Luck

I found myself staring at my bank statement. There had been nearly a two hundred quid increase since the last time I looked at it, only twenty-four hours ago. And in that twenty-four hours, I had not done anything to make any money, nor had I made any sort of deposit. There was only one logical solution, and they were calling me on the phone.

“Hello, Nan,” I said in my cheeriest voice. I figured that maybe I could ward her off if I could convince her that everything was fine.

“Hello? Savannah?” my grandmum’s voice came across in her usual tone, a mix of concern and irritability.

“Hi, Nan,” I repeated, my voice staying just a chipper, “It’s Savannah.”

“Hello, Savannah. I’d like to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes?”

My stomach sank, and the familiar feeling that I hated came upon me. I felt slightly sick, and I knew I was about to be get in trouble. All summer I had felt this way, but I had been safe from it for a few months. Yet here I was again.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” I considered lying to her and telling her I didn’t, but I knew that would just make it worse in the end.

“I saw your bank account was low,” my grandmum started. Her tone wasn’t any harsher than normal, “So I put some money in it. Two hundred pounds.”

“Yes, I saw that,” I told her, “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” my grandmum said, unusually kind this time, “Savannah, is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine!” I told her quickly, “Just wonderful. School is good, work is good, and I’m happy.”

“Then why did you make a call to Boston, Massachusetts?” Her tone changed to accusatory almost instantaneously.

“It was to Maria, my old nanny and neighbor,” I twirled my hair nervously, “Not to my parents nor Michael. Don’t worry.”

“Yes, but what prompted the call?” My grandmum’s voice was a strained sort of patient, “We asked you not to make any international calls.”

“I know,” I said guiltily, “I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back for it.”

“I don’t care about the money, Savannah.” Her voice finally sounded of the impatience I knew she was harbouring, “You’re a good girl. You follow the rules. Why did you make the call?”

“My house is for sale,” I said, finally after a search for the words, “My house is for sale, and I had to find out why.”

“I didn’t know that.” My grandmum’s voice was much quieter this time, and her tone softer, “I’m sorry, Savannah.”

“I have to go, Nan. I have class, uh, soon. I’ll talk to you later.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond before hanging up.

I was done with people feeling pity for me.

[&&&]

Lou asked me to babysit Lux that night. I was happy to do so, desperate for money and also an escape from my flat that was costless. There was some party that they were off to, and she warned me that she and Tom wouldn’t return until late. I was fine by that, and brought some school work to do after Lux went to bed.

Lux and I played happily for a while, and had a little tea party before Lux decided to play by herself, on the floor the living room. I sat on the couch near her, flipping through one of the text books I brought.

There was a sharp knock on the door and both Lux and myself looked straight up at the door, before exchanging surprised glances between ourselves.

“Who?” Lux demanded. She sat straight up and abandoned her toys for a couple seconds.

I laughed, “I’m not sure, Miss Lux! Let me go see.”

I forced myself up and looked behind me as I headed to the door. I half-expected Lux to toddle after me, but instead she just watched me, her eyes big with worry and wonder.

“Hello, Savannah!” Harry greeted me with a blinding smile as I swung the door open.

“Hi?” I guessed, slightly taken aback, “Hi, Harry.”

“Are you watching Lux?” Harry asked.

“Right now?” I peered past him, slightly distracted. His car was parked on the driveway, where Lou’s car normally lived. “Yeah, I am. Why? What’s up?”

“Oh, I was just wondering.” Harry reached awkwardly over his head and grinned at me, “Can I come in?”

“I mean, I guess,” I shrugged and stepped aside, allowing Harry to enter the house.

“Hazza!” Lux squealed the second Harry entered the house, her little feet carrying her as quickly as possible to Harry.

“Hi, Luxy!” Harry returned. He picked her up and rested her on his hip, and she laughed and grinned.

“Uh, Lou isn’t here right now,” I told him awkwardly as I shut the door, “And I don’t know when she’ll be back. She told me it would be pretty late.”

“That’s okay,” Harry shrugged, “I don’t actually need to see her.”

