CHAPTER 13 – Harvest Moon
They arrived at the deserted beach long after the sun had set. Nelly felt the cool breeze tug at her hair and flatten her clothes against her body. She noticed Harry sneaking a glance at her, but shrugged it off as a thing boys do. The evening had turned much colder, so Jax and Harry made a bonfire, while the girls got a few things from the car to keep them warm. Like a couple of blankets, an eighth of J.D. and six-pack of beer.
Jax opened one and passed it to Nelly. She shook her head. "No, thanks."
"Oh, come on, Ms. Goody-two-shoes," Jax sneered, and Nelly noticed Tara jabbing him with her elbow.
Nelly decided she might as well get it out in the open, "My dad is a drunk, Jax. I see what it does to him, so I stay away from booze."
Harry looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you mind if we drink?"
Nelly shook her head again, this time with a smile, touched by his considerate question. "You guys go ahead. At least you'll have a designated driver."
They all settled around the fire, Jax with his arm around Tara and a bottle of beer in in his hand, Harry between Nelly and Jax, at a small distance from both. Nelly sat facing her three friends, thermos of hot and sweet black tea in her lap, a cup of it in her hand. They listened to the sound of waves on the rocky shore and basked in the warmth of the fire.
Jax broke the content silence, "I'm thinking of quitting football."
"Why?" Tara and Nelly asked in unison, both surprised. They watched Jax and Harry play since the beginning of school year. The boys excelled on the field, with coach Atkins playing them in every game.
"Our asshole captain Hale rubs me the wrong way." Jax threw a pebble into the fire. "I fucking hate his guts."
David Hale was the local judge's son and the first in everything at school. He was cocky and preppy and self-righteous, always on top of his game, and everything Jax and Harry stood against.
"The season is almost over," added Tara and gave him a sly little smile, "and you know what a turn on that uniform of yours is."
"What counts is in the uniform, sweetheart."
"If you're quitting, then so am I." Harry looked at his friend, his eyes serious.
"Nah, you can't, you're too good." His best friend replied just as seriously. "Coach Atkins said you could easily get a scholarship, maybe even go pro."
"Not what I want. I've got a better idea."
Jax smiled as they bumped fists. "You do your thing, bro. I'm not going to waste my time worrying about fucking Hale when I have my girl right here. You kids entertain each other." He winked at Nelly and Harry, turned to Tara, and the couple started making out.
Nelly and Harry looked at each other and exchanged embarrassed smiles. Then Harry asked, "Do you feel like taking a walk?"
Nelly nodded, eager to get away from the intertwined bodies of their friends and the accompanying slobbering and moans. Harry got up smoothly and then taking her hand, pulled her up to her feet a little too hard. Nel lost her balance and bumped into Harry's chest. He extended his arms around her like a life-preserver and she grabbed on to steady herself. The brief contact sent a spark between them, an invisible current which Nelly felt travel from the tip of her head to the heels of her feet. She wondered if he felt it too. "Thanks." She smiled shyly. Harry smiled back, avoiding eye contact, and turned to go.
+0+
The full, orange moon, reflecting on the surface of the lake, was lighting their way. Harry lead Nelly down the rocky beach, but every so often looked back to her, offering his help when the path became steep and tricky, the boulders more ragged and difficult to manoeuvre. Although he had no idea, Harry was charming Nel with his natural chivalry. They came to a rock wall, nearly as tall as she. He climbed on first, then pulled her up onto the outcrop, where the waves splashed against the rocks bellow. Nelly sat down cross-legged close to the edge and Harry settled next to her, at arm's length, his long legs dangling over the cliff. The view was amazing, with the moon casting a long path on the lake and illuminating the shoreline.
"It's so beautiful here," was all Nelly could say. She felt Harry's eyes on her and turned to meet his gaze, but as soon as she did, he looked away to the water.
"It's a good place to be alone," he said, "You can hear yourself think."
Nelly got a strong impression this place was special to him, and that it wasn't one he shared with others. She felt warmth spread from her heart and smiled at him, truly grateful. "Do you come here often?"
