Bored and Broken

"Okay, here's another one, Adie." Anne hands me yet another present.

"Anne, you've gotten me so much already."

"Well you have to open it, it's too late now darling. They're already paid for and wrapped, so either way they're yours." Anne and Harry both laugh and my cheeks flush slightly as I take the box from her hands. Harry winks slyly at me while I open the paper, Anne completely oblivious to his random flirting. I take out a gorgeous sweater, one that goes perfectly with the rest of my wardrobe.

"Thank you. It's really pretty." I feel weird having all of them both watching me, so I quickly take Anne's last gift from me from under the tree. "this is for you, Anne."

She looks surprised as she takes the small box from me. I start feeling a little nervous as she opens it. Her eyes go slightly wide at the sight of what is clearly a jewelry box. She slowly lifts the lid and her hand goes to her open mouth.

"Oh my goodness, Adison. This is beautiful."

"It was my mother's. She always wore it for special occasions." I decided to give Anne my mother's favourite pearl necklace. I could never picture myself wearing it and I know she would love for her best friend to be able to enjoy it.

"Adie, are you sure you want me to have this? It was your mother's, I can't accept this."

I shake my head and push the box back towards her. "I want you to have it, Anne. You've been so good to me. I couldn't imagine selling them or giving them away or having them just sitting in a jewelry box. She would want you to have them and enjoy them."

She stares down at them and I can see her eyes welling up. There's lump growing in my own throat and I do my best to keep it down there. I don't want to cry. It's Christmas; I shouldn't be sad. My life could be a lot worse.

"I don't even know what to say. Thank you." She walks on her knees towards me and wraps me up in a tight hug. I look over her shoulder at Harry, who's watching me with the most adorable smile on his face.

"Oh, I'm so embarrassing!" Anne says, chuckling slightly as she pulls away and goes back to her spot on the floor. "Look at me, crying on Christmas." Harry and I both laugh a little and she turns to get two of the last three gifts under the tree. "Open them together," she says, handing us each one. Harry and I exchange a confused look and start unwrapping. Harry gets his open first and his smile stretches from ear to ear.

"Where is the world did you get this, mum?" he asks, looking at what I assume is a picture frame.

"I found them in one of me old photo albums."

"Let me see," I say to Harry, holding out my hand and halting my own unwrapping. He moves across the floor and sits right beside me, holding up the photo for me to see. I smile widely at him when I see what it is. It's an adorable photo of the two of us from when we were really young, taken on one of the many camping trips we used to go on as kids. We're standing on the beach with an arm around each other and facing away from the camera. It's a really cute shot.


"Look how straight my hair is," Harry says, laughing and pointing to his head.

"We're like the same size in this picture," I observe, leaning over towards him to get a better look. "Now you're a giant." I laugh as he nudges my side with his elbow.

"Don't be mean. Let's see yours."

I open mine the rest of the way and smile when I see which picture she's given me. We're younger than we are in the one she gave Harry, probably about two years old. Harry is wearing the cutest little tux and he's making a face while I lean over to kiss his cheek. I'm smiling but he definitely is not. It's a really cute photo.



"You don't look too impressed here," I laugh, looking up at Harry. He laughs as well.

"Can you blame me? Look at you forcing yourself on me. I was so innocent."

"Right," I scoff. "This was a really nice idea, Anne. I've never seen this picture before."

"I thought I'd lost it, to be honest. It was always my favourite one of you two and it disappeared for the longest time. You two were so adorable together." I can't help but wince slightly at the emphasis she put on the word 'were'. "Claire and I used to look through photos and laugh our heads off."

I look up at Harry and he smiles at me, eliciting a blush in my cheeks as I look back down at the photos. I can't believe how much Anne has done for me today; I've opened as many gifts as her actual child. Gemma decided to spend Christmas with her father. Harry was quite upset about it. I was sad as well; it's been a really long time since I've seen her. But, like I told Harry, it's perfectly normal for her to want to spend time with her father. Harry doesn't speak to him much anymore and he doesn't understand why she feels the need to see him instead of them. It makes me kind of mad that he thinks so little of his father and wants nothing to do with him. If I could see my father again I would and he's blatantly choosing to cut him out of his life. It's not fair.

