Outside the terminal, Penelope and Charlotte waited for Harry to arrive off the plane. Charlie wasn’t supposed to be there, but when she asked her parents if Nelly would be going to the doctor’s appointment with them, they told her that Nell was spending the day with Harry. She was so excited that she called her Aunt from the house phone, begging her to go.

As they sat in two of the hundreds of identical chairs, Penelope thought about what Harry’s smile would look like when they saw each other. She knew that his lips would be dark red and his teeth, pearly white. She knew the dimple on his left cheek would be deeper than the right from all the times she’s poked that adorable cheek. And she knew that his eyes would light up, just like hers would, despite jet lag and constant working. This would be their moment.

“Nelly, how much longer?” Charlie sighed crawling into her aunt’s lap. She had only asked thirty times in the past fifteen minutes. “The thing said ‘10 minutes’ forever ago!”

“The board said the plane is on the runway, so it should be any second now,” Penelope replied, wrapping her arms around her niece who was holding Hendrix, the stuffed turtle.

Charlotte started flailing her arms up and down, “I’m so excited! I’m going to explode!”

At that moment people began walking out. Charlie leaped out of Penelope’s lap and ran toward the exit, gripping Hendrix by one of his feet. She called after her niece, but there was no stopping her. Charlotte stood at the threshold with her head peeking around the corner.

“Harry!” she yelled when she saw him.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” He shouted back playfully, appearing around the corner. Harry ruffled up her hair and scooped her up in his arms. “Where’s Nell?”

Penelope waved as Charlie pointed her out. Harry walked over to her and set Charlotte back on her feet. For obvious reasons, Nell was expecting a smile and a kiss when she and Harry were finally reunited; perhaps even to be lifted in the air and spun in circles as he seemed to like picking her up a lot. However, her hopes seemed to be rather high. When Penelope got on her toes to put her lips to his, all she got in return was his hand on her shoulder and a kiss on the cheek. She looked at the ground as if her heart literally fell out of her chest and she was looking for it. She raised her eyebrow at him in speculation, but he just smiled back.

It had been a few days since the… incident and she and Harry hadn’t talked about it since, so she nearly forgot that as far as the general public was concerned, they weren’t a couple. They were friends. So far, Penelope wasn’t liking the new relationship. She never noticed how close he used to stand to her, but she did now that he was keeping his distance. Ironically, trying to be plutonic was so uncomfortable for them that it made both of them come off as distant. The walk to luggage claim was extremely strained which was unusual because conversation normally came so freely to them.

“So, Charlie,” Harry said glad to be finished with the casual conversation about his flight. “Are you going to be spending the day with Nelly and me?”

“No,” the small girl pouted. She raised her arm in the air, “I’m going to the doctor to get an x ray. My dad thinks my arm is broken. He told my mum that if it is, it’s going to fall off or something like that.”

“Did he?” Harry laughed.

“Charlie, what on earth are you talking about?” Penelope said laughing as well. “I’m sure your dad didn’t say that.”

“Yes he did!” Charlotte argued. She stopped walking for a brief second before Penelope and Harry, each holding a hand, pulled her along. “He said it to my mum!”

“Well I did break my arm once, and it did look like it was going to give away at the elbow. It wiggled a little, but it never fell off, so I think you’ll be okay,” Penelope said humoring her niece.

“Hmm, I’m not so sure,” Harry said shaking her left arm. “This one feels a bit loose.”

Charlotte held up her right arm which was clearly wrapped in a bandage. “Harry, it’s this arm!”

“Yeah, Harry!” Penelope added teasingly, feeling a little more at ease. “How could you be so silly?”

“Don’t I feel foolish?” Harry smiled brightly at Penelope, much more genuinely than when he first arrived.

“I want to find your bag!” Charlotte shouted. She ran over to the luggage claim that would eventually carry Harry’s bags and started reading tags.

He and Penelope stood a few feet behind her so they could keep an eye on her and Harry could pull his luggage in case she missed it. “There are three bags!” Harry told her.

