Annie

My alarm went off at an insane hour. I’d wanted time this morning to make Valentine’s Day special for Harry. He’d seemed so sad last night that I was going to be spending my whole day at work and not with him. He’d begged me to call in sick. He’d tried to bribe me with kisses on every inch of my skin. He’d made love to me for hours, saying that he was stocking up for a Valentine’s Day alone. I felt bad when he fell asleep with his head on my stomach while I played with his hair. He mumbled how he loved me in his sleep. So I’d set my alarm earlier than I ever did so that I could try to do something to make the day special for him. I quickly shut the alarm off and slipped on the t-shirt he’d worn the day before and snuck downstairs to the kitchen.
The sun wasn’t up yet as I started the coffee and breakfast. I’d laid in bed last night mentally going through the pantry and refrigerator to make sure that I had all of the necessary ingredients for a fantastic breakfast. Heart shaped pancakes, fresh strawberries, eggs, bacon. Everything was going to be hearts or red if I had anything to say about it. I was digging through my baking supplies and finally found my heart cookie cutters. I used them as egg forms, he was going to laugh his ass off at me. Once all of the food was done I put it on a tray with the two cups of coffee and whipped cream with red sprinkles on the top.
“Hey Dimples, good morning,” I said in a sing-song voice. He groaned in to the pillow. I watched the muscles in his back flex as he turned to look at me.
“Good morning beautiful,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Did you make breakfast?”
“I did. Happy Valentine’s Day babe.” I put the tray down on the nightstand and climbed on to the bed kissing him. “I thought breakfast in bed would make up for the fact that I am working all day.”“Good start to making up for it.” He pulled me in to him, kissing the crown of my head. “I wish you didn’t have to work tonight. How did you not get the night off?”
“I’ve asked for so much stuff off recently and some of the cocktail waitresses asked for the night off ages ago…before I had a boyfriend.”
“Well it sucks, I don’t want to share you with a bar full of people. I want you to myself.”
“I know. And I hate it. Thus why I am up so early when I don’t have to be. So Dimples let’s enjoy this breakfast I made you,” I said climbing out of his arms and grabbing the tray, placing it on the mattress so he could see everything.
“You are amazing,” he said kissing my bare thigh before sitting up. “Heart pancakes, heart eggs.”
“I tried to make the bacon in the shape of a heart and it just looked weird,” I said laughing.
“I love it. Thank you. I love you baby.”
“I love you too,” I said kissing him before shoving a strawberry in his mouth.
“You did a great job at breakfast baby,” Harry said after soaking up the last bit of syrup with the last bite of pancakes. He laid back on the bed, his hand sneaking up my back beneath the t-shirt and rubbing circles on my skin. “What time do you have to be at the shop today?”
“10:00,” I said turning to look at him. I saw him glance at the clock. 7:09AM. I had really woken up a lot earlier than I normally would.
“You are giving yourself plenty of time,” he said. He pulled me closer to him and started to kiss me. His hands sliding up underneath my shirt resting on my ribcage.
“I was more concerned about giving us time. I thought maybe a bit of quality time this morning would help ease the pain of being away from me all day.” My legs moved to straddle his waist. “And keep me satisfied until sometime in the early morning hours tomorrow when I crawl in to bed beside you. When I wake you up with my mouth on your skin.”
“You seem to think I’m not staying until close with you tonight.”
“You’re not. You’ll try to but you’ll either get drunk or sleepy. And even if you didn’t you’ll get handsy and as much as you want to take me to the supply closet and have sex we can’t do that while I’m working. Especially tonight. Patrick likes to bust out the Irish traditions I guess. I’m going to be busy so you can’t be distracting all night. You can pick me up at the shop, drive me to the pub, stay for a while and then we will put you in a taxi home while I finish working. And then I get my whole dream of waking you up for birthday sex in the wee hours of the morning.”
“Yes, birthday. My beautiful almost birthday girl." He pulled me down to kiss him and in that moment I heard my cell phone start to ring. “Seriously?” he said looking at me with this irresistible pout. His voice still rough with sleep.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey it’s Lizzy. What time are you coming in today?” she asked.
“10:00. Is that still alright?” I looked down at Harry. His smile crumbled in to a frown as he heard Lizzy through the phone.
