Chapter 17

It was so much fun. Henry took me to some of the best shops in the area. We took a break after an hour.

"Question," I said him as we walked down the busy street, each of us eating large ice-cream cones. Oh my god. My insides were bursting with so much joy. Just simply walking with him, talking about everything under the nice sunny July 4th sun  made me so giddy. I felt like all my childish dreams were coming true. I was so excited I had to tell myself countless number of times to chill.

"Yes?" Henry lifted his brows, anticipating my question, running his tongue over his lips to savor the ice cream. That alone got me hot and bothered and I fought to stay on track.

"You don't stay home much, do you?"

He paused for a moment, giving me a surprised look before sampling his ice cream again. He looked really nice, wearing a black and red checked shirt unbuttoned halfway down his shirt, blue jeans, and his worn boots. He also wore a beige hat. The entire ensemble should have looked odd but he actually had a way of making it look good. I think it was the cool confidence he carried with him.

Finally, Henry answered my question.

"I recently got that house."

"So you'll be living in the U.S.?" I hoped I didn't sound too hopeful.

"I haven't decided yet."

In just a few seconds his voice sounded a bit hollow. He seemed a bit guarded as well, but was trying to pass it off as casual.

"But yet you bought a house here…" I hoped I wasn't being too intrusive. His living situation was just a bit confusing to me, that's all.

"My mother urged me to. I have a house in London and one here. She really hates that I basically live out of a suitcase from hotel room to hotel room. I'm always moving around. I'm always traveling between London and here."

"I knew there was a reason the house felt so cold." When I realized what I'd said out loud, my eyes widened and I looked at him apologetically. "Oops."

Henry grinned instead, seemingly enjoying my honesty. "Cold? Do you not like it?"

"No, not cold! Just like, it didn't have a human touch. Not in a bad way. It's a very beautiful house--"

"But it's not a home. Don't worry. I get it. I agree." He looked ahead as we weaved through pedestrians on the busy, high-spirited sidewalk.

"Yeah. Oh I hope that wasn't mean," I said ruefully.

"No I told you I love honesty. To be honest with you, I can't stay in one place to long."

I was surprised by him admitting this.

"I kind of figured," I murmured.

"I'm basically a vagabond."

"When mashed potatoes for brains uses big words," I teased.

"I know. Stay tuned for more."

I linked my hand with his and took a bite of my ice cream cone. "We're so lame. But I like it."

"At least no one's around to be embarrassed, yeah?" Henry laughed, looking down at me.
 
I laughed and grinned proudly. "At least."

Before I knew it Henry mashed some of his ice cream on my nose and jetted off. I stood there, mouth agape, while some onlookers laughed at my expense. When Henry turned around and saw my reaction, he threw his head back laughing as he held his stomach. I narrowed my eyes, completely not amused.

"Oh that's so original Apples. The oldest trick in the book. It's been so overdone it's not cute anymore," I said to him dryly as I wiped off with the back of my hand.

"It looks good on you though," he teased as he walked backwards, grinning down at me. I nearly swooned--he had such an attractive smile. I was just about to retaliate when someone timidly tagged on Henry's arm.

"Hey are you Ben Walker's brother?" The woman asked shyly.

Henry glanced my way apologetically, but I motioned for him to carry on, not minding at all.

"I am. How are you?" he engaged her immediately and her eyes welled with tears. She began shaking her hands restlessly, her feet agitating for she couldn't stand still.

"Oh my god you're so hot. Can I take a picture with you?"

"Sure!" Henry took it all in stride and put his arm over her. She held her phone in her hand helplessly staring at it as she tried to prepare it. She took a picture of them both, Henry having to crane his neck lower so that he could be in frame. Once it was taken, she had a look at it and thanked him.

"Does it look alright? Let me have a look," he said and she showed it to him, still in surprise that he was speaking to her so warmly and casually.

"I'm not even in the picture!" He teased and her face turned pink as she blushed.

"But you're so tall!"

