Better for You

By the time that Harry and I arrived at his mother’s house, it was just gone midday and rain had begun pouring from the sky, in large cold droplets which formed a calming sound as they landed on Harry’s windscreen.

Harry’s house was relatively large, the exterior of the house was made up of a cream stone with large windows allowing a glimpse into the interior of the house. “You ready to go inside?” Harry asked me as I sat in the passenger seat of his car.

“I think so,” I told Harry with a smile as I tried to allow the pitter patter of the rain drops to calm my senses, however even the rain couldn’t soothe me. “You’re mum knows that I’m coming, right?” I checked with Harry who rolled his eyes at my question.

“Of course she knows that you’re coming, she is very excited to meet you” Harry reassured me, taking my hand in his and soothing it before placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles which caused my stomach to perform Olympic standard gymnastics at the chivalrous gesture.

“C’mon, let’s go inside.” Harry told me and I nodded my head and got out the car and into the rain with him as we quickly collected our bags and walked to the front door of Harry’s mum’s house.

Harry knocked on the front door three times and a couple of seconds later rustling could be heard before the door swung open to reveal a middle-aged woman with chestnut hair which surpassed her shoulders, hazel eyes that were filled with happiness and crinkling at the outside corners due to the wide friendly smile that she was sporting. “Hi!” the woman, who I assumed was Harry’s mother Anne, greeted excitedly as she engulfed Harry in a large hug which made it very evident that she had missed him a lot.

After a couple of seconds Harry and Anne pulled away from each other and Anne turned to me with a large grin on her face. “And you must be Izzy, the girl that Harry has not stopped talking about.” Anne spoke charmingly, with a weak American accent, and I noticed Harry blushing slightly as I laughed lightly in response to Anne’s comment.

“That would be me, it’s lovely to finally meet you Ms Twist, I’ve heard much about you as well.” I responded with a smile. I then was unsure of what to do next, did I wave, kiss her cheeks, shake her hand? And so, I awkwardly extended a hand for Harry’s mum to shake however Anne simply laughed at my gesture and brushed my hand away and instead wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

“I’m afraid that we’re huggers in this family, much to my son’s dismay.” Harry’s mum laughed and I nodded my head before we both pulled back from each other. “Oh, and please call me Anne by the way, Ms Twist is way too formal for me!” Anne laughed before opening the door further to allow myself and Harry inside.

Harry walked inside first and I followed him inside, as we walked into the living room which was had a warm and inviting tone to it. The walls were painted a warm tone of cream and there was a large bookshelf against one of the walls which was filled with books simply beginning to be read. Two brown leathered sofas were situated perpendicularly to each other in the corner of the room, with a large television placed on the wall opposite to one of the sofas.

“I’m afraid that you just missed Gemma and Ryan, they went off to the shops but they should be back soon. How about I put on the kettle while you guys put your stuff away and get settled?” Anne asked Harry and I and we both nodded our heads in agreement.

“That sounds good.” Harry answered and Anne smiled at his response.

“Great, I’m assuming you still want your usual coffee, Harry?” Anne asked and Harry confirmed this. “And what about you, Izzy? I’ve got coffee, tea, latte and even some hot chocolate for Gemma if you’d like some?” Anne asked me.

“Just a plain coffee would be perfect for me thank you.” I told Anne and she grinned at me and nodded before heading out of the room and to where I assumed would be the kitchen.

“Your mother’s house is lovely.” I commented as I looked around the room at some of the younger photos of Harry. “Oh my gosh, is this you?” I asked as a particular photo caught my eye. It was a young kid who couldn’t have been any older than two who was photographed as he was trying to sneakily steal some grapes from a fruit bowl. The kid looked adorable and had a resemblance to Harry as I stared at the photo.

“Unfortunately, yes, now let’s get you away from the baby photos of me and towards the bedroom huh?” Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows at me to which I responded with a simple look with raised brows in slight shock of Harry’s comment after being in the house of his mother for not even 5 minutes. “To put our stuff away, geez, get your mind out of the gutter Izzy.” To this I rolled my eyes at Harry, however followed him upstairs to his bedroom nonetheless.

“So, is this the house where you grew up in?” I asked Harry but he shook his head at me.

“No, I actually grew up much closer to the Uni, but after my parents divorced and Gemma, you know, my mum moved out and away from there to here.” Harry explained and I nodded as my brain made sense of what he was saying.

“So, did they move out while you were still in England?” I asked and Harry replied with a simple ‘yep’.