“I’ve been hit with a dreadful bout of morning sickness. Any chance you can open the shop today? Maybe you and Harry can take a long romantic lunch for Valentine’s Day.” He threw his head back on to the pillow and sighed. Morning sickness would keep me from being able to say no to her. Especially today, Lyla would be in school.
“Of course I can come in early.”
“No!” Harry mouthed out. “I was going to make love to you. Don’t leave.” He was speaking in a whisper. “Tell her you can’t. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“I will be in at 8:30. You come in whenever you’re feeling better.” I looked at him and mouthed out, “I can’t. She’s sick.”
“You’re a lifesaver doll. Tell Harry I’ll buy his coffee today. And the red velvet cupcakes I know you made.”
“I did make them,” I said laughing. “I’ll see you later.” I hung up the phone. “I’m so sorry.” I bent down kissing his chest over his bird tattoos. “I’m so, so sorry. I will make it up to you. Maybe I’ll sneak home on lunch and we can have a quickie.”
“Valentine’s Day isn’t made for quickies, love. It’s made for slow, passionate love making. Which is not what we will be doing today evidently.” He kissed my forehead. “I love you baby. Even if you’re blowing me off for your pregnant boss.”
“Come in for a bit today. Pick me up for lunch. Even if we won’t get a quickie we can spend some time together. And you can eat some red velvet cupcakes. Though I was an awesome girlfriend and left two on the counter for you. Don’t let Niall come over and eat them. I need to shower.”
“Fine. I’ll lay here by myself.” I kissed him quickly and stood up jumping in the shower. Not remotely how I intended to start my Valentine’s Day but the least I could do considering how much Lizzy had done for me over the months I’d been living in London. I quickly threw on tight black skinnies, white top, and black cardigan over it. I put on red heels and red jewelry. I’d painted my fingernails red last night too, my little way of being excited about Valentine’s Day. I glanced at my cell phone quickly to see the time.
Message with Kim:
I’m in your neck of the woods this morning. Ran some stuff over to the new house for painting. Want grab coffee before work?
Yes! I have to go in early. Lizzy isn’t feeling well. I was just about to leave. Want to pick me up at the house and join me at the shop? I’ll supply the coffee and Valentine’s themed Red Velvet Cupcakes.
Sounds wonderful I’m on my way.
I’ll meet you out front. I need to try and get out of the house before Harry blows a gasket about not getting any time together for Valentine’s Day.
Tell him to quit his bitching. He gets to plan your birthday without me, which I’m sort of hating. You know how I love to plan everything.
I do know. I’ll see you in a minute.

“Kim text. She was running paint to the new house. She’s gonna give me a lift to work so we can have coffee.”
“Fine. I get even less time with you. So. Unfair.”
“I’ll make it up to you. I promise,” I said sitting on the bed quickly and kissing him.
“You owe me. A lot.” He kissed me again. “Have a good day baby. I’ll see you at lunch.” I hurried downstairs pulling on my jacket and scarf before grabbing the cupcakes and my purse and heading to the gate to wait for Kim on the sidewalk. She pulled up just as I was closing the door behind me.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” I said as I closed the door and she took off down the road.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to you too. How bummed is Harry that you’re working all day?”
“Incredibly,” I said. “He pouted all morning and I made him the most awesome heart themed breakfast. I left two red velvet cupcakes for him and sadly had to leave him without any Valentine’s Day morning sex. And I won’t be home from work until probably 3:00AM. I’ve never cared about this holiday but he seems to love it. So I tried to go all out this morning. He loved it until Lizzy cold and said she was sick.”
“Morning sickness troubling her?” she asked. “She was telling Nate and I at dinner this week that she’s been much more sick with this pregnancy than the previous two.”
“Yeah, she said it was morning sickness today. Said she was going to let me take a long lunch so that Harry and I could have some time together. He’s pretty pissed off that I’m working and that I refused to ask for the night off because Frankie would’ve given it to me. I told him I just felt like I couldn’t ask. I had the weekend of the blizzard off, his birthday off, last weekend mostly off because of the move. I’ve barely picked up shifts at the pub for a month. And as much as the intention of hiring Niki was for me to reduce my hours there and do more of the online stuff for Frankie I love my job there. And I hate missing out on the tips.”
