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In The Heat of Los Angeles

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me" (Fall Out Boy)

He opened his arms, bags still in hand, allowing me to wrap my arms around his waist. I buried my face in his chest as I hugged him, taking in his scent, I loved the way he smelled. Who would’ve thought just a few days away from him and I would’ve missed the way he smelled? I had always been busy enough in life that I never missed a boyfriend when we were apart. But here we were after like a week and a half together and I wanted to cry at the feeling of his arms around me.

“I missed you,” I whispered.

“I missed you too.” I leaned back and he smiled at me. “Are you crying?” I nodded. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure what’s going on. It feels so foreign. Like I can’t control it.” He let go of me quickly, opening the backdoor of the car, throwing his bags and guitar in before shutting the door and hugging me tightly. He had bent down so his arms were beneath mine.

“I missed you a lot too.” He was speaking pretty quietly and right into my ear. “I’m really glad you finally asked me to come. I would’ve hated to be away from you any longer.” He moved back and kissed me. In that moment I felt what had to be a million butterflies start flapping their wings in my stomach. But they felt like a million giant bat sized butterflies. I moaned slightly. “You can’t moan like that standing outside the airport. I can’t have the reaction I want to.” I started to laugh.

“Get in the car,” I replied. He kissed me one more time before opening the driver’s side door for me and then going around the car.

“Did you rent this?” he asked.

“No, it’s Grace’s. I’m pretty sure that she’s going to end up making me pick the boys up from school in a few hours.” Before putting the car in gear I leaned over and kissed him again.

“So do we go to your Mom’s now?” he asked.

“Well, that’s where everyone else is, except Eliza. We dropped her off at her parents’ house when we left the airport this morning. Should be interesting now that she and Joe are hooking up. I don’t imagine him wanting to stay at her parents’ house this weekend but you never know.”

“That’s so random that they hooked up.”

“You’re so relieved, don’t lie.”

“I am a little,” he said as I pulled out onto the road. “So you’ve been home obviously?”

“Yeah, just barely. I was able to put my bags in my room, hug my Mom and take her keys. Dad will probably be home when we get there. Are you ready to meet my whole family?”

“More than ready, I’m excited.”

“I’m glad. Mom is excited too.” He grabbed my right hand and laced his fingers with mine. “So did you have a nice flight?”

“Photographers were at LAX as usual. I appreciate that you had Sam pick me up.”

“No need to worry about getting there. I’ve got a driver who can do that.”

“You’re like my Sugar Mama,” he said laughing.

“I do my best.”

“How was your flight?”

“Good, I didn’t sleep at all on it. I was too excited to come home. Everyone else slept, I think the hangover from Wednesday was still kicking our asses this morning.”

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. I am much better off without him than I ever was with him. If I was still with him I wouldn’t be with you.” I glanced at him and smiled.

“I’m very happy about that,” he replied. He pulled my hand to his lips kissing it softly. “Have you heard from Drew?”

“He texted me yesterday morning to tell me to go fuck myself. I’ve decided not to respond because it’s just not worth it. The only thing that will happen is I will get pissed off and scream and yell and I don’t want to do that. I’m in Chicago. You are here. We are here together. I’ve got my Mom and Dad in the same house as me for a few days. I’m not going to let anything ruin that.”

“I’m glad. I hate that you had to go through all of that and that I wasn’t there. I’m sorry Joe invited him out.”

“He is too.” I started to laugh. “I think Nick and Joe called him yesterday when Eliza took me to get coffee and basically ripped into him. They were both so pissed that he cheated on me, that he made me out to be the bad guy when our relationship ended and that he didn’t think better of accepting Joe’s invitation out. I feel bad. They’d all been friends for so long because of how long Drew and I were together but I’m not sad about him not being part of my life anymore. Them knowing means that this shit won’t happen again.”

“I’m glad he’s out of your life too. The sound of you crying over the phone, knowing I couldn’t get there to fix it, it ripped my heart in two.”

“How did I get so lucky to find you?”

“Technically, I found you. James by the way says you owe him.”

“I’m not surprised. I actually got a call from Ben yesterday. He wants dibs on you when you go to perform on late night. Says he doesn’t care how long it is from now or if you are singing nursery rhymes that they want dibs to be your first late night talk show appearance.”

“When I told James that we wanted to do dinner with he and Julia, Ben got a little jealous.”

“We can all do dinner together. If you want we can invite them over to the house and I’ll cook. Let them see that I have a domestic side and not just the side that bullies them into booking my artists.”

“That would be nice.” I pulled up to the house and turned into the driveway. “This is your house?”

“It is,” I said as I pulled into the garage. I saw Dad’s car in the stall beside us which meant he was home. “It’s affectionately known as the Wrigley Mansion. The family that owned The Wrigley Company that makes all the chewing gum and is the namesake of Wrigley Field once owned the house. We’ve been here since I was nine and in all honesty if they were to ever sell the house I’d probably find a reason to move back to Chicago.”

“It looks beautiful from the outside but so different from your home in Los Angeles and your father’s place in Malibu.”

“Mom and Pops are very different, this is just the most visual sign most people see.” I took one of his bags so that I could hold his hand as we walked into the house. Just as it had been when I arrived earlier there were people running around like crazy.

“It’s very busy,” Harry said quietly.

“Yeah, it’s a big party tonight. Mom usually has an army of people.”

“Where is The Circus?”

“Probably downstairs. There’s a game room down there, it’s where Ty and Joe’s room is. It’s also the safest place in the house right now. Upstairs is a mess of decorators, caterers, and staff.” I left Mom’s keys were they had been in the foyer and lead Harry upstairs.

“I feel like I’m a mini version of Hogwarts with the staircases and the wood everywhere.” I giggled a bit.

“Yeah, I had a pretty badass Harry Potter party here when I was younger. So I can see that.”

“Please tell me somewhere there is a picture of you dressed up as Hermoine.”

“There is. Though I begged to be Luna.” He started to laugh at me.

“That doesn’t surprise me in the least bit.” Before going to find Mom I took him into my bedroom so we could put his bags down. “Your bedroom is nice, very big.”

“Yeah, this was what I got upgraded to as the boys took over downstairs. The second floor has the master bedroom and three other rooms, as there were more babies I got moved. I sort of imagine at some point Jonny will try and take over the room that Kammi and Nick are staying in so he can get off the same floor as Mom and Dad but it makes it awkward to have a guest bedroom that shares a bathroom with Mace and Toph.”

“That makes sense. This house is really stunning.” He walked over to the dresser in my room. I saw him eyeing the framed pictures, he picked one up. It was of Mom, Dad and I at my graduation from Northwestern, I was still in my cap and gown, diploma in hand. Mom had barely stopped crying long enough to get the picture taken. Dad was beaming with pride that his girl had graduated college, he couldn’t even manage to look at the camera for any of the pictures. He was just looking at me with this grin on his face that almost made me cry every time I looked at it. There was one with my Pops and I as well. He looked proud and relieved. He was glad I’d graduated and relieved that I was moving to Los Angeles shortly after. There was a picture of the boys and I that was more recent. It was last fall when I came home for a Cubs game. We were all huddled together in our hoodies and caps with the Wrigley sign behind us that was lit up to say CUBS WIN! We took one of these pictures at every game we went to. If Harry dared to open the frame he’d seen them dating back to the first game that I took Jonny to by myself when we were kids. “You don’t have this many pictures up in LA.”

