"I feel like we've met before, Ciara." I heard him say, I didn't move from my position; head up to the sky, eyes closed, my arms holding me up, and me sitting on the ground in the middle of a lush meadow. "I don't know why, but there is just something about how easily we get on that makes me think that." He stated.
"I kind of understand, Henry. But this is the first time that I have ever been to Sheffield; so I don't know how that would've worked out." I respond, turning my head to face him, finally opening my eyes as well. I studied his eyes, "You do have similar eyes to someone I know, but that might just be a coincidence. Like I know so many people with blue-greenish eyes, you know?" I observed, before resuming to take in the hot sun; that beamed down on us that day.
"Yeah, you're not wrong." He answered.
"I'm Ciara McCann, I'm never wrong." I said with a light hearted laugh.
"I don't think so, everyone is wrong at some point in their life." He tried to out smart me, smooth I must say.
"Oh, don't go all smart on me Henry Johnson!" I laughed before sitting up properly and crossing my legs to face him.
"I'm not trying to, Ciara." He responded, inching his body closer to mine, before turning away at the sound of his little brother's shouting.
"Henry! Henry!" His little brother, Edward shouted. "Ciara! Ciara!" He also added on, prior to running over into my lap and making himself comfortable. "Mum said I could come out and play." Ed spoke, while panting.
"I knew at some point she would, but Ed, Ciara is leaving in 3 days and I wanted to spend some time with her before she left." Henry whispered to his brother; loud enough so I could still hear.
"Yeah, well she is my friend too, you know!" Ed added on, before picking up the football that lay to my left and getting up.
Edward grabbed my hand and had an intention of lifting me off the ground, to play with him, but he wasn't as strong as he had thought and so I had to push myself off the floor; pulling Henry along with me. "Come on, let's play with him for a bit and then we can go back to where we were before." I suggested with a smile, holding my hand out for Henry to take, which he did and nodded in response.
Only 15 minutes had passed before the boys decided it was a good idea to gang up on me and play 2vs1, "I can't play football with someone on my team, let alone by myself." I stopped running about, placing my hands on my hips, trying to catch my breath. "I don't this is fair, boys!" I shouted, playfully, to gain their attention; which thankfully I did.
"Oh shut it Ciara, if you are really going to complain, I'll be on your team." Henry stopped and approached me, lacing his arms between mine; that were still placed on my hips and to my surprise he spun me round, before placing me down on the grass in a fit of giggles. "Actually, Ed? We've played with you now, off you go inside." Henry ordered his brother, of course that didn't go smoothly but after a bit of persuading, Edward had ran off, hopped over the fence and back into the Johnson home.
"You know what I find strange?" I began, still in Henry's arms.
"What is it?" He asked, as his hands began to slide down to my waist.
"We have only known each other, what? Four days, but it kind of feels like a lifetime." I said with a smile, moving my body closer to Henry's.
"Took the exact words out of my mouth, Ciara." He responded, also moving himself closer to me. It got too the point were I could feel his breath on my lips and without a second thought I pulled him into a kiss, by using my hand that was on the back of his head. It was slow at first but I quickly melted into the kiss, that me and him were sharing.
It was better than I had dreamed of. Yes, I had thought about kissing Henry Johnson since the day I had met him. I mean look at him, who wouldn't want to kiss him.
The kiss lasted longer than I had expected it too, trust me I wasn't complaining, after pulling away from it; we rested our foreheads against each other's and both let out a small laugh, before I lightly hit his chest playfully and said "We can't make this happen, we live in different towns and I don't know when I'll be back and it's mostly that after my birthday, I'll be gone." I hated myself for saying it but I felt as though it needed to be said, so no one had to get hurt in this situation.
"Yes, I know that and that's why I want your birthday to be one you will remember for a long time," He said with a wink. "So, I have a surprise set up for you, I want you to meet me here, at midday, on the 1st March; your birthday!" He instructed, very happily. I was still in his arms, as a large smile crept onto my face.