“Well you’ll eventually want to miss out on the tips so you aren’t missing out on nights with your boyfriend when he’s in town and me and Nate, when Nate is in town.”
“True. I will figure it out. I’ll convince myself that I can do the behind the scenes stuff at the pub and not want to be there as much as I have been.” Kim pulled the car to a stop in front of the bookshop. I got out with the cupcakes and unlocked the door. I quickly shut off the security system and turned on the lights as she headed over to the fireplace, flipping the switch to turn it on and taking a seat. “What kind of coffee do you want this morning?”
“Do you have the pumpkin stuff here still?” she asked making me laugh.
“No. How about something to go with the cupcake that inevitably will be your breakfast before work?” She shrugged and I started making the lattes. “So how are you adjusting to driving everywhere?”
“Decently. Nate freaks out every time I try to drive with him in the car. He thinks I’m suddenly going to think I’m back in the States and drive on the wrong side of the road. I’m not stupid. I am aware that people here are backwards and drive on the left side.” I started to laugh as I handed her a cupcake. “These are adorable. You did good.”
“Thanks. Harry taste tested the frosting last night. And by taste tested I think he suddenly turned in to Niall. I made a double batch and barely hand enough to frost all of the cupcakes, normally I have leftovers.”
“Your cream cheese frosting is addictive,” Kim said swiping her finger across the top of the cupcake and licking the frosting off. “So good. Grandma Catalano would be proud.”
“Yeah she would,” I said laughing. “So has he told you anything about what he has planned for tomorrow. He’s keeping my birthday under lock and key and you know how much I despise surprises.”
“I do know and no I’m not telling you. I like that he’s torturing you with a surprise. You always expect the worst even when you know it’s for your birthday and it should be something good.”
“I do expect the worst. Like he’s suddenly going to tell me that this has all been too much and I need to find somewhere to live and then he’s like ‘oh happy birthday’.”
“You are ridiculous. You are officially the worst surprise getter ever.”
“I know.” I sighed as I finished our coffees and handed Kim hers and sat down. “I should be getting things ready to open. Lizzy will come in and think I’ve slacked. But I’m tired and didn’t have enough coffee at home. I woke up at like 6:15. That’s unheard of.”
“For you, yes. I’m sure she was up already getting lunches ready for daycare and kids up.”
“Yes, and puking based upon her call this morning. Poor girl. Although it has Frankie and I hopeful that the baby will be a boy since she was the polar opposite the first two times.”
“Nate’s hopeful for a boy too. He wants to teach a kid about footie.”
“AKA he wants to impregnate you with enough babies to make a footie team.”
“Yes,” Kim said laughing. “He wants an entire footie team. I told him he better figure out how to be a medical marvel because I’m not delivering that many babies.”
“No, definitely not. That’s too many for one woman. Nate would figure it out if you let him.”
“I know.” She smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “We FaceTimed Noel and the kids last night. He’s so cute with them.”
“Did your ovaries twitch?” I asked giggling.
“You are so weird.” She shook her head at me. “Yes. I mean look at him. He’s so adorable with kids and he’s hot. I mean of course my brain goes to baby making or at least practicing the baby making…for now. We need to get married and settled in a house first.”
“I am so happy that you guys are happy.” I smiled brightly. “This is just how it was supposed to be. You and Natey talking about babies. Me dating a teenager.”
“Your boyfriend isn’t a teenager…anymore,” Kim said defending Harry. “He’s 20. Just wait another year before you take him home or there will be no bars in your visits.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me. He asked if we could try and make a trip to visit my family when he’s in the states on tour. That’s terrifying. I mean he’s met them via FaceTime and all but face-to-face makes me nervous.”
“He loves you. There’s no way your brother could tell a story bad enough to scare him off at this point.”
“I don’t think so. He told the me drinking an entire bottle of Jaeger on a party bus and passing out in a running shower story. Harry laughed and asked if my fingers were pruney. And then had this realization as to why I don’t drink Jaeger.”
“That was a very very bad night for you.” Kim reached towards the counter for a second cupcake. “Good thing you made a double batch because I’m totally going to eat all of these before you have any customers.” The door of the shop chimed and Lizzy came walking in, her arms full of bags and a smile on her face.