“Mom put them out here. She wants reminders of me when she comes in here. Dad says that sometimes when she misses me he’ll find her asleep in my bed. That sort of stuff makes me wish I’d stayed in Chicago. My Mom is my best friend.”

“Let’s go find her then,” he said. He kissed me sweetly first and then followed me out of the bedroom and into the ballroom. “You weren’t kidding about a ballroom.”

“Nope,” I replied as we walked across the floor. The door was open to the small balcony that overlooked the park and the lake. Mom was outside on the phone.

“Marie, I have to go. Evie just got home with Harry.” She smiled brightly. “Of course, we will see you, George, Eliza and the boys in a little bit. Bye.” She slid the phone in the pocket of her designer jeans and stepped back into the house from the balcony.

“Mom, this is my boyfriend Harry Styles. Harry, this is my mom, Grace Ferrera.”

“Grace, it’s nice to finally meet you in person.” It took all of two seconds after he finished speaking for her to embrace him in the biggest hug.

“I’m so glad you came. I’ve been anxious to meet you.” She hugged him tighter and I heard her whisper to Harry, she was trying to prevent me from hearing her but I did. “I needed to meet the man that made my Evie take a minute to slow down and breathe.”

“I’m glad I could finally meet the woman that made her the incredible woman who she is so I could thank her.” That was the moment that I knew this was for real. This wasn’t just going to be something fun that lasted a few weeks and kept me entertained. This was the real deal. This was the guy that wanted to be part of my life with my family.

“Everlee Mae Scarcello!” came the booming voice of my Dad out of the service kitchen upstairs. I looked to see him in the door and took off running through the ballroom, dodging people setting up tables before I jumped into his arms. He spun me quickly before setting me down and hugging me tightly. “I’ve missed you bambina.”

“I’ve missed you too Dad.”

“They are so dramatic when they see each other for the first time,” Mom said as I heard her heels on the floor. “She barely had time to hug me when she got home before asking to borrow the car. Her Dad, he gets bear hugs and sprinting.”

“Oh Mom.” I gave Dad a kiss on the cheek before turning to hug her. “I cried when I saw you. I just had to go pick up Harry from the airport. Priorities, lady.”

“I know,” she replied as she finally hugged me again. “You know I just like to give you and Dad crap for your dramatic greetings.”

“Dad, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Harry Styles. Harry, this is my Dad, Marco Ferrera.” Harry stuck his hand out to shake Dad’s.

“It’s nice to meet you sir.”

“You don’t need to call me sir. And son, in this family we hug,” Dad said. He pulled Harry into one of his famous bear hugs. My Dad was shorter than Harry but he was one helluva strong man after the years of lugging shit around kitchens and restaurants. “If you make my little girl as happy as she looks right now, you’re family already.” As their embrace ended Harry pulled me into his side kissing the top of my head.

“I do my best to make her happy. I haven’t quite figured out yet what I did to deserve her though.”

“When I go through my crazy moments where I mumble to myself in Italian about the shit that I’m doing you’ll wonder what you did to deserve me then too.”

“You mean you haven’t had the crazy moments?” He gave me a pretend concerned look which had both Mom and Dad laughing loudly.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” I said standing on my tiptoes to kiss him softly.

“So did you get settled okay?” Mom asked as she pulled out a seat at one of the tables. There were decorators setting up couches and seating areas around. This was going to be some super sweet sixteen level stuff tonight, it looked as if we had part of the room set up as a dance floor. Any excuse to throw a lavish party Mom took.

“We got my bags into Evie’s room. She said it was okay that I stayed there.”

“Yeah, we have run out of guest rooms with Joe deciding to tag along,” Mom said. “And we both know she’s practically moved into your house. You’ve been away from each other most of the week, I wouldn’t punish you to make you sleep in separate rooms. Just remember to lock the door. I hear that Ty still tries to climb in bed with her in the morning.”

“Good to know that there is a lock here. She doesn’t appear to have one in Los Angeles, makes for an interesting wakeup call to have her roommates all appear in the bedroom before dawn. I’ve got it on my to do list to get Evie a lock when we get back home.”

“I love that she lets you call her Evie,” Mom said.

“Me too,” Dad added. “That name doesn’t get used outside of the family.”

“Oh I’m aware. Her father’s girlfriend called her Evie. I had to remove the sharp utensils from the table at the restaurant we were at.”

“Evie,” Mom exclaimed.

“I got back at her. Called her Jessie the entire night, she hates that. But she was lucky Harry kept me under control. I wanted to drown her.”

“You know that’s not the way to do it,” Dad said. I laughed. We always made jokes to play into the stereotype of Italians and the mafia though I was pretty sure that some of our family who was still in Italy probably was in the mafia.

“I know but she sat there, in front of me, hitting on my boyfriend. She was touching him while I was sitting there.”

“You are lucky Harry calmed you down,” Mom said. “You don’t take too kindly to the women in your father’s life for starters, if they are hitting on Harry I’m pretty sure you’d reach a new level of bitch.”

“I did. I threatened to cut her fingers off. Pretty sure Jimmy wasn’t too happy about that.”

“You should try to be nice to them,” Dad said. “You would never speak to me like that.”

“You also wouldn’t hit on my boyfriend.”

“Wait until I’ve been drinking for a while. Now that I see him in person I see what Mom says about him and the dimples you appear to be a fan of.” I laughed as I grabbed Harry’s hand off his lap and laced my fingers with his.

“So did she take you anywhere on the way back from the airport?” Mom asked.

“No, she was too excited to get me here. I can see why. You have a very lovely house.”

“Thanks, it was a labor of love for a while but now it’s just the place we raise our kids,” Mom said.

“And throw insane parties,” I added. “How many people are you expecting tonight?”

“The usual crowd and Jonathan invited several of his friends from school. I think most of his baseball team and that group of girls he hangs out with. Sorry Harry, I would’ve avoided teen girls if it was at all possible but a 16 year old boy doesn’t really care if his Mom’s friends are at his party he just wants to invite the cheerleading squad.”

“It’s okay,” he responded. “I’m used to the occasional teen girl coming to say hi at events. But I’m sure that everyone will be more excited about it being Jonny’s birthday than me being here. I’m just here to celebrate my girlfriend’s little brother.”

“Did you want to pick him up today?” Mom asked.

“Called it!” I said as I looked at Harry laughing.

“She had guessed that you’d ask her to pick the boys up.”

“I was planning on it,” Dad interrupted. “But you know that Toph will be so excited to have his sister pick him up.”

“I know and I will pick them all up. Jonny doesn’t have baseball practice?”

“Not today,” Mom replied. She stood up to get back to work causing all of us to stand up too. “I’m so happy you’re both home. Go spend some time together and then get your brother. Maybe you can take him on a tour of Chicago.”

“We will save that for Monday. We have to head to see Nonna and Papa so it makes more sense to do that then.”

“Well then go take a nap. You look like shit,” Dad said. I flipped him off before we took off to my bedroom. I kicked my shoes off and laid down on my bed before Harry laid down facing me.

“Your parents are wonderful.”

“You’re the wonderful one.” I slid closer to him and kissed him softly. His arms wrapped around me.

“It feels nice to be laying next to you,” he said. “I’ve missed you a lot.” He kissed me again and as the kiss got deeper the door flew up. “There’s a fucking lock here. Why didn’t we lock it?”

“I don’t know, but you should’ve,” Kammi said as she came bounding into the bedroom. Nick followed behind her and laughed as she tried to climb onto the bed in between Harry and I forcing us to let go of each other. “We missed you, Curly.”

“I can’t say that I missed you crawling in bed with us. But I missed all of you as well.”

