“So what now?” Lori asked nervously.
“Well now we go out on that date I've been wanting to take you on since the day I got trapped in a sweet shop with you. Sound good?” Lori nodded. “Then let's go,” Harry said as he grabbed her hand and walked out the door. As they got closer to the door Lori stopped and began to laugh. “What?” Harry asked with a smile.
“Don't you want me to change? I mean, I'm only wearing a t-shirt and jeans and I'm not even wearing shoes.”
It was true, Lori was just wearing a pair of gray skinny jeans and a black Secondhand Serenade t-shirt. Her shoes were still in her room under her bed.
“I like girls in a t-shirt more than anything, but yeah, you can go put your shoes on.”
Lori quickly ran to her room, put on her shoes, and soon she was in Harry's car listening to Queen. Her heart raced as she wondered where Harry was taking her. He saw how nervous she was and smiled. The scene seemed extremely familiar to Lori and then she realized she was at the movie theater her and Christine had gone to a few days ago. When Harry parked the car he noticed Lori's knowing expression.
“What?” Harry asked confusingly.
“How'd you know about this place?”
“You told me about it once when we were texting. You said you really liked it so I thought it'd be a nice play, you know; comfortable. Do you want to go somewhere else?”
Lori smiled,shook her head, and jumped out of the car. She loved the fact that Harry remembered such an insignificant thing about her. Harry followed her to the ticket counter and they both bought tickets to see “The Bling Ring.” After grabbing some popcorn and drinks they sat down and waited for the movie to start.
“I love Emma Watson,” Lori said.
“She's lovely and very nice woman.”
“You've met her?!” Lori asked shockingly and with huge eyes.
“Yeah, back when I was on X Factor with the lads. We went to the Harry potter premiere and before heading off we got to even meet Daniel Radcliffe too. It was absolutely amazing.”
“I'm so jealous,” Lori said slowly.
Harry smiled and just as he was about to respond the movie began so the two sat there in silence. Throughout the movie both of them would sneak little peaks at each other every now and then. When it was over they decided to walk around a little and talk. If he could, Harry would listen to Lori all day. They walked over to the Starbucks Lori and Christine had gone to and got warm drinks to keep the coldness of the night away. After getting their drinks Lori showed Harry the bookstore she loved so much.
“It's not very big and not the most exstravegant, but I still love it,” Lori told Harry as they walked through the front door. He liked the bookstore, it was small and cozy. There were countless books inside the many wooden shelves and the carpet was a relaxing blue that brought comfort to Harry. Everything about it seemed friendly as if it were just another room in your house. The voice of a small old lady grabbed Harry's attention.
“I'm sorry sweetie, but we're about to- Oh, Lori it's you! I'm sorry, I thought it was someone else. What are you doing here so late? Don't you have work tomorrow? Who is that handsome young man with you?”
“Hi Martha! This is Harry. Harry, this is Martha; she owns the store."
"I may own it, but Lori probably spends more time in it than I do. She's so helpful, but Lori as much as I love you, you have to go. It's past midnight and I have to close up."
“I can close up for you. I just want to show Harry something and then we'll leave. Pretty please Martha? I've done it before.”
“Oh, alright,” Martha says as she hands Lori the keys, “don't stay late you two. It was nice meeting you, Harry. Goodnight, Lori.”
“Nice meeting you too.”
“Goodnight Martha,” Lori says as she gives Martha a hug, “Tell Bill I say hi.”
The little old lady woddled out of the front door, leaving the two in her beloved store. As she turned to go to her car she caught a glimpse of Lori and Harry and admired how well they looked together. Seeing them together reminded her of when she first met her husband sixty-five years ago and a smile spread across her wrinkled face.
“That was a nice old lady,” Harry said as he followed Lori to the back of the shop.
“Martha is the sweetest person I've ever met. Her and her husband have been here for about fifty years. They moved here, she opened up the store, had some kids, and hasn't moved since. She gave me my first job here when I was thirteen and when I can I help her out.”
