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Homing Bird

Chapter 3

A girl with lilac hair burst through the door and ran over to Anne, throwing her arms around her in a big hug.

“Gemma! Your hair’s purple!” Anne pulled away from the hug to admire her oldest child. Gemma was unmistakably Harry’s sister. They had the same nose and smile.

“I just had it done yesterday, do you like it?” Gemma asked, raking her hair with her fingers.

“It’s nice. It’s like the pink hair you had a while back. Pastels are in, I suppose.” Anne gave her daughter another quick hug before detaching herself and turning to the counter where I sat sipping on a glass of white wine and trying my best not to interrupt the reunion. “This is Kath. She just moved here for the summer and offered to be the test subject of my cooking.”

Gemma threw her purse on one of the dining room chairs and walked over to me. “Nice to meet you, Kath.” She gave me a quick hug and took a seat next to me. “How unfortunate for you to be the guinea pig of Mom’s cooking.” She threw her mother a smug look. “What brings you to Holmes Chapel?”

“I’m house sitting for my uncle and working on some online summer classes. Nothing too spectacular.” Nothing too spectacular unless you count having dinner with Harry Styles’ mother and sister.

Gemma smiled and nodded. Anne went back to the oven while the three of us made small talk. I discovered that Gemma worked as a freelance writer and had recently done an article about a charity concert that Niall Horan had played. Anne and Gemma were surprisingly normal. Anne’s house was comfortable, but nothing extravagant, and Gemma lived in a two bedroom apartment that sounded like it was no bigger than mine. Harry’s fame didn’t seem to have much of an impact on them besides the fact that they couldn’t see him as often as they would like. The night went on, and the three of us had our dinner outside. As much as they liked to joke about it, Anne was a surprisingly good cook.

“So, Kath,” Gemma started, “are you a big fan of One Direction, then?” I couldn’t tell if this was a test or if she was genuinely curious.

“Oh, big fan. In fact, I moved to Holmes Chapel so I could get close to Harry Styles and his family, exploit him for his fame, release a tabloid article, and make quick cash.” The two women shared a fearful look between them.

“I’m obviously kidding.” Anne and Gemma relaxed in their chairs again. “I mean, I listened to their music in high school a lot. Every teenage girl has their One Direction phase, you know? So I would say I’m a fan, yeah.”

“We are, too.” Anne said.

“If I’m being totally honest, because friends should be real with each other, Harry was always my favorite. I hope that’s not a weird thing to say.”

“Don’t worry, Harry is our favorite, too.” Gemma winked at me. “Aside from One Direction, what do you like to listen to?”

“I’d say I have a pretty eclectic taste in music. The Beatles were my first loves; John girl for life and all that. I’m just coming down from my Ed Sheeran phase, Vampire Weekend rocks, uh, recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Smashing Pumpkins. And show tunes. Nothing beats a good show tune. It’s all good, though.”

Gemma nodded and took a sip of wine. She reached for the nearly empty bottle perched next to the empty plates and filled her glass again. “Those are all cool, too. I went through a pretty big Beatles phase when I was in high school. I think everyone does at some point, right?”

“Maybe. I used to play them so often that my brother claims he doesn’t like them anymore. I think he still has a soft spot for the White Album, though.”

“The White Album is my favorite!”

“I prefer Rubber Soul, but White Album is pretty good.” Anne chimed in.

“I think Revolver is my favorite album, but honestly it’s all good.” I concluded.

“You’re all wrong! Sgt. Pepper is the best album and that’s that!” A deep voice called out from the foyer as a burst of sound rang through the house and quieted down again as the front door open and closed. Heavy footsteps trudged through the living room, into the kitchen, and over to the screen door leading to the patio.

A tall boy clad in Beatles boots and black skinny jeans leaned against the frame of the door, with ringed fingers clutching the white trim of the patio door. He wore a black sweatshirt and black ray bans, despite it growing darker by the minute. Tendrils of curls framed his face, and a big, toothy smile graced his face as he held his arms out to Gemma and Anne.

“Harry!!!” Both women ran towards the tall boy and left me to process the site before me.

“You said you wouldn’t be coming tonight!” Anne leaned into her soon and rubbed his back.

“Well, I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it, but we got through sound check pretty quickly today and I figured I would be able to stop by, even if it meant missing dinner.”

“We’re just happy you’re here.” Gemma quipped.

The three of them broke up their hug and started to walk towards the table that I had been seated at. Not knowing exactly what to do with myself, I stood up out of my chair. Harry spotted me and I felt my face turn pink.

“Harry, this is Kath. She’s new to Holmes Chapel for the summer and I thought I would invite her to dinner.” Anne said. I felt my knees get weaker and my under arms start to sweat. I smoothed down my shirt and pushed a strand of hair away from my face in an attempt to make myself more presentable. What would take a normal person four steps to get to me took him two, and he held out his hand for me.
“Hi, I’m Harry.” His eyes were greener than I could have expected. He carried himself with confidence, not arrogance. I extended my hand and worked up the nerve to say something intelligible.