“Babe, get out of their bed,” Nick said.

“Babe, it’s so comfy. Grace must’ve upgraded all of the beds.”

“Good to know, get out of theirs.”

“He’s such a fun hater today.” Kammi had turned to look at Harry who couldn’t stop laughing. “So what are we going to do until the party starts?”

“They looked like they were enjoying alone time until you interrupted,” Nick said.

“They don’t mind.”

“We don’t?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ugh, fine! Pick sex over me.” She started to move towards the foot of the bed.

“Okay,” I replied laughing as she left the room.

“Sorry about her. She took a nap and now is ready to take on the world,” Nick said as he shut the door. I moved back over to Harry and into his arms. He kissed me softly.

“We probably shouldn’t just hide in here all afternoon, huh?” He was kissing down to my neck at this point.

“Probably not,” he mumbled into my skin. “But I’d rather like to.”

“I know. Me too. But the whole circus is here and I’m sure Mom needs help. And if nothing else you should see the entire house.” He kissed my lips again.

“House tour. I want to see if I can find the Room of Requirement.” I started to laugh really hard. “There is one isn’t there?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied laughing. I kissed him again. “You’re too fucking cute for your own good.” I pushed him onto his back and straddled him looking down at him.

“I like this view.”

“I know you do.” I bent down to kiss him. “Just wait. Late tonight. Feeling tipsy. You can get me out of my party dress and into this bed.”

“I’ll be dreaming of that all day now.” He kissed me again before I stood up on the floor and helped him off of the bed. I opened the door to find Kammi and Nick sitting in the hallway on the floor.

“I figured she killed the mood and you two would be out of there soon anyway.”

“Sure did,” I replied.

“She’s taking me on a tour of Hogwarts.” He grabbed my hand in his as Nick and Kammi stood from the floor laughing.

“The place is a little Hogwartsy,” Nick replied.

“Well obviously in there is my bedroom and bathroom. This one is Nick and Kammi’s. There is a guest bath here since there are events, which remind me to give you the key to our room.”

“Key?”

“Yeah, because of how many parties Mom has all of the bedrooms have keys. That was perhaps because she once found someone passed out in Toph’s room when she went to put him to bed. So we lock the bedrooms for parties. Means only the guest bathrooms get used and people stay out of my shit.”

“Ev, suggested the keys. There was someone who riffled through her purses once when she was in college and tried to steal one,” Nick said.

“Do your parents have poor taste in friends?” Harry asked.

“No, it was a holiday party for the staff at Dad’s restaurants. One of the girlfriends of a bartender had met me a few times, knew I had expensive taste in handbags, tried to steal one of them.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Here's the giant closet and the kitchen. And you’ve seen the ballroom, which still has Mom trying to decide on linens.” As we’d gone into the kitchen Nick and Kammi snuck down the stairs, probably going to find Joe in the basement.

“She’s going to drive me crazy before she even takes time to get dressed,” Dad said as he stood next to us watching. “Giving him the tour?”

“Yeah, she promised me that she’d show me the Room of Requirement.”

“Did you tell him that you call your Mom’s office that?” Dad asked. I shook my head. “You’re clearly well meant for her if you can guess she makes stupid Harry Potter references a lot.”

“I picked that up quickly. She referred to her laptop as a horcrux.”

“You probably have stored a portion of your soul on the hard drive hoping it won’t die.” Dad was laughing so I just slugged him in the arm. “You still pack a punch.”
“I’ve been boxing, though the last week I’ve sucked and not gone to the gym much.”

“Run tomorrow?” Dad asked.

“Yes! We can show Harry the Lakefront Trail.”

“Unless we are biking I’m not doing the whole thing. Even catching the L home at the end of the trail is too much for a Saturday morning post party.”

“I’m not that stupid. And don’t even think I’m setting my alarm for as early as we normally run on Saturdays.”

“I raised you right,” Dad replied.

“Okay now back to the tour. There is a balcony off of the ball room that looks out onto Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan. It’s perhaps the best view in the city if you ask me.” We headed back to the stairway and I showed him the main living area. All three of my brothers’ rooms, which were surprisingly immaculate, Mom must’ve threatened them within an inch of their life. Even their hangout space that was a huge hallway big enough to be a small family room was clean. Mom and Dad’s room as always was perfect, nothing out of place. Even the books were staged perfectly on the nightstand with a pair of glasses rested on them. You’d think it was a movie set. We walked through the closet and into Mom’s office which was above the front door of the house and was probably a porch of some sort at one point. “Welcome to the Room of Requirement.”

“Your Mum’s office?”

“Yes, everything you could ever imagine needing is in here. Books on the history of nearly every artist imaginable, sketchbooks, paints, a blanket, a pair of slippers and snacks,” I said as I found her secret stash of crackers hiding beneath her desk. Because it had light on three sides it was Mom’s office, Dad wanted her to use it as a studio to paint, her first passion. It was rare but it did appear that she had something she was working on sitting on her easel in the corner.

“It has a gorgeous view. Does your mother paint or are these set up for Christopher?”

“That’s Mom’s style,” I said looking at what was the beginning sketches of a painting. “I’m glad she’s painting, she’s sane when she does that.”

“What keeps you sane?” he asked.

“You,” I replied smiling. He kissed me softly.

“You’re lying but it’s cute.”

“Music. Thus why I’ve been overly stressed. I have only been listening to demos. I haven’t played in ages. I haven’t sat down with my vinyl in weeks.”

“Well, we will have to do that soon,” he said as we walked out of Mom’s office and headed down the main staircase to the foyer. “Yup, Hogwarts.”

“It sort of is and I’m okay with that,” I replied. We turned to the living room and I showed him that and the study. There was a small piano in the living room that was tucked into the corner, the ballroom had a baby grand that I’d been given when I was younger. We’d originally thought about having it on the first floor but it took up so much space and was perfect to have upstairs, Mom usually hired a musician to come in and play piano during the evening of a party. It usually sat tucked beside a small stage in the corner. I was assuming that for tonight there would be a band or something and dancing considering there were not tables right near the stage.

“The flooring is really cool in here,” he said as we stood in the study.

“It is. I love it. Dad works in here a lot if he’s home. They turned the little nook off of the living room into a reading space for me. I liked being close to everyone when I just wanted to snuggle up with a book.” The kitchen area was massive. There was a butler’s pantry, pantry and what at one point would’ve been a housekeeper’s room off of the kitchen. That had become a smaller dining room for more intimate family dinners and was occasionally covered in the boys’ school books. There was a formal dining room, a parlor, and a solarium as well. We finally made it to the basement with it’s game room, wet bar, wine cellar and the noise of The Circus.

“Harry!” Joe and Ty yelled.

“Hey guys,” he replied, still holding my hand tightly in his.

“Did you have a good flight?” Ty asked.

“It wasn’t too bad. Getting here was definitely better.” He bent down and kissed me. The affectionate behavior was probably going to annoy my friends but I didn’t care. I had missed him and hadn’t gotten my fill of him yet.

“I forgot to ask how meeting the parents went?” Kammi asked. I realized all of them had busted into the wine cellar and there was an open bottle in the middle of the room.

“It went really well, they seem to love him so far.”

