Loved You First

“Ariela Diana Garcia, you are not wearing that heinous coat to Gemma’s graduation!” My big sister hissed when I exited my room, her Spanish accent coming out when she used my full name.
“It’s raining!” I protested, gesturing down at my favorite yellow rain coat, my high-low dress peeking out under it.
“We live in England, it’s always raining, you twat!” Cynthia sighed in exasperation. A horn honked outside and my phone buzzed with a new message.

New Message from: Harry :)
I’m outside. Hurry, if we’re late Gem and Mum will kill us

“Harry’s here, no time to change!” I cried happily, skipping outside and ignoring my sister’s glare.
“Pinche Harry!” She cursed as she followed me out. “Fine, you can look like an idiot if you want to.”
I giggled as I climbed into the passenger seat of Harry’s familiar Range Rover, Cynthia scowling and taking a seat in the back. Harry pulled away from the flat, not turning to me until we reached a red light.
“Still sporting that rain coat,” he observed, leaning over and kissing my cheek. “Missed you on tour.”
“I missed you, too,” I said honestly, taking his free hand and lacing it with mine.
“I didn’t miss you, Styles,” my sister called from the backseat.
“Careful, Garcia, I haven’t given you your gift yet,” Harry called back, turning his attention back to the road as the light turned green.
“Oh, there’s a gift!?” I heard rustling as Cynthia started digging around in the backseat.
“Dios mio! Cynthia Nallely! Have some self-control!” I yelled, dropping Harry’s hand to reach around my seat and try to smack her hands out of the shopping bags she was digging through.
“Hey!” Harry yelled, blindly swatting at her. “Some of those bags are for Gem and Mum! Don’t mess the wrapping!”

We pulled up to Gemma’s graduation then, Harry shoving both of us out of the car and reaching into the back to pull out three bags with the Tiffany’s logo on the side.
“Tiffany’s!” Cynthia cried excitedly, latching her arm around Harry’s. “Did you get me something from Tiffany’s this time, since you so nicely forgot about me after last tour?” She glared pointedly at the simple silver “Return to Tiffany’s” bracelet on my wrist, a gift from Harry. He rolled his eyes and shrugged.
“Guess you’ll find out,” he said noncommittally, wrapping an arm around my waist.
My sister sighed but kept her arm looped through Harry’s on his other side. I leaned against him as we walked, enjoying the familiarity of his scent filling my senses.
We took our seats in the auditorium, next to Anne and Mr. Styles, who gave my sister and me a quizzical look. While Cynthia and I had spent a lot of time at Anne’s over the last six years, we’d never really spent any time with Gemma and Harry’s father, so he probably had no idea who we were. The ceremony hadn’t started yet but the lights were already dimmed, which worked in our favor because it allowed Harry to go unnoticed by any fans.
We sat through the ceremony, all of us standing and cheering obnoxiously when Gemma was called. She beamed down at us and Harry yelled,
“That’s my sister!” We all laughed and took our seats again when she had finished walking across.

We met up with Gemma afterwards, Harry running forward and pulling her into his arms before anyone else could. As soon as he’d let go of me to go after her I’d pulled out my phone to record. He picked her up and spun her around, causing her to squeal and everyone else to smile fondly at them.
I posted the short clip to instagram while the Styles family got reacquainted.

ArielaGarcia: @HarryStyles and @NamelessGem are the sweetest #siblings
@Arielalala: @Harry_Styles and @GemmaAnneStyles instagram.com/awjf0a4jwaf

Gemma posed for endless pictures with the five of us in every combination imaginable, and afterwards Mr. Styles turned to her and asked,
“I don’t mean to be rude, but who are these girls?”
“Oh!” Gemma’s eyes widened. “Sorry, Dad, I forgot that you haven’t met them before. This,” she wrapped an arm around my older sister’s shoulders. “Is my best mate from Sixth Form, Cynthia. And that’s her little sister, Ariela.”
“Who also happens to be my best mate,” Harry clarified, pulling me against him.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Styles,” Cynthia said, holding a hand out to him.
“Please, call me Des,” he smiled at her as he shook her hand. Cynthia shot me a look and hissed,
“Saluda, Diana!” Shake hands! I stepped forward and shook his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, Des,” I said, almost immediately dropping his hand and retreating into Harry’s embrace. I don’t do well in social situations. Like, ever. Harry chuckled behind me, his chest rumbling against my back. I elbowed him in the stomach.

“So, I think Gem’s gonna die if I don’t give her the gift right now,” Harry said, clasping his hands together and then holding out one of the smaller Tiffany’s bags, which Gemma had been eyeing ever since we walked up. She giggled and pulled out a blue box, the kind that necklaces come in. She pulled the top off and reached inside, holding up a long silver chain with three key pendants on it.
“Three?” She asked.
“Me, Mum and Dad,” Harry explained. “We’ve got you, no matter what, yeah?” He blushed and looked down.
“Oh, H,” Anne whispered, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“Haz,” Gemma muttered, staring at the necklace in disbelief. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She pulled him against her and they hugged each other tightly. Anne and Des wrapped themselves around their children and soon the whole Styles family was wrapped up in each other, laughing tearfully and murmuring quiet ‘I love you’s.