"Why can't I know now?" I asked, backing away a little so I could see his face, even though he was quite a bit taller than me.
"Now, that would mean it wouldn't be a surprise." He said, lightly laughing, "And anyway, I think it's time that you need to head back to your camp." He said, letting go of our embrace and walking over to collect my cardigan and being the gentlemen he is, helping me put it on.
"It's not even getting dark yet," I responded.
"I know, but you are in a family of Gypsies and I don't fancy getting cut or shot for not letting you leave on time, Ciara." He remarked, before guiding me to the edge of the field and helping over the wooden fencing.
"I guess you're right, but you should know I wouldn't let that happen." I spoke, after giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye Henry."
"Goodnight Ciara, sleep well." He said, holding his hands on my waist, before letting them slide down and away; walking back through his front garden and into his porch.
Lets just say I walked all the way to the camp, smiling my face off.
As soon as I saw the campfires, I raced over to the Caravan that I was sharing with Theresa and barged in, not caring what she may have been doing in there. Luckily, it wasn't anything that may have embarrassed her, if I saw.
"Stop reading that fucking book now T!" I shouted with excitement, slamming the caravan door; thankfully not with too much force.
"Okay, okay, it is down. Tell me what happened!" Theresa quickly placed her bookmark on the page she was reading, before throwing the book to one side and patting the spot next to her.
I dived into the empty space on the bed and got myself comfortable and decided to tell her about my whole day with Henry. Every little detail; from playing football with his brother, to the kiss and then to Henry telling me that he has a surprised planned for me on my birthday.
"Oh my Lord! What if he's going to ask you to run away with him?" Theresa exclaimed, jumping up onto her knees in excitement.
"No, I couldn't leave the Shelby's behind. Are you mad T?" I said, kind of shocked that she even suggested the idea.
"I'm not mad at all, it would make so much sense if he did though." She continued, " Like imagine, you two could even take one of our caravans and you could also take your horse Jimmy, it would be-"
"Firstly, it's not going to happen and secondly, Jimmy is all the way back in Small Heath, so we would just use Henry's Bay Mare. But we do not, I repeat do not need to talk about that because that is never going to happen." I attempted to finalise that subject, however Theresa didn't want to drop it.
"Come on Ciara, it's not like you haven't thought about it before. I know how much you miss the travelling and I know that at the moment you don't want to be involved in the Shelby Family business because you think it's going to get dangerous very fast but-" I had to cut her off, before she went on a huge rant about what I wanted.
"Okay, okay, you have made your point, but that is all 'at the moment'" I finished, by quoting her. "Come on, let's get to bed. I have already eaten, Henry's mum brought us out a late lunch; so I'm not hungry. I know you have already eaten because the plate is still on the dresser." I laughed, while getting up and began to get into my nightgown.
"I'm sorry, but you are just as much of a messy person as I am. So don't be hypocritical, Ciara-Anne McCann." God I hated my full name, and T knew that; whenever she would use my full name it meant that she was purposely trying to piss me off and it always seemed to work.
"Oh fuck off and go to bed, because that's what I'm doing." I said, clearly a little pissed off by her, "And will you move up, so I can actually sleep in the bed and not on the floor." I continued by elbowing her in the back, to move up.
"God, don't get your knickers in a twist, C." She replied, clearly laughing at the fact she pissed me off.
"Fuck off and Goodnight." And with that I blew out the candle that was on the bedside table and everything had gone dark.
I must admit, it did take me a little longer than normal to fall asleep. I think that's because my mind began to wonder to all the possible surprises that Henry could have planned for me. I knew one thing for sure, that the next two days would go extremely slow; now that I have something to look forward too, on my birthday.
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Evening all, I was feeling super motivated today and so that's why there is another chapter out. Wow, I know a double chapter! To be fair, I didn't actually know where I was going with this and so I just let my fingers type the story. Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter break still, also let me know what you think the surprise might be :)
Love C x