“Parents always love me,” he said as he took a seat in an arm chair and pulled me onto his lap. I got comfy as we fell into conversation with my friends. I hadn’t ever really imagined what it would be like to bring a guy back to Chicago to meet my parents. So far, every serious relationship I’d had was with someone who had been based in Chicago. For some reason I guess I always assumed I’d find someone in Chicago because everyone in LA appeared to have an ulterior motive or agenda. No one felt real. But from where I sat on Harry’s lap, slouched down in a way with my head resting on his chest near his shoulder I could tell he was real. I could hear his heart beat and feel the rhythm of his breathing. “I’m getting mentally prepared for the brothers. We are picking them up from school.”

“We?” I asked.

“If you have to go pick them up I might as well go with. Gives me a chance to meet your little brothers. Is that okay?” I nodded.

“I’d like that a lot.”

“You two realize there are empty chairs in this room right?” Ty asked.

“Yes, we do but sharing is okay too,” I replied. “Give me this time to recharge my boyfriend bank before I have to be surrounded by a ballroom of people. So either deal with the fact that I’m going to sit here in his lap or leave.” I winked at Ty.

“I’m just not used to this,” Ty said.

“It’s nice,” Joe added.

“You wish Eliza was here,” I giggled as I said it.

“Maybe but also we’ve hooked up a couple times. We aren’t necessarily going to turn into you two and start planning our wedding after a week.”

“No wedding plans,” I said.

“Yet,” Harry whispered making me laugh. We sat hanging out with everyone until it was time to go pick up the boys. Jonathan had an earlier out than Mason and Christopher so we got in the car and headed to pick him up first. Mom and Pops had made the decision when I was a kid to put me in Catholic Schools for elementary school and I’d attended Saint Clement until I was ready for high school. When it came time for high school Mom, Pops and Dad let me decide. I chose to apply to and was accepted into Lincoln Park High School’s Music Program. Jonathan had decided to follow in my footsteps, he was unbelievably smart and was able to take a lot of advanced placement classes while he was in high school as well as play football and baseball. Mom and Dad were starting the journey of choosing a high school for Mason. I had every belief that he would choose one of the high schools in the city with a culinary program. He’d known since the first time he picked up a spoon in the kitchen that it was where he belonged and Dad encouraged it. There would be someone to take over the family business someday when he was ready to retire. “So is this where you went to high school?”

“It is. Eliza and I both went here. They have an incredible performing arts program. So we both came here for that. Jonny is likely the only of my brothers that will come here, Christopher could surprise me because he can take art classes out of school but Mace will get accepted to one of the schools with a culinary arts program.” I parked the car where I knew Jonny would see me and opened the sunroof. The students started to pour out of the school so I stood up and looked out the roof. Harry was laughing from inside my Mom’s Escalade as I waited for my brother. “Jonny!” I screamed as I saw him. He looked to the car and started laughing at me.

“Evie, Mom will kill you for standing on her seat,” he yelled back. I got down and opened the door, he walked across the street and embraced me into the biggest hug.

“You’ve grown again.”

“6’2” now,” he replied.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. Oh look at that you brought your boyfriend,” he said as the passenger door opened and Harry got out of the car.

“I did. Jonny this is Harry.”

“Nice to meet you man,” Harry said.

“You too,” Jonny said as he man hugged Harry. “Sorry, was that weird? Dad is a hugger and I’ve just grown used to it.”

“I’m well aware that your Dad is a hugger and it’s okay. I don’t mind. You’re Evie’s family which means you’re important.”

“Evie, huh? You haven’t murdered him for that yet?”

“Nope, I sort of like it.”
“Guess he gets to stick around for a while. The last one to jokingly call you that got chased with a baseball bat.”

“It was KB that called me that, not a boyfriend. And he did get threatened, with his own bat actually.” Harry laughed a little. “We gotta go get the boys. I just wanted to get you first.” I hugged him again. “I’ve missed my little sidekick.”

“You’re the little one now, Evie.”

“I know. But let me still pretend you are. It’s a big sister thing.”

“Let’s go get the littles. You’re at least still taller than Toph.” Jonny climbed in the back and threw his bag on the floor. “So Harry, you’ve met Dad.”

“I have. Both your Mum and Dad as well as Evie’s Father.”

“And you haven't been scared off yet?”

“No, everyone has been pretty great.”

“Mom said Jimmy was an ass for a bit.”

“I’m not surprised,” I replied. “He took the news too well but I’m going to go with it for now.” Harry grabbed my hand as we were driving and pulled up to Saint Clement to pick up the boys. This was the pick up lane fiasco I often had to listen to Mom and Dad talk about. Parents too concerned with their cell phones to pay attention, Mom had nearly been rear ended a few times. We finally got to the point where I’d get the boys and they climbed in before realizing I was driving.

“Evie!” Christopher yelled as he jumped towards the front seats to hug me.

“I missed you Toph.” I kissed his cheek. “Hey Mace.” I looked in the rearview mirror to see him on his phone.

“Hey Evie,” he responded.

“Mason James, look up from your phone.” He glanced up at me and smiled. “Hey Mace, how was school?” I asked.

“Good,” he replied leaning forward to kiss my cheek. “Hi Harry.”

“Hey Mason,” he replied. “Hi Christopher.” He turned to look at my brother in the middle of the back seat.

“So how crazy is the house?” Jonathan asked.

“Beyond crazy. Dad was already running the kitchen. Mom has her poor decorator about to have a breakdown. You know, normal afternoon before a party. She texted me as we were leaving and told me that your clothes for tonight are all laid out. Christopher, I’m supposed to help you do your hair.”

“Can Harry help me do my hair?” Christopher asked. His hair was getting a bit shaggy in comparison to how he usually kept it and he appeared to be embracing the curl he got in his hair.

“Sure,” Harry replied. “Your hair sort of looks like mine did when I was Jonny’s age.”

“He’s the one with the best curls in the family,” I said.

“You’ve got a bit of natural wave to yours.” Harry reached over and tucked some of that wave behind my ear.

“Yeah, but Toph has gorgeous curls.” It wasn’t long before we were home and the car parked. “Boys be careful the house is full of decorators,” I yelled after them as they ran towards the house. “Don’t just throw your backpacks in the family room. Put them in your closets so if someone needs to see the house Mom doesn’t freak out.” Before I’d even finished they were in the front door.

“They are all pretty cool,” Harry said as he pulled me into him as I shut the garage door.

“I know. After school is a pretty delicate time. They all have to burn off some energy first. You’ll get to know them better, I promise.” He bent down to kiss me.

“They were great. Your whole family is. I know why you are so incredible now.”

“How did we end up here?” I asked looking at him.

“Here? Well I got on a plane and you got on a plane and we met here in Chicago.”

“I don’t mean that and you know it. I mean how did we end up here? Like I’m calling you my boyfriend to my family and I’m missing you when you’re not around. This started out as two people who had too much to drink and made a bad decision.”

“I don’t think it was a bad decision. I think it is the way that a lot of things happen for people our age. And it’s not like we randomly met each other in a bar. We have a lot of people in our lives that are connected. Maybe it was fate, I mean I don’t really believe in that shit but if it will get you to stop second guessing what we are then I’ll believe in it. Fate decided that I needed to find a new manager and the one I was going to find was going to be this brilliant woman who was fucking beautiful and put up with my shit.”

“You put up with my shit too.”

“Not hard to do. Your shit usually makes me laugh.”

“I know. I’m a bit crazy.”

“I like your crazy.” He kissed me again. “Your crazy often times leaves your brain and finds it’s way into my bed.”

“You like the crazy there huh?”

“Hard not to like your crazy there and everywhere.”

“We should probably go inside and help the boys get ready. And get ourselves ready.”

“Or we could stand here for another minute by ourselves.”

“We could do that.”

