The Switch Up

11

November 5, 2016

"When do we get to meet this nice boy?" My father asks flipping through channel after channel. If you must know one thing about my father it is that he is the biggest channel surfer I have ever met. He will even start a movie from the middle and watch it to the end which has become one of my biggest pet peeves, like who wants to watch a movie you haven't seen from the middle?

"I don't know, you know you guys can't just meet him. I need the time to prep him before I introduce him to you all since this is a house full of psychos!" I stress to my mom and dad who are sprawled out on the couch. Cody and Gabe had left for the day to party all day and night long, my mom had bathed them in holy water a few times for doing this.

"Speak for yourself, darling!" My mom popped her head up from laying on my dad's lap. I crunch on the nacho cheese Doritos and go to reach for another one when I touch only crumbs. Did I really just eat half a bag of Doritos? That probably wasn't great for my health but then again I didn't regret doing it.

"Have you kissed him yet?" My mom asks me ignoring her favorite game show my father is intently watching. Calling out different numbers and phrases as if the contestants can hear him through the screen.

"No, not yet," I answer crumbling up the empty bag of Doritos.

"You have been on three dates with this man and you haven't kissed him yet?!" My mom strained with her jaw dropped and mouth in a large "O" shape.

"Look, we are just having fun and getting to know each other! We aren't rushing into anything." I explain to my mom who is surprised that Harry and I haven't kissed.

We had held and hands and on Halloween night I had leaned into him as we walked to the car. I liked to take things slow, I was never one to jump into things quickly, that's never been my style. I thought our relationship was flowing smoothly and thus far we have gone out almost every weekend since I started working at Lachlan. Well besides the first weekend, that was reserved for Talia.

"I want cute little grandbabies!" My mother pressed provoking me to roll my eyes. My mother, on the other hand, was always fast paced. My mother got unexpectedly pregnant with me when she was 17 years old. I came as a huge surprise to my mother and father which also pressured them to get married as soon as my mom turned 18. The only thing I didn't want in life was to be like my mom and that's not to be mean or rude.

I wanted to live my life, travel to far away places, explore, fall in love, and then after that consider settling down with a baby. I am currently 23 years old still not ready to have a baby or settle down into a family life, there was so much out there I wanted to explore and see.

"Momma!" I groan at her and proceed to pull out ingredients to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Don't groan at me, Madeline! At some point, you need to settle down and give me some cute little grandbabies!" My mother came over to me and pulled my hair back from behind me.

"Yeah, at some point meaning in the future but not now." I spread the peanut butter evenly over one of the slices of bread and see my mother eyeing my creation.

"Can you make me one?" She asks me running her fingers through my thick dark hair that is waved from the lack of me tending to it. It was Saturday and Harry and I planned to hang out tonight which I was super excited about.

"No," I answer taking a bite as soon as I put the two slices together. I forgot how much I loved the simple things in life, who doesn't like a nice peanut butter and jelly sandwich? They take me back to my childhood and make me feel like I am that little elementary school kid again.

"I pushed you out of my v****a for a good 3 solid hours and you can't make me a peanut butter and jelly that will take you 30 seconds?" She tugs my hair causing me to squeeze my eyes shut briefly.

"Here just take mine I need to get ready for Harry anyways." I turn around and hand her the bitten sandwich just to waltz off into my room. I didn't need a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I needed something to tame my hair.

Incoming message

Harry @ Madeline: Are we still crashing at my house in a bit?

Madeline @ Harry: Yeah, I'm almost positive you don't want to hang around my parents.

Harry @ Madeline: Ha! Alright then plan on 5:00:)

I glance at the clock and see that he is giving me an hour to get ready. I dash to the shower since I needed to wash my body of all the dirt I had accumulated at some point.

I blare Florence and the Machine "Shake it off". Singing into my shampoo bottle I begin to shake my hips and lift my arms up. Feeling like some Shakira b***h I circle my hips and get really into the lyrics of the song.

"But it's always darkest before the dawn!" I sing out dramatic turning and automatically slipping on the soapy water below my feet.

Landing on my bare ass I go down with a bang. I lay down and let the water pelt my face for a good 5 minutes before I even get the courage to get up. Maybe dancing in the shower wasn't the best idea....

+

"We've got chips ahoy the chewy kind, Cheetos, Doritos, Cheddar popcorn, and last but certainly not least some white wine." Harry pulls out each snack from the big paper bag from a local grocery store. We sit on the balcony of his apartment with the breeze softly brushing against us both. We lay in his patio furniture and watch the bustling city below us, cars lighting up the various streets that make the city what it is.

"Aw, you remembered!" I grab a chewy Chips Ahoy and eat it in a few bites. I had told him at work a few weeks ago that the chewy cookies were better than the crunchy and he had remembered my preference.

"How could I forget the great debate?" Harry smiles picking up a cookie of his own with his ring clad fingers.

"You're right it was pretty iconic." I nodded laying the blanket over me. It was so cozy up here in Harry's suite, you got a new perspective on things when you looked at the bigger picture.

"So what made you move to Miami? I mean it's clear by your accent that you didn't grow up here." I point out sitting up and crossing my legs to listen to Harry's life story. It was strange to me that I wanted to know everything about Harry, alright that sounded very stocker like but I promise it's not creepy like that.

"My father got a really good job offer when I was 15 and that's when I ended up here." He shrugged making it a shorter story than what I thought it would be.

"What does your dad do for work?" I ask seeing Harry lean forward the side table to pour us both a glass of wine. I was getting a different vibe from him like he wasn't much for talking about his family.

"He is a heart surgeon at Mercy Hospital." He takes a large drink of wine and from the context clues decide to change the subject since this didn't seem to be one of his favorites.

"Enough about me, what about you?" Harry asks swirling his wine around in the glass.

"What about me?" I sit back into the patio couch and break open the Cheetos since nothing gets better than those. My eyes flicked over to Harry as he scoots closer to me.

"What do your parents do?" He keeps his watchful green eyes on me as I answer the question with ease.

"My dad is a civil engineer and my mom is a family lawyer, which I'm pretty sure I've told you but I don't know." My eyes and attention become entranced by Harry perfect pink lips. They are shaped like a heart and were drawing my attention like a fish being reeled in on a pole. "My mom is kind of the person who got me into the whole divorce attorney thing."

"My dad always wanted to push me to follow in his footsteps but I'm squeamish around blood and guts."

"Understandable, I'm the same way..." I trail losing my entire train of thought being entranced by the way he was looking at me.

Harry then again moved closer to me, laying a hand on my cheek and igniting my body on fire. My heart is beating a million miles an hour with just his pure touch. He puts his lips on mine and I indulge in the sweet kiss. My eyes close gently and butterflies erupt in my stomach.

Fireworks are going off in my mind like a Fourth of July firework show.

We both pull away and look back at each other for a few seconds. Everything about the moment was movie perfect, from the cotton candy pink sky and clouds to passion as we both realized how good of a kiss that was.

We watched as the sun lowered into the skyscrapers, talking about anything and everything. Drinking wine until there wasn't anything left to drink we talked until the early hours of the morning. So much wine was circulating through my veins it was hard for me to even remember what all happened. We laughed, cried, bitched, laughed some more and eventually fell asleep once the wine wore down on our consciousness.

N. Harry and Madeline are so cute in my opinion but I guess I am a little bias since I am the writer! I need to come up with a ship name for them if you want to help you can leave your suggestions below!