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mia
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After making our way through a colossal amount of traffic in New York City, Harry and I had finally made it to the port that would take us to the Statue of Liberty. Everything felt completely surreal as I sat next to him in the passenger side of the trailer, gazing up at the sight in front of us.
"This is crazy." I gaped. "Are we really doing this?"
"Too late to back out now." Harry grinned. "Now come on, we've got a ferry to catch."
I grabbed my small purse and threw a water bottle inside it, because I knew I would need it after climbing all of those stairs. I was basically the opposite of athletic, so I wasn't sure if I was going to survive all of this stair climbing. If I happened to die, at least I would be dying with Harry Styles by my side.
The parking lot next to the water was almost completely empty. Since Harry had basically reserved the whole place for us, it was literally a ghost town. I followed behind him as we made our way to a dock that had a small boat floating next to it in the water, waiting for us to board.
"Have you ever been here?" Harry asked.
"Never." I admitted. "My fear of heights keeps me from doing a lot of stuff like this."
"So what's changed then?" He laughed. "Are you suddenly unafraid of heights?"
"Actually, that's the opposite of what I'm feeling right now." I said uneasily. "But, when life presents you with opportunities you have to take them. Even if it means I might throw up when we get to the top."
"I'll remember to bring a bucket with us." Harry teased. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Mia. If you can ditch your own wedding, you can definitely climb a few stairs."
"A few?" I asked. "More like 354."
"Did you Google that?" He asked.
"Sure did." I smiled. "It's gonna take us a half an hour to get up to that crown. My body could barely take jogging for ten minutes each day in my high school gym class."
"Don't worry, we'll take our time." He assured me. I nodded.
We finally got to the port, where some staff members were sitting around. They all wore bright smiles on their faces, smiles which would have been wiped away if it weren't for Harry Styles standing in front of them. The captain of the small bat approached Harry and shook his hand, exchanging a few words with him as I tried to mentally prepare myself for facing the extreme heights.
"Before we set off, I just need the both of you to read over these forms and then sign your names at the bottom. This is just a safety precaution and basically states that we aren't liable for any injuries that may come to you today."
"Injuries?" I squeaked.
"Don't worry ma'am, just a safety precaution." The older gentleman chuckled. He was probably making fun of me in his mind, but I was absolutely terrified. I pictured a giant earthquake coming through right when I was at the top, causing the whole Statue of Liberty to fall down with me inside it.
"She's just a bit nervous." Harry reassured him. He signed his signature (or should I call it autograph?) at the bottom of the paper and so did I. His looked flawless compared to mine, but he also had more practice at it than I.
We walked onto the ferry and sat down beside each other in two leather seats. It took a few moments for the captain to start the engines, but in no time we were off- speeding towards the Statue of Liberty.
"Just think- next time we ride on this ferry, it'll be after we've been at the top." Harry shouted over the loud waves.
Within no time, we were on the island. It was completely vacant apart from the few food vendors and maintenance people roaming the area with brooms. I gazed up at the giant statue in complete awe- it looked much larger up close than it did from the tour bus.
Harry pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures of it, then turned to me and made me get in a selfie with him and it as well. I looked absolutely terrified, which caused Harry to laugh up a storm.
"Now before I turn you loose, there are a few regulations we ask that you follow. Please make sure to keep your hands and feet inside the stairwells and do not dangle anything in the middle section. When at the top, please remember not to throw any items down. You may take as many pictures as you please, there will be a guide at the top to tell you about the Statue and it's history. If you could both give me your hands so I can give you a hand stamp." The captain said.
We both reached our hands out and he gave us both a small hand stamp of the Statue of Liberty in green ink. Harry and I both said our thank-you's and then made our way toward the base of the statue.
"Why are we wearing hand stamps if we're the only tourists here?" I asked, puzzled.
"I have no clue, but mine looks pretty sick." He admired the small thing.
"Harry Styles' next tattoo?" I joked. He laughed and playfully rolled his eyes as we entered the bottom of the statue. Immediately, I shivered from the cold of the shaded area.
Harry immediately grabbed my hand and brought me to the center, where you could look directly up and see just how far up we had to go. I shuddered and quickly darted my eyes down to the ground. I still couldn't believe that I was about to do something like this.
"Well, here goes nothing!" Harry said. "Wanna race to the top?"
"If anything, I want to stay at the bottom." I admitted. "What if I stop halfway and can't go anymore?"
"That won't happen." Harry said firmly. "We've already made it this far and I am not letting you turn back. We're going to face your fear head-on and that's that."
We began our ascend.
Harry lead the way, his phone out the entire time as he took pictures. He would occasionally look over the middle section and then ask me to as well, but I shook my head as I stayed as close as I could to the wall.