“Are you making out in the parking lot?” Eliza called as she walked up to the house. She had a garment bag in one hand that had a pair of heels hanging from the hanger.

“Yes, it’s the only place with silence,” I replied.

“Until now,” she answered. Harry and I removed ourselves from our hug and as Eliza walked up he hugged her. “How have you been?”

“Good. Missed my girl. I’ve missed my coach too.”

“How did yesterday’s audition go?” she asked as we started to walk towards the house.

“Good. I haven’t heard anything yet unless Everlee is hiding it from me.”

“I’m hiding nothing. You’ll know as soon as I know anything because we all know I won’t be able to hide my emotions if I get a call. I am either sad that my boyfriend didn’t get the role or there will be a rollercoaster of emotions that involve pride that you got the role and heartbreak because you’ll leave me for like two months.”

“I’ll make sure you survive,” Eliza said as she put her arm around my shoulder. “So how did the meeting the family go?”

“Really well,” I replied.

“I got hugs from everyone.”

“That’s a good sign,” Eliza said. We walked towards the house. When we went in the door and headed upstairs I saw Mom running around with her hair in a towel. “Hi Grace.”

“Eliza Joy, how are you?” she asked as she hugged her tightly.

“I’m good. I’m happy to be home. Though the house feels crowded with all of us home the same weekend.”

“Houses full of boys are always loud,” Mom said as you could hear Jonny’s music cranked in his bedroom with Mason’s competing from his. “I swear if I didn’t love them so much I’d be crazier than I already am.”

“Mom said she was going to come over early to help you finish getting ready. I figured Ev and Harry might need some sanity with The Circus all hiding downstairs.”

“Don’t lie, you want to go hang out with Joe,” I replied.

“You and Joe?” Mom asked.

“Maybe. I don’t really know yet. We’ve been friends for a long time so it’s weird territory.”

“You’d be cute together,” Mom said. “He’s a good guy. And you deserve to be happy, Eliza Joy. You’re like my second daughter. I want to see you as happy as I see Evie Mae.”

“Maybe someday. She might have the market cornered on adorable new couples right now.”

“I have no market cornered unless it’s cute couples involving this guy. Then maybe I have the market cornered.” Harry laughed behind me. “So EJ want to help me get the boys dressed?”

“Sure.”

“I’m doing Christopher’s hair,” Harry said.

“Really?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, he asked if I would help instead of Evie. My hair used to look a lot like that. I can handle the curl,” he replied.

“Well, good luck with all of them.” Mom went back into her bathroom and we went to the boys’ rooms.

“Alright boys. Time to get ready,” I yelled. The music suddenly getting turned down in all of the rooms. “You’ve got three helpers. H is helping Toph. Mace, want me or EJ?”

“EJ!”

“I knew you were my favorite Mace,” she said as she headed to his room.

“Christopher’s room is at the end of the hall.” I pointed to the door and Harry bent down kissing me. “Good luck.”

“I think you’re the one that’s going to need it.” I followed Harry’s glance behind me to where my brother stood making a face about what Mom had picked out.

“Oh Jonny,” I said laughing.

“What is she thinking? It’s my 16th birthday. I am not wearing this.” Mom really did normally have good taste in clothes but she was obviously trying to prevent herself from realizing that Jonny was 16, not 6. There was a sweater vest involved.

“I don’t know but I’m not letting you wear this.” I went into his bedroom and opened his closet door. I found a pair of black dress pants that I’d helped him pick out last fall for homecoming so I knew they were a bit more fitted. “Do these still fit?”

“Yeah, they were a little long when you bought them.” I threw him the pants and searched through his closet for a white dress shirt. I handed it to him. “Why do I need to be dressed up so much?”

“It’s your birthday party. I guarantee you that Dad will have a suit on or at least a dress shirt."

“What happened to birthday parties that involved pizza and too much cake?”

“That’s not Mom’s style. Do you remember my 16th? I was in pink tulle and pink tulle was not in style then. At least you have me to get you dressed.”

“That was funny,” he said. I glared at him. “Except when it wasn’t.” He pulled his jeans off and put on the black dress pants before the t-shirt flew into the laundry hamper in the corner and the dress shirt went on.

“Don’t button it all the way up,” I said. He stopped with two buttons open at the top. The tiniest bit of chest hair that a 16 year old boy could have showing. “Do you need to shave before tonight?”

“No,” he said. “I want to look manly.”

“You look like you have peach fuzz on your face.”

“Shut up,” he replied laughing.

“Tie or jacket?” I asked.

“Jacket?” I handed him the black blazer I’d bought him for homecoming and finished the last touches on getting him dressed.

“You look cute.”

“I don’t want to look cute, Evie. I want to look hot. Half the cheerleading squad is going to be here.”

“You’ll look hot. I promise. I just can’t call you that. You’re my baby brother.” I kissed his cheek. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you could come home to spend it with me,” he said hugging me tightly. “I can’t wait until Sunday. The weather is supposed to be nice.”

“I know.”

“Does the boyfriend get to come to the game?” he asked.

“Do you want him there?” I was a bit nervous that he’d say no and I’d have to figure out what to do with Harry.

“Yeah, he’s not too bad.”

“I don’t think he’s too bad either. Now for your hair.” We went to the boys’ bathroom where Harry was finishing up with Christopher’s hair. He had on a blue shirt and blue tie. It perfectly matched his eyes.

“Why did she put the little guy in a better outfit than she put me in?” Jonny asked.

“I don’t know. But I fixed it. Right?” He stood there staring at me. “H, what do you think?”

“I think you dressed him the way I would’ve dressed myself so you’re good J. The cheerleaders you were talking about will definitely be impressed.” I turned to look at Harry and mouthed out ‘thank you’. “What are you doing to your hair?”

“I don’t know. Evie appears to be my stylist today,” he replied.

“I’m done with Christopher. Why don’t you let me help?” Harry asked.

“Much better than my sister.”

“Fine, I’m going to go upstairs and get myself ready,” I said. I left the boys in the bathroom with Harry and checked on Mason and Eliza. He was in a bow tie and looked adorable. He was letting her style his hair so I hurried up to my bedroom and found the black lace dress I’d decided on. I hung it up in the bedroom before going in the bathroom and touching up the curls in my hair before doing my makeup. Rather than doing a touch up I decided to just redo the makeup all together. I was just finishing up my eyeshadow when I noticed Harry standing in the doorway to the bathroom. “Did you get them all ready?”

“I did. Turns out the sweater vest was your Dad playing a joke on Jonny.” I started to laugh.

“That doesn’t surprise me. Though Mom did really make me wear something very tutuesque for my 16th so I wouldn’t be surprised.” Harry moved behind me and his lips found my neck as I was started to go through my lipsticks.

“Do you want to have kids?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do. Being the oldest of four and once you see us all together you’ll get this, the oldest of eight I have always wanted kids. Maybe not four or eight but like two. It was lonely being an only kid with my Dad. I got substitute siblings whenever someone he was dating or married to had kids. Like Rach, I got her and her sisters but I never felt part of those families. I wouldn’t just want one, it’s too lonely. What about you?”

“Yeah and I’d take four if someone would give them to me. Eight might be pushing it though.” I laughed a little. “You look beautiful.”

“I don’t even have my dress on.”

“Doesn’t matter. Still look beautiful.” He kissed my neck again. “What do you want me to wear tonight?”

“Whatever you want. I’m in that,” I said pointing over to the dress hanging on the closet door.

“Alright. I know what to do then. Do you have an iron?” I nodded.

