Harry Who?

My physical therapist was amazed when she read my medical history and the injuries I’d sustained in that hockey accident two years ago. She kept telling me how lucky I was not to have neurological damage, and trust me, I am incredibly grateful my head came out of that catastrophe untouched. She set up a plan to get me back on track, but unfortunately I would need one more surgery. It was minor, nothing I should have gotten scared about, but I couldn’t help notice how Harry treated me in the week leading up to the procedure. It’s like I was made of glass and he wanted to wrap me in bubble wrap, keep me safe in any way possible.

“Harry, they’re just removing some scar tissue from my shoulder. I’ll be okay,” I tried to reassure him, but he waved it off.

“I know, I just want to make sure nothing else happens to you until then, or after. I’d hate to be the reason you can’t play hockey again.” He was trying really hard (but failing) to sound casual.

I sighed and smiled as I thought about the subject I was about to bring up. “Okay, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have sex.”

He stopped abruptly, and then continued looking at his phone as if I hadn’t said anything, though he shifted his position a bit and leaned on the dining table. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Harry…” I sat down across the table from him and really hoped he wasn’t going to make me say it. “Really, it’s not going to hurt me if we have sex like a normal couple, like we used to before I needed surgery. I have probably needed this surgery for a long time, because I started playing hockey way before I was ready.”

“I just haven’t felt like it, that’s all.” He lied (he’s a bad liar).

“Really?” I asked skeptically, and bit my lip, and he finally looked up at me, meeting my eyes for a few moments.

“So,” he said after a pause. “What you’re saying is, you want to have sexual intercourse?”

I melted a little at the way he said the words ‘sexual intercourse’. “Oh my God, yes.”

“Even though your shoulder-”

“It’s fine. Really, it’s fine.” I interrupted him and lunged forward to help him out of his clothes.

“Right here? On the dining table?” He laughed as I unbuttoned his shirt.

“Sure, why not?”

“Someone’s eager,” he teased and got to work removing my clothes.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Harry, you’re not the only one that suffers when we don’t fuck.”

He laughed, but got the point and shut up.

As expected, my shoulder was fine. After the surgery, my doctor did advise me to avoid physical activities for a bit, but I assured Harry we’d be fine if we were careful (no sex on the table for a while). By the time my shoulder healed it was Harry’s 22nd birthday, and he threw a huge party. We both had a little too much to drink (I think most everyone there did) and he thought it would be a good idea to tweet something about feeling 22 after Taylor Swift’s ‘22’ played at his party (at my request!). Soon after, we headed to LA to start working on his album.

I was a little surprised when Harry, while giving me the tour of his LA house, pointed out ‘our’ bedroom. We left our suitcases there and headed back downstairs for dinner. Or maybe it was breakfast, I was still getting used to the time change.

“So, I don’t have to stay in the guest bedroom?” I teased, and he laughed.

“No, this room has a big enough closet for the two of us,” he joked and sat down next to me. “Actually, I had never intended to put you in the guest bedroom in London, but when you moved in I was kinda mad at you after seeing that picture of you with that guy. And then I just never bothered to fix it, because I do like having my own space, and I had everything in my room arranged the way I wanted it. Besides, you practically spent every night in my room, anyway.”

I nodded, it was true I barely spent a whole night alone in my own room, the guest bedroom, but it was nice to have a place to put my stuff and call my own, and somewhere else to sleep when Harry’s snoring became too much. The LA house was big enough that space was not an issue. Besides, Harry would be at the studio recording most of the time, I assumed, and I had my physical therapy.

The weather was so nice compared to December in London, which as a Canadian I can’t really complain about the cold, but I prefer snow to dreary, cold rain. It was nice to spend hours on the beach with Harry, just laying in the sun and swimming in the ocean whenever we felt like it. It was almost like being on vacation constantly.

One afternoon as Harry and I were laying in the sun on the sand he rolled over to get closer to me. I looked up from my book at him, seeing my reflection in his sunglasses as he watched me.

“So, at Christmas, you and Gemma braided my hair,” he stated, and I nodded.

“I’ve never braided a guys hair before, that was cool.” I slid a bookmark between the pages I was reading and closed my book

“So you liked it?” He asked.

“Yeah, I guess, why?” This was getting weird.

“Would you like me if I had short hair?” He looked a little more serious now, but smiled hesitantly.

I laughed and shrugged. “Of course, why wouldn’t I? It’s up to you what you do with your hair, right?” I tried to picture him with shorter hair, but I couldn’t. I guessed he would look a bit like when he had his hair put up, depending on how short it was.

“Kind of,” he subconsciously ran his hand through his locks. “I have to cut it eventually.”

“You said you wanted to donate it, right? How long does it have to be to do that?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to have to cut it in a few months because,” he paused and smiled again, almost like he was embarrassed. “I’m going to be in a movie.”

I was shocked, but in a good way. Not actually that surprised, though, considering how much he seemed to love being on stage. “No way? Is it a rom-com? It has to be, you love them so much.”

“It’s not actually, it’s WWII movie.”

Okay, that was a bit more surprising. “Really?”

He nodded. “It’s called ‘Dunkirk’ and it’s directed by Christopher Nolan.”

“The guy who did the Batman movies? Wow, Harry, that is really impressive.”

He seemed to blush as he smiled, almost bashfully. “Thanks, I just found out this morning.”

I sat up to look at him better. “Your first solo album, and you get to star in a big movie… I guess you really can have your cake and eat it too.”

“And you’re the icing on that cake.” He laughed and again pushed his hair out of his face. “I’m not exactly the star, it’s kind of an ensemble cast, I think.”

“I can’t wait to see it. When do you start filming?”

“In May, so I’ll have to stop working on the album while we film, for about five months.”

“Five months?” That was along time, but I supposed I would go with him, right? Then again, the National Women’s Hockey League season started in June and ran through September. If I made the team, perhaps we would both be away from each other a lot this summer. My heart started to beat faster at that thought, though whether it was the prospect of finally playing professional hockey that made it race, or the fear of being away from Harry for so many months, I’m not sure.