“Sounds like the two of you are really close.”
“I met her when I was eight and since then she's been like a mom to me.”
They walked all the way to the corner of the store. There against the wall was a small, wooden bookcase filled with a couple of children's books. Lori, kneeled down, and moved all the books on the bottom shelf to the left. Her fingertips felt along the right inside of the shelf until she felt a dent. With her fingernail, she pulled out a piece of wood about a foot long and a few inches wide, and laid it down on the floor. She took out a medium sized, red, scrapbook, and sat on the floor. Harry sat next to her, curious about the book.
“That is one cool bookshelf. Are all of Martha's shelves like that?”
“Nope, just that one.”
“What's in the secret book?” Harry asked.
“You have to open it to find out,” Lori said as she gave Harry the book. His fingers skimmed over the cardboard cover as his eagerness of wanting to know the contents of the book grew by the moment. Slowly, he opened to the first page and found the picture of a little girl, with dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and a spirited smile on her face. She was wearing an old, purple t-shirt, jean shorts and her hair was messy and tangled, but the smile on her face was bright and gorgeous. In her small hands was a book called “Love You Forever.” Under the photo was a caption written in pen. “Lori, age 8. Just read her first book all by herself! Good job!”
“That's you?” Harry asked with a smile and Lori nodded. He kept flipping through the book and on every page was a picture of Lori and a new book. Seeing pictures of Lori growing up made Harry wish he had known her his entire life. Under every picture was an encouraging caption and sometimes Lori would try to make Harry skip a page if she felt the picture was too embarrassing, but he saw every picture, even the one of her last week.
“Ohmygod,” Lori said to herself.
“What?” Harry asked as he looked up from a picture of Lori when she was twelve.
“I just realized, I showed you the book; I've never shown anyone the book, only Martha and Bill. How'd you do that?”
“Do what exactly?” Harry asked obviously still confused.
“How'd you get me to show you the book?”
“You see, I'm a wizard-” Harry began and Lori laughed.
“Seriously,' She said, “I don't do this kind of stuff, ever.”
“What kind of stuff is this?” Harry asked.
“Share. Tell people about me. How'd you get me to do that?”
“I seriously have no idea. But, while we're on the subject of the book, why does Martha have all these pictures of you?”
“She's been really good to me,” Lori said quietly as she broke eye contact with Harry.
“How'd the two of you meet exactly?”
“We just met, I dunno; I don't remember. It was a long time ago.” Harry gave her a look as if saying “I know you're lying.”
“You don't forget your first encounter with someone you've known for ten years. Tell me the story of you and Martha.”
“Harry, it's not a big-” He gave her a look that said he wanted to hear the story and wasn't going to take no for an answer. She sighed and moved her hair out of her face. “Okay,” she said quietly, “I'll tell you. We met when I was eight. I came here a few times when I was younger, but one day I had stayed in the store for like ten hours, I had even fallen asleep in the kid's reading area. So Martha wakes me up, really gently as if she's waking her own child up for school, and asks where my parents are because she has to close up soon and we're the only two people in the shop. I tell her I don't know and it was true, earlier that day they had dropped me off, but they never picked me up. When I thought I was never going to see them again I began to cry and she calmed me down. She tried contacting my parents because I gave her our home number, they didn't have cellphones at the time, but she couldn't reach them. Instead of dropping me off at the police station or at my house she drove me to her house and I spent the night there in her daughter's old room. Since then she's always taken care of me. Her house was more of a home than my own and I love her.”
She looked up at Harry to see his reaction. He was staring at her as if she were the same eight year old that she had just described. It looked as if he were trying to imagine the story in his head.
“She really does sound amazing.”
“She is and more,” Lori said without looking up.
“Thank you, for sharing with me; it means a lot.”
Lori looked up at Harry and felt as if he actually cared about her story. The green in his eyes seemed a little more dark and despairing, but he was trying hard to understand what it must've been like for her. He wished he could've been there for her, he wished he could've made her feel less alone. There was something about Harry that made Lori want to tell him everything about her, to tell him why she did the things she did, to see if he would leave or stay and fix her, but she didn't want to take the chance. Her walls surrounded her and once again she felt alone. She took the book, put it away, and got up.