Harry has really spoiled me as well. He already gave me the bracelet a week ago so I wasn't expecting him to get me anything else. Instead, I now have a plethora of new art supplies, ones that I would never even buy for myself they're so nice.

"I have one other thing for you, Harry." He gives me a peculiar look and I reach under the tree for the last present that's there. He takes the small bag and I sit beside him while he opens it. He pulls out the small box and unwraps it, all the while giving me confused and curious glances. Anne is watching as well, also looking a tad confused. He finally gets it open and smiles.

"This is really nice, Ads." He pulls the black ring out of the case and slides it onto the middle finger of his left hand. Harry wears rings all the time, so I knew this was a piece of jewelry he would actually wear. "I love it, thank you."

"You're welcome," I respond quietly. trying not to melt at the sight of his dimples. We keep the moment short for Anne's benefit and all of us tart cleaning up the wrapping paper now covering the floor. We started opening presents as soon as we were all awake, a tradition of theirs apparently. My mom and I would always have a big breakfast first and stay in our pyjamas all day.

"What should we have for breakfast? I have all kinds of fruit and things. I was thinking about waffles?" Anne suggests as we stuff the last of the trash into the bag she's holding. We all agree and she goes to the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. Harry and I gather some of our gifts and I excuse myself to my room to put some of them in there. I dump it all on my bed and pick up the photo that Anne gave me of Harry and I, setting it on the stand and putting it on my bedside table. I stand there admiring it for a moment, jumping when I feel a pair of arms snake around my waist.

"Merry Christmas, love," Harry whispers against my ear, proceeding to press his lips against my neck. I smile and turn around in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Merry Christmas, Harry." He smiles as he leans down to leave a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Thank you for the ring, I love it."

"I'm glad. You missed the best part, though."

He raises an eyebrow in question and I reach behind me to remove his hands from my back. I take his left hand and pull the ring off his finger, smiling when I realize it's sized perfectly.

"Woah, you can't take it back!" Harry protests. "That's not how gifts work, Ads."

I laugh and shake my head at him. "Look at the inside, you dork."

He takes the rings in his hands, looking a little confused. His expression shifts to a happy smile when he reads in words I had engraved in silver on the inside of the black ring.

"Pinky promise," he recites. He smiles wider as he slides it back onto his finger, then wrapping his arms around me and lifting me off the ground. I laugh and put my arms around his neck as he spins me around. "It's perfect, Adie. I love it."

"Really? It's not too corny?"

"Of course not. It's adorable."

He sets me back down and kisses me again, hugging me tight against his body and moving his lips firmly against mine. After a minute I feel his tongue glide along my bottom lip. I giggle at his frown when I pull away.

"Your mother is in the kitchen, Harry."

"The door is closed and I can be quiet. It's fine." He leans forward to reconnect our lips but I lean back to keep some distance between us.

"She's going to be wondering where we are. We should help her with breakfast, anyway."

"She can handle it," he insists, still trying to kiss me. I continue to avoid his attempts and can't hold back my laughter when he starts getting frustrated, peppering kisses all over my face. "Harry!"

"Alright, fine. But as soon as we get the chance I am going to kiss you. For real this time. And you won't have a choice."

"That's...creepy."

"It's what I do best. I know you want me to kiss you. Look how hard you tried there," he says, smirking and pointing behind me at the picture on my bedside table. I just roll my eyes. "Pretend all you want, Ads. I know it's true; you can't resist me. I'm foxy."

"Foxy?" I ask, laughing at the description. He nods his head. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were from the eighties."

"I felt the word would go well with the moment," he explains, shrugging his shoulders. \

"You are so weird."

"You love me anyways." My eyes go wide at his words and his expression changes from amusement to confusion. "What?"

