Until Harry(20)

“Lane,” his voice prompted.

I blinked. “Sorry, what?”

My uncle laughed and shook his head. “Where. Is. Kale?”

I rolled my eyes. “Where do you think he is?”

My uncle was silent for only a moment before he said, “With your brothers.”

I wish.

I huffed. “He is with Drew. He is always with her, he never spends time with me or my brothers anymore.”

That was a lie; he still hung out with my brothers. It was me who was getting the elbow recently. I just thought saying that my brothers didn’t receive any of his time either made me sound a little less pathetic.

My uncle’s low rumbling chuckle irked me. I turned to face him and folded my arms across my chest. “It’s not funny, Uncle Harry.”

He smiled lovingly at me. “I’m not laughing at your distress, sweetheart, I’m laughing at your attitude. You remind me of your mother when we were your age.”

I do?

I beamed. “She was also fabulous with brains to burn?”

My uncle laughed loudly, and it brought a smile to my face. I loved his laugh.

“She liked to think so,” he said, shaking his head good-naturedly.

I felt my smile fall as I sighed. “I’m sorry for being snarky. I’m just . . . annoyed.”

My uncle kept his focus on me. “Why?” he quizzed.

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

The corners of my uncle’s eyes creased slightly as he said, “Yeah, darling, you do.”

I gnawed on my lower lip, looked at my uncle and then to my feet. I felt my stomach churn as the realisation of what I was about to say hit me.

“I’m jealous,” I admitted, still looking down. “I like Kale. I like him as more than a friend, and I hate it because it means I’m always going to be stuck next to him watching him be with older, prettier girls. It sucks, Uncle Harry. It sucks arse.”

I felt heat stain my cheeks when silence fell between us.

“How long have you been feeling like this?” he questioned after a moment.

I blew out a relieved breath that he didn’t laugh at me.

I swallowed. “Since I was around ten, but it’s getting worse now ’cause I keep getting upset about it, whereas when I was younger, I didn’t give it much thought when he was hanging around with other girls.”

I looked up when my uncle snorted. “It’s your hormones, kid,” he said with a matter-of-fact tone. “You’ve hit puberty. Shit goes downhill from here.”

I was a little embarrassed to be talking about hormones and puberty with my uncle, but I laughed when he finished speaking, because his expression was dead serious.

He smiled at me. “Why don’t you talk to your mum about this?”

Is he joking? I was horrified at the suggestion.

“I couldn’t,” I stated. “She loves Kale like he is her own. She’d probably disown me.”

My uncle’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a little far-fetched, don’t you think?”

“No,” I replied, “I think it’s perfectly accurate.”

My uncle’s eyes twinkled as he smiled. “Your vocabulary is growing.”

I pushed strands of hair that fell into my eyes back from my face. “I read a lot of books,” I said, shrugging. “Some that aren’t for kids either.”

My uncle cocked an eyebrow. “Romance novels?”

I nodded. “Young adult stuff – nothing explicit or anything.”

Nothing too explicit anyway.

“I’ve no doubt those kind of novels make you more upset about Kale,” my uncle said.

I frowned. “Not exactly. Well, they make me want a boyfriend more. I like reading about people’s happily-ever-afters. It seems like it would be nice for someone to love me.”

“I love you,” my uncle quickly stated.

I rolled my eyes. “I mean a boyfriend type of love. Family love is a different kind.”

“Family love is everything,” he specified. “Once you have the love of your family, you can do anything.”

I snorted. “Okay, Oprah.”

“Cheeky mare,” he tittered. “All jokes aside, are you okay? We can skip seeing The X-Men film if you want to.”

“Not a chance. I am dying to see that film.”

My uncle stared me down. “Are you sure? Because if you aren’t up for it, we can do something else?”

I smiled at his concern. “I’ll be okay. I just get like this whenever he blows me off. I guess it’s just something I’ll have to get used to.”

My uncle scratched his neck. “Or you could just, I don’t know, tell Kale you like him and—”

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” I cut my uncle off with a dramatic screech. “Kale can’t ever know that I like him. It would be the end of my life!”

“Darling,” my uncle said, his lip twitching.

“No!” I stated, and wagged my finger at him. “You promise me right now that anything I ever tell you about Kale stays just between us. Just between us.”

“Lane—”

“Promise, Uncle Harry.”

My uncle laughed so hard he had to rub tears from his eyes. “You’re exactly like your mother,” he cackled. “So demanding.”