More than Anyone

Olivia shifted in her seat, trying to ignore Harry’s eyes watching her as she checked her e-mail. He was grinning widely and she sighed softly, brushing a few loose locks of hair behind her ears. She clicked open a message from Violet and smiled upon reading it.

“Dear Livi, Jamie and I couldn’t be happier for you and Ben. We were surprised but then again, it seems to make perfect sense. We cannot wait for your next visit. Now I know you hate flying but as my baby’s godmother, you are obligated to come to the christening. What does Harry always say from that stupid movie? No excuses. Play like a champion. See you in two weeks. And I am really happy for you Livi. You, above all others, deserve some happiness. Love Violet.”

Saving it to her inbox, Olivia closed it then checked the rest of her messages. It was mostly junk and she had no idea why she was getting ads for Viagra. She despised spam mail. She sighed again, still feeling Harry’s eyes upon her.

“What?” She finally asked. “Keep staring at me, Harry. I dare you.”

That made him laugh then sink lower in the chair in front of her desk. He shook his head slightly, a grin still across his face. “What are you and kilt boy doing tonight?”

Olivia quirked an eyebrow up at that, looking at him. “Kilt boy? That’s a little disappointing coming from you. I was sure you were a bit more creative than that.”

“You know I’m just giving you shit. I like Ben,” Harry said. “Anne wants you two to come out with us for dinner tonight. We got a sitter for the brats lined up and everything. She got some new dress and wants to show off her body meaning I have to punch some people tonight that look at my wife for too long and I’m sure Ben will be good back up.”

Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at that, leaning back in her chair. “You have not changed since college.”

“Should I be changing?” He asked and she shook her head.

“No, I’m glad that you haven’t. Your lack of change is something I can depend on,” she teased and he grinned. “People always tend to change after getting married and having some kids.”

Harry shrugged. “It took me twenty-seven years to become this guy. Why change after all of that work?”

She smiled, shaking her head slightly and looking back at her computer. “I’ll call Ben in a little bit and ask if he feels like getting in some brawl tonight over your wife and then I’ll let you know. He had some financial meeting with some of the hotel advisors or something like that.”

“Jesus, I hate people living the American dream. All play and no work,” Harry sighed.

He was silent for a moment and Olivia knew that he was wanting to say something more. As she waited, she reached into one of the trays on her desk and began to read through one of the stories she had to edit, clicking and un-clicking her red pen as she did so. Harry leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“So this is what I’ve been thinking,” he finally spoke. Olivia looked at him. “I’m thinking that I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you as happy as you’ve been since you started seeing Ben. I’m thinking that though he’s my best friend, Toby is a stupid fuck for never having seen what kind of girl – woman – you are. And I’m thinking that I’m really worried for you.”

She frowned at that. “Worried? Why?”

“I like Ben. He’s a really good guy and he just might be the one for you.” He paused for a moment. “But I need you to tell me whether or not you’re dating him so you can forget about Toby.”

Olivia didn’t even hesitate. “I’m with Ben because I want to be with Ben. I’m with Ben because when I’m with him, he makes me smile and laugh and he makes me feel like I have the right to feel good about myself. I’m with Ben because I’m falling in love with him,” she said.

Harry nodded his head. “And Toby?”

She sighed softly. “I thought I was in love with Toby for the longest time. But now that I’ve been with Ben for a while… Toby was someone in my life I thought I wanted because I was too afraid to look anywhere else.”

Harry stared at her in silence for a minute before nodding his head. He slapped his hands on his knees then stood up. Olivia stood up as well and they both leaned over her desk to hug and she kissed his cheek.

“Give me a call later,” Harry said. “I’m heading home.”

“I didn’t know you were working a half day today.”

“Yeah, well you get to work half days sometimes when you’re trying to enroll your kid in some uptight preschool and you and your wife got to go meet with the principal,” he said with a roll of his eyes and Olivia laughed. “You better get yours and Ben’s asses out with us tonight.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said with a smile. Before he could walk out of her office though, she stopped him. “Harry,” she called out and he turned halfway in the door to look back at her. “Thank you. For worrying.”

Harry shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh. You’re my best friend. It’s what I do.” Then with another wave, he was gone.

Olivia, still smiling, sat back down behind her desk and instead of returning to editing the story she had just started to, she opened the top desk drawer and took out the composition notebook, turning to the page of her aspiration list.

1. Fall in love

She stared at it. It no longer mattered that she had not accomplished all of the things on her list by her twenty-fifth birthday. What mattered was that she was beginning to be able to check things off the list now. She sighed softly, reading and rereading the number one aspiration she had set for herself.

