I sat in Harry’s Audi, on our way to Holmes Chapel, staring out the window at the English country side. I hadn’t told Harry what Perrie had said to me before I left, and I wasn’t sure if I should. Would he believe me? It’s like Perrie had them all fooled. Harry took my hand, and smiled at me, “We are almost there.”

I smiled back and squeezed his hand. The drive to Holmes Chapel was straight up three hours, which I was surprised by. I was a little sad to leave. I had loved London and I would love to go back. A few minutes later, houses started to pop up and some stores. They were brick buildings and the houses were white with brown paneling. Christmas lights were strung and snow was falling from the gray sky. It was breath taking. Harry pulled up to a house and turned to smile at me, “Ready?”

I nodded my head a little reluctantly and he chuckled, kissing me on the cheek, “You’ll do fine.”

We both got out of the car and Harry got our bags out of the trunk. I took mine from him, and we made our way up to the front door. Before we had even made it to the steps, the door flung open. A woman with long, dark hair stood in the door way. Her body frame was slender and curvy. She was smiling at us, showing her white teeth. Her face wrinkled when she smiled, but it only made her more beautiful. “My baby,” she said taking Harry in her arms.

Harry sat his bag down and wrapped his arms around his mother. The woman’s eyes became misty as she pulled away. She laughed at herself and wiped her eyes, “Sorry. I know, over emotional.” She turned to me, “You must be Aria.” She pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek before I could say anything, “I’m Anne Cox. It’s lovely to meet you dear.”

I smiled at her when she pulled back, “Likewise.”

“It’s freezing out here. Come on, let’s go inside.”

We followed her inside the house. It wasn’t fancy but it was really nice. It was homey. Pictures hung on the white walls: mostly family pictures. I smiled seeing pictures of Harry when he was little. There were two arch ways, leading to other rooms: one at the end of the entry way and one to the left of the front door. Right by the arch way in front of us were stairs. Anne shut the door behind us and told Harry to show me to my room. We went up the stairs and there were four shut doors in the small hallway. Harry opened one door closest to the stairs, revealing a small room with two twin beds and a dresser. “This was my old room but it looks like mum remodeled it,” he sounded a little sad but quickly smiled at me reassuringly.

I laid my bag on one of the beds, and Harry laid his on the other. He came up behind me and kissed my cheek, “I may not get to sleep in the same bed as you, but at least I can sleep in the same room. It took a lot of convincing.”

I laughed, “Mom stuck on the old ways?”

He nodded and chuckled, “Always has.”

There was a knock at the door and Harry dropped his arms and we both turned around. “Gemma!” Harry shouted and pulled the girl into a hug. She was a little shorter than Harry, with brown curly hair, like Anne and the same green eyes as Harry. She smiled at him, “Hey, little brother.”

He pulled away and he just smiled. She looked at me and then looked back at him and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Harry nodded and she turned back to me, smiling. She extended her hand and I smiled, taking hers in return, “I’m Gemma, Harry’s older sister.”

I smiled, “I’m Aria and I know.”

She laughed. She turned back to Harry, “She’s lovelier than you described, Harry.”

I looked at Harry, who looked a little red in the face. Gemma laughed at Harry’s face, “Harry is embarrassed! My work here is done. Tootles,” she twirled her fingers at me in a wave and smiled, leaving the room.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Typical Gemma.”

I snickered at him, “Don’t try to cover it up. You were totally embarrassed.”

He stepped closer and I stepped back, “Why should I be embarrassed?”

I smiled, “Because she ratted you out about talking about me.”

He took another step and so did I but my calves were touching the bed and I had nowhere else to move, “Why would talking about my extremely fit girlfriend who is coming home for Christmas, embarrass me?”

His body was against mine and he was towering over me, smiling down at me devilishly. His green eyes bore into mine and every time one of us took a breath, our chests would touch. Every little touch we shared sparked electricity through my body. I began to melt under his direct gaze, “Hmmm,” I murmured. “Good point.”

He chuckled victoriously and his lips gently connected with mine, making my knees sway backwards. He put his hand on my lower back, keeping me from falling onto the bed. I kept one hand on his chest and one hand in his curls. He pulled away, and I pushed my bottom lip out into a pout. He laughed at me, kissing me on the forehead, “I still haven’t seen Robin. We will continue later, love.”

I smiled at him excitedly, all pervious disappointment faded. He held my hand, stopping in the hall and pointing to a door, “That’s the toilet.”

I rolled my eyes, “You British people are so confusing. I thought you called it the ‘loo’?”

He chuckled and poked my cheek, “You Americans make up stuff.”

He led me down the stairs and through an archway into a kitchen. The kitchen was good sized with white counter tops and cabinets. There was an island in the middle of the kitchen with bar-stool. It was very open and light because of the sliding door, leading to the back yard. A rectangular table sat by the kitchen with fake flowers in a vase for décor. Anne was cooking at the stove and the smells filled the room. “You have a beautiful home, Anne,” I thought aloud.

She looked up from the stove and smiled at me, “Thank you lovely.”

Harry looked around, confused, “Is Robin in the living room?”

