Sequins & Zippers

Part 13 | Nerves & New York City

"Aren't you warm in those corduroy pants?" Aurora asks Harry as he comes over to take a swig of water from the bottle she has sitting on the seat next to her.

"Trying to get me to take off my trousers, love?" Harry quips back as he untwists the cap.

"You're annoying, you know that right?" She says before she adjusts the leg of her old worn out jean shorts and brings the straw of her iced coffee to her lips. "But seriously, I'm just sitting out here and I'm warm, how can you not be in those pants?"

"I'm fine Ror, really."

"Whatever you say," she singsongs, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.

The sun is shining bright in the almost cloudless sky. Harry is playing catch with Mitch and Adam and a few crewmembers jump in and out of the game as the morning turns into afternoon. Harry was excited to be back at Hersheypark Stadium and the seasoned crewmembers were too, with it being the only outdoor stadium in the entire tour.

Aurora has never loved the heat much, though. Between the inevitable sunburn she always gets no matter how diligent she is with applying sunscreen and the chaffing of her thighs from shorts that always end up riding up while she walks, she finds it hard to focus on how the sun feels on her skin. She finds it even harder whilst just watching Harry run around in those lilac corduroy pants. She doesn't find it hard to watch as his t-shirt pulls from where it's trying to stay tucked into the waistband, his laurel tattoos peaking out every so often when he reaches up to catch the baseball. She hides her lingering gaze behind her sunglasses and her smirk around the straw of her coffee.

Aurora's phone ringing pulls her out of her stupor and she shakes her head as she watches Harry run off to catch the stray ball that's flying through the air.

"Hi mom!" Aurora answers her phone.

"Hi Honey, how are you?"

"I'm good, we're in Philly right now, trying to enjoy the sun and beautiful day as much as we can before getting to work."

"Good, you shouldn't be working too hard anyways." She can tell her mom is smiling through her voice. "I was just calling to confirm our plans and such for NYC."

"Oh yeah of course! I'm so excited to see you and dad!"

"We're way more excited to see you, trust me," her mom laughs.

"Yeah so, we should get to NYC on the 19th and we can get into our airbnb around 1pm."

"Ror, are you sure you want us to stay with you? We can just travel back and forth or get our own hotel room."

"No mom, I asked to get an Airbnb so we could stay together. Haven't seen ya in since March, I wanna spend time with you!"

"Well, what about Harry?"

"He'll probably stay with us, if that's alright. He's got a handful of stuff to take care of while we're in the city, a few meetings and friends to see, but he's coming to dinner with us on the 20th. Wants to do the whole official meet the parents thing," Aurora explains and her mom can definitely hear by the tone of her voice that she said it with an eyeroll. "Then I thought we could go back to the airbnb and play games or watch a movie, just a normal family night. I think Harry would like to be a part of that."

"Why do you say it like that?"

Aurora pauses before she answers. "Just think he'd like to have a relaxing night, something more normal than ordering room service or a business meeting, some real family time." Aurora looks up from the chipped polish on her fingers and meets Harry's eyes across the open aisle of seats. They mirror each other's smiles. "2 nights at MSG are a big deal. I-I, I just know how he gets and I don't want him to stress too much or be alone the night before."