Was she in love? She and Ben were spending almost all of their time together and when they weren’t together, Olivia continuously had him in the back of her mind, thinking about him. He did make her happy. She apparently couldn’t even hide that. She was able to talk to him about anything and everything. That was obvious – especially since she told him about the baby. They still had their disagreements. Both were far too head-strong to not have the occasional spat but she found herself not worrying about whether or not he would end things with her after each fight. She was confident in the strength of their growing relationship. And besides, Ben had admitted that sometimes, he would pick fights with her just so he could see her eyes blaze. She had blushed horribly when he informed her that she looked hot during their arguments.

She chewed on the cap of her pen. There was nothing wrong with falling in love with Ben. It wasn’t as if she should be concerned about rushing into something. She had known Ben for quite some time now. True, it didn’t start out as any type of relationship. They had truly hated one another. But out of hate grew tolerance and eventual friendship. And now her feelings for him were growing every day.

She smiled faintly to herself. She had been so scared her entire life – constantly pushing people away, building these walls around herself that no one was able to get through. She never would have thought that Ben Norfolk would be the one to finally get through to her.

Without pausing, she clicked on her pen and with one swipe of red ink, number one was checked off the list.

~-~-~-~-

“Harry! I told Olivia that we’d meet them at seven!”

With Chris resting on her hip, Anne went down the hallway of the Potter apartment and entered the back bedroom. The larger of the two bedrooms where Anne and Harry slept was as usual in a complete state of disarray – much like the rest of the apartment. The bed was unmade, clothes and some of the boys’ toys were strewn about, and Hampton the bulldog, was asleep on Harry’s pillow.

Going into the bathroom, she found Harry shaving and Danny standing up on the closed toilet lid, watching and mimicking his father, his face also white with shaving cream. Anne couldn’t help but smile at the scene. She would have laughed at it. Harry had been so scared when she told him that she was pregnant with Danny. He had thought they were too young to be parents, which had highly amused her considering that they were young when they got married and had barely known one another for seventy-two hours. But seeing him now, it confirmed for her what she always knew. Harry was an amazing dad. He sometimes was a big kid himself which helped him.

“Harry, you almost ready?” She asked, standing behind him so he could see her reflection over his shoulder. “It’s getting late and the babysitter is already here.”

“Two seconds, babe,” he said before bending down and splashing water on his face. He grabbed a hand towel, patting himself dry before grinning at Danny and wiping all of the shaving cream off. “What do you think, Danny boy? Smooth enough?”

The boy patted his hand on his father’s cheek then nodded his approval. “Smooth,” he decided and Harry laughed, kissing his forehead. He picked him up and moved him down from the toilet lid to his feet again.

Harry straightened up and looked at his wife. She smiled at him and he let out a deep breath. “Holy shit,” he said as his way of complimenting her and she laughed softly, pushing herself up on her toes and kissing him gently on the lips. “You sure you want us to be the ones to go out? We can have the babysitter takes these kids somewhere and you and me can be the ones to stay in tonight.”

Anne laughed again with a shake of her head. “You are horrible,” she smiled then taking Danny’s hand, she left the bathroom with Harry behind her.

“I don’t think wanting to stay in with my beautiful wife is horrible,” he grinned as he yanked on the black dress pants he was going to wear that night. “I think it’s pretty fucking expected actually.”

“Harry!” She scolded, her accent a bit stronger than normal. It usually was whenever she raised her voice a bit. “You can’t curse like that in front of the children. You know that.”

“Annie, I’ve told you,” he said, now yanking on his white button down shirt. “It’s better they hear the bad words from their own father. That way, when you hear them curse, you can immediately blame me instead of having to call the mom of whatever kid they might have heard them from.”

Anne shook her head. “You have some of the craziest ways of thinking sometimes,” she said before walking out of the bedroom, taking Danny and Chris with her. “Hurry up Harry!”

“You can’t rush my beautifying process, Annie!” He shouted out after her and grinned when he heard her soft laughter float in from down the hallway. He opened the top drawer of his dresser and pulled a yellow tie out. He figured that since his wife was wearing a yellow dress and her hair was yellow, there was no harm in coordinating. As he began knotting it around his neck, he stared at the framed photographs in front of him.

There was one of him and Anne outside of the courthouse after they got married. Beer had been both his blessing and his curse. When he, Violet, Toby and Olivia had graduated from college, he had been a little out of control when it came to celebrating and had consumed far too much beer and liquor. When he woke up, he found himself to be in the hospital on account of alcohol poisoning. Anne had been the nursing student who had been checking on his vitals and had immediately started telling him how stupid he was and how close he had come to permanently damaging himself. He couldn’t believe the nerve of her. He was in his a hospital bed and she had the nerve to butt into his business. They had gotten into an argument right there in his hospital bed. He wasn’t sure when he fell in love with her. He thought that it was almost immediately. Love at first sight. He figured that if he could fall in love with a woman as he recovered from alcohol poisoning and she was bitching at him, this love was the real kind. He came back a couple days later and asked her to marry him right there at the nurse’s station. And she for reasons that still alluded him said yes.

