We spent the day in Toledo today for my birthday!! Here are some photos 😊📸

h-how did flour get there?

in which harry thought the way to her heart was through her stomach.

-

“used to be a baker, y’know.”

the sentence has crossed headlines and articles and tweets and comments and has been the butt of jokes for well over a few years, and harry now suddenly realizes that all of them were right:

working in a bakery is different than being a baker.

he had this overarching confidence today and he was confused but not opposed to the feeling; it was nice to have a change of emotion after being stressed out for the past few days.

it was valentines day— and a sickly sweet feeling was bubbling in harry’s chest as he pondered how he could make their lowkey, casual and simple dinner tonight special. the last valentines day with his girl was celebrated on tour, and the lack of privacy and availability made it lackluster and filled with quickies and short make out sessions and simple cards with messy script.

this year was better. although they both had to work all day before they could celebrate with a nice dinner and a solid night of loving, harry was more than excited to get tipsy off of champagne with his love in low light and serve her dinner and dessert and—

shit.

he forgot dessert.

fuck.

arguably the most romantic part of any meal—feeding one another chocolate covered strawberries or rich chocolate cake or sweet cookies—he forgot it and if that doesn’t make him feel like an idiot he doesn’t know what will. he wanted this to be romantic: a night where he could praise and spoil his girl and make her feel absolutely beautiful in every way possible.

how in the fuck could he do that now that he forgot one of her favorite things?

harry’s girl had the biggest sweet tooth—it scares him sometimes—and he knows that if he doesn’t have any dessert she’ll certainly be whining and pouting. she never failed to not finish dinner to save room for something chocolately; no matter how many times harry chastised her, she’d stick her tongue out and laugh at him.

“let me live, h. just because you only eat leaves doesn’t mean i have to.”

and well, harry typically would pout at her.

“fine. order some.. some double fudge chocolate crusted oreo cheesecake with caramel with a side of a sugar overdose, then.”

“they have that on the menu?!”

okay so, he forgot his girl’s favorite thing. he pouted at himself, scolding himself, wondering how in the world he could have forgotten.

his brain had started to wrap itself in a frenzy— the weather was shitty today and he didn’t want to be that guy that called his driver to come and drive him to a bakery in heavy snow when he just dropped him off about twenty minutes ago.

he felt a small surge of confidence radiate through him—

i could bake something, right?

he bit his lip, pulling out his phone, searching pinterest with nimble fingers.

simple chocolate cake, maybe?...hm.

and up came a million recipes, right at his fingertips; it seemed simple enough.

oh, was he so wrong.

this one author claiming that her chocolate cake was the best in the world and comparable to the chocolate cake in matilda made harry frown; he didn’t like the tone of arrogance in a simple chocolate dessert recipe. it’s fucking butter and sugar, right?

well, it wasn’t.

harry didn’t realize that this recipe required precious tediousness. he didn’t think using regular milk instead of buttermilk was that big of a deal, and that one less egg than written down would cause too much harm. there were eggshells in the batter and it had way more than a “dash” of salt—what even did that mean—but harry pushed it into the oven with flour on his hands and a small, proud smile on his face.

knew i could do it!

he thinks that it had to bake for forty minutes— he’s unsure because pinterest closed out and erased the recipe away and he wasn’t going to try to find it again among the hundreds of thousands of suggestions.

there was some leftover frosting in the refrigerator from god knows when— harry pulled it out with an easy smile, relieved that he didn’t have to go through another recipe list.

but when he was engrossed in a youtube tutorial entitled diy piping bags! two steps! with twenty failed ziploc bags next to him, his nose twitched.

something didn’t smell.. right.

he couldn’t compare it to a smell he had already experienced… this one was just, wrong.

it had been only twenty-two minutes, but the disgusting smell of something…  cooking… didn’t scream safety. so he took it out with a sniffing nose and a what the fuck is that smell running through his mind.

he quickly glanced to the clock, thinking about how fast he could remake it, that he’d have all the time in the world— when took a double take and realized that his girl is going to be home in a fucking hour.

it was a blur then, really: one filled of puffs of flour as he attempts to construct something out of a half baked cake, icing thrown haphazardly on top and huffing when it melted on the hot dessert, gel food coloring resembling alphabet soup as he tried to write a message to his lovie. he was bent over his counter, batter sticking to his jeans and smears of frosting on his cheek, flour covering every surface in sight.

harry was so focused, his tongue poking out between his lips, limbs freezing when he hears her car pull up outside. before he knew it, she was closing the door behind her, calling out his name softly.

she smiled in relaxation. she was finally home, enveloped in warmth and ready to spend a romantic night with her husband. she was anxious; she was wearing something new under her work clothes that had been riling her up all day, wondering what he’d think, how he’d react when he saw it. she shook back her shoulders, sighing, walking towards the sound of him in the kitchen, bags in hand.