"Not often. I'm not a big thinker." He wanted to sound self-deprecating, but came off sounding humble. "Out of the two of us Jax is the thinker, I'm the muscle."
"I don't know, Harry, you strike me as a thoughtful guy." Nelly objected gently, feeling certain that whenever Harry was silent, his mind wasn't empty. She spoke her thoughts out loud, "You know how some guys tend to be their best friend's shadow? It's different with you and Jax. He may be the leader, but you're not a follower. It's more like you're partners."
"You're probably the only person who thinks so." Harry said earnestly, a bit resigned. From the moment she met them, Nel felt that he was always overshadowed by Jax's exuberant charisma, but it was Harry who stood out to her. Sure, she was biased, but if Jax wasn't around, she felt certain it would be Harry turning heads with his powerful presence and quiet confidence, his cool and collected personality. Nel really believed that he was made of sturdy, bold stuff he kept under wraps, that he could just as well be the alpha dog of their little duo. Nelly wanted to tell him that, she just didn't know how, so she decided to change a subject and ask about something that stirred her curiosity.
"So... Opie." She smiled at him crookedly.
"Yeah, my dad started calling me that when I was a kid and it stuck."
"It has a nice ring to it." Nelly said honestly. "In a way, it suits you."
Harry smiled, red creeping up on his cheeks. "You're just being nice," then he added more seriously, "It makes me feel like a six-year-old every time."
"Why won't you ask them to stop?"
"Old habits won't die, so I just let them."
"Well, you'll always be Harry to me." She smiled at him, certain that was what he wanted, and received a grateful smile in return.
They fell silent and watched the moon swim in the lake. The wind was much stronger and colder than Nel expected and she cursed herself for not bringing a jacket. Still, she could take a little cold if it meant their conversation would continue. What she couldn't help were the shivers that ran through her body as she wrapped arms around herself to keep warm. It didn't escape Harry's attention.
"You're cold, Nelly." The next moment, he was pulling off his hoodie, revealing SAMCRO t-shirt underneath. "Put this on."
"No, I can't, you'll be cold."
"I'm hot blooded." He joked, "I'll be fine."
She hesitated a moment, and then relented, "Thank you." It smelled of pines and the beach, and Harry's warmth still clung to it as Nelly pulled it over her head. That's what it would feel like to be in his arms, thought Nelly with longing, but almost instantly she was grateful Harry didn't resort to the oldest flirting trick in the book.
They spoke at the same time, anxious to fill the silence.
"You first." Harry said.
Nelly played with the hem of his sweatshirt, a little uncertain. Most boys couldn't handle serious conversation, but she had a feeling Harry was different. Her eyes were earnest and curious as she asked, "If football is not for you, then what is it you want, Harry?"
"I want to be a patched Son," he answered without hesitation, "I want to be part of something bigger than me. Jax and I, we have wanted this for as long as I can remember."
"Do you have a plan B?" Nelly wondered.
Harry frowned, clearly perplexed, "Honestly, I never thought of an alternative, never thought I'd need one."
"You want to be like your dad, don't you?" Being around Harry made her say exactly what was on her mind at the moment. She missed the ability to self-edit.
"Yeah, my pops is larger than life." Harry admitted sheepishly. "He's cool."
It occurred to Nelly that the usually quiet and withdrawn Harry transformed into a thoughtful, engaging guy when the two of them were alone. He had no trouble with carrying on a conversation and seemed more at ease without others around them. Maybe the key to getting to know him was to get him alone.
+0+
She was so easy to talk to. Whenever it was just the two of them, like up on that Ferris wheel, Harry felt free to open up, to tell her exactly what was going on in his head. It was a new experience, sharing his thoughts with someone else, one he was still getting used to. After a few silent moments, he asked something he was curious about, "So what is it you want for yourself, Nelly? After high-school?"
"I want to go to college. I want to be a teacher, work with kids." She had a daydreaming look in her eye as she talked of her future.
"You'd be good at that. God knows you have the patience." Harry thought of Nelly's laid back ways. Than he asked a question loaded with more than one meaning, "Away from Charming?"
She seemed to have missed it as she answered, "Most likely, at least for college. But I don't plan that far ahead. You never know where life will take you."