“Okay,” she sighed as if she already knew. At this point she started reading off the names on people’s luggage tags aloud. People smiled and thanked her as they walked up to grab their suit cases.

Penelope looked at Harry once again standing a careful distance away from her. “So, how is this going to work?” She asked quietly. “Are we not supposed to be around each other anymore?”

He turned his head toward her, but avoided eye contact. “No, that’s not it. They said that we have to be careful when we’re in public, but we can do whatever we want otherwise.”

“I found one!” Charlotte shouted as she used every ounce of muscle she had to try and pull the suitcase off the conveyer belt with her uninjured arm.

Harry laughed, “Let me help you!” He walked over to the claim and lifted the bag up as if it were weightless. He asked Charlie if she wanted them to help look for the bags and she shook her head no. Harry gave her a small pat on the back before walking back over to Penelope with the rolling suitcase. “I really wish things were different,” Harry continued. “I just don’t know what else I’m supposed to do.”

Penelope pursed her lips and nodded. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do either. “Okay.”

When she looked back at Charlie, she was giving a kind looking elderly man his luggage. It didn’t take long to find Harry’s other bags, a back pack and a rolling suitcase. Charlotte walked back to them now that she had finished her job.

“Here, let me help you.” Penelope offered, taking the handle of one of his rolling suitcases.

“No, that’s okay, I’ve got it.”

“Harry, last time I checked, friends can still help their friends carry luggage.” She raised her eyebrow with a cheeky smile.

Harry let out a small chuckle and finally let her take the suitcase. To Penelope’s shock, he put his arm around her as Charlotte walked ahead of them. It almost seemed like things were normal again, but that didn’t last very long.

It didn’t last long because once they got outside there were photographers. Right before they got outside Harry took his arm from around Penelope, ran his fingers through his hair shoved his hand in his pocket. She pretended to believe this was a natural gesture, but she knew the reason behind it. She took Charlotte’s hand and held her close as they walked to her car.

“We can drop Charlie off on the way back to your flat,” Penelope told him as they loaded the trunk.

“Sounds good,” Harry said smiling first at Penelope then at Charlotte. He had no clue that anything was wrong.

Once they dropped Charlotte off at Anthony and Mage’s house, Penelope blasted the radio because she really didn’t know what to say to Harry. She didn’t want to pretend everything was okay because for her, it wasn’t. Just that twenty minutes they spent together in the airport was so stressful, she didn’t know how they could possibly continue on like that. On the other hand, she felt slightly guilty because she knew it wasn’t Harry’s fault. It was his job. However, she couldn’t visualize them being together if they couldn’t even be in close proximity.

As they pulled up to Harry’s building, Penelope wondered what her face must have looked like. She figured she must look confused and sad. Immediately, she changed her expression. She turned off the car and took off her seatbelt, but she didn’t get out.

“Do you want to stay over for a while?” Harry asked smiling as he always did.

Penelope answered without thinking, “I—I don’t know.”

He furrowed his brow. “What?”

She turned to look at him, “I said I don’t know.” She paused and then continued sadly. “I don’t know about any of this.”

Harry’s shoulders fell. He looked defeated and upset. “Nell,” he said looking directly into her eyes. “Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.”

Penelope took a deep gasp of air as he looked at her and seemingly out of nowhere, she burst into tears.

“Nell, please don’t cry,” Harry inquired quietly, he wiped tears off of her cheeks even though they continued to flow. He reached out for her hand. “Tell me what’s going on.”

She simply couldn’t answer for a moment. He sat there waiting patiently as she cried, pushing her hair off her face and gripping her hand to comfort her. Once again, he was at a loss for what to do.

Finally, Penelope could speak, “When we got together… I knew you wouldn’t be around 24/7. I knew that.” Harry licked his lips and looked at her almost guiltily. She kept talking, “and I was okay with that, Harry. I really was. I’m kind of a pro at being alone.” Penelope laughed sadly and Harry looked at her, unintentionally squeezing her hand tighter. “The thing that made it okay was I knew that when you came back, you would give me a hug and kiss me and spin me around.” At this point she nearly started crying again. “We didn’t have to pretend we’re something we’re not. You being gone for weeks at a time and then hardly being together when you’re here… I don’t know if I can do that.”

