Chapter 98 : "Small Town"

T A T E

"Here's your order sweetheart." Harry placed my macchiato in front of me after grabbing it from the counter. I smiled to thank him but I was inwardly distracted.

We were sitting inside Starbucks, just having an afternoon date together. It wasn't like it used to and now he'd always sit away from me. We were actually sitting right across each other now and letting all people look over our table. I watch as Harry signed some autographs and talked casually to some fans who came up to our table. I watched him do his thing and I was so amused that he's still so calm at how he treats his fans. No, he doesn't treat his fans as fans. He treats them as if he had known them for so long. 

"Thank you Harry." The little girls bids goodbye.

When his fans had left our table, he turned to look back at me again. "What's wrong?" He asks.

I shake my head sideways. "Nothing. I'm just always amused at how you treat your fans."

He smirks. "Well they all have a special place in my heart Tate."

"You have a big heart." I answer him.

"And you almost make up a half of it." He answers back while he holds my hand.

I laugh softly.

All of a sudden some flash from the camera caught my attention and I've noticed that there were paps right across the street from where we were. I sigh as I look back at Harry and it seemed like he was glaring at them too.

"Don't mind those bimbos." Harry says to me once he looked back at my face.

I half-smiled.

"I wonder if they ever get tired of following you around." I say before taking a sip from my straw.

"I've wondered that thought a million times and I think they really love following my ass around on everywhere I go." He answers.

I smirk. "Well, in other news, the lads had hit me up in Twitter and they were all so happy that I got back with you."

"I told you they will be." He answers.

"Louis even quoted that thank god we got back or God knows what crazy thing Harry will be doing." I say to him and he seemed surprised.

I chuckle. "What have you done while I was away from you Styles?"

He grimaced. "You know, Louis' just being himself. He always worries for me.

"Well true. But you know, he won't worry if you didn't do anything un-Harry like."

Harry chuckles. "Un-Harry like?"

I nod while I chuckle with him.

"It was just some petty things and I don't want to ruin our good mood. Please?" He smiled cutely.

I exhale and just looked back at him. "Okay."

"Let's go?" Harry takes my hand as he stands from the table.

Both of us began to head to the door together walking with my hand entwined to his hand. I know people were looking but I couldn't care less anymore, really. If his fans will hate me to death for being in a relationship with him, then I'd let them hate me for loving Harry and for having Harry love me seriously. It won't distract me anymore because it's not my fault that he fell in love with me and that he chose me.

The more that I think about it makes me realize that those hateful and spiteful comments probably going to bash me online or on the tabloids, only makes me stronger. It only makes me want to stay with him and never lose him again. I've done that mistake and I won't want to make the same mistake ever again.

I whooped. "I didn't know it'd feel that long to get inside the car." I commented as soon as we got inside his car safely after being followed and chased down by the paps as we rushed to his car.

He chuckles at my remark.

Whenever there are paps and fans around, it always feels like a battlefield having them all together when we're in the street. I don't even know how the female celebrities can even live with this. Maybe a few loves the attention but me? I'd be hating and cursing in front of them all the time. But I am always amazed by Harry. He's always so calm when the paps are around. He's always nice to them too despite what they've commented about Harry and how they talk trash about him just to make money. Harry has the biggest heart in this planet. He's too nice even to people who doubts his potential.

"I've been planning about going to London for this weekend." He began to speak.

I moved my head to him. "And?"

"And I want you to come with me."

"Harry.. If you're planning on letting me meet your parents again after what happened, I'm still not ready. I'm still not ready to face Gemma."

"I was going to bring you to my hometown. I wanted to bring you with me back at Holmes."

I slightly gaped as I watch him drive.

"I wanted you to see where I grew up. I wanted you to meet my friends back in high school. I wanted to introduce to you to my cousins too. They will love you for sure. I wanted you to see the things I would love to do back when I was a kid. And I wanted you to taste the bread where I used to work for as a baker." He adds.

I giggled.

"I wanted to bake you a bread since I can't really bake a cake. But I'll cut-out the bread into a heart shape. Don't worry." He continues.

I laugh softly at him.

He smiles at me. "Come with me Tate. I want you to see the place that molded me into who I really am. I want you to see where I grew up."

I just kept smiling back at him. "Okay. I will go with you."

Harry takes my hand and kisses my knuckles.

"But only with one condition." I say.

"Okay. What is it?"

"No. Make it two." I put up two fingers.

"Alright. Let's hear it out."

"First, after we go to London... We'll go to Spain. I want you... To meet my family." I say to him.

"My parents and my two brothers will be thrilled." I added.

Harry looked shocked and then he chuckles nervously. "Are your brothers huge? Buff and all muscle-y?" He asks.

I giggled. "They're... Kind of buff."

He gulps. "I don't know if your brothers are gonna like me."

"Oh they will. Definitely sure." I answered.

"Brothers are always overprotective. But I would love that Tate. So much. I am willing to face your father and your two brothers. I will definitely love that." He kisses my hand again.

"We will go to Spain. I promise." He adds.

I smile. "And the second one, we need to get back here before Tarry's first birthday. I promised Monique that I won't miss it for the world. I already missed her baptism."

He nods vigorously. "Yeah. We definitely will not miss it. Don't worry 'bout it."

"We're godparents." I reminded him.