“It’s in the closet.” I put my lipstick on and went to the bedroom to put my dress on. As I reached to zip it up I felt his hands meet mine and zip the dress up.

“It won't take me long to get ready. Do you need help?”

“No, I’m just going to go check on the room and make sure everything is set up.”

“Okay, I’ll come find you when I’m done.” He kissed me softly and went into the bathroom to start getting ready as I pulled on my heels. I walked out of the bedroom and towards the ballroom to find it empty of staff setting up for the party. I could hear some noise coming from the kitchen so everyone must be in there.

The room looked perfect. There were white couches and chairs in areas of the room to create different sitting environments. A bar in one corner looked fully stocked and one in the opposite corner looked full of kid friendly options like energy drinks, soda and water. There were high top tables and rounds set up so that people could sit for dinner or stand depending on what they wanted. I loved seeing what my Mom put together. She’d started out as an event planner before I was born until she finally landed her job as a curator when I was three. She still had it in her and often times put together some of the larger events at the Art Institute.

I ventured over to the side of the stage where my piano was sitting. It was obvious a DJ had come in at some point and set up their equipment on stage. I sat down at the piano and lightly touched the keys. I goofed around on the piano for a while playing random songs. The acoustics of the room were amazing and one of the reasons we’d opted to have the piano put here. After a few minutes, without even thinking about it my fingers started to move across the keys playing a song from memory. It had been my favorite song since my piano instructor had taught it to me. It was in reality a sad song, sad enough that Mom cried the first time I played it for her, but if I was alone at this piano and played it I became happy. I glanced up midway through the song and saw my Dad standing in the door of the kitchen watching me and smiled at him. It was then that I noticed in the doorway that lead to the stairs and the bedroom that Harry was standing. He was smiling at me as well, but his smile was different than Dad’s. I finished the song and they both started clapping.

“Nice to know you’ve still got it, Evie,” Dad said before walking back into the kitchen. Harry started to walk towards me and the way he looked at me made me blush. He sat down next to me on the piano bench.

“You’re incredible,” he said.

“No, Beethoven is incredible. He wrote it. I just played it.”

“You just played Moonlight Sonata flawlessly from memory.”

“I did. It’s one of my favorite songs.” He leaned forward kissing me.

“When we get home I’m making you perform a recital for me.” I started to laugh. “I have that piano in my house. You are going to use it.”

“How do you know I haven’t already?”

“Because you haven’t been there without me and I haven’t heard the piano.”

“That’s true.”

“Play me something else,” he said.

“Like what? Something else classical?”

“Sure, whatever you want to play.”

“What are you a fan of? Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Bach, Chopin?”

“Whatever you want,” he said laughing at me. Rather than go the classical route I started to play a piano arrangement of Lovesong by The Cure. I’d played it as part of my senior recital in high school. It was a beautiful song and one of my favorites to play. Without even asking he started to sing over the song. This time when I looked up from the keys and I looked at him smiling at me he nodded towards the opposite wall. There watching us together were my parents, Eliza’s parents and brothers, and The Circus. I hated performing in front of people, it was why I’d not pursued music in college despite my parents pushing me to. I took a deep breath and just kept playing. I knew this song well enough that even with an audience I could play it fine. I finished the song and Harry leaned towards to kiss me. “You are amazing.” I heard Eliza’s Dad whistle.

“Ev, you never should’ve quit playing,” Marie said. I stood to go hug she and George.

“I know. Mom gets on my case all the time.”

“Missed you,” George said hugging me next. Eliza’s three brothers engulfed me into a giant hug.

“I missed all of you too. Alright everyone, this is my boyfriend Harry. Harry this is Marie and George Richards, Eliza’s parents. And her three younger brothers Marcus, David, and Alex.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” he said as he shook everyone’s hands. He got to Marie who pulled him into a hug.

“We are so excited to finally meet you,” she gushed. “Grace has told me all about you and how happy you make Everlee.”

“Evie, makes me pretty happy too.”

“He passed the Evie test?” Marie’s eyes had grown wide.
“He did.” I leaned into him. Everyone found seats in one of the couch areas. I was on Harry’s lap just as Mom was on Dad’s. We all talked for a while until we knew guests were nearing arrival. Dad went to the bar and grabbed a bottle I was all too familiar with.

“What’s that?” Harry asked in a whisper.

“Limoncello, it’s the Ferrera family recipe. Family tradition to start and end every party with limoncello.”

“Okay.”

“You’ll be okay,” I replied. Dad poured enough small glasses for everyone except my brothers.

“If you survive the night,” Dad said looking at Jonathan. “You can have one at the end but the last thing I need is your friends telling their parents your breath smelled of booze.”

“Okay,” Jonathan responded. Everyone took a glass.

“16 years ago on this very day I sat beside my wife in the hospital as she gave birth to our first son. It was a helluva day, J. Your Mom threatened to divorce me about 12 times. Evie cried because Mom wouldn’t stop crying. Then about 20 minutes before they told us if you didn’t show up Mom was having a c-section you decided to grace us with your presence. You’ve always functioned on your own timetable which drove your Mother and sister nuts. You’ve grown up to be a great kid who makes us all so proud every day. So let’s all raise a glass to Jonathan, happy birthday.”

“Salute!” I said as I heard Harry’s accent say cheers. I threw back the glass before watching Harry take the drink and watched him make the same face he’d made with the scotch the first night.

“That burns,” he said quietly. I laughed a little.

“Yeah, it does. You’ll get used to it.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“Because it was funny to watch.”

“You’re lucky I think you’re so cute.” He kissed me before I stood up off of his lap. He headed to the bar to get us drinks and Mom pulled me into a hug.

“It’s nice to see you with someone who isn’t afraid to show the room that he loves you.”

“Love is a strong word, Mom.”
“You’re right it is. But mother’s intuition says that it’s the right one.”

“I agree,” Marie said.

“Same,” Eliza and Kammi both chimed in.

“The way he watched you as he sang along when you played piano. Yeah, the boy is head over heels already,” Kammi said.

“Whatever. I’m not going to worry about it. We are having fun. That’s all that I need to know right now.” I left the group of women and headed over to where Harry was standing with my Dad. I took the glass of wine from his hand.

“Sorry love, I got to talking and forgot I had your drink,” he apologized.

“It’s okay. I know how Dad can get when he gets to talking.”

“You’re dating a Packers fan,” Dad said. I started to laugh. “I couldn’t be more proud.”

“And I couldn’t be more disgusted,” George retorted.

“You’re contractually obligated to say that,” I barely got out through laughter. “If I finally have a boyfriend that can watch a game with my Dad or I don’t know maybe even go to a game with me and not hate on Rodgers then I’m good.”

“I’d love to come back in fall and go to with you,” he replied.

“You’ve just made me so proud,” Dad said kissing my cheek. I laughed. Of course it was the little things like this that made my Dad act silly. Something as easy as finding a boyfriend he could talk football with.

“You knew this,” I said. “Jonny couldn’t shut up about how awesome it was to see Harry in his Packers jersey on stage at Soldier Field when he went to the concert.”

“I remember that now! He text pictures to Evie and I from the concert.”

“He was texting you from a concert?”

“Yeah, he’s my brother he thought it was awesome that you wore a Packers jersey.”

“Did you ever see me in concert?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I replied.

“You did! When?”

“Years ago. I had a friend living in Toronto at the time. I went to see her and we went to see you.”

“And you’ve hidden this from me?”

“You stalked me on the internet before you met me. We will call this even.”