“hazza?” she cooed, swaying her hips, confidence stirring in her lower stomach as she sauntered, pushing the doorway in.

she had never expected this.

“uh.. hi, lovie.”

his tone was hesitant and unsure, her lips parting as her eyes widened.

it was an absolute mess.

one would never know their countertops were dark marble: because they were caked in every kitchen ingredient imaginable. there was batter on the floor and spilled all over the front of the oven, two cracked eggs on the floor in front of the open refrigerator. harry was covered in frosting and pink glitter, staring at her with wide eyes as his hands were wrapped around a makeshift piping bag.

she burst out laughing.

she couldn’t help it.

small giggles morphed into loud laughs, her bags dropping to the floor as her arms went around her midsection. harry stood up straight, a pout on his face as he watched her laugh at his stupidity, eyebrows furrowing. she swore her knees almost gave way, tears starting to leak from her eyes as she held onto the wall next to her. her lungs were burning from laughter, shouts of “i can’t!” between her giggles.

harry frowned. he looked around, his eyes widening a bit when he realizes how much of a mess he’s made.

“h-how—” she broke into laughter. her arm reached shakily, pointing to the light dangling over the island. “h-how did flour get there?”

harry looked.

sure enough, there was globs of wet flour and batter stuck to the ceiling and light, a solid ten feet above where harry was working on this cake.

he pouted again when her giggles weren’t quieting.

“y’know… when most husbands mess up or make themselves look dumb their wives tell them it’s the thought that counts, or summat.” his lip was jutted, his hands throwing down the frosting and his arms crossing over his chest.

her laughs slowly calmed, her body trembling and more tears leaking from her eyes. she sniffled, chuckling, fingers wiping her cheeks.

“aw, bub.” she bit her lip, stifling more laughs. “what on earth have you done? i know we talked about redecorating, but…” she laughed again.

harry looked down at his failed cake, the one undisguisable from even being so, heaps of frosting and sprinkles layered on top of a soupy mess.

she padded over to him, grinning. “i’m sorry for laughing.” she lied completely, her lips pulling inward as her arms wrapped around his waist.

his hand came to her back, lips frowning. “wanted this to work.”

“it’s very sweet of you, baby.” she leant up, planting a kiss on his cheek, a bit of frosting catching on her lip.

she hummed, eyes lighting excitedly. “the frosting tastes delicious!”

he pouted. “the one thing i didn’t make.” he mumbled, pouting again.

she could have had another laughing episode right then and there. but she held it in, biting her lip. “i’m sorry, bubby.” her fingers combed his hair. “why don’t you um...” she snorted, “go shower and i’ll clean up, yeah?”

he shook his head and whined. “i wanted to set things up for you.” he frowned. “wanted to make you feel special and all that.” his accent was thick, voice low and posture slouched over.

“you always make me feel special.” she murmured, going on her toes to kiss him softly. he sighed into her, his arms slowly pulling her closer to him. she pulled away, pecking his nose and smiling. “y’can feed me the chocolate covered strawberries i got, yeah?”

he paused, pulling back. “what?”

she gazed at him. “the strawberries i got on my way home.”

“what d’you mean?” his eyes widened. 

“remember i said i would grab dessert on my way?”

he faltered.

there’s no way.

“what— when was this said?!” he breathed out, eyebrows pinching inward.

“last night, bub.” she smiled, then her lips parted. “do not tell me you did all of this because you thought nobody had bought dessert.”

he fumbled with his fingers, cheeks blushing. “...no.”

her head dipped forward, giggles falling from her lips as he frowned in embarrassment. he started this night off thinking he was dumb enough to forget dessert, but he really forgot that he wasn’t even responsible for it.

“i need wine.” he mumbled, his love still giggling into his chest and he smiled sheepishly. “i just— ‘m sorry, lovie.”

she grinned. “you give me a new adventure every day that reminds me why i married your dumb ass, h.”

he chuckled. “i’m glad.” and then a second later “i guess.”

she kissed him lightly. “we’ll remember this valentines day, for sure.” she laughed. “let’s get you cleaned up.”

“you’re gonna join me?” he smirked.

“save that for later, y’know, after dessert.” she smiled.

