Petal [h.s.]

SIXTY-SIX - GOODBYE, GOODBYE, GOODBYE

"Let's go." He smiled, nudging my chin upwards lightly before he pulled his hand back, only so he could grab onto mine and lead me toward the matching bicycles that waited for us.

Unlike Harry, I was able to compare this night to the original.

Where that night was a dark blue, balmy, perfect summer night, this one was a chilly and gray toned autumn one. I adjusted the hat on my head, glad that he told me to bring one, as the wind had a sharp bite to it when it blew off of the stormy ocean waves. I looked back at Harry as we started to ride down the boardwalk, the sky around us getting darker and darker as we glided along the wood.

He smiled when he caught my eye, his cheeks tinted pink from the cold air. He sped up slightly to get closer to me, smoothly circling around me two times before he slid up next to me. I steered with one hand and let the other fall from the handle so I could reach it out toward him. He grabbed it, letting our fingers intertwine and hang between our bodies as we rode in perfect silence.

My mind drifted back to that original night, remembering the way we raced to the wharf and how he accused me of cheating (which I did and which I planned to do again.) I smiled at the memory, glancing over to him.

"Do you want to race?" I asked him, raising my eyebrows.

His lips split into a wide smile, "Only if you're not a sore loser."

"Oh, I won't be losing, baby." I replied, watching him snicker.

"To the wharf?" He gestured toward it. I kept staring at him, nodding my head slowly with a sly grin, knowing what I was about to do.

"On the count of three?" I said, releasing his fingers and gripping my other handle, turning my eyes on the prize.

"One..." He said slowly.

I smiled, "Two..."

"Thr-HEY!"

I took off before he could finish the word, laughing loudly as I pedaled quickly toward the wharf. I could hear his own laughter mixed in with his heavy breathing and the sound of his wheels whizzing right behind me.

"You're a cheater!" He called out from somewhere behind me and I gave another laugh as I turned my head to look back at him.

My bicycle slid on a patch of icy wood from the frosty air and it went crashing to the ground under me, causing me to fall roughly to the boardwalk. I felt my thigh scrape hard against the wood and I couldn't stop myself from laughing at my bad luck as I rolled onto my back, looking up at the sky.

I heard Harry's bike go crashing to the ground right after mine, followed by his rushing footsteps, "Are you okay??"

He kneeled next to me, his eyes full of worry, eyebrows stitched together in the center. His gaze slid along my body, looking for any injuries or signs of harm on me, frowning as he finally got a look at my leg.

"Petal, you're bleeding." He said softly, his hand sliding down to press against the section of my thigh that had been scraped open. I laughed harder as he applied pressure to my wound, his frantic eyes flickering back up to look at me.

"Fuck, that has to hurt. Arabella... stop laughing!" His lips started to turn upwards as his face came into my view again, his eyes sliding over my features as I laughed and laughed and laughed.

I laughed because of course this was how our last night was going. Of course it wasn't going the way the original night went. We weren't supposed to relive that night, we weren't supposed to recreate our memories. They were perfect the way they were. And they were mine. And they were his, once. He didn't deserve recreations, he deserved the real memories.