A Meadow Full Of Oak Trees

Chapter Seven: Gabriel Oak

Harley's PoV

Stood at the island is a man with curly grey hair and tanned skin. Then a woman dressed in a maid outfit, a black dress with a white apron over the top, who has curly blonde hair.
They look up at the sound of footsteps and the man immediately runs to Oakley and says "Thank god you're alright. We thought you'd done it again. We've been worried sick."
"I'm sorry dad. I lost track of time and by the time I realised my phone had died."
Then the blonde haired lady comes up to her and hugs her tightly "You know we have to know where you are at all times."
"I know Emma, I know, but I'm fine okay? A little wet but not half as wet as I would've been thanks to Harley here."
They look at me and I say "Hi, I'm Harley."
Oakley's Dad looks at me but Emma says "Thank you so much, now both of you had better go and get warm."
"Both of us?" Oakley says.
"Yes both of you, I won't have this young boy going back out in this weather there's been thunder and lightning all over. He can stay here, we have plenty of spare rooms. Now Oakley dear you show him where the rooms are and then both of you get changed and come downstairs for cocoa."
Oakley takes my hand and leads me upstairs showing me room after room but then she says "This is my room. You can stay either side if you want." Then she lets go of my hand and my fingers feel cold but I walk to the next set of doors and open them to find a deep blue room with a four poster bed that has silver sheets and a large window looking over a massive garden with a wardrobe full of clothes, girls and boys and then an en suite.
Nodding my head, I take a shower and get changed into a pair of black sweatpants and an oversized grey sweatshirt.
Then I head out the room and wait outside Oakley's.
A few minutes later she walks out with a pair of black fabric shorts with a cropped grey sweater that has the words "New York City" printed on it.
I stare at her for a minute before blinking a few times and saying "Ready?"
In response she nods and we start walking towards the stairs to the ground floor.
"So Emma is your mum?" I ask.
"Well I'm adopted, my parents died in a fire but my dad took me in and Emma is basically my mum. They should get together I mean it's been 16 years but they still don't see how in love with each other they are. I mean they practically act like a married couple anyway, they just need the actual marriage bit."
"I'm sorry about your parents."
She shrugs, "It's alright, I didn't know them really. Well I have no memories of them. I was only a year old when they died."
We walk down the stairs but then Oakley trips and throws her hand out, almost in slow motion I reach out and grab it, pulling her back up and into my chest.
"Huh. Thanks." She says breathing heavily, then she starts to walk again but this time she keeps her hand in mine.

Oakley's PoV

We enter the kitchen after my clumsiness hand in hand, I'm not sure why but I just feel safer with his hand connected to me, and see two mugs of cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows and flakes sayvon the counter with a note that says:
We've gone out for tea. We'll be back about midnight.
I smile before turning to Harley and saying "My parents are gone till about midnight so do you want to watch a movie?"
He nods and I hand him his mug and lead him into the cinema room.
"Woah." He says when he sees the screen and beanbags and sofas galore, "This is not a typical cinema."
"Nope. It's a home cinema." I say sitting on one of the sofas and patting the space next to me. He joins me and we set about finding a film.
This was a lot harder than first thought.
"Well why don't we watch Mission Impossible 6?"
"Because it's too damn tense! Why don't we watch a nightmare before Christmas?"
"Because it doesn't make any sense!"
"Well how about the princess and the frog?" I suggest after half an hour of bickering over which film to watch.
"Yes. Let's." He says and we put the movie on and settle down.
About half way through the film my eyes start to droop and I scoot closer to Harley so I can lay my head on his shoulder. He puts his arm around me so it's more comfortable and then much to my surprise five minutes later he takes a cushion, placed it on his lap and says gently, "Come on, lay down."
I comply, laying my head on his lap, my body curling around his figure. My eyes close and then I feel Harley's fingers come to my head and start taking gently through my hair, his fingers twiddling it as he does.