“… Happy Birthday dear Louis! Happy Birthday to you!” we all sang before Louis blew out all of the candles. Everyone cheered and continued on with the small party, as cake was cut and past around. I took a seat on a barstool at the kitchen counter and scrolled through all my social medias on my phone..

I was pretty much oblivious to the party around me until I could feel a cool, fluffy substance being swiped onto my nose. I gasped and stood up, dropping my phone in the process. I wiped my nose with my hand and found a bunch of sticky yellow frosting.

“Harry,” I whined as I saw who the victim was. I grabbed the napkin out of his hand and wiped the remaining frosting from my nose as well as the stuff on my hand.

“Cake?” he asks, smiling cheekily at me. I glare at him and place the napkin back in his hand. “Oh, come on. You got it off, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but I can smell the intoxicating sugar and it’s making me sick,” I say, coughing a fake cough for emphasis. Harry leaned forward so his face was right in front of mine. I stared weirdly at him as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

“Yup, that definitely smells like sugar,” he said. He then caught me off guard by licking my nose.

“Ew! Harry, what the hell?” I screamed and used the sleeve of my jacket to wipe of Harry saliva. He laughed at me. “I can’t believe it…”

“Believe what?”

“I marrying a five-year-old…” I groaned. His laughter ceased at that, and his smile turned into a frown.

“I’m not a five-year-old, I’m a man.” He puffed out his chest and put his hands on his hips. He looked like one of those superheroes with tights and a cape who was posing on a hill over the city as if to say, ‘I will stop anything that gets in between my city and its citizens.’

I shake my head and take the cake from Harry finally. “Of course you are. Why else would I agree to marry you?”

The corners of his mouth slowly started to curve up. “Well, there’s my good-”

I scraped some of the frosting off with my fork and smeared it across Harry’s gob to stop him from talking. “I don’t need this again. Thanks for the cake though.”

~

“Mommy? What’s a wedding?” the words come out of my mouth while I fiddle with the loose threads on the dress I’m wearing. I look down and see that I’m sitting on someone’s lap – mom’s lap.

“A wedding is when two people get married because they both love each other very much,” mom smiles warmly at me. My brain is gathering the familiar words, but the back of brain is gathering up that she is saying something about finally seeing me again.

“Oh… Will I get married?” the words flow out of my mouth involuntarily.

She chuckles. “Maybe someday, but you need to make sure that he’s the right guy for you.” There’s a sad glint in her eyes, but I ignore it and wait for the scene to play on.

“That and he’ll have to go through me if he wants to get anywhere near my little girl.” Dad walks up to the two of us and picks me up, off of mom’s lap. “What’s up, my little Dandelion?”

A giggle escapes my lips as he plants a wet one on my left cheek. Then, a young Drew walks over and tickles my stomach briefly and I go into a fit of laughter. “Drew!”

“Merry Christmas!” he says in a strange accent.

I make a puzzled facial expression. “Huh?”

“I said Merry Christmas you dope. Rise and shine sleeping beauty.” My eyes flutter open to the sound of Harry’s voice. “There she is. Get up, Har; it’s Christmas.”

I groan and turn over. Make that a total of nine consecutive dreams.

~

“Dinner was lovely, Anne. Thank you for having us over,” I told Harry’s mom as we stood at the front door.

“Anytime, Harmony. It is Christmas after all, and that’s what families do – have dinner and celebrate the holidays together!” She smiled warmly at me. I frowned inwardly, however, thinking about my family – my dead family. I miss Drew and those awful Christmas sweaters that I’ve come to know and love.

“Are we ready to head out?” Harry walks up and asks me. I put up a smile and nod.

“Not without saying goodbye to your mum your not. Come here, Harold.” Anne pulls Harry into a lung-squeezing hug and rocks him back and forth. Then, she lets go and pulls me into a hug. “I’ll see you for your wedding in a few days. I’m so glad Harry found you and finally decided to add you to our family.”

“I’m glad too,” I say trying to fight off the tears threatening to fall. Family: the word just keeps ringing in my head like an annoying school bell or an old-fashion alarm clock.

I waved goodbye to Anne and Gemma – who had finally decided to come downstairs apparently – until they were out of sight. Then, I placed my head against the glass window and curled up into a little ball. Harry’s free hand found it’s way to mine and I allowed him to hold it somewhere in the middle.

“Are you okay, Har? You seem kind of down since we left. I mean, I know you love my mom more than you love me, but you don’t have to be sad about it.” I laughed at his remark and shook my head.

“It’s not that, it’s just…” I turned to look at him even though he was turned to focus on the road. “Anne started talking about how families do these kinds of things during the holidays. You know… giving each other presents, having a big family meal together, and just being with your family.

“It reminded me of how I don’t have much of a family left. My parents are dead; Drew is dead… I don’t really talk to Talia anymore. Aunt Cory is still going to be a bitch even with what happened the day of the reading…”

Harry just give a small smile and brought my hand to his lips, letting them linger there for a little while before returning it back to me. “Harmony, there’s no reason to be sad. I know you still miss them, but we’re your family now, my mum, Gemma, the boys, El, Dani, Perrie, Diane… and me. You have a lot of people who are always going to be there for you. I’m here for you.”

I close my eyes and smile a little bit. “I love you, you know that?”

“I love you, too. You complete me, Harmony. There’s no doubt about it.”

How can he feel so complete when I still feel like there are puzzle pieces missing?

Notes

Now I want cake :( Anyway, I thought I could update a bit sooner than a month this time, so here it is! Big things are happening next. Pay attention to the dreams, because they sound the same but have a few differences.

Any thoughts about Aunt Cory being brought up?

Why does Harmony feel so empty? (*hint: it has something to do with the dreams)

comment. rate. subscribe. ~A