“Fine.” The room started to fill with party guests. My parents’ friends, Jonny’s friends and family. I knew that I’d need to find the right time to introduce Harry to my grandparents that were all here. Grandma and Grandpa Fazio had arrived early in the evening and I knew that it would be a bit longer before Nana and Papa Ferrera arrived, they had to drive down from Wisconsin today. They typically sat together at this stuff so it would be best to wait until everyone was here to introduce Harry. I saw Nana and Papa arrive and went to find Harry talking to Eliza’s brother, David.

“Ready to meet four of six grandparents?”

“Sure,” he said. I took his hand and lead him to the table they were sitting at. I bent down to kiss each of them before sitting next to Papa Ferrera.

“Alright everyone, I’m sure since Mom and Dad both have big mouthes and spill every secret ever you already know about this. But I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend, Harry. Harry these are my grandparents.”

“Hello,” he said waiving a little.

“Alright left to right we have Frank and Gloria Fazio and then Sophia and James Ferrera.”

“Very nice to meet you all,” he said as he extended his hand past me to shake theirs.

“He’s cute,” I heard my Grandma say to my Nana.

“Very and he has a nice accent,” Nana replied.

“You’re British,” Papa said.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Papa.” I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Well did you move to England to find this one?” he asked.

“No, he walked into my office actually.”

“Work finally did something good for her,” Grandma said. She was the hardest on me about how much I worked. She watched my Father ruin the marriage he had with Mom because of work.

“Work does a lot of good things for me Grandma, but this was an especially nice benefit.”

“You’re the one that my youngest granddaughters watch on the television, right?” Grandpa asked.

“I probably am,” Harry responded, he smiled big enough that his dimple took up his entire cheek. “I was in a band for several years. Evie is helping me with the launch of my next phase.”

“She’s the best there is from what we here,” Papa said.

“She is,” Harry replied. “I can confirm that.” We sat talking with my grandparents for a little while before it was time to sit down for dinner. We were thankfully put at a table with The Circus instead of family. Normally I’d be stuck with a great aunt or something but Mom must’ve felt like Harry shouldn’t have to endure that today. “I’m going to go grab another drink. Would you like one?” I nodded and he kissed my cheek before standing up from the table.

“How are you holding up?” Eliza asked me. She’d somehow also gotten out of sitting with her family.

“He’s met the grandparents now. This is exhausting. I can see why people don’t do it all in one day.” I laid my head on the table and she started to pat my back while laughing.

“At least tomorrow you aren’t doing family day all day,” Kammi said.

“I know. Mom wanted all of us to do brunch tomorrow. And then I figure we can be lazy and nap or something and then tomorrow we go out. I need a night out with my friends where I don’t have drama.”

“I’m still sorry about that,” Joe said.

“You’re fine, it’s okay. I just want a chance to have all of us hang out without any chance at drama. Just fun.”

“Fun we can handle,” Nick added.

“All of you get to have extra fun and I’m all alone,” Ty whined.

“I would tell you that I’m sorry but really I’m not,” I replied. “I just want to be alone and naked in bed with him. Which I have a feeling is going to be difficult tonight based on how many people are here.”

“And how many of the women here are flirting with him,” Eliza said. I turned to see him at the bar posing for selfies. I felt bad but he was a pro at it. Some of the women here were flirting with him enough that I could see it from the other side of the room. I saw him say something to one of the women hold up my wine glass and gesture towards me. They waived and I waived back before he hurried over.

“I don’t know which is worse, your Mum’s friends or the cheerleading squad,” he joked. The whole table laughed.

“For you probably even. Joe and I skew towards the girls in the room that are daughters of Grace’s friends who bitch about having to come here because they aren’t Evie’s age but they are older than Jonny.”

“I get some of the older women,” Joe said.

“I’m just going out on a limb and saying that I’m walking nowhere in this room without Evie tonight.” We all laughed.

“She was just talking about taking you to her bedroom and getting naked,” Ty spilled.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. Can we do that?” Everyone laughed.

“Sadly not yet. Maybe we can sneak away after dinner.” Dinner was finally served and as always the food was amazing. The menu had turned out perfect based on what Dad and I had picked. They'd decided to do it family style at each table rather than buffet. There was salad, bread, a penne with vodka cream sauce, meatball appetizers, and toasted ravioli.

“You didn’t warn me about the love parm,” Nick said.

“I didn’t figure Dad would put it on the menu. It's a pain to make for catering purposes.”

“It’s so good though,” Nick responded as he moaned at the mouthful of food.

“It is good,” Harry added before leaning in to whisper into my ear. “Not as good as yours.”

“I appreciate that.” I kissed him softly. After dinner the lights got turned down and the DJ started to play music that Jonny and his friends were dancing too.

“Do we get to sneak away?” Harry asked softly in my ear. I nodded and he followed me out of the ballroom, down the hall and into my bedroom. I quickly unlocked the door, let us in and then locked it behind me.

“We have to be fast.”

“I can handle that. I haven’t been able to touch you the way I wanted to since Monday night. I don’t know that I can manage more than fast.” I laughed at him as I slid my panties off underneath my dress, leaving the heels on. Harry unbuttoned his pants and they dropped to his ankles before he sat down on the bed. I grabbed a condom from my bag that was near the bed and before I knew it I was on his lap moaning loudly. “It’s a good thing the music is so loud.”

“I know because later we will have to be quiet. Old house, thin walls.”

“So I’ll need to gag you to prevent you from screaming. You don’t do quiet well,” he said before biting my lip.

“I can do quiet. Well, I used to be able to.” He snuck a hand into the front of my dress, pinching my nipple. “Fuck.” I started to ride him faster.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you. Fuck I missed this.” A hand ventured under my dress, his thumb finding my clit and coaxing my orgasm out of me faster. “What are you doing?”

“I’m close and we are running out of time. Your watch has buzzed more than once. I can feel it against my shoulder since you have your hands in my hair.”

“Fine, fuck. Let’s do this.” We both moved as fast as possible before I yelled out with my orgasm. I stood up and went into the bathroom to clean myself up, Harry following me. I pulled my panties back on and looked at him. He was fixing his hair in the bathroom. “You did great today with all of my family. I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

“I’m really happy. You…you make me really happy.”

“You make me unbelievably happy too,” he said as he came over to hug and kiss me. We got ourselves put back together and exited back to the party. I found Kammi and Nick standing over by the wall.

“You really just snuck away to have sex, didn’t you?” Kammi asked.

“How can you tell?” I replied.

“Your hair.”

“What about my hair?”

“It looks like you just had sex, Ev,” Nick replied.

“It does not, I looked in the mirror before we left the bathroom.”

“You look beautiful. They are just fucking with you, love.”

“I hate you all.”

“You love us,” Nick said.

“I do and I’m glad we are all here.”

The cake was eventually wheeled out with tall sparkler style candles. The whole room sang to my little brother. I could tell Mom and Dad were really proud of him. He was so smart and so talented that he was going to go really far in life. We all knew it. I even joked that if he didn’t make it as an athlete and would rather be on the back end that he could always come to work for me. There was a pile of gifts in the corner that he would get to tomorrow afternoon. I saw the various sizes of items and one caught my eye.

“That wasn’t your guitar,” I said to Harry as we stood together eating cake and sipping on champagne at one of the high top tables.

“What do you mean?” He was trying to be coy, his dimples were giving him away.

“The guitar you brought off the plane with you. That wasn’t your guitar. That was your gift for Jonathan.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because the case is sitting over there with a giant red bow on it.”

“You sounded really excited to get him a guitar.”