"Of course. We will be here on that exact day. I promise." He kisses my knuckles once again.

That night while Harry and I were busy watching some movies, I didn't even realize that he had already fallen asleep next to me. So I pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and turned off the tv. As soon as I shut it off, I heard Harry snoring slightly which just makes me smile because he's being too adorable.

I lay back down the bed and grabbed his phone from the side-table drawer. As soon as I see his lock screen, it made my lips smile even wider as I see our photo together. As much as I wanna see his messages, I think it's already invading of privacy and I trust him anyway no matter how much of a womanizer he is. I put his phone back down and grabbed mine only to notice that I've had a notification on Twitter.

I hurriedly opened it as soon as I see Harry's name attached to it. I quickly looked through it and was surprised that Harry tweeted a photo of us being together at Starbucks a while ago. It was a photo of me smiling to his camera and how he held my hand. His tattoos on his left arm were even showing off on the photo.

He quoted: "It's official."

The tweet itself quickly gained 890k retweets and almost a million favorites. That's normal, for a guy like Harry Styles to be achieving. It's an everyday thing for him when he tweets but for me that isn't even normal. A million favorites almost sounds unbelievable. I felt bad that I didn't even notice this notification and he even posted it two hours ago. I guess I was too focused on spending time with him than to check my Twitter and Facebook.

I instantly favorited it and quoted the tweet by responding, "@harry_styles I've never been happier. Finally. "

By Saturday, we finally reached Cheshire and I was already thrilled to be touring around the place. I noticed that it was a peaceful small town with the smiling and hospitable people. Harry decided to take a quick drive around town as soon as we arrived since he wanted to show off where he came from and I was game with it. We passed by a few places where he mentioned to me how he would frequently go there as a kid and how he'd love the arcades just to waste money even though his mum will kill him for wasting all of his savings.

When we reached to his house, it was totally different to his mansions and penthouses. It was just a small humble home where I know for sure Harry was molded by Mrs. Anne into a great son like how he is now. By the front door, Harry rang the doorbell twice and after a while once the door opened, I was surprised to see another woman who I've never met before.

"Harry!" She exclaims before hugging him.

Harry hugs her in return and pats her back at the same time. She was so happy to see Harry again and it was too evident on his face.

"Hey aunt Josie." Harry greets and pulled himself away from her.

She chuckles. "Oh look at you. You've grown way taller than me."

Harry smiles. "By the way aunt Josie, i want you to meet Tate Kavanaugh." He placed his arm around my waist and smiles at me while he looks into my eyes.

She settles her eyes at me.

"My girlfriend." He adds.

She gushes. "Oh. She is beautiful Harry."

I smiled nervously.

"This is aunt Josie, Tate. Mum's cousin." Harry gestured to her.

I extended my hand. "It's so nice to meet you aunt Josie."

But she didn't accept my hand and instead he pulled me in to hug me. I was so surprised because I didn't see that one coming. Harry was even smirking at the corner while he watches us.

By the time I pulled myself away from her, she held my hand and told us to come inside. I noticed that she was living alone in this house. She also mentioned that Anne, Robin and Gemma often comes by to visit. As soon as she finished showing me around the house, Harry excused us so we could put our bags inside the room. She was kind enough to actually make dinner for us and I could see that she was so excited and happy to see Harry again.

When Harry and I settled inside the room, I looked around and noticed that it was his old room. I knew it was because there were photos of him when he was younger and of course the ️Take That, Elvis Presley and The Beetles posters on his walls. I take a good look around his room and how his bed looked like it was untouched. I could still imagine a younger Harry being here inside this room. 

"This was my old room." He says to me.

I chuckle. "I could see that." I walk towards the frames all lined up and there was a photo of him when he was younger and another of which he looked like he was thirteen.

"I didn't know you loved taking selfies." I joked as I pull a frame of him and Gemma in it.

I hear him chuckle too. "Gemma took that."

I smile. "Gemma's always been beautiful. Wow."

I see another frame of a man holding a little Harry over his arm but it wasn't Robin. "Ain't you adorable on this photo." I say.

"That's my dad by the way." I hear Harry say as he slowly stands right behind me.

"Really? Wow. He's really good-looking too. Your beautiful mum was well matched up with your good-looking dad." I commented.

He chuckles softly. "Too bad they got divorced."

I felt Harry's arm slowly wrapping around my waist while he kisses my neck. I put the frame down and slowly spin myself to face him. I laced my arms around his neck and smiled.

"But you still turned out to be a great son to them, Harry. And Gemma's a great daughter too. I can see how your mum truly taught you to be grounded. And it's amazing." I say to him.

He kisses my lips briefly. "I want you to meet my dad. That's the first thing we'll do tomorrow."

I nod. "I wanna meet him."

Harry cups my cheek as he leans closer to me and I was sure that this was going to be a longer kiss. By the time he closed his eyes, I was about to close mine too. But then suddenly the bedroom door opened and I flinched when I heard the door bang. Harry and I pulled our sleeves away from each other. And I was so surprised to see Gemma standing right outside his bedroom.

"I think that's a bit too early for that. Ain't I right, Haz?" Gemma arches an eyebrow while she was busy chewing a gum.

His brows creasing. "Gemma... Wha-what are you doing here?"

"I was here since yesterday." She answers Harry then slowly moved her eyes at me. "What are you doing here?"

I gulped.