“Good morning. Happy Valentine’s Day loves,” she said.
“Feeling better?” I asked standing to hug her and take bags from her.
“Yes, much. Frankie woke up to take the girls to school so I could have a cup of tea and lie down. Wasn’t long but I feel much better. I forgot that I had to get some stuff done before we open. I’m finally having a carpenter come to look at remodeling the back. Give you and Lyla some space back there as an office so you have space for the online stuff and she has a desk to pick up some of the things from me.”
“That’s fantastic,” Kim said. “I bet you’re excited.”
“I am. Excited to see this baby grow and this one,” Lizzy said rubbing her belly. “We had another appointment yesterday. Everything is going wonderfully. Should know soon if it’s a little boy or little girl in there.”
“That’s awesome!” I was so excited about being here for Lizzy and Frankie to have another baby. They were so much a part of my life and family that I felt like I was becoming an aunt again. “Do you need any help?”
“No, just get the registers open and the coffee bar set up and we are good.” I stood to start doing that. “And I’m so sorry again about stealing your morning from Harry. I know that you have to work tonight and he must be extremely upset.”
“He is. He’s pretty pissed that I’m working. Evidently he didn’t know he was dating a girl who doesn’t care about Valentine’s Day all that much. Though admittedly I did make him an entire heart shaped breakfast and red velvet cupcakes for today. Tried to embrace the spirit of the day for him.”
“That’s sweet of you. Well hopefully we can get you a long lunch so that you can spend some time with him before tonight. Is he going to be at the pub?” I nodded. “Good. He and I can keep each other company while we watch our better halves run the place.”
“Good, he’ll like that.” I moved behind the counter and started to get everything set up for open. “What time do you have to work today Kim?”
“I don’t have anything until 10 so I thought I’d spend the morning here. It’s weird not seeing you every morning and every night.”
“I know. Harry just isn’t the same when I need to vent about my day. It’s totally different to decompress with a boyfriend than with you. I miss it,” I said pouting at her and she returned the pout.
“I know. And Monday Nate had so much work that he ended up staying at the flat in Cambridge because he didn’t get out of there until late and it was pointless to take the train to fall in to bed and turn around to do it all over. It’s nice that he has the place still but it makes the flat really lonely.”
“You should’ve called. You could’ve come to stay with Harry and I. We have guest bedrooms after all. And I’m sure he’d just love to binge watch old TV on Netflix with us because we miss American accents.”
“I did watch about four episodes of One Tree Hill and eat pizza in my sweatpants Monday night. I’ll call next time. We can make him watch with us.”
“Good plan. Do you need another coffee?” I asked. I saw her glance at her watch and then the door.
“Yeah, another coffee would be great.” We kept talking as I made more coffee and made a cup of tea for Lizzy who appeared out of the back and sat down next to Kim. The door chimed again. I was surprised, we weren’t open yet, Lizzy should’ve locked it. I turned to see Harry and Nate, both with giant smiles on their faces.
“Hi,” I said confused. “What are you two doing here?”
“Can’t a guy come see his girlfriend at work on Valentine’s Day?” Harry asked coming over to kiss me before taking my coffee cup from me and taking a gulp.
“You can. But why are you with him?”
“Uhh, man breakfast?” Nate said.
“Sure,” I replied laughing. “He ate breakfast in bed…with me.”
“There were leftovers. I took your place when you left.” Nate winked at me.
“I actually was coming to pick you up. We need to take off soon,” Harry said.
“Pick me up? Take off? What is going on?” I looked around the room at my friends who all had giant grins on their faces.
“You don’t actually have to work today. Or tomorrow. Or until Wednesday actually. We are going away for a long weekend.”
“What?” I asked still confused but smiling at him. He handed me an envelope and I opened it to see a Eurostar ticket from London’s St. Pancras Station to Paris’s Gare Du Nord. “We’re going to Paris?”
“We are. Happy Birthday Sugar.”
“How did you do this?” I thought I was going to cry.
“Well I knew that you didn’t want any sort of giant party like you threw me because you weren’t keen on turning 30. And so I thought what better way to celebrate your birthday and Valentine’s Day than going to Paris for a few days with friends.”
