Nowhere In Particular // H.S.

Thirty-Five: "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

"Don't hate me but it's four-thirty in the morning," he whispers, hugging me a little tighter like it will help his case.

"So early," I groan again, my eyes slowly closing as though they are trying to convince me go back to bed. "Why so early?" I whimper this time, barely any words coming out with it.

"This was your idea," he chuckles, almost taunting me. "You're making me do the dirty work too... waking you up. It's hard to do, baby. You're very cute when you're asleep. And you're not the easiest to drag out of bed in the morning."

"I like sleep," I whisper, my eyes still closed.

"I like you," he whispers back and even though it's dark I can almost feel his smile. "Could be worse, at least you're not aggressive when I have to wake you up... just sweet and sleepy."

Instead of really responding to this comment, I just hum and nod my head, on the verge of drifting back into my slumber. He has a point. I may not enjoy waking up before mid-morning, but at least when I have to I'm not the type to get actually angry about it. In fact, Harry seems like he finds my slight morning-grumpiness to be cute more than anything.

"We have to get up, baby," I hear his voice again, gently moving my body back and forth. "We can't miss the sunrise now, very important. I'll even buy you coffee..." he suggests, knowing that a bribe is the best way to get me out of bed when it's four in the morning.

"Okay," I reply simply, still keeping my eyes shut.

Harry's satisfied with this answer, quickly plunging in to press a deep kiss into my lips and then I feel him pull the covers off of our bodies, exposing us to the colder air of the hotel room. I automatically curl into him like I'm trying to regain the source of warmth I was used to all night while sleeping. He quietly laughs at my reaction, kissing me again, and then I finally decide to wake up.

...

I've found that the key to feeling energized when it's five in the morning is coffee and Harry. Coffee is needed for the chemical reasons, my body having a slight reliance on caffeine at this point. Harry is needed for everything else, even if that's chemical too, because without him I'd just be a sleepy person with coffee that's tricking me into functioning in a remotely awake way.

Despite the struggle to drag myself out of bed, I managed to do it, quickly bundling myself in warm clothes and washing up so I was in a semi-presentable state. Harry being Harry, looks flawless as we walk through the cold sand with paper cups in our hands, his filled with tea since he isn't a huge fan of coffee. His hair is covered in a beanie, a cozy sweatshirt keeping him warm and he smiles so wide that I'm nearly convinced he's the sun instead of whatever is supposed to rise over the horizon in ten minutes.

With a blanket from our room, along with the fleece one I've had the entire trip we're prepared to take on the beach in the early morning, because it's fall now and clear skies mean cold temperatures. The sky is already significantly lighter than it was when we trudged our way into a coffee shop on the boardwalk, but the sun hasn't made it far enough in the sky for me to consider it the start of the day.

I find myself becoming progressively more sentimental with every step we take closer to the ocean, almost every moment with Harry replaying in my head. I'm curious if Harry's doing the same thing as we quietly make our way down the beach, but I don't ask when I look over at him.

He smiles again, blinking slowly when he looks over at me, and we continue to walk forward.

Eventually, although unspoken, we find our place on the beach, using one blanket to sit on top of the sand and the other to wrap over our shoulders so we can stay warm. It's close enough that the waves are right in front of us, but far enough way that the sand is dry.