"Here look, you can peek out here and see how far we've gone." Harry said, poking his head in a tiny peep whole and then gasping. Once he pulled away, I took my turn and looked through. We were already about halfway up and I couldn't lie, the view was incredible.
"That's amazing." I gushed. "Imagine what the view from the top will be like."
"We'll be there shortly." Harry reminded me. I pulled my water out and took a few sips, and then it was back to climbing. It had been at least twenty minutes so far, and I was getting used to the feeling of being up this high. My fears had slightly subsided and I was enjoying myself more than before.
"This is like, my workout for the year." I laughed. "I'm rewarding myself with a hamburger from that food vendor once we get to the bottom."
"Me too." Harry said in agreement.
About 200 steps later, we had finally reached the top. It only took us about ten minutes because we decided to race some of the steps to try and get to the top faster. Unlike what the captain man said, there was no man waiting to greet us at the top.
"Wait here." Harry said, stopping me a few steps before the crown. He peeked his head out of one of the holes for a brief moment before walking back to me. "Okay, you ready for this?"
"I think so." I admitted. "Is there a trash can nearby?"
"You can just stick your head out of the crown and throw up there." Harry joked.
"Very funny." I deadpanned.
"Close your eyes and I'll tell you when to open them." Harry ordered. I stifled a chuckle and closed my eyes. I felt his large hands take mine and my heart stopped a little bit. He lead me up the few stairs and I shuffled my feet forward until he stopped me.
"And... open!"
I opened my eyes and looked out. I was met with the most beautiful, breathtaking sight that I think I had ever laid my eyes on. In front of me was a mass of water, and then the whole city right there. I felt like a bird that was getting the most beautiful view that I had ever imagined. As soon as I was met with the sight, my fear of heights vanished.
"Wow." I mumbled.
"Crazy, right?" Harry asked. "That hamburger vendor guy looks like an ant down there."
"Imagine looking at the city like this at night, with all the lights." I wondered out loud.
"We could come back here sometime at night, too." Harry offered.
"Slow down there, I don't think my body can take all of that exercise." I said it jokingly, but deep inside I knew that I meant it. All this stair climbing was going to make my legs sore for sure tomorrow morning.
We stood in silence for a while. It wasn't an awkward type of silence, although under other circumstances it probably would have been. There must've been a ten minute period where we just did talk- instead, we admired the sight around us.
"It's funny." I finally broke the silence. "A few days ago, I felt like I couldn't do anything. And now... looking at this... it just feels like I can do anything, you know?"
"Of course." Harry agreed. "And for me, it's kind of like a fresh breath of air almost. This moment makes me feel oddly human."
Although I couldn't say that I felt the exact way that he felt, I understood where he was coming from. I couldn't imagine being so famous to the point where you felt like the world was always watching you, and looking from his end of the spectrum, I truly felt bad.
"Can I be honest with you?" Harry blurted.
"Sure." I nodded.
"This whole trip that I was taking wasn't completely about songwriting." Harry sighed. "I mean, yes, I'm hoping to get some writing inspiration while I'm on the road, but I also really just wanted to get away from everything. Stop being famous. Be Harry for a bit."
"And what's your depiction of Harry?" I asked. "Why's your version of Harry different from the Harry that the world knows?"
"The world knows me as a famous person, Harry Styles. But who I really am is who I am right now, just Harry."
I nodded, turning my gaze away from him and looking back onto the scenery in front of me. We had been up here for quite some time, and it honestly felt like we weren't a part of the world- we were simply just two people viewing it.
"Well, just Harry sounds perfectly fine to me." I said. "I know that the world isn't going to see you as "Just Harry", but who cares what they think? Just do you and the people around you will see who you really are."
"Thank you." Harry smiled, glancing over at me. "That was pretty deep."
"And now I really want a hamburger." I blurted. "I think that we both deserve some fattening food after a hard work out, yeah?"
"Agreed." He chuckled. "Will you race me down now?"
"Only because there's food involved."
He laughed, probably because he thought that I was joking, but I totally wasn't. The only way to get me to race down the Statue of Liberty was if there was food involved, because I was going to need some sort of reward.
We dashed down the stairs, taking two or more at a time, and I couldn't help but feel like I was slowly figuring out who Harry Styles, or "Just Harry", really was.
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a/n:
sOMEONE BUY ME TICKETS TO GO TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
oh ok and important issue to address: HER NAME. omg it's chapter six and i'm divided. so, i'm gonna let the people (das u) decide what her name will be. comment (once!!!) by the name that you prefer and whichever name has the most "votes" will win.
mia
violet
((i personally think mia fits her character more idk))
pls vote/comment/fan/buy me backstage passes to see the boys idk
- del