The next photo was of Danny and Chris in one of those Sears portrait studio pictures. Anne had wanted them to wear matching outfits but Harry had said that no sons of his would be wearing matching outfits. She had begrudgingly allowed Chris to wear a baby’s Chicago Bears jersey and Danny a Led Zeppelin hooded sweatshirt. She did admit afterwards though after they got the prints back that both boys looked ridiculously adorable.

The last photograph was of himself, Toby, Olivia and Violet taken before Violet went off to London with her husband, Jamie. None of them had really changed that much since they first met as freshmen in college. And even if they had, Harry couldn’t bear the thought. He was not looking forward to aging. He couldn’t deny that they were all in the midst of becoming officially adults. He never would have guessed that he be the first to get married and have kids but that was how it turned out. Then Violet married Jamie and moved across the freaking ocean and was about to have a baby. Toby of all people was getting married and then there was Olivia.

Harry picked the frame up to look more closely at it. He really hoped that Olivia was happy. She seemed to be. He had known her long enough to know that she hadn’t been truly happy in a long time. Part of it was of her own doing but he laid most of the blame at the feet of her bitch of a sister and Toby. He sighed. Olivia was his best friend and he had always been protective of her and Violet. He wanted his friends to be happy and he wanted Olivia especially to be with someone that knew she was truly wonderful. She needed that.

“Harry! Please!” Anne shouted from the living room and running a hand through his always unruly hair, he put the frame back on the dresser before grabbing his watch and wallet and rushing from the bedroom.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Ben and Olivia were already there.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” Anne said as she hugged Olivia then kissed Ben’s cheek. “You haven’t been waiting long I hope.”

“Jesus, Anne,” Harry rolled his eyes, hugging Olivia and shaking Ben’s hand. “We’re like what? Ten minutes late?”

“Fifteen,” Olivia said with a smile as they all sat down at the small circular table again.

“I’m sorry,” Anne apologized again. “Harry is not the kind that lets himself be rushed.”

“Don’t worry, Anne,” Ben said. “We already ordered some wine though if that works.”

“Perfect,” she smiled gratefully before leaning back in her chair and looking over the restaurant’s menu.

Harry however was looking at Ben. “Man, what the hell? Your accent just comes and goes whenever it wants?”

“I was watching 'Braveheart' today so it’s a little thicker than it usually is,” Ben laughed.

Harry nodded his head then looked at Olivia. “Consider yourself lucky, Livi. Anne only lets me hear her accent when she’s yelling at me.”

Anne casually slapped him in the stomach with her hand making Olivia burst out with laughter. Harry gave his wife a look before turning his attention back to a grinning Ben.

“Not the archers. My scouts tell me their archers are miles away and no threat to us. Arrows cost money. Use up the Irish. Their dead cost nothing.”

Ben laughed shortly, shaking his head. “Of every character in that movie, you have to say the lines by Longshanks?”

“Well, I’m not about to impersonate a Scottish character to an actual Scottish guy,” Harry reasoned then cleared his throat. “I hope you washed your ass this morning, it's about to be kissed by a king.”

“Go back to England and tell them there that Scotland's daughters and sons are yours no more. Tell them Scotland is free,” Ben said and Harry laughed like an over-indulged child.

“God, it’s so much cooler to do this when one of us has an actual accent!” He exclaimed. “Annie, isn’t this cool?”

“Yes, Harry,” Anne said distantly as she continued studying her menu. “Very cool.”

Olivia laughed then leaned over and kissed Ben on the cheek. “It’s so easy to please him.”

Ben turned his head and gave a quick kiss to Olivia full on the mouth before putting his attention back on Harry. “You should come and watch the movie at my place. I have the 48 inch plasma flat screen TV with the surround sound. It makes me feel more connected to William Wallace while he’s kicking English ass.”

Olivia made a face. “I hate it. I swore, I could actually HEAR them disembowel him at the end.”

That caught Anne’s attention and she lifted her head. “How is this dinner appropriate conversation?” She asked with a frown.

“Because if we’re talking about disembowelment, it helps distract me from all of the guys checking you out,” Harry said, taking hold of her hand. She smiled at that, blushing. He winked at her quickly before turning back to Ben and furthering their discussion on both 'Braveheart' and his entertainment system.

As she studied the menu, torn between either the lemon chicken or the pork chops, Olivia felt Ben rest his hand on her thigh. She smiled, reaching down and resting her hand over his, squeezing it. She saw him from the corner of her eye, smiling and laughing at whatever it was that Harry was saying at the moment and Olivia bit her lower lip, smiling as well. She knew that she had had no choice in checking off number one on her list. She had fallen for him completely and there was no way she was going to be coming back from it.