“Oh…” I trailed off, kicking at my feet awkwardly. I wasn’t sure why Harry was here. He normally warned me when he decided to make an appearance.

“Play with me?” Lux asked, her eyes wide as she gazed at Harry.

“Yeah, I’ll play with you,” Harry agreed, putting her down. The duo toddled to her big toy chest, which was already splayed open on the floor of the living room.

Lux had been busy playing with her toy farm, complete with almost every animal imaginable, including a lion and a monkey, which led me to believe British farms were very different than American farms.

Harry sunk down next to her and mindlessly picked up the miniature cow and had it waddle to around the farm and spoke for it in a silly voice, while Lux looked on, squealing in delight at Harry’s antics.

“My turn!” Lux decided suddenly and grabbed Harry’s toy from him.

“Lux,” I warned, “Ask nicely next time.”

“Sorry, Hazza,” she apologized half-heartedly. Harry didn’t seem affected by her lack of manners.

“What are your plans for tonight?” Harry asked, standing up and crossing to the couch where I was sitting. Without invitation, he sat down beside me and spread out across the couch, his legs brushing mine.

“I’m babysitting Lux?” I guessed, confused about his question.

“All night?” he asked.

“Probably. Lou said she and Tom wouldn’t be home till late, past midnight or so.” I couldn’t let my curiosity slide, “Why?”

Harry shrugged, “I was just wondering.” His fingers ghosted over the remote, before grabbing it. He didn’t flip the telly on, however, instead just cradling the remote in his hands. “I think Lou and Tom will be back earlier than midnight,” Harry continued, “I was invited to party that they’re going to and I don’t think they’ll want to hang around that late. At least, I wouldn’t. There’s better things to do in London.”

“If you knew Lou wasn’t going to be here, why’d you come over?” I asked, my eyes narrowing at him.

Harry shrugged again, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” I said simply, “Well, what are you doing tonight?”

Harry turned to me, a grin on his face, “I don’t know that either. Thought maybe I’d see if Niall would want to come over.”

“That would be hard,” I commented as I watched Lux throw her cow across the room, “Seeing as you’re not currently at your house.”

“I was going to invite him over here,” Harry told me cheekily.

“Excuse me?!”

“I was going to invite him over here,” Harry repeated, “I thought you, me and Niall could hang out. Oh, and Lux, too.”

“I don’t think - I don’t think - I’m not sure that would be okay,” I managed finally, stuck on his plans and lack of manners.

“Really?” Harry asked, “I think it would be fine. I’ll call him. He’ll probably want to come.”

Before I could respond in any way, Harry jumped up off the couch and pulled out his cellphone from his pocket. He grinned at me as he punched in Niall’s number. I could hear the ringing from where I was sitting, as well as Niall’s greeting.

“Niall! Mate! I know what we can do tonight!” Harry disappeared into the kitchen, his phone pressed to his ear.

I turned to Lux, “It looks like we’re going to have visitors tonight.”

She just looked at me, before turning back down to her toys, not at all amused nor concerned with my comment.

“Hey, Savannah, what are we having for dinner?” Harry appeared at the doorway, and leaned against it, “Niall wants to know!”

“Pasta!” I found myself calling back, before remembering what the circumstances were, “Lux and I are having pasta.”

“We’re having pasta,” Harry told him, “Savannah’s making it, but Lux and I are gonna help.” There was a pause, “I dunno, never had her cooking before.” Harry turned to me again, “Hey, Savannah, are you a good cook?”

I rolled my eyes at him and didn’t respond, but Harry told Niall that he was sure I was a good cook anyway.

“Niall’s coming!” Harry reentered the room and announced.

“Great!” I nervously exclaimed. There was a hint of sarcasm in my voice, “You play with Lux, I’ll start dinner!”

I could feel my nervous smile spreading over my face, and I tried to stop it. Lou had never explicitly said I shouldn’t have people over while watching Lux, but I assumed it. Babysitting 101.