“Friends? Nate and Kim are coming too?” He nodded. “And you were all in on this?” Everyone nodded. “But the pub.”
“Cameron has it covered. Niall even volunteered to help out in your absence. Which Patrick couldn’t turn down an opportunity to boss him around for a while,” Lizzy said. “We all knew you deserved a break and to travel. You’ve barely gotten out of the city in the time you’ve been here. Go. See Paris. Enjoy time. Be in love. Drink some wine for me.”
“I will!” Kim volunteered.
“You are amazing,” I said standing on my tip toes to kiss Harry. “You had me so fooled that you were upset that I was working all while you did this.”
“I know. It was hard not to tell you. We planned all of this while you were packing up your closet. So let’s go baby. Your bags in the car waiting. We’ve got a train to catch.”
“Have fun," Lizzy said hugging me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. She started to whisper in my ear. “Don't worry about a thing going on here. The only things I want to see from you until you get back here on Wednesday are pictures of the food you’re eating, the wine you’re drinking and the beautiful city that is Paris. Enjoy time with Kim and Nate. But especially Harry. You’re in love. Enjoy it.”
“I will. Thank you for all of this. You are amazing.” I hugged her tighter before I turned to look at Harry and grabbed his hand, my smile stretching across my face. I felt a familiar feeling that I hadn’t since that first weekend together. My stomach did a triple axel. All of this, how fast things had moved. We hadn’t even reached a month yet and we were living together and headed to Paris for a long weekend. How had this happened? What had I done in life to deserve him or any of this life? “I love you,” I said looking up at him. I stood on my tip toes and kissed him. “Let’s go.”
“Alright.” He smiled at me and squeezed my hand. “Lizzy thanks for everything.”
“I’m glad I could help, Harry. Have fun,” she said as he opened the door and whisked me out the door. Instead of his car waiting for us it was a black SUV.
“Wait, Kim…where did the car go?” Kim and Nate’s car was missing from where we had parked it.
“We came and got it,” Nate said.
“I was stalling,” Kim said. “I needed to make sure they they had time to move the car back to your house. I dropped Nate off around the corner before I picked you up.”
“You guys all did all of this.”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “I wanted your birthday to be special. And I thought what better way than a trip to the City of Lights with Kim and Nate.”
“Sitting at home with you would’ve been special. This is going to be amazing.” I kissed him as he opened the door and helped me in with Kim and Nate climbing in after us. I pulled out my iPhone and opened a message that I kept with all of my family back in the states.
Message with Family
So Kim picked me up for work this morning so we could share a coffee and a cupcake before she headed to work. Turns out she was part of a big plot. I’m in the back of a car headed to the train station, my bags were packed for me and I have a ticket to take me to Paris in my hand. We come back Tuesday. I will let you know when we arrive.

I slid my phone in to my purse and leaned my head on Harry’s shoulder. I couldn’t believe this. Paris! I had dreamed of traveling when I moved here and hadn’t actually done it. I’d spent my time here building a life and working. I’d forgotten to live the life I planned to live when I got to London. To stop planning and to just have adventures. And here I was, having a great adventure that I didn’t plan. It was planned for me by my boyfriend, best friend and Nate, who at this point had weaseled his way in to being my best guy friend in this country. There wasn’t a group of people I could enjoy doing this with more.
“Wait…my camera?” I said, my voice showing the panic. I hadn’t brought it to work with me. Normally if I was just off to a normal day I’d take it but I knew tonight would be busy so I left it at home.
“I brought it with Sugar. I knew you wouldn’t want to take a trip without it. I brought mine too. I figure we can take some time to ourselves. Give those two lovebirds time alone. We can take pictures of whatever our hearts desire.”
“You are amazing.” I rested my head on his shoulder again as the car took us through the city to St. Pancras Station. The car pulled up in front of the station and we grabbed the suitcases out of the back. Harry led us through the station and we quickly got checked in for our train. We grabbed seats to wait and my legs started to bounce anxiously.
“Are you okay?” Harry asked quietly.
“Yeah, just excited and a little bit nervous.”
“Why are you nervous?” He pulled me in closer to him rubbing my shoulder.
"I don’t speak French. I’m going to look like a stupid American tourist.”