“or…” he pondered. “i can eat my dessert now.”

her eyebrows furrowed. he grinned charmingly, and bent, scooping her up and holding her under her thighs as he walked, his girl giggling and squealing as he quickly padded to their bedroom. he kicked open the door, hiking her up so her face met his. he grinned impishly.

“i suddenly have a sweet tooth.”

Today I had plans to eat Dim Sum with my family and one of my mom’s old teachers. Normally I don’t make plans if I have something else to do, even if it only took up part of my day. But after our very successful first date I was eager to see my now boyfriend, and jumped at the chance to go on our second date only three days later. We arranged to meet at 3:30 and during the entire breakfast exchange, all I could think about was replying to Anthony. Unfortunately I had to refrain, for using your phone at the table is kinda rude. Yay for social interactions. Then my sister surprised me with a bomb saying that we were going shopping after dim sum, so I was stressed about being late to my date. Long story short I got home around 2:30 and quickly curled my hair (have to look not like a bum once in a while!). Thankfully I was driven to the station so I wasn’t tooo late, but to no one’s surprise Anthony was there way before me. When I arrived to the Forest Hills station, I had no idea where to exit. Anthony had specifically said the south exit, but I traveled both sides of the station and they both said North. With my yolo motto, I just exited the one I was closest to and looked around for him. He didn’t seem too annoyed at my inability to navigate the simplest of directions, or at least he hid it very well. I sent him a picture of my surroundings and waited in anticipation. This bitch had the audacity to sneak up behind me, sending my already pounding heart into a larger frenzy. Anthony led the way to lunch and showed me a bit of “his-hood-but-not-really”. Me being the impatient little shit I am, I completely abandoned my cute plan of our first hand hold (I was going to ask him to hold something and when he held out his hand I would just give him mine), and I just signaled for him to hold my hand. Oops. At least it got the job done. So we walked around and arrived at Shake Shack AKA the love of my life. Anthony somehow got me to agree to eating at Bare Burgers instead. I swear, this boy has some voodoo power over me??? It took me a while to pick my order, which will be a reoccurring theme, but I finally got it down. Anthony called the waiter over, who was really quirky which I thought was cute. Something else I thought was really cute was that he ordered for me again. Considering we’re both not a fan of talking to other people, or remotely good at ordering (wocka chicca moca), it was sweet of him to pull the smallest of gestures. As we ate, I listened to him tell me about his family. Beauty and the Beast started at 4:25, so when the time was nearing and I still wasn’t done with my burger, Anthony started giving me periodic reminders to hurry the fuck up, but nicely. Thanks to my slow eating -wowza do the flaws ever end- we had to rush to the movie theater. Like the sweetheart he is, Anthony had already bought the tickets online so all we had to do was show the dude the barcode and off we ran into the room. We got decent seats near the back in the center and proceeded to watch the trailers. When Emma Watson first showed up I was fangirling over her face, I mean, look at her face. Anthony pretends to cover his eyes and goes “I’m loyal!!!” which was really cute. But c’mon, it’s Emma Watson. We watch the movie while holding hands here and there and leaning on each other etcetc. Both of us made a bunch of comments all throughout, just giggling to ourselves. When the movie ended, we didn’t bother sticking around for the credits. We decided to walk around a bit so he could show me more of Forest Hills, which I quickly fell in love with. There were a bunch of options for desserts, but we ended up opting for Marthas, which I had never tried. One purchased Oreo Cheesecake later, we continued our journey and headed into the Forest Hills Gardens. The weather was so lovely and holding hands with the cutest boy was a small plus. We ran into his best friend’s brother which was kind of awkward since I stood there as the two exchanged small talk. Eventually we came across an empty quiet park and sat down on the wet grass to eat our cheesecake. I don’t even remember what we talked about because conversations always come so naturally. We kept kissing each other on the cheek and I noticed each time it got alarmingly closer (YEAH I NOTICED). Anthony finally grows a pair and kisses me, cue the explosions!! Another milestone crossed, and it was only date two. The rest of the night was kind of a blur. We played truth or dare which turned into truth or truth, which was just us pulling questions from terrible apps and repetitive websites. Eventually around 9, my dad called and we figured we should get going. So together we walked back to the station, taking detours of course. It was nice to enjoy the night environment in such a beautiful neighborhood, all while having cutesy conversations. At some point Anthony gave me a piggy back ride -no idea how he convinced me to do that either wtf. We arrive to the station in a bit and take the R train, discussing our unreal date. 74th street came all too fast and soon enough, we went our separate ways. - Vicki 04.16.17