VALERIE

Chapter 26.1: I love you, Harry...

“Well, Valerie and Harry… May I lead you to your rooms now?” She asks, waving her hand to the entrance for us to follow her.

At the start, we don’t notice something odd in her statement, but when we realize what it is, Harry and I glance at each other and then to Martha. “Rooms?” Harry and I chorus.

Martha giggles a little, shaking her head in a way that tells us that she knew we would react that way.

“I think you should just ask your friends.” She suggests and sways us again to get in the building.

Harry grabs my hand and we walk together; I am sure that the same thing is running through our minds as of the moment. We couldn’t wait to ask the rest what’s going on. Martha leads us upstairs and Joey behind us. As we take steps further, the familiar cheers and laughter of our friends are becoming more audible. And as expected, they are huddled together at the upstairs lounge—except Perrie and Eleanor whom I can only guess are napping as of the moment.

“Oh hey, they’re here!” Niall hails and stands up almost immediately upon seeing us taking our last step of the stairs. He proceeds towards us and hug Harry and me.

“How was your drive?” He asks as soon as he pulls away from me. I just pucker my nose and look at Harry.

“Good.” Harry answers thriftily. “Where’s our room? We’re tired.”

“Uhmm…” Liam butts in. He bolts out of his seat, leaving Sophia on the couch who is smiling at us and I respond with a smirk. He stands beside Niall and snakes his arms around Niall’s shoulder. “Our room assignment is a little different this time, mate.” He and Niall share a glance.

“What do you mean?” Harry asks, the confusion in his voice is prominent and he frowns.

“Uhm… excuse me?” We all look to the side and we see Joey frowning at us as he laboriously carry our bags in his back. “Where can I drop these things?”

*********

“I can’t believe they got us in separate rooms.” Harry grumbles under his breath when we walk along the hallway, our hands are still tangled with one another, on our way to our rooms. The view of the holiday home outside is contrary to what it is inside. The ambience is cosy, simple but sophisticated, and the nostalgic feeling as we walk down the promenade reminds me of my own home. The white walls are decorated with different panoramic paintings – the one that captivated me most is the one with three girls cheerily crashing grapes with their bare feet—next each brown wooden doors. 

Liam tells us that the girls and boys are in two different rooms and Harry isn’t fond about the idea at the beginning. But when he realizes the real thought about it, he agreed anyway.

Niall is the birthday celebrant and the fact that he doesn’t have a girlfriend unlike the rest of the boys, Liam doesn’t want him to feel alone, and the rest agreed somehow – save Harry obviously.

“Harry, it’s fine. We’re all staying in opposite rooms. I can knock on your door,” I suggest shrugging at the thought. I want him to consider that idea because it’s possible. Me, sneaking into their room at the middle of the night, crawling to his bed and-

“Like Liam’s going to allow it,” He interrupts my thoughts just when it’s about to go extreme. “He’s acting as if he’s cool without Sophia near him.” I mentally cringe upon the mention of Liam’s girlfriend. I wonder when I am going to get used to it.

We halt by the door of the girls’ room. Joey drops my bag on a chair near the doorway and Harry takes care of his own bag, lifting it with his shoulder. Joey excuses himself after to go back to his work.