The Night I Met Harry

I opened the last box of baby gifts my mom had sent through the mail and began examining quietly.

Winter:
"She's going to be an overbearing grandmother, I know it."

I said to him as he held me from behind, and watched me hold up the clothes individually.

Harry:
"I don't know. I see it as a good thing...we'll have time alone often."

I couldn't help the grin displayed on my face as he pecked against my shoulder. One thing I found about us was that we had our disagreements but they never seemed to spill into the days after.

Harry:
"She's not going to be that small is she?"

Winter:
"Yes, Harry. Really small...and this will probably fit loosely."

I knew he was a little nervous about it so I dropped the conversation there. As good as he was with Allison, I honestly didn't think he had much to worry himself about.

Harry:
"So...I talk to your doctor..."

Winter:
"Uh huh..."

Harry:
"And...he doesn't think you'll be okay enough to have her naturally..."

The sickening feeling of being nervous or afraid of heights was sinking in again. I put down her clothes to turn to him slowly. My thumb trailed my stomach in a tiring kind of way.

Harry:
"...but only if we're okay with it."

It wasn't from the uncertainties of what would happen to me anymore... it was strictly about her. And everything was becoming that way.

Winter:
"Okay..."

I said confidently, but fully realized the heat of the situation. To be candid, I could barely blow off hot food without becoming light headed and nothing about my lungs was ready for childbirth. When death decided to float my way I was more than certain my condition would play a part...and I'd learned to live with that realization a long time ago.

Harry:
"I'll be there with you. It's alright."

He hugged me for a second, invading my lingering thoughts with his scent. And I was grateful for that. As long as he was here I felt I'd be okay for this whole thing.

Harry:
"My mom has been begging me to see you...and it's getting harder to ignore these days."

Winter:
"Hey. Don't do that, she can see me whenever she wants."

Harry:
"But she's a lot. You know that."

I sighed, gesturing to the load of stuff my mom had managed to send us though I hadn't remember giving her the new address.

Winter:
"So is Linda...you know you're going to have to carry all of that stuff down the hall to her room right."

Harry:
"I carried it up here, didn't I?"

That was true. He'd done it one night I was feeling sick and needed something to do while on bed rest. I'd managed to color coordinate them all and fold them neatly all from our bed.

Winter:
"Allison's coming over today. Are you excited?"

Harry:
"Of course, I hear she's crawling a bit now."

I remember vividly the last time I'd held her, she was smaller than most of my handbags.

Winter:
"You know...that just means she'll be getting into everything."

And he'd definitely be the one watching her every move. I thought about that scene for a moment before looking down at my boobs. I think I was honestly taking the pregnancy well, giving that there little change on my body other than my my stomach and my hair. But there was definitely something I'd been noticing a lot more lately.

Winter:
"Harry, come here."

I'd called as I maneuvered myself on the bed and urged him to stand there in front of me.

Winter:
"Look at this."

I motioned to how developed my chest had somehow gotten, and the soreness didn't help at times. I wore a tanktop as I always did around the house but the cleavage weighed a little more lately.

Harry:
"...I see."

He was obviously in love with this and he made it no secret, but when a girl goes through life a certain way these kind of changes took a process in getting use to.

I took one of his hands and placed it there seriously so he understood the severity.

Winter:
"See, that's ridiculous right?"

I even had a tendency to notice the small things like how little time I could spend just standing about now.

Harry:
"I see no problem."

He said with that grin I'd always loved. But he was a guy and I should have known he wouldn't take this seriously. I sighed, feeling defeated.

Winter:
"This is girl stuff, I'll just ask Sarah."

The smile went after that statement and he'd immediately begun shaking his head.

Harry:
"No. No you won't ask Sarah."

Silly me for saying Sarah and not Julia or another one of the girls. Cause he was always weird about her.

Winter:
"Don't tell me you're still on that."

Harry:
"What? She'll feel the same way I do about it and you know it."

I understood he was being serious but I simply couldn't keep a straight face any longer. I'd fallen backwards on the bed as I tried concealing the laughter, but only to great failure.

Harry:
"This isn't funny you know."

He leaned on top of me to kiss the area beneath my chin. The curls tickling my skin there had only made it worst for me now and I had already been feeling really giggly at this point.

Harry:
"And more importantly..."

He looked down to the bump between us that now stuck out to a point that it couldn't be easily avoided.

Harry:
"I guess we can't do it like this anymore."
--

Harry:
"Please. Come on, it freaks me out that you haven't touched not one of them."

He'd been forcing my sketchpad and a pencil in my lap while I attempted watching TV.

Winter:
"I just can't right now. I suck, nothing comes out right. So I've just stopped for a while until the mood strikes me, okay."

Harry:
"And when will that be? I miss this about you."

Winter:
"I don't know."

Harry:
"Is it me, is it stress? The baby?"

Winter:
"I honestly don't know, Harry. But when this phase is done you'll be the first to know alright."

He seemed satisfied enough for now, so I took to changing the channels. He'd gotten up, slipping on a shirt and heading for the door.

Harry:
"I'm stepping out okay. I'll bring your vitamins."


--
I was headed from the shops to my car when I saw them. I felt my eyes immediately narrow and the air become thinner against my lungs. My body had been rejecting the sound coming from the outlets of people around me. I hugged my arms around my torso in reaction to how cold I'd gotten. I tried convincing myself I'd been seeing things but even this was something my brain hadn't been creative enough to conjure.