"Yeah," Harry nodded in understanding. He felt a heavy weight of complete certainty that this girl was too smart and good to be a biker's old lady. That he should give up hoping she'd ever be his girl.
"I guess all I want is to get away from my dad." Nelly said quietly. It got his gears turning. Was there more to it than her father being a degenerate drunk and a common thug? Dark thoughts tumbled in his head, his worries multiplying. Harry had to ask, even if he didn't know how, "Does he... hurt you?"
She shifted, obviously delaying her reply to an uncomfortable question, "He slaps me around sometimes, but nothing more."
"Asshole." Harry whispered under his breath. "If he ever does anything to you, Nelly, come to us, tell the Sons. We'll protect you." I will protect you, was really what he meant.
"Maybe you and Jax would, but I'm not so sure about the Sons..."
"What do you mean?" There was clearly something she wasn't telling him.
"It's Simon." After a moment of hesitation, she added. "He beats my aunt all the time."
That didn't compute. Piney told him often enough that a real man would never hit a woman, and Harry knew very well that his dad never laid a hand on his mother, even during the worst of their fights. He knew that the Sons had a strict moral code against harming women and children. It was one of the reasons he respected his father and so strongly believed in the club. But things like that did happen and he had no doubt that Nelly was telling the truth. "Does anyone in the club know?"
"I don't think so. My aunt doesn't talk about it, I think she's afraid."
He felt at a loss, not sure what to say, and Nelly must have noticed.
"Listen, I'm not expecting you to fix this, Harry." She gave him a comforting shadow of a smile. "They're big boys and girls, have to work it our for themselves."
He nodded, unsettled by the fact that there wasn't anything he could do. At least he could vouch for himself. "I hope you don't think we're all like that, the Sons."
"I don't think you're like that, Harry." She replied seriously and Harry felt a weight lifted off his shoulders.
"That's good enough for me."
Just then she looked at her Swatch and swore. "Crap. I can't believe it's so late."
"How late?" He asked her. Buried in their conversation, they had completely lost track of time.
"Almost midnight. Tara and I have first aid class tomorrow morning."
"We better get back." Harry said, but his body refused to get up, move from here and now.
"Thanks for sharing this spot with me," She smiled at him, still sitting down, still enveloped in his hoodie. "And the talk."
He smiled back, looking into her bright green eyes, encouraged by her warmth. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?" The hope he had fought so hard to extinguish flickered back to life.
"I'd like that," said Nelly, and without knowing, set it on fire.
+0+
As Nelly and Harry returned, Tara and Jax were cuddling by the dying bonfire, half-asleep.
"Time to go," Nelly said as she started gathering their stuff.
"What's the rush?" Asked her friend, reluctantly tearing herself away from Jax.
"Harry's boring you?" Jax winked at his friend.
"Actually, because of you two sucking face, I had Harry all to myself. Which was a nice change." Nelly spoke her mind without thinking and immediately regretted her cursed tongue. She noticed Harry's face flame up, so she distracted everyone with a disbelieving look at Tara. "Don't tell me you forgot, we have CPR re-cert tomorrow at nine."
She did forget, which honestly surprised Nelly, as her dark-haired friend was always on top of her game. Jax was totally messing with her priorities.
"Paging Dr. Knowles." Jax teased.
"Laugh all you want, Teller, but give me a few years and I'll be patching up you and your biker buddies." Tara punched his bicep and then kissed him, their love/hate relationship on full display.
"Fine, let's get going." Jax stretched and got up, then gave Tara a hand.
Nel remembered about Harry's hoodie and started talking it off. He stopped her by putting a hand on her arm, "Keep it for now, at least until we get you home."
She smiled at him gratefully, although a little voice in the back of her head kept questioning his intentions. Surely, a teenaged boy could not be so thoughtful and considerate without a reason.
(I realize Harry is a love-sick puppy, and this may seem out of character in comparison to Opie we all know, but Harry's heart hasn't been broken yet, and he holds a romantic and idealistic notion of love – he is not quite seventeen after all, and in many ways innocent and hopeful.)