“So, this is my room.” Harry announced as we walked into a relatively big room which had soft grey toned walls and a double bed against one wall with a chest of draws and wardrobe that were both painted white with a white desk and grey chair on the wall opposite to the bed. Harry dropped our bags and went to sit on his bed. The room was lovely however it seemed more like a guest room than Harry’s room. I then noticed and picked up a photo of a younger version of Harry and Zayn from Harry’s table and I smiled. “Yeah, my mum did that.” Harry spoke, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

I turned to find Harry now standing behind me and looking at the photo in my hands. “You were a cute kid.” I told Harry who rolled his eyes at my words.

“I wasn’t a good kid back then Izzy, I got into a lot of fights and I did some shit that I’m not proud of.” Harry told me and I frowned, putting the photo back on the desk and turning to face Harry.

“You’re not that person anymore, Harry.” I spoke softly, cupping Harry’s face in my hands and pressing my lips against his lightly before pulling away and grabbing his hand in mine. “Let’s go back downstairs.” I suggested and Harry nodded, and we walked back down the stairs and towards the living room.

Harry sat down on the sofa and I copied, sitting down next to him and Harry lifted his arm and placed it against the back of the sofa behind me, allowing me to rest my body against his.

Harry’s mum then came walking out of the kitchen and into the living room with two mugs in her hand. “Izzy, I wasn’t sure if you took sugar or not so I didn’t put any in, but I can put some in if you’d like?” Anne asked me and I smiled at her kindly.

“Oh no, coffee with no sugar is perfect for me, thank you.” I told her and she smiled in relief, handing Harry and I our coffees and then sitting down on the sofa adjacent to us. I took a small sip of the coffee and hummed in response. “The coffee is amazing, thank you, and also thank you for letting me stay here for the holidays.” I told Anne and she smiled at me and shook her head.

“That’s very sweet of you, but you don’t need to thank me as I’m the one that should be thanking you for taking such good care of my son – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.” Anne told me, causing me to smile as I looked up at Harry who was blushing yet again.

“Well, he takes very good care of me also.” I responded, meaning my words more than Anne would know and I noticed Harry watching me with a smile tugging on his lips.

“So, tell me about yourself Izzy, I take it you’re from England?” Anne asked me and I nodded my head.

“Yeah, um, I was born and raised in England and then this summer I moved with my mum to America for college.” I explained to Anne who nodded in genuine interest.

“Izzy lived near Aunty Jane, mum.” Harry told Anne who nodded her head in understanding.

“Oh, so you lived in the south east then?” Anne asked and I nodded my head.

“Yeah, near the sea also which was nice for like 5 days of the year!” I answered causing Anne and Harry to chuckle lightly.

“And what do you think of college then?” Anne asked and I looked up at Harry and pulled a face at him, causing both him and Anne to laugh again.

“To be fair, it’s not too bad it’s just a lot of reading – especially for law- but if you keep up with the work load it isn’t too bad. And also, the people at the college are really nice so it has been really nice to meet new people, including Harry of course.” I commented, grinning up at Harry at the end, who looked down at me with a smile playing on his lips.

The sound of the door opening was then heard as a female voice called out “Gosh, the shops are so darn busy this time of year – like does everyone wait until the last minute to buy their Christmas presents?” A petit woman said as she walked into the room with her hands holding multiple shopping bags when her eyes landed on Harry and myself and she dropped her shopping bags immediately and rushed towards Harry and gave him a tight hug.

“You must be Izzy, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” The girl, who I assumed was Harry’s sister Gemma, spoke with a huge grin on her face as she engulfed me in a hug.

“It’s nice to meet you too!” I told her and when she pulled back her eyes took in my appearance as I did her. She had warm chocolate eyes, pale skin and short platinum hair that suited her well.

“Where’s Ryan?” Anne asked Gemma.

“He’s just bringing in the tree.” Gemma told Anne who then got up to go and help Ryan bring in the Christmas tree.

“Gosh Harry, you did well to land Izzy – she’s stunning!” Gemma told Harry causing my smile to widen at Gemma’s compliment.

I chuckled at what Gemma said and nudged Harry with my elbow causing him to divert his attention to me. “Hear that Harry? Your sister thinks you’re punching.” I told Harry and he raised his eyebrows at me and then looked at Gemma.

“That’s because Gemma hasn’t had sex with me.” Harry retorted, causing me to blush furiously as Harry and Gemma burst out in laughter.

“I cannot believe that you just said that to your sister, Harry.” I said, hiding my face behind my hands in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about me, Izzy, I had to grow up with Harry when he was younger and much more sexually frustrated so trust me I’ve heard worse.” Gemma told me and I widened my eyes in horror, causing Harry and Gemma to burst out laughing again.

Moments later, Anne and, who I assumed was, Ryan came into the room with a big Christmas tree which was easily 6 ft tall, and they placed it in a corner of the room.

“Right, who wants to help decorate the Christmas tree?” Anne asked and Harry, Gemma and I all jumped up from the sofa and began hunting down the Christmas decorations and decorating the tree.