It was Scott. The ex that I still thought about from time to time. Who before this moment I'd managed to make nothing but a memory of. From here nothing had seemed to change about the way I perceived him. Tall and quite easily drawn to the eye as before. But that wasn't what chilled me from the inside, causing me to shift the weight of both me and the baby on my feet. It was my future that stood there in front of him. I never thought I'd have to bare the sight of them in each others company. Harry had told me he'd be back later but I didn't make it a habit of asking of his whereabouts if he didn't openly offer them to me.

It honestly kind of hurt to see them there together engaged in a conversation because I didn't know why. He promised they weren't friends...and before I'd left it alone, but I was reconsidering accepting that as an answer now. I wasn't sure there was an explanation to give for this...not for this.

I forced my eyes down and away as my feet carried me away from the situation. Distance was shoved between me and it now as I took in the air of the outside world and made my way across the parking lot.

I'd reached the car quicker than I'd usually give myself credit for without losing breath. Once there I felt myself lean against it for support, my hand hovering against the handle as if giving myself time to process it all. I took a deep breath as the wind blew and had begun opening the door when a tap had come to my shoulder. I really didn't need this right now but I'd turned at my own pace anyways.

Winter:
"Mason?"

Mason:
"I thought that was you."

The first thing I'd noticed was the scent of him. A cologne, something definitely picked out with a bit of patience.

Mason:
"Wow, you're..."

His attention was to the stomach, if I recalled correctly, he'd been seeing for the first time.

Winter:
"Uhh. Yea, for awhile now."

Mason:
"And the vacation?"

It was hard to bring about dialogue of a different time in my life now that it felt my brain was disintegrating in its shell.

Winter:
"Yep."

He nodded with a smile I'd proven to recognize. Nothing about him had changed from where I stood, still quite handsome with easing eyes. I could hear my friends awwing in my mental background.

Mason:
"It's actually a nice look on you..."

He thought for a second before saying that, though I wished he hadn't. I forced myself to continue conversation when I'd begun visiting what I wanted to the least at the moment. The wind blew at my hair, and the trees far out around us as I stood there baring my weight against the car.

Winter:
"So...what are you doing here?"

He looked about before replying.

Mason:
"Well, I live close."

Winter:
"Wait, but I thought you-"

Mason:
"No, see that was just a weekend getaway thing...similar to your situation."

I swallowed that thought for a moment.

Mason:
"Where are you headed? Have you been creating?"

Winter:
"I was just going to sit in my car honestly...and no actually I've been kind of blocked lately."

Mason:
"Stressed?"

That was a tad bit of an understatement right now, but I'd take it. I looked away so he'd receive the hint I couldn't yet give verbally.

Mason:
"That's too bad. We should fix that sometime..."

I would have been more surprised if he hadn't said that. My stomach was now out to here, and time was something he still cared to spend with me. Maybe his feelings weren't like that but still, I really didn't get it.

Winter:
"How's right now?"

--

Mason:
"No. You're thinking too much."

His voice echoed on the walls around us. We were now in some art studio that he'd had some part in owning. It was surprising close to where we first were and I think I'd had recognition of passing it in my car a few times before.
It was open and spacious with the light gleaming perfectly from the outside. Windows were spaced apart and paint, tools, and white draping were hung in random places. He told the story completely about how things here had come about but honestly half of my mind was still back at the shops.

He sat far behind me in a chair while I stood with the airbrush facing the blank white wall of canvas. I stood there, but it was as if I weren't. I couldn't bring myself to think of anything worth recording on the wall there, though we'd been ten minutes in.

Winter:
"I don't know. Are you sure this is a good idea on your wall...I mean I haven't in a while so-"

Mason:
"Nope, I trust you. I haven't done much in here yet anyways. Just don't doubt yourself..."

I was getting the point. I pulled the heavy hair on my shoulders into a ponytail before picking up the airbrush again. A deep breath was taken at a pace for a second and then I'd begun.

--

Mason:
"Hey."

He said softly from behind me after awhile of me forgetting he was there. I stopped my hand motions to look from the wall I'd just created and peer over at him in answer. His eyes moved along it and I'd felt completely emotionally bare to him. There was always that insecurity that hovered no matter how great or not it may have been.

Mason:
"...See. I knew you could do it. That's beautiful."

I looked back again, not before noticing how much of the wall I'd covered.

Winter:
"Oh my gosh, sorry. You should have told me I was going too far."

Mason:
"No, it's fine. I'm a fan."

I don't know what it was about the day that shifted my way of thinking for now but I was grateful for it.

Mason:
"I only stopped you because, I don't think you realize how late it's gotten."

I looked to the windows to see a progressing darkness falling on the day. My phone had given a similar reading of time and I'd allowed him my undivided again.

Winter:
"That literally felt like five minutes."

He laughed, eyes still upon the wall.

Mason:
"Yea. I know the feeling."

It felt like a mind-absorbing world. Free of stress but also identity. I could have gone until morning without looking up...and I probably would have if it weren't for his presence.

Winter:
"... I don't think I'm ready to go yet."

He smiled as if satisfied with the answer, taking in the whole of me and my pregnant essence again.

Mason:
"Another hour, yea?"

Notes

Posting this early for a subscriber so apologies if there's mistakes. I'm really happy that after 80 chapters you guys still put up with me.

Thank you.