"May I hold this for a second?" he asked and she nodded, handing the phone to him. Henry then handed it to me.

"Could you take a picture of us, ma'am?" he asked and I took the phone from him. They posed once again and the lady was extremely happy and grateful to him for taking it. He stayed and chatted with her for a few minutes before telling her he had to go and requesting if he could give her one last hug before he left. I could have sworn she was about to faint when he asked for a hug, but she only started crying and gave him a hug. Which led to him trying to console her.

While the entire episode was a bit bizarre, it was still really nice of him. I could see why so many people gravitated towards him. Once Henry was finally freed from he came to me, took my hand and walked away a bit hastily.

"I'm sorry about that love," he apologized, continuing his purposeful steps down the sidewalk.

"No problem," I said, trying to fall into step with him. His long legs were no match for my stocky short ones.

"That is a common occurrence in my life, especially since my brother's popularity exploded. I hope you're okay with it…" he said matter-of-factly, but with some hope deep in his eyes.

"I'm okay with it. I can't expect your life to change just because I'm in it now," I said laughingly, to hopefully not make him feel so bothered by it.

"But you are changing my life."

Henry's words gave me pause and I blushed and looked away so that he wouldn't see me smiling too hard.

"There's a store near here somewhere." Through his shades he searched the store windows we walked by.

"Henry?"

"Yes?"

When he finally looked at me, I smeared what was left of my ice cream on his nose. Surprised, Henry paused. Laughing as I disengaged my hand from his, I chose this as my opportunity to run away from him.

"Oh no you don't," I heard from behind me. It wasn't long before a strong arm wound around my waist, ceasing me so abruptly my entire body jolted and what was left of my ice cream fell.

As I yelped in surprised, I was spun around too quick for my comprehension and felt Henry's lips immediately on mine, his cold, creamy nose rubbing against mine. My elation halted because, well, this was the second person I'd ever had the opportunity to have public displays of affection with.

My natural reaction was to get away from Henry. I could hear the laughter from the past, people questioning him or wondering what he was doing with such a disgusting figure like me.

"No," Henry murmured against my lips as he closed his large hand on the back of my head, making us walk backwards as he deepened the kiss.

When we finally pulled back, I was out of breath, and the outside world didn't even seem to matter. All could concentrate on were his eyes and what I was feeling inside.

"Let's go find these shorts," Henry said as he grabbed my hand.

I was just about to give up on finding the shorts, but then Henry wouldn't give up. I saw how persistent he was then, almost stubbornly so. Once Henry had his mind set on something, he eagerly went for it. It's almost how I used to be when it came to academics, but when it came to anything else, I neglected those things. Nothing was as important as being smart. Henry was helping me find these shorts like it was the biggest goal in the world.

I realized then that it was because if it had nothing to do with school, my parents never really pushed me to pursue much else. The only other person that had tried to push me to go for what I wanted was George. I pushed his pestering thoughts aside and focused on having fun with Henry while we went from shop to shop. it would have been a chore if we weren't enjoying ourselves thoroughly. We even stopped by shops that had nothing to do with what we were looking for and tried on silly masks and clothes, taking pictures of each other on our phones.

This would be one of the most memorable days of my life. Everyday with Henry was turning out to be that way.

We finally got to a store where I found some high-waisted shorts that were my size. They looked so good on the mannequin i was ready to try them on.

"I think I'll go with this one," I told Henry, showing them up to him and he nodded.

"Whatever you want. That's all that matters."

I left him looking at clothes as I went to try on the shorts, but once I had them on, my happy mood instantly dissipated. I had clearly gained a few pounds over the past month. I'm not sure how long I was in there before i heard a knock on my fitting room door.

"You okay in there?"

The voice was unmistakably Henry's.

"Yeah."

"How do you like it?"

"Not too much." I looked away from my reflection in the mirror, trying not to feel down. "I think I'll just go for some regular jeans--"

"Let me see you."

"I already changed," I hedged.

"Put them back on."