“I know, Nell. All of this fucking sucks and I don’t want to do it either, but it’s only for a little while. Just please don’t cry.” Harry looked like he wanted to cry too. “Everything will work out, I promise. Please, just tell me what I can do to--”

“That’s the problem, there’s nothing you can do!” Penelope said, tears streaming from her face. “Nothing will make this okay.” She grabbed his other hand. “It’s not your fault, Harry. I just can’t do it.”

Harry sighed, “I really care about you. Does that even matter?”

“Of course it does, Harry!” She said taking his face into her hands. “I just don’t understand how this will work. Maybe when management decides we don’t have to sneak around like we’ve committed some type of crime then we can be together, but I can’t handle this.”

“So you’d rather not be together at all?”

Penelope dropped her hands. For a few minutes they sat there quietly. Penelope didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with Harry, but it was like this was all some sort of cruel trick. Having a boyfriend and practically never being able to be with him? It was like an undeserved punishment. For a large part of her life, Penelope was constantly abandoned. She could handle Harry leaving because she knew when he would come back. Now, not knowing when she would be able to see him and then when they could be together, having to pretend they were just friends. Penelope didn’t really know how to say all of this to him.

“It’s better than being separated all the time or barricaded in our homes and forced to lie to everyone.”

“Really? Is it?” Harry said looking slightly angry. “Because I would go through anything if it meant we could be together in the end. I would rather be able to only see you for five minutes a day than not at all. That is what you’re suggesting, right?”

“Harry, no. I just—“

“You know, I just feel like… I wouldn’t mind being barricaded in my house if I was with you.” Harry leaned away from her. “That’s just honestly how I feel, but if that’s not how you feel then I guess I can’t make you stay.” The look in his eyes, Penelope had never seen him look like that and she never wanted to. When he went to open his door she reached over and put his hand on his.

She swallowed hard, still leaning over him with her hand on his. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t want you to think that I don’t care about you because I really do. A lot. It’s just that all I saw in my head was me wanting to see you and not being allowed to. But you’re right. I would rather we could only be together for five minutes than not at all. And besides, it’s not forever, right?”

Harry took his hand off the door and Penelope’s along with it. He put both of his hands on his face just as she had done to him earlier. It was clear that she was still sad. He wiped her tear-stained cheeks with his thumbs and pressed his lips against hers. They kissed for what seemed like forever, their lips briefly separating and meeting again. It was like they were putting all of their feelings, everything they wanted to say, into this one kiss. When they finally pulled away, Penelope giggled and wiped her eyes. Harry smiled back at her and pressed their foreheads together.

“You know what, this is stupid,” he told her. “Next time I get the chance, I’m telling everyone that you’re my girlfriend.”

“Harry you don’t have to do that.”

“Why shouldn’t I though? What are they gonna do if I say we’re together?” He laughed. “I don’t care what they want. I don’t like it when you’re upset, Nell.”

“You’re so sweet,” She said, giving him a hug.

Harry pulled Penelope from her seat onto his lap and kissed her cheek, “Only because all of your sweetness is rubbing off on me.”

She laughed. “Oh, shut up!”

“Do you think you want to stay at my place for a while?” Harry asked.

“I’d be delighted.” Penelope answered affectionately.

Harry opened the door and maneuvered his way out of the car with Penelope still in his arms. They both laughed as he closed the door using his bum. And without bothering to get his luggage, Harry carried her up to his flat and they didn’t care who saw.

Notes

THIS ISN'T THE END OF THE STORY, MY LOVELY READERS! Wouldn't that be horrible? I mean, really. haha
Sorry for typos and stuff, I haven't edited because I wanted to post ASAP! I hope you like it :)
I love all of you readers and once again please please please comment!
It's really hard to motivate myself to sit down and write for hours especially now that classes have started!
It's just good to know if people like the story, ya know? hahaha Anyways, have a nice week!! Thanks for reading <3