“Um, maybe we should go. Martha told us not to stay too late.”
Harry got up and followed Lori out of the shop. She turned off all the lights and locked the doors. The two walked back to Harry's car in silence. He knew it was hard for Lori to talk about certain things, he could tell she didn't like to be a burden, but he wished she trusted him enough to let him in. When they got to his car Harry opened Lori's door, let her in, and then went in on his side. While they drove back to Lori's house Harry turned on the music and Two Door Cinema Club came on and Lori smiled as she recognized the song.
“Is this What you know??”
“You know their music?” Harry asked, obviously impressed.
She scoffed. “You've underestimated my taste in music,” she said with a smile.
“I don't think I've ever met a girl who knew this song.”
“Well now you have.”
Harry pulled his eyes off the road for a quick moment to see her face. Her smile was small, but impressionable. Seeing her smile felt like a priveledge and Harry wanted to be the reason for it.
“She said sorry.”
“Who said sorry?” Lori asked, turning her confused face towards him.
“Veronica, the girl from L.A., she says she was sorry if she hurt you.”
Lori took a moment to think about Veronica, what it must've been like to be rejected; that feeling was no stranger to Lori. Veronica reminded Lori of Christine and she wondered if the two were any alike each other. She wondered if they could be friends if they ever met.
“Tell her I forgive her and there's no hard feelings.”
They continued to talk about music until Harry pulled up in front of Lori's house. He parked the car and walked Lori to her door. Her porch light shone down on them as Harry towered over Lori who was biting her lip nervously. Seeing her so fidgety made Harry smile with amusement; he liked to make her squirm.
“I don't bite,” he chuckled.
“I know,” Lori replied quietly.
“Then why do you seem so scared?”
“I don't know what you do.”
“What do you think I'm going to do?” Harry asked as he leaned in.
“I dunno,” Lori replied as her eyes focused on her feet.
“Yes, you do. Say what you want me to do and I'll do it,” Harry said seductively.
Lori's eyes widen at his little deal and her cheeks began to burn. Harry's finger lifted up her chin, forcing her to look into his piercing green eyes. Her throat became dry and she watched as Harry licked his plump lips. All of her thoughts disappeared and it was as if she had forgotten how to speak. All she could do was get lost in his eyes.
“I, uh, I want you to, um,” Lori stammered nervously. She cringed at how ridiculous she felt. Words weren't exactly one of her strongest points.
“Are you too embarrassed to say 'kiss?'” Harry smirked
“No!” Lori lied immediately.
“Then say it,” Harry urged, “if you don't say anything I can't do anything.”
A small smile appeared on Lori's extremely red face. “K-kiss.”
Harry leaned in and was about to kiss her when he paused, a mischevious smile on his face. His lips less than a centimeter away from Lori's and she opened her eyes, confused as to why he had stopped.
“Say 'we kissed,'” Harry whispered, his warm breath grazing Lori's wanting lips.
“You already got me to say 'kiss' though,” Lori whined.
“Say it.”
“We kissed.”
Finally Harry pressed his lips against Lori's; the thing he had wanted to do all night was happening at last. His hands were placed on her waist as he pulled her closer. Lori placed one hand on his neck, the touch of his bare skin sending tingles through her body. Her other hand lightly rested on his cheek. Having Harry so close made Lori feel different, like she was in a new place that she wanted to stay in. Soon she pulled away reluctantly.
“Goodnight, Harry,” Lori said and then she went inside her house, leaving Harry on the doorstep, wishing he could only stay. Slowly, he walked to his car and began to drive away from Lori's house when he suddenly remembered something. He stopped the car, got out, and knocked on her door. The surprised look on Lori's face made Harry snicker.
“I forgot to say 'goodnight.'” Harry leaned in and gave Lori one last kiss. “Goodnight.”