I huffed impatiently as I started to gather my jeans, wondering why he wouldn't just leave the situation alone.
"You  know that I can see you right? You still have them on."

I looked at the mirror and could see Henrys eyes peeking into the dressing room. My heart jumped and I uselessly shielded myself with my jeans.

"Henry! Stop peeping!"

"Open the door"

Sighing heavily, I opened the door and tried not to feel as awkward as I looked. Once Henry stepped in, locking the door behind him, the room seemed to become smaller than it really was.

Before I knew it, I started rambling.

"I forgot how fat my legs are. And my hips are shaped like diamonds there's no real curve it's so annoying. My stomach isn't small enough you can still see the fat on the sides so the high waisted jeans look deformed and I can't wear the tight fitting shirt I wanted, it has to be something kind big that hides my waist. And my legs aren't long enough and the boots just don't go well with my wide hips. I just look odd. It's disgusting. I've been trying to work out but my metabolic rate isn't as fast as others, but I guess I could give up some of the foods I eat so I have no excuse. Like I should cut off eating bread all together. Ah, it's okay these aren't the shorts that I wanted."

Pin drop silence befell us and Henry simply stared at me, his concentrated expression never once changing. He was simply looking like he was listening but there was no real give away of what he was thinking. I felt I had to justify what I was saying and why. I'd always had to explain my body, even after the weight was off.

I tried to work out but when under stress there were times I still used eating as a crutch to deal with my emotions. That's what I'd always done since I was little because discussing feelings was basically forbidden in our household and when you tried the issues were swept aside.

I was about to apologize for my disturbing and irritating behavior when Henry suddenly spoke.

"Who did this to you?"

The question hit me like a bullet.

"What?"

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Henry slowly walked up to me. "Who made you like this?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but couldn't formulate an answer. I thought about all the teasing and the like I experienced growing up, then lowered my head when I realized the truth of the matter.

I made myself like this because I allowed others to do this to me.

Henry cut my thoughts off when he hooked his finger around my shorts and yanked me forward until I was standing up against him. His arms were wrapped around my waist as he looked down at me.

"You've always liked high waisted shorts, am I right?"

"Y-Yeah, but--"

"So wear them."

"Okay," I said for the sake of not being more of a basket case than I had been. I expected him to smile with relief that I said what he wanted to hear, when Henry simply shook his head, the same small smile still on his face as he walked us back, his arms still around me.

"I like your hat," I said when it got too quiet and awkward.

"Let's play a game," Henry said, ignoring my attempt at changing the subject.

My face grew warm. "We can't do that stuff here Henry."

"You wear the shorts you've always wanted to wear, and when we get home, I'll let you do whatever it is you want to do to me."

I blinked in surprise at him, then finally allowed myself to smile as I thought of the possibilities. Yes, sex wasn't everything, but for right now it was a great thing going on between Henry and I. I did feel strange at first with him using that to 'bribe' me into wearing the shorts, but I decided I would stop being negative and play along.

"Anything?" I asked as I roamed my eyes all over his face, thinking of all the things I wanted to do with Henry and vice versa.Henry took his hat off and placed it on my head, showing he hadn't ignored my compliment about his hat.

"Anything you want, I'm yours." After pecking me, he playfully pulled the hat further down over my face.  Just tell me how you want me."

I slapped his hand away and lifted the hat to look up at him with a smile. "Ok--"

"But this game only applies if you're doing what you really want to do, and only applies if you're making the decision based on what you want and only on what you want, not what I want, not what anyone wants, not even what this wants" He gently tapped my temple. "…Just what this wants." He pointed at my chest and my entire body felt weightless as blood raced through my veins.

As I looked at the eyes before me, I was overcome with many emotions. I wrapped my arms around my midriff, feeling the denim of the shorts against my fingers. His words meant so much more than they simply appeared.

I smiled, and spoke from the heart, overcome with so much emotion my voice was only above a whisper.

"I think I'm going to get these shorts."

Henry sealed it all with a kiss.