“No, you won’t,” he said laughing. “I speak French. We will be fine.” He kissed my temple and I started to relax. It was a short time before we were able to board the train. We sat down next to each other with Kim and Nate facing us.
“I can’t believe you three did this for me without me figuring it out. I’m so lucky to have all of you,” I said as I squeezed Harry’s hand. “This is going to be the most incredible birthday weekend ever.”
“Yeah it will,” Kim said. She reached over to high five me and we all laughed. “We are going to have an awesome time because we are awesome. Duh.”
“You’re so insecure Kim,” Nate said shaking his head and laughing. We had a few drinks on the train. It was amazing to me how in just a few hours we could go under the English Channel and end up at the end of the ride in a different country. This was something back home that I couldn’t even imagine. In the amount of time we were on the train I could barely make it to another state in a car. We pulled up to the train station and were out with our bags and on the streets of Paris.
“Oh my god,” I said quietly. Harry wrapped his arms around my shoulders and bent down to kiss my cheek. “Thank you.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day Sugar.”
“Thanks Dimples. This is amazing.” I turned to face him getting up on my tip toes to try and kiss him. He had to bend down a little to reach my lips. “You’re so thoughtful and sweet. This is going to be such an amazing trip.”
“It is,” he said moving some hair out of my face.
“Stop making out!” Nate yelled. “We need to grab a taxi to the hotel.”
“Fine,” Harry mumbled against my lips before grabbing my hand. We were quickly in a taxi and carried through the traffic and city. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of everything we passed. The city was more beautiful than I’d imagined. We stopped at the hotel and grabbed out bags. Nate and Harry went to check us in while Kim and I sat waiting.
“He’s been so anxious for this morning to get here. He hated keeping this secret from you,” she said.
“I can’t believe you all pulled it off. Nate usually spills when it’s a secret.”
“Yeah he does,” she said. “He wants to be the one to tell people things so he just spoils surprises. But Harry threatened him within an inch of his life if he told you.”
“I’m pretty sure Nate could take Harry,” I said laughing.
“Oh he could. But Nate said they went to the gym together and boxed. Harry evidently has a decent right hook.” Kim laughed with me. “So he avoided that. Plus he knew you deserved a birthday surprise.”
“You guys are all so amazing. This is awesome.”
“Alright ladies. We are checked in. How about we head to our rooms?” Harry said as he approached where we were sitting with the luggage.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. We all stood and headed to the elevator. Once we were on our floor we headed to the doors of two rooms that were right next to each other.
“Meet in a half hour?” Nate asked.
“Yeah, that way we can get settled and ready for some sightseeing,” Harry said.
“See you in a bit then,” Kim replied and we went in to our rooms. The hotel room was gorgeous and huge. As I approached the french doors that lead to the balcony I saw the Eiffel Tower off in the distance.
“You did all of this for me?” I asked as I felt Harry’s arms wrap around me again.
“I did do all of this for you. You deserve it. You do so much for so many people. I just wanted to give you a special weekend and nothing seemed more romantic than Paris.”
“I love you,” I said leaning in to him.

“I love you too. Now let’s get ready to go see the city.” He leaned down kissing me and hugging me tightly. I couldn’t wait to see what he had planned for the trip.

Notes

Okay first I want to apologize about the incredibly long hiatus that this story had in between chapters. Sometimes life becomes better than fiction. The last few months of my life have been quite the rollercoaster. I met someone who has made me smile and laugh so much that I feel like some happy idiot whenever I'm around him. I've had some amazing moments with friends and family. And I got a new job! I start the new job on Monday. So needless to say it's been an eventful few months for me, which caused me to need to step back from the world I created in London Calling. This week I'm on a short vacation before starting the new job so I found the time to get myself in the zone to work on the chapter that so desperately needed to be finished and posted. So now on to it...

PARIS!!!! Ahh! I can't believe they all surprised her like that. I can't wait to see what awaits these four friends in the City of Lights. What has Harry planned for Annie's birthday? What adventures does Paris hold for both couples? Let me know what you think of this chapter and what you think is coming up!

Again I apologize so greatly for the absence and appreciate your patience with me. I promise to try and prevent the next chapter from taking so long before it gets written and posted.

Head over to Tumblr to check out the story and blog over there! Thanks so much!!! :)