She shook her head, “He went out to get a bottle of wine. He should be back any minute.”

He nodded his head and turned to me, “Let me show you the rest.”

He pulled me back into the hallway and led me through the other arch way, into a living room. There was a leather sofa facing a flat screen TV and a book shelf in the left corner. More pictures hung on the walls. A Christmas tree was by the window, light up and covered with ornaments. “This is a regular living room.”

He pulled me out of the room and back through the kitchen. He was getting ready to open the back door when Anne interrupted him, “Harry, the Bungalow is being redone. New carpets and such. Don’t go in there.”

I looked at Harry, confused. What the hell is a Bungalow? Harry looked a little sad again at his mother’s words. He looked at me, reading my mind. He pointed out across the lightly snow covered yard to a little house looking thing in the back. “It’s where I and the boys went to get to know each other during X Factor.”

I made an “O” shape with my mouth, indicating I understood. He opened the sliding door and pulled me out into the cold air. Good thing we both still had our jackets on. He quickly shut the door behind us. There was a fire pit in front of us, with chairs placed around it, “Me and the boys would sit around this fire and sing songs.”

He took my hand and pulled me around the corner of the house. There was an in ground pool, “How the hell do you swim when it’s always so fucking cold?”

He laughed at me, “You kind of just have to jump in and get use to it.”

I shook my head, “Yeah… No. That’s crazy.”

“HARRY,” someone yelled from inside the house. We both walked back inside, the warm air flushing my body. A short, plump man with graying hair stood in the kitchen with Anne. He had a huge, friendly smile on his face. Harry walked over to him, grinning, “Hey Robin.”

Robin patted Harry on the back, “Hey Harry. How are ya, kid?”

Harry smiled, “I’m great.” He turned and motioned a hand towards me, “This is Aria, my girlfriend.”

Robin pulled me into a hug, “Nice to meet ya, beautiful.”

I grinned at the friendly man, “Nice to meet you too.”

He turned and patted Harry on the back, “You did well.”

Harry grinned at me, “I did, didn’t I?”

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
The Christmas Eve dinner with Harry’s family went better than I could have ever hoped. I had been nervous about meeting his family, worrying about everything: What if they don’t like me? What if they pry into touchy subjects? That sort of thing. But all that worrying had been for nothing. They were all very polite and nicer than I could have ever imagined. They asked about where I was born and raised and how I liked New York City. One touchy subject did come up: where did I work. Harry explained that we had met through my job but I was no longer working for them, bless his heart. Later we all hung out in the living, getting to know each other more. The night came to a close and we all went up to our rooms to catch some sleep.
I was in my pajamas and Harry was in his “pajamas”, both lying in separate beds. I wasn’t too fond of the idea but out of respect for Anne, I obeyed. I stared at the ceiling, thinking, “I love your family, Harry.”

I heard the smile in his voice, “They love you too, you know.”

A smiled crept across my face. “Will I get to meet your dad?”

“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon,” he said flatly.

I didn’t want to push the topic tonight because I knew it was touchy. Harry’s parents had split up when he was seven and he and his dad never really had a strong relationship. But I thought back to how Harry urged me into talking to him about my past so now it was his turn, “Do you guys talk to each other much.”

He sighed, “Somewhat… I’m not as close to him as I am to my mum.”

I turned on my side, facing his bed, but not being able to see his face clearly in the dark, “Do you regret him? What he did?”

I could hear the thickness in his voice, “I don’t agree with what he did. Every kid wants their parents to stay together, but they weren’t happy and it would have been selfish of me and Gemma to plead them to stay together for us. My mum is happy now and as long as she is, I am. Robin is a good guy, and they are great for each other.”

I pressed a little harder, “I understand that… but you’re avoiding explaining how him leaving affected you.”

The sadness got thicker, “I don’t want to talk about it, Aria.”

I sat up a little, “I just want to know Harry. I showed you that I trusted you, now you need to do the same.”

He sighed deeply, “It hurt. I felt like he just abandoned me and Gemma, like we were nothing. Going from seeing your father everyday to only a week out of the month was rough and I do regret him somewhat for it. I wish he would have been there more, but there isn’t much I can do about it know. I have to move one.” The thickness returned and he sniffled.

I got out of bed and sat beside his body. I turned on the bedside lamp and sure enough, he was crying. It broke my heart into a million pieces to see him like this. He was exposing old wounds that could never truly heal. I wiped a tear with my thumb and smiled sadly down at his angelic face, “You’re broken,” I whispered, repeating the same words he had said to me the night I told him about my past.

He closed his eyes, shedding more tears. He opened them again and looked me dead in the eyes and nodded. I kissed him lightly on the cheeks, wiping away more tears. I then lightly kissed his lips and pulled away to look in his eyes again, “I can fix that.”

He sat up, taking me into his arms, holding me closely. He leaned his cheek against mine and I still felt the wetness from his tears. “I love you,” he whispered in my ear. “More than you will ever know.”

Notes

So Directioners,

What did you think? This chapter was mainly to introduce a little bit of Harry's past and his family.