“You didn’t need to get anything for him. I put your name on the watch I gave him.”

“Good thing I put yours on the guitar then too.” I wanted to be angry with him. I knew the style of guitar case and that the only acoustic guitars around his house were Martins. It wouldn’t have been a cheap gift. I’d already spent a small fortune on Jonathan’s birthday and here he was doing something that added to the amount but was also the sweetest gesture ever. I leaned towards him and kissed him softly.

“Thank you for being so amazing.”

“You don’t have to thank me for it. I wanted to do something nice for him and for you.”

“Can I take a picture of us together?”

“Of course. I’ve done that without your permission.”

“I know. But I sort of want to post this one on Instagram.”

“You know what, I think I’m okay with that.”

“Okay.” I grabbed my cell phone from his pocket where I’d tucked it when we left my bedroom and took a picture of us together. No giant cheesy smiles. No kissy faces. Just two people who were unbelievably happy to be with each other.

everleemae: Happy Birthday @jonnyferrera17! Thanks for giving @harrystyles and I the best excuse to spend a long weekend in Chicago and for being a kickass little brother. #sweethomechicago #hbdjonny



“We look cute,” Harry said as he watched me type on my phone.

“Do we look too coupley?”

“I mean we look cute together. Do you have a problem if we look coupley? We are a couple.”

“But should I not post it online. You are typically really private about your personal life. I don’t want to cramp your style.”

“And you post everything so I don’t want to cramp yours,” he replied laughing. “It’s fine. We look cute. And if people have questions about our relationship I don’t have to answer it…you do.”

“Ugh I hate you,” I said as I hit post. The night started to wind down. The crowd cleared out. The Circus had wandered to their rooms, Ty claiming he was sleeping on a couch in the game room because Eliza followed Joe to the basement. In the end it was my Mom, Dad, Harry and I sitting in a circle in the middle of the floor passing a bottle of champagne and eating from a giant piece of cake. “You did good, Mom.”

“Thanks, I think Jonny liked the party.”

“I didn’t mean on the party. I mean you did great on that. But you did good, Mom. We are all turning out pretty okay.”

“Thanks Evie. I’m so glad you were able to come home. Both of you,” she said as she reached next to her to Harry’s hand. “Harry, all I can say is after tonight, welcome to the family.”

“Thanks,” he replied.

“You survived grandparents, aunts, old friends and the Lincoln Park High School varsity cheer squad,” Dad said. “I think that was quite a gauntlet for going home with your girlfriend for the first time.”

“It’s all worth it.” I smiled at him before taking a swig from the bottle of champagne and passing it to him.

“We leaving on our run at 8:00 or 8:30?” Dad asked.

“8:00 is fine with me. How about you baby?”

“Sounds perfect. Then we can do brunch after like Grace wants.”

“Do we get girl time tomorrow?” Mom asked.

“What if we do girl time on Monday?”

“The boys don’t have school though,” Mom replied.

“I can hang out with the boys,” Harry said. “You two can go have mother/daughter time.”

“I’m off Monday too,” Dad said. “You two go have a bit of girl time in the morning and we can all spend the afternoon together as a family.”

“I like that,” Mom said. “Alright hubby, take me to bed.” Dad stood up and helped Mom off of the floor. Harry did the same for me. “Love you, Evie.” She kissed my cheeks and hugged me.

“Love you too, Mom. Love you, Dad.” I hugged him and kissed his cheek.

“Love you, Bambina.”

“Thank you for being here, Harry,” Mom said hugging him. “We love you too.”

“The feeling is mutual. I love your whole family as well. Thank you for welcoming me into your home.”

“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Dad said. We said our goodnights and they headed down the stairs. Harry grabbed my hand twirling me towards him.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” I replied.

“You look tired.”

“I’m exhausted. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m not just in this for sex. And even if I was, you snuck away from a party to have sex with me in your bedroom. There are few boys that don’t have that fantasy as a teenager.”

“Glad I could fulfill it for you. Because tonight’s fantasy better be your 25 going on 80 year old girlfriend who needs carried to her bedroom because her feet hurt and she’s tired.”

“That is absolutely my fantasy.” He started to laugh as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I laugh, this was just how we started. Only that time he bit my ass. Oh wait, he did that just now too. He stopped at my door, fished the key out of his pocket and carried me into the room. He put me down on the bed and laid down on top of me kissing me. I slid his jacket off and dropped it on the floor. “I thought you were tired.”

“Not anymore.” He laughed at me before bending down to kiss me again. This truly was the fantasy.


Notes

Okay...so I'm falling in love with Evie's family 100%! And I love how easily Harry is fitting in with them. I love the way her whole family interacts with each other and that they are so easy to pick on each other. A sweater vest for a 16th birthday party, way to go Marco! Evie seeing her Dad for the first time is something I've been imagining in my head since I decided in the very beginning that Evie's parents were going to be divorced. She is very close with her Mom and Dad. I also love that her whole family wants to hug Harry, including the Richards family which are basically like an extension of her own family.

I have a few favorite moments in this chapter. Obviously, them seeing each other at the airport for the first time is huge to me. Meeting all of her family members is a big deal. Her Dad's humor. Her Mom's comment about him loving her, Grace and her mother's intuition. Harry helping her little brothers' get ready for the party. But the thing I've been imaging for a few chapters is when he finds her playing piano. I'd originally not planned him singing with her but it only felt appropriate as I started writing it. That the first song they played together was Lovesong by The Cure. Yup. Melted. If you don't know the version of it look it up it's from the Vitamin Piano Series, I love that version of that song and if I ever get married want to walk down the aisle to it.

Chapter title!! It's only appropriate that it's a Chicago band! And Fall Out Boy had a song about Sixteen Candles so it wins! All of the Chicago chapters will feature bands that came out of Chicago. When I was in college the Chicago pop punk scene defined my life. So it's fun to reminisce while naming chapters.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed chapter 13. It came much easier to me when writing than chapter 12 had. It was fun to write these moments and have Harry and Everlee reunited and both appear to be so ready to just slide headfirst into this relationship. I can't wait to hear what you think of this. I will probably not sleep for like a day (I'm currently less than 2 hours out of the album release on Apple Music so we know I'm not sleeping until I hear that). So please comment and let me know what you think. I can't wait to hear your reaction.

xx AM.
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Here is this chapter's house listing. Grace and Marco's house is MY FAVORITE! I sort of imagine that they bought it in a state similar to what it is currently and restored it, gave it love and made it perfect for their family.
https://www.trulia.com/property/3209079-2466-N-Lakeview-Ave-Chicago-IL-60614

Comments

@En_1960
Thank you!

LOVE this.

@xXFluffy_GruXx
HEY GUESS WHAT? THE SEQUEL IS A THING. A REAL THING. LIKE I PUBLISHED THE FIRST PART OF A SEQUEL! I can't wait to hear what you think of it. Your words of encouragement through all of this have meant more than you could ever truly know.

@xXFluffy_GruXx
Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later. I'm behind with work which is stressful. I work for myself so it's not like I can have anyone else help but the good thing is I can take care of everything I need to without worrying about punching a clock for someone else. I'm also at that point where my sleep habit is so screwed that I just honestly want to pull an all-nighter, hate my life for like a day and a half and then hope that it resets my sleep schedule. Maybe tonight is the night for that. I could write instead of sleep, haha!

@raybansncoffee
Exactly! You are also 100% correct about growing through what you go through! I'm excited and anxious to see what comes next, but I'll wait patiently this time, promise. XD