I left it at “Hi, your mom was kind to take me in tonight.”

He smiled and sat in the seat next to his mother at the opposite end of the table.

“Yes, she’s a very nice lady.” Harry said, patting his mom on the back. “Anyways, I see I’ve missed dinner, but is there any dessert?”

“In fact, I just picked up some cookies from the bakery today. Does that work?” Anne said. We all nodded. “Alright, I’ll just clear these plates out of the way and I’ll be right back. Marry says hi, by the way.”

I needed a minute to collect myself, so I jumped up with Anne. “I can help you with that!”

I grabbed my plate as well as Gemma’s, then followed Anne into the kitchen. We perched ourselves near the sink, and I dried while Anne washed.

Harry Styles was in the same house as I was. I looked down at my blouse, wrinkled from slouching in the patio seat. I should have worn a dress after all. The hanging light over the sink turned the window before me into a makeshift mirror, the world outside turning to dusk. My hair had gone frizzy from sitting outside and my face was flushed pink. I put the back of my hand to my cheek: warm. I could hear the sound of Harry and Gemma laughing through the screen door, momentarily distracted while Anne passed me a plate to dry.

“Where are the cookies? I can set them on a plate for you, if you’d like.” I told Anne, desperate for another job to distract myself.

“It’s okay, sweetie, I can do it. Why don’t you go back and sit down with the kids?”

“No, no. It’s alright. I’m sure Harry and Gemma need some time to catch up. I’m perfectly fine helping you in here.” I started to fidget with my hands while I waited for another dish to dry.

“Are you okay, dear? You’re looking rather pale.” Anne put down the dish she was washing on the towel next to the sink. I picked it up and cleared streaks of water away.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just nervous, I suppose.”

“Nervous about what? Harry’s just a normal person. Gemma is a normal person. I’m mostly a normal person. Nothing to be nervous about here!” She chuckled a bit at her self-deprecating joke.

“I know you’re right, and I’m by no means a weird mega fan that wants to stalk Harry and be the next ‘Mrs. Styles’ or anything like that, but he’s still a celebrity. I’ve never met anybody famous before and I don’t quite know what to do right now.”

Anne turned off the faucet and handed me the last dish to dry. She patted me on the back as I dabbed at a pool of water. “Just be yourself. Harry’s not weird about his fame. Anyways, Gemma and I are here, and we’re not celebrities! You’re fine!”

She was right. “Thanks, Anne. I’ll be okay. I think I just needed to get the initial shock of it all out of system.”

The two of us walked back out to the patio accompanied by a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Everyone took one in their hand and sat in silence for a moment. The sky was pitch black now, the only light coming from the crescent moon and fairy lights hanging over the patio. It cast a warm, yellow glow upon everyone’s face, and it reminded me of talking around a fire on camping trips with my friends back in Michigan. I imagined my friends now, what they would say after I told them I ate dinner with Harry Styles and his mom after I quite literally ran into her at a bakery.

Harry took one final bite of cookie and dusted the crumbs off his pants. Still chewing, he drummed his fingers on the table and asked me, “So, besides being completely wrong regarding the best Beatles album, what do you do?” Little crumbs fell out of his mouth when he said “do.”

I blushed. “I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that first bit because I just met you and you seem nice, but I’m a student. I study politics and law.”

“Oh wow, a lawyer smarty pants. Cool, cool. Where are you from?”

“America. Michigan, to be exact. But I’m just here for the summer to watch my uncle’s house and try something new for a change.” I checked my watch. It was 10:42. “Speaking of uncle’s house,” I stood up from my chair, “I should probably be getting back to it.” I walked over to Anne and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much for having me for dinner tonight. I’ll have to cook for you sometime!” Gemma and Harry stood up behind me. “Oh it’s not a problem!” Anne said, and I turned around to give Gemma a quick hug. “So nice meeting you! Maybe we can get drinks sometime” Gemma said.

“That would be really nice, yeah.”

“Harry! Why don’t you walk Kath home? I don’t think she lives far from here, do you, Kath?” Anne looked at her son, who looked at me. He shrugged his shoulders, and I just shook my head.

“No, it’s fine. He just got home and you all probably have a lot of catching up to do. I don’t live far from here, and I can totally make it home by myself.” I couldn’t begin to fathom the idea of being alone with him.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders again. “It’s okay, I can walk you. It’s dark outside, and it’s only the gentlemanly thing to do.” He pulled his shoulders back at the mention of “gentlemanly” things.

I looked at him for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not he was upset by the prospect of walking me home. “Won’t you be recognized or something?”

“Eh, it’s late. Anyways, everybody here already knows me. It’s not a problem at all. We won’t be gone long.”

“Okay. Are you sure?”

He smiled at me and my stomach flipped. “Kath, don’t worry about it.”

Notes

Comments

“Like a fucking gazelle or something” “running is terrible and should not be an accepted form of fitness” I like you already. Truly laughed out loud reading those.

Hopeless1313 Hopeless1313
12/17/18