And You Let Her Go

When we arrived last night Harry pushed me up the stairs, much to my protest. I had wanted to meet his mom first only because I wanted to thank her for letting me stay in their home for the next several days. Harry showed me my room and reassured me I would get a proper introduction in the morning when everyone was up and alive.

Well. It was morning. I peeked my head out the door and heard nothing. Everyone was still asleep. I wasn’t that shocked; it was always like this whenever I slept over at someone’s house. Emily used to say I woke up before the sun not with the sun, which in some cases was true. But that resulted from waking up with a jolt from time to time because I’d suddenly get a writing idea. At that point there was no way I’d go back to bed because I’d have to jot down the ideas in my notebook so I could expand upon them later in the day.

As I looked at the window in my new room, I noticed a porch with some very comfortable looking lounge chairs. I grabbed my notebook from my carry on bag and shut the door behind me. I slowly walked down the stairs as I looked at the framed photographs that lined down the stairs. A picture with two kids stood out among the others as I saw a little Harry with a bowl-cut hairstyle. Next to him stood a taller girl with her blonde hair tucked under a fedora. She had an arm protectively around Harry, his older sister I assumed. In front of them stood a massive dog that could have easily pummeled Harry. I smiled at the picture, wishing I knew what it was like to have siblings.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and attempted to cross the kitchen floor on my tiptoes. Hoping they didn’t have an alarm system, I unlocked the patio door. Nothing. Relief washed over me, knowing I’d be mortified if I woke up everyone in the house. I jumped onto the lounge chair and tucked my feet under me.

I took the large white pillow and laid it across my lap. It was a bit chillier than I thought, but it was refreshing compared to the heat waves we’d been having in Chicago. I opened my notebook and frowned as I noticed the binding was falling apart. I wish I could just glue more pages in instead of buying another notebook. It’s not that I didn’t want to waste money or some shit reason like that, I just wanted to savor everything I wrote down in this tiny little book.

I chose one of the ideas I had written down on the plane and words began to pour out of me. And just like that, I was sucked into my own world.

3 hours later

“You must be Charlie,” a voice said behind me. I nearly jumped out the chair, not even hearing anyone open the sliding patio door. I shot up out of the chair and fixed my The Clash t-shirt.
The woman covered her mouth, chuckling, “I’m so sorry dear, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” she looked at me amused.

I tried to compose myself, giving her a friendly smile. “You must be Harry’s mom,” I stuck my hand out as we exchanged greetings.

“Please, call me Anne,” she smiled again. “What are you doing out here so early? I heard you get up but I thought I’d give you some privacy before coming down.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I wanted to introduce myself last night but Harry insisted on waiting till morning.”

“Well I can guarantee you we won’t be seeing him till this afternoon. He’s not much of a morning person.” Usually I’d be extremely uncomfortable in these types of situations where I had to sit alone with a stranger and try to make conversation. But something about Harry’s mom made me feel like I’d known her for years. To put it simply, she gave off an aura of kindness and purity that was rare to find.

“What was that you were working on just before I scared the daylight out of you?” she pointed to my notebook, which had landed on the wooden deck beside the chair. I picked it up and casually flipped through the pages.

“It’s just a little book where I keep my thoughts and stories. I take it everywhere,” I blushed.

“So you’re a writer,” she hinted, pulling her black hair back into a ponytail.

“Not exactly, although it’s always been my dream,” at this point I didn’t want to stand anymore so I pointed for her to join me in the lounge chair across from me.

“Maybe some tea first, yeah? Or do you prefer coffee?”

“Tea would be lovely, thank you. I’ll help you,” I offered, following her back into the house.

We spent the rest of the morning talking about my life in Chicago and the previous job I had. She sounded genuinely happy for me when I described how much I loved living in downtown. The rest of the morning consisted of Harry’s life in Holmes Chapel, and of course some embarrassing moments in his childhood.

At one point we were laughing uncontrollably, both of us gripping the arm rests. The sliding door opened and I looked up to find a joyful Harry looking at us. We sighed at the same time and tried to contain our laughter.

“It looks like you’re already a part of the family,” Harry’s grin grew wider, exposing his straight, pearly white teeth. He closed the patio door and came over to me, sitting on the armrest of my chair.

“Oh Harry,” his mom began, “I’m so happy you convinced Charlie to stay with us.” She looked from me to Harry and gave me a warm smile. “I’ll go get more tea,” she stood and opened the door to the house, leaving Harry and I alone sitting on the one chair.

Harry looked down at me, smiling, “I’m glad too. I don’t think I’ve seen my mom laugh like that with anyone for a long time. Like I said, I’m glad I convinced you to stay here… even if I kind of forced you,” he winked at me.

I swatted his arm, giggling. “Hey! Feisty in the morning, are we?” he smirked.

“With you, Styles? Never,” I joked, winking back at him.