lips, looking at her nervously. “She wants to slowly work things out. She knows that she can’t get back the time we lost or make up for it, but she doesn’t want to be a stranger, anymore.”

Rae was very quiet, taking it all in. It had totally caught her off guard. But what struck her the most, was that there was no anger in Harry’s voice, no hurt, no annoyance. There was just an odd sense of hope. “Do you think that will work?”

He shrugged, pulling at his bottom lip with his fingers, thinking about it. Rae noted that he did that often when thinking. “I don’t know, to be honest. But I guess I won’t know until I try, yeah?”

For a moment, she stared at him. So many feelings for him rushed forward, seeing Harry hopeful. Her love for him unfurled like angel wings, and all that she knew to do was to throw herself forward, crashing her lips against his own.

Harry smiled into the kiss, holding her fast to him and moving his lips slowly against her own. Fire ran through her mouth, spreading throughout her entire body. It was like flames were dancing all over her skin, all coming from the boy in front of her.

Kissing Harry had taught Rae a lot. It taught her that a simple kiss could steal the breath from her lungs, that the feel of his lips against hers would always shock her. She could never get over the way his slow kisses made her shiver, or the way he pulled her in, trying to get to close to her as possible.

“I love you,” he breathed, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I love you too.”

Loving Harry had taught her even more. It had taught her that you don’t always bring out the best in someone. Sometimes you bring out the best and the worst, and that every person has a monster inside of them, though sometimes they’re dormant.

Love was a fickle thing. It was something people killed, stole, died, fought and swore for. Rae was now living that, breathing that and feeling that. She would for the rest of her life. Love was the biggest lesson in life in itself, and she knew that she would never stop learning.

The biggest lesson though, was that love was like fire. It spread rapidly, and it was beautiful to look at. It warmed you on the coldest of nights, and it was the light in the dark to help you see. But love was also dangerous, and could also do harm. Love could burn, if it wasn’t taken care of. But it could also burn out.

But she knew one thing, and one thing for certain: Their flame would never die out. They would continue to burn.