Piper ~ H.S

~Nineteen~

"Yeah..." Harry said with a slow, thoughtful nod.

"Anyway, the pier's only a few more minutes away," I told him, "you still want to check it out?"

Harry looked at me and smiled before nodding again. "Definitely. It'd be nice to have a little walk along the beach front, too."

"Sure thing, Harry," I smiled back at him, "we'll use the beach to get to the pier. Let's go."

***

"Wow..." Harry leaned over the railings of Worthing pier like an excited child and broke out a smile, "this is awesome. This is fucking awesome."

I spat out some hair that the wind was blowing into my mouth and chuckled. "I'm glad you think so. I was worried that you'd find this boring."

"Are you kidding me? This is great," Harry's smile grew, "the sound of waves and the feeling of ocean wind blowing through your hair has always felt really calming to me. So, there is no fucking way I'm feeling bored right now."

I giggled and couldn't help breaking out a fond smile as I watched his head eagerly turning left and right as he shifted his gaze from one end of the pier to the other.

"What's that building down there?" He pointed towards the far end of the wharf.

"Oh, that? That's the Southern Pavilion. It's like a seaside café or bar. It's usually only open for special occasions, though. Like weddings or other big events like that," I replied.

The wind picked up and started blowing hair in my mouth again, and I tried to spit the hair out once more before I decided to just use my hands to push my hair back behind my head – but it all just blew straight back into my face once I did so – making me roll my eyes and let out a sigh.

Over the course of the day, the messy bun I'd twisted my hair into earlier this afternoon had gotten really loose – so I decided that I may as well just take the whole bun out and leave my hair down. Only problem with that was, due to all the wind, my hair was really giving me grief now.

"Your hair is really being a nightmare for you right now," Harry commented with an amused smile.

"I know," I rolled my eyes again, "the struggles of having long hair."

"Oh, I know the struggles," he chuckled, "pretty much another reason why I didn't mind cutting my hair last year."

"Aw, don't remind me!" I pouted, "I loved your long hair. I loved the way you'd flip it out of the way when it got in your eyes, and how it used to bounce along behind you whenever you did all that prancing on stage during OTRA. I literally cried out 'Fuck no!' when I saw your Instagram post after you chopped it all off."

Harry laughed. "Hey, I had to do it, Leah. And besides – it'll grow back."

"True, I guess," I sighed and chuckled quietly, "but...I think I'm actually getting used to your new hair, now. Just...really slowly."

Harry chuckled as well. "Good to know. Now, as for your hair..." he began to pull at the dark blue ascot scarf tied around his neck, "maybe this could help put an end to your misery?"

My eyes widened slightly as he held the scarf out to me.

"What..?" I asked him softly, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, take it," he replied with a smile, "my neck doesn't need it anywhere near as much as your hair does right now."

"Wow...thanks..." I smiled back at him shyly as I took the scarf from him and used it to tie my hair back into a loose ponytail, "this is...really sweet of you, Harry..."