I had planned on having spaghetti with Tesco sauce anyhow, but it was just confirmed now. I wasn’t sure if there was enough of anything in Lou and Tom’s house to feed two teenage-man-children, and Lux and myself. Lucky for me, I was able to find a couple of extra boxes of spaghetti noodles to cook, as well as an extra jar of sauce. An extra large pot of water was put on to boil, and I started to make some garlic bread.

The doorbell rang and I heard Lux’s tiny little footsteps and Harry’s big ones following her to the door.

“Hello!” Niall’s booming voice echoed through the house, followed by his equally loud laugh.

“Niall!” Lux squealed, followed by her shrill laughter.

“Hi, Niall,” I stepped out of the kitchen shyly and waved to him, a short little wave. Niall had Lux in his arms, and was tickling her as she kicked and giggled.

“Hello, Savannah!” He placed Lux back on the floor, much to her dismay, “Thanks for having me!”

“Yeah,” I said nervously, “Thanks for coming?”

Niall either didn’t sense my tone or didn’t care, and instead wandered over to Lux’s farm, “This is an interesting mix of animals you have here, Lux. A monkey and a cow? Is this a zoo or a farm?”

“Farm,” Lux told him, picking up her little horse toy and showing it to him, “See? Horse.”

“I see that!” Niall agreed. The three of them seemed to be okay, so I excused myself back to the kitchen.

Dinner hardly took long to finish up. The table was set; I had picked out some cloth napkins to lay out along with the silverware and made up some lemonade to serve, so it was at least a somewhat nice meal. Lux and the boys seemed to be hungry, judging by how quickly they arrived at the table after I called them and how quickly the scarfed down their food.

“You’re a proper good cook,” Niall said, his mouth full of garlic bread.

I shrugged, “It’s spaghetti noodles and jared sauce. A twelve-year-old could make it.”

“Still good,” Harry chimed in, taking another bite of his own spaghetti.

“Yummy,” Lux agreed. There was sauce all over her face, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her as a few pieces of pasta escaped from her mouth. She had a huge smile painted across her face.

“And I couldn’t make garlic bread like this,” Niall continued, “Damn good.”

“Well, thanks,” I blushed, “But please don’t cuss in front of Lux.”

“Right, sorry.” Niall nodded and pushed his empty plate away from him.

I had largely finished, and Harry and Lux had both started to slow down as well. I suggested ice cream against my better judgement, but they all agreed. There was only vanilla in Tom and Lou’s freezer, but I served it up and made a note to bring some back next time I came. The next hour or so was passed with ice cream and conversation. Lux got out her play dough and made us each treats, delivering them to all of us in turn. It never failed to amaze me how much entertainment she got out of something so simple.

Eventually, Lux grew tired of that. Our dinner had been later than normal, and Lux climbed into Harry’s lap, and began to doze off.

“I’ll put her to bed,” Harry volunteered. He pushed himself away from the table, and Lux didn’t wake much as he readjusted her in his arms. .

“I’ll start with the dishes,” I decided, pushing myself away from the table as well. I stacked our plates on top of each other and began to scrub them.

“I can help,” Niall volunteered as he rose, “Do they have a dishwasher?”

I tossed him the towel and shook my head, “Nope. It’s all by hand for you and I, kid.”

Niall caught it and grabbed the dishes as I finished them, whistling quietly as he did it. I didn’t have much to say to him, but the silence between us seemed natural and not awkward.

“I’m just lucky that I have a dishwasher,” Niall said after a few minutes of drying them, “I would never do dishes. They’d just pile up and me cleaning lady would hate me. She probably hates me as it is.”

I laughed, “We can’t all be millionaires. Most of us have to suffer through doing our dishes by hand and without cleaning ladies.”

“Hey! I wasn’t always a millionaire. I just got lucky,” Niall told me, “I could be sitting back in me dad’s home in Ireland washing dishes. But instead I got lucky and I was in the right place at the right time and now I’m here.”

“In your hairstylist’s house eating spaghetti on a Sunday night?” I asked, slightly skeptical.

“I have a hairstylist, I’ll call that lucky,” Niall told me, “I could still be dying me own hair.”

