016

                                    

                                          
A usb.
                          
That was what I first found in the pink gift bag Liza had given me when I arrived home, along with a matching pink dessert box inside, shielding whatever treat was in there from my prying eyes.
                          
It was the first gift I've ever gotten from anyone and even though I was tired to the bones by the time I got home that didn't stop me from jumping up and down and squealing with joy while hugging my new present.
                          
I studied the small chip in my hand with a curious gaze, my brows furrowed and lips pursed in interest before I got up from my dining room chair to retrieve my laptop, plugging the usb in the small slot on the side as I peered at the computer.
                          
My mind drifted as I patiently waited for whatever was on the usb to show on my laptop, drumming my fingers against the side of the device regretting not telling Harry off about how I had overheard what he said in the kitchen.
                          
I was just so caught up in the moment, it was like when you get in a fight with someone and then only later on you finally think of a good comeback but it's much too late.
                          
A security tape suddenly appeared across my computer screen, catching my attention when I realized it wasn't just any type of tape.
                          
It was a video of Harry and Liza in the hotel kitchen, icing and decorating a gingerbread house together as I heard the muffled, low quality of their voices coming from my speakers.
                          
"I have to lie to myself everyday." Harry muttered as I watched the tape of him angrily icing his little house of gumdrops and sprinkles while Liza helped him.
                          
"Yeah?" She acknowledged in a distracted tone, grabbing a cookie cutter across from her.
                          
"I have to lie and keep telling myself that the only reason I'm doing this is because I made a deal and I can't wait till Christmas is over so I don't have to deal with her ever again." He huffed in his serious voice, the beginning of his sentence making me gasp as I placed my hand over my parted lips.
                          
Oh my goodness.
                          
I watched as Liza batted her eyelashes and made her hands form a heart over her chest, playfully nudging an irritated Harry who narrowed his eyes at her with an unamused expression.
                          
"You see the ridiculous things she makes me do." He reasoned, his hands gripping tightly onto the bag of icing in frustration when he couldn't manage to ice the roof properly.
                          
"Alright chill out, stop squeezing too hard or the icing's gonna burst." Liza cautioned with a light laugh, taking ahold of the strangled plastic from Harry's grasp.
                          
"You know I'd only do this with you amore." Harry commented with a sly smirk as they exchanged smiles, getting closer when she helped him hold the icing bag, both of them focusing all their attention on the house in front of them
                          
"Well I'm glad I could help and all but did you really have to lie to Malu like that?" She questioned in a soft voice, letting Harry ice by himself when he got the hand of things.
                          
"She's a nosey child who will always try to include herself in everyone's business. Of course I had to lie to her about what we were up to." Harry replied, eyes trained on the gumdrops he was putting over the house with such a serious expression it was almost laughable.
                          
"You must really like her if you're going through all this trouble to make her a gingerbread house." Liza teased as my eyes widened, my face almost pressed right against the screen of my computer with how close I was leaning forward.
                          
I had left before I could hear the rest of what they had to say.
                          
Harry didn't answer for a moment, his body just went rigid, his hand that was holding a green gumdrop hovering over the gingerbread exterior as if frozen in the air.