Cynthia laced her fingers with mine and gave me a smile that said, “I’ve got you, kid.” I rested my head on her shoulder, unable to resist pulling out my phone and snapping a few pictures of the scene before us. Harry will want them later, anyway. I continued to snap photos as the family began to pull apart and wipe their eyes, laughing at Gemma for complaining about ruining her makeup.

“I’ve got something for both of you, too,” Harry said, holding out the bigger Tiffany’s bag. “I would’ve let you open them in the car, but Gemma wanted to see your faces.”
He held out a box to each of us, both identical to Gemma’s except mine was labelled, ‘Ela,’ in Harry’s scrawl across the top.
We opened them at the same time, Cynthia pulling out a gold necklace with an arrow pendant with diamonds on it. I pulled out a silver necklace with a diamond crescent moon pendant.
“Since you were both named after Artemis, the goddess of the moon,” he gestured to my necklace. “Who was also the goddess of the hunt, one of the twin archers,” he gestured to Cynthia’s.
“Chinga, Harry, it’s beautiful,” I said, earning a slap on my shoulder from my sister.
“Ariela! Language!” She huffed. I rolled my eyes. It’s not like Harry’s parents would know I was cursing in Spanish! “They’re beautiful, Harry. Thank you so much.”
I handed him my necklace wordlessly and he moved to help me put it on, brushing my hair over my shoulder gently. Gemma was clasping Cynthia’s necklace on and Cynthia was helping Gemma with hers.

Harry produced another necklace, a simple gold locket, for Anne, from the last bag. Inside were a photo of Gemma on one side and a photo of Harry on the other. She got teary eyed again as he helped her put it on.

Harry had Cynthia, Gemma, Anne, and I stand together so he could take a photo of all of us displaying our new necklaces.

HarryStyles: New necklaces for all my girls. Thanks @TiffanyAndCo
@Arielalala: @Harry_Styles knows how to spoil a girl. @CynthiaNallely @GemmaAnneStyles @AnneCox and I are in awe
@CynthiaNallely: who knew my best friend in sixth form’s weird little brother would turn out to be such a sweetheart?
@Arielalala: @CynthiaNallely You thought he was weird but you still left him alone with your 12 y/o baby sis?? Seems irresponsible
@GemmaAnneStyles: @Arielalala @CynthiaNallely sorry Ari but Cynthia and I needed to hang without you and H bothering us
@Harry_Styles: @GemmaAnneStyles @Arielalala @CynthiaNallely ouch, Gem. I’m wounded.
@CynthiaNallely: @Harry_Styles @GemmaAnneStyles @Arielalala oh shut it you were both little shits back then

Harry decided to treat us to dinner to celebrate Gemma’s graduation. We ended up at some fancy place that Gemma loved. Cynthia made me leave my raincoat in Harry’s car. Predictably, Gemma had been wearing a stunning outfit under her graduation robe, and my sister looked as well dressed as ever, leaving me feeling out of place even in my favorite dress and Tiffany’s jewelry from Harry. Harry, of course, managed to look unfairly gorgeous in his simple striped shirt and black jacket.
I sat with Harry on my right side, Cynthia on my other side. Gemma sat at the head of the table, near Harry, Anne and Des sitting across from me.

After a while, the conversation turned from Gemma’s experience in University to her years in Sixth Form, which had Cynthia and Harry telling ridiculous stories about the older Styles’ adventures in her college years. I stayed quiet, mostly watching Harry and allowing myself to relish in the fact that he was finally home. I watched the way his dimples carved holes in his cheeks and his eyes closed as he threw his head back in loud, obnoxious laughter that really shouldn’t have been so endearing.

“And what about you, Ariela?” Des asked me, forcing me to tear my gaze away from my best friend. “How old are you? Are you still in school?”
“I’ll be eighteen soon, and yes, I’m still in school. I’ll be done with Sixth Form this coming May,” I smiled at him.
“What are your plans after this year?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“She’s going to Uni after her A-Levels,” Cynthia spoke for me. I shot her a glare.
“I still haven’t decided,” I said, my jaw clenching as I forced a smile.
“You’re going to Uni,” my big sister stated shortly.
“You can’t just decide that for me!” I hissed, not wanting to cause a scene.
“Cuando lleguemos a casas, hablaremos de esto,” she said shortly, shooting an apologetic smile at Harry’s father, who was watching us with barely concealed interest. When we get home, we’ll talk about this.

Harry squeezed my knee comfortingly as he artfully steered the conversation away from me, recounting a tale of he and Niall waking up in the hallway in the hotel, wearing nothing but their boxers.

My phone buzzed on the table.

New Message from: Abe
Hey, beautiful! ;)
How was the graduation?

New Message to: Abe
Can’t text, out to dinner with Harry’s family. Will call you when I get home.

The text marked as read almost immediately, but the typing bubble didn’t pop up, so I locked it again.

“Boyfriend?” Harry asked, without looking at me. I nodded, leaning against his arm and turning my attention back to the dinner conversation.