“Now that’s something to consider.” I glanced up at his blonde locks, trying to picture him without the professional dye job, “Ugh, I wish I was lucky enough to have my own dishwasher.”

“You don’t consider yourself lucky?”

There had been a time when I knew that I was lucky. I had loving parents, friends, a nice home, and there was money to do things like travel and for me to go to college and all that sort of stuff. But now, I didn’t really have any of that. My parents probably still loved me, but that’s hard to show when they’re sitting in a jail cell. I was slowly making friends: Eva and Brody and maybe even Harry and Niall. My flat was nice, but it still wasn’t a home. And while my grandparents had been nice enough to help me out, I still felt indebted to them in a way I had never felt with my parents.

“I - I,” I stuttered, “I’m not -”

“She’s asleep,” Harry announced his presence with a tired smile, and saved me from answering Niall’s question.

“Did you stay with her till she fell asleep?” I asked, quickly focusing my attention on Harry. He nodded with a questioning look and I continued, “I never do. You’re a good person.”

“Eh,” Harry grinned, “I’m her Godfather. I’m supposed to spoil her.”

“Now what?” Niall asked, finishing up the last of the dishes,“What are we going to do now?”

“Well, I was going to do some coursework,” I said awkwardly, “But now that you guys are here…”

“Sorry,” Harry grinned a bit sheepishly.

“It’s fine!” I assured them hastily, “I don’t mind. It’s nice to hang out with you guys. We could, uh, watch a movie or something…”

“Yeah!” Niall agreed quickly, “Let’s watch that new one! Now You See Me!”

Although I had already seen it back home, I settled on it, and Harry didn’t seem to care much either way. As Niall ordered it off Amazon, Harry and I settled onto the couch. Niall had already called the armchair that Tom preferred, so we were stuck with it. I took the right hand corner, but Harry sat more in the middle, insisting that it was the best view of the telly. Our legs brushed once or twice, but I moved mine away.

At some point during the movie, Harry began to doze off. At first he stayed on his own part of the couch, but as the scenes went by, his head fell until it was resting on my shoulder. Light at first, it eventually grew heavy, but I was too nervous about waking him to shake him off.

“Is he asleep?” Niall asked, gesturing to Harry, as the credits rolled and the movie finished.

I looked him over, noticing how peaceful he looked. I nodded carefully, not wishing to wake him, “Yeah.”

“He’s a pretty deep sleeper,” Niall told me, his voice only slightly softer than normal, “You don’t have to worry about waking him. He’s the only one who can sleep through the screaming fans in hotels.”

Right on cue, I heard the door jingle before opening. Both Niall and I jumped, slightly startled, but Harry didn’t even shift. Tom and Lou entered, Tom giving us a short wave before heading upstairs. Harry was right; they didn’t stay at the party all night.

“Oh, hello, you three,” Lou said, a giant smile on her face. Encouraged by Niall’s earlier remarks about Harry being a deep sleeper, I managed to gently escape from my position as Harry’s pillow. He fell to the couch, and stirred, but didn’t wake.

“Hi, Lou.” I stretched slightly before heading over to her, “Lux is asleep. They kinda just invited themselves over, I didn’t mean to have them, I swear.”

“Oh, Savannah, I don’t care,” Lou told me with a laugh, “I’m glad you’re making friends! Niall and Harry are like family. You can have them over whenever you want.”

“Should I wake Harry?” I bit my lip.

Lou shook her head, “No, leave him. It won’t be the first time he spends the night on the that couch.”

I glanced back at him, feeling slightly guilty. I had spend one night on a couch this week, and I knew how uncomfortable they could be.

“Don’t worry about him,” Lou promised, as if she could read my mind, “It’s late. You two should get home.”

“C’mon, Savannah,” Niall said gently, “I’ll drive you.”

“That’s okay,” I told him, “I can take the Tube. It’s not too late.”

“I insist,” Niall nodded at me. He grabbed his keys on the table where I kept mine as well, and tossed mine to me.

I sighed, before relenting, “Alright.”