"You...you said..."

His eyes go wide as well and his face goes a tad red. "Shit, sorry. It umm...that came out wrong."

I smile shyly and he scratches the back of his head. We stand there awkwardly for a moment without making eye contact. Did he just say the L-word?

"We should go help your mum," I say quietly, trying to break the weirdness. He nods and runs his hand through his hair. I don't want him to think I feel uncomfortable..."But first I want to show you something." He nods and I shyly take his hand in mine and lead him to the wall unit on the other side of the bed under my TV. I may not be at that place with Harry, a place where I'm in love with him, but I'm nowhere near done with him. If we can get to that place...the thought makes my heart race.

I have one sketchbook that I never show anyone. On one side of the cover there's a pocket that acts as a sort of folder where I can put loose papers from other books and the rest is like any other sketchbook where I can draw. It's the most special book that I have and every drawing I put in it means something more to me than the other things that I draw.

"Okay, close your eyes," I instruct. He smirks and raises his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Oh, now I'm convinced."

"Harry," I laugh, "Come on. I want to show you something."

He stares at me for a moment before slowly closing his eyes. "Alright, but you better be naked when I open my eyes."

I laugh and punch him lightly in the stomach. He flinches but keeps his eyes closed, smiling adorably and mischievously. I admire him for a moment, smiling to myself as I reach into one of the many drawers in the wall unit for my book. I rarely move it from my spot and no one knows that it's there. I take out one drawing and put it back in its spot before taking my place in front of Harry again, inhaling deeply.

"Okay. Open your eyes."

His eyes flutter open and he looks dramatically disappointed. "Damn, I thought for sure your clothes would be off." I roll my eyes and try not to laugh while he chuckles to himself. "What do you want to show me?"

"This." I hold it out to him. He takes the paper from my hands and his face gets much more serious when he sees what it is. I drew it the day that I found out my mom died. It's one of the most personal things I've ever drawn and no one has ever seen it. Harry has looked at my other sketchbooks plenty of times before, but never drawings like this. I had nothing and no one and I needed something to comfort me, anything. I had fallen asleep after hours of crying and had a dream about my parents, both of them. They were sitting together on the grass in the most amazing garden I've ever seen, both of them laughing and looking happier than ever. When I woke up I immediately started drawing so that I could never forget that image.

"Ads, this is incredible," he says quietly. He walks to my bed and sits on the edge of it. "It's beautiful. Is this..."

"My parents," I confirm, sitting next to him. "I had this dream...this image is the reason I've been able to move on and live my life. I know that wherever they are now, they're together and happier than they ever have been. I miss them like crazy, but knowing that has given me the strength to keep going. I can't be sad; they wouldn't want that for me. I need to live my life the way they would have wanted me to: fully and honestly and fearlessly." People have said to me a few times that it's unnatural that I've been able to cope this well this quickly after my mum died, but I know this is what she would have wanted for me. To be happy and to keep going.

Harry stares at the page for a few minutes before looking back to me. "You're incredible, you know that? I couldn't imagine going through what you went through. You're so strong." He puts his hand on my leg and I look away from his eyes, leaning my cheek against his arm.

"You've helped me a lot," I whisper, trying desperately not to cry.

"I'm glad."

"Okay, let's go help your mother," I say, standing and brushing away a rebellious tear. He stands as well and hands the paper back to me, proceeding to put his hands on either side of my face. "I'll be right there," I whisper. He nods and presses a gentle but passionate kiss to my lips before smiling at me and exiting my bedroom. I look down at my drawing for a minute, smiling at the thought of my parents reunited. When it's safely back in its spot I head out to the kitchen to help with breakfast. I constantly catch Harry staring at me, always making the blood rush to my cheeks. We eat our waffles in the living room while watching The Grinch, a classic Christmas movie that they watch every year without fail according to Harry.

For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm home.

Notes

there it is :) kinda cute i thoughtt. did you?? i dont really know what else to say about this one...

anywho.

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