*Charli POV*
We spent the next few hours down at the beach swimming and goofing off. We had yet again played a game of chicken, which seems to have been our thing.
I really enjoyed Perrie's company, and she's really growing on me. The way we met was quite unfortunate, but in the end I'm glad we had the chance to talk about it today.
Even though I did end up breaking down while talking to her, it was good to finally let go. A lot was put out on the table, but it was all things that needed to be said or heard. Things that will hopefully prove to me that Harry is nothing like Zayn.
My biggest insecurity was brought up, and it made me feel broken to think of things like that. The major thought that ran through my mind was that if Harry were to decide that he didn't actually like me, I wouldn't know what to do.
Everything's completely turned around since this talk, and I know for a fact that Harry isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Is what I'm feeling love? I'm slowly leaning towards the fact that it is, which is scary. I never once felt this way with Zayn.
I feel safe when he's around, almost like I'm finally home. Which is why we're now sitting up at the unlit campfire, curled up in each other's embrace.
If you had told me six months ago that I would be dating Harry, I would have told you that you were crazy. But then I would be the crazy one for denying it, because I just can't get enough of him.
It's definitely a mutual feeling, and it feels good to feel wanted. The past few months when I was with Zayn, things didn't feel right. It was almost as if he was becoming more and more attached to Perrie, but couldn't bare ending things with me.
I wanted to ask her why she actually ended up staying with him, knowing that she was being cheated on too, but we got into my whole situation, and I lost my train of thought once he declared his love for me.
Harry loves me. Me.
I've been replaying his words over and over since then, and I know I look psychotic, sitting here with the massive grin on my face and no reason to the others as to why.
"But what's for dinner?" Niall asked, pulling me from my thoughts as he and Liam started the fire up again. "I'm starving."
"Is food all you can think about?" I asked, looking at the blonde who was hunched over at the small pit.
"Well we skipped lunch, so I'm hungry," he mumbled, rubbing his stomach gently.
"You're insane. We had breakfast like four hours ago," I remarked, pulling Harry's arms tighter around me.
"Regardless, I'm still hungry," he mumbled again.
"Can you two not be near each other for more than five minutes?" Georgia laughed and kicked my foot.
"Why would I waste my time staying away from her and feeling sad, when I could be with her and be the happiest I've ever been?" Harry gushed, and I couldn't help but blush when he leaned down to place a kiss on my cheek. "Right love?"
The redness was creeping up onto my face, but probably wasn't evident as the new sun burn I got today was covering it.
"You make me all flustered, Harry," I murmured quietly, looking down. "But Georgie, yes we can be apart. It's just better this way."
"Well, why don't us girls go to the shop and buy something to make for dinner?" she looked at Perrie and I, both of us nodding.
"That sounds good, but what car do we take?" I asked. "Neither of us drove."
"You can take ours," Harry offered. "Just don't wreck it or mum will kill me."
"You're the best!"
"Can we go now? I don't want to be too long," Georgia stood and raised her hands above her head and stretched, letting out a loud groan.
"Let me go get the keys," Harry mumbled and removed his arms from around me, quickly standing and heading to the tent.
"Go grab your purse and the keys, we'll be waiting," Georgia smiled widely and turned towards her tent. She pointed at me, then to mine and Harry's tent, "Five minutes you two."
I nodded and stood up, racing over to the tent and popping my head in. Harry was rummaging through his bag, obviously searching for the keys.
"Hi."
He stopped his search and looked up, a smirk quickly appearing. He stuck his hand out reaching for me and mumbling to come in, to which I couldn't refuse.
His hands instantly gripped my hips as he pulled me on him. I let out a giggle and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me.
"Don't leave me," he whined, his hands came down to my legs, moving his shirt I had put back on slightly, as his fingers grazed over the skin. "I don't want to hang with the guys."
"Well, it won't kill you to spend some quality time with them," I sighed, taking hold of his hands and moving them off of my legs. "I came to get my purse, not to do this."
"But baby!"
"Don't 'but baby' me," I spoke in a stern voice, trying to hide the smile that I could feel appearing. He rolled his eyes causing me to giggle. I leaned in to give him a quick kiss before reaching for my purse, "We're just going to get some food. It's not like we're leaving and never coming back."
"How do I know that?" he pouted, jutting his lower lip out.
"Well, if you trust me-"
"One hundred percent. With my life," he cut me off. "I just don't want you to leave."
"Well we are, just for like an hour. You can believe me when I say I plan on grabbing what we need and heading right back here. I can't be away from you for that long, so I'm definitely not leaving."
"Fine, but I'll hold you to it," he mumbled and leaned in giving me another quick kiss. "Don't be long."
"I'll try," I laughed and took the keys from his hand, quickly turning and crawling to the door. His hand came down and slapped my behind, making a loud squeal come out of my mouth. "Harry!"
"Would you hurry up? We don't have all night!" Perrie giggled, looking at Georgia who also giggled.
"Wah wah, I'm coming. Calm down," I groaned, walking to the driver's side and opening the door.
"Hurry back!" Harry shouted.
I sat down in the drivers seat, shut the door, turned the car on and rolled my window down. I prodded at the gps, searching for the closest market to our location.
Once it loaded the closest stores, the only one that I was familiar with was Tesco, a 20-minute drive away. I set it to that, and looked over to my curly haired boyfriend, quickly winking.
"We'll be back soon. Don't worry," I laughed and backed out towards the road. "Bye!"
"Love you!" he shouts clearly. I watched as the four other guys' heads turn towards him, jaws dropped open.
"Did he just-" Georgia's voice cracked, cutting out in the middle of her question. She didn't need to finish it for me to know what she was saying.
"He did!" Perrie squealed. "Charli!"
"Now what? Don't make a deal about this please," I begged, pulling onto the small pathway to take us to the main road.
"When did that happen!?" Georgia turned in her seat to gawk at me. "The boy just confessed his love for you, and you kept driving! What were you thinking?"
"It's not the first time," I shrugged and turned onto the road, following the signs that directed us to Caernarfon. "What did you expect me to do?"
"Say it back!" both girls shout.
"No, no, that's not going to happen," I sighed, taking a glance at my sister, who sat stunned. "What?"
"You totally should have said it back," Georgia mumbled quietly, looking away from me.
"I can't do that."
"Why not?" Perrie asked quietly. "When we were talking today, you hinted at it."
"I know. It's just... I don't want to say it, and then it turn out to be a lie," I sighed quietly. "I'm not comfortable with saying it yet. Especially not in that context."
"You know it wouldn't be a lie," Georgia sighed. "There's no way it could be with you two."
"Char, Harry just told you that he loves you. It's been four years and you two finally got together-" Perrie started slowly.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it is love," I huffed exaggeratedly, being almost done with the 20 questions game they were playing. "I just figured out how I felt about him, and it's great. I couldn't be happier. But I haven't even been with him a week!"
"Time doesn't mean anything when it comes to love," Perrie spoke. "There's something about you two that is magical."
"Oh fuck me. Magical? Seriously, Perrie?" I groaned, attempting to focus on the drive, not their words. "This isn't some Cinderella, Disney fairytale shit. This is real life, my life."
"Neither of us have said it, because it's not something you can just throw out there for fun," Perrie said quietly. "You have to mean it."
"Well apparently Zayn thinks it is, because he used to throw it out there all the time," I spat, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"Maybe that's because he actually did love you. I've known him a long time, I know you don't like to hear that but it's true. If he told you he loved you, he meant it."
I could feel her stare on me, making my eyes flicker up to the rear view mirror. My assumption was correct, and her eyes were full of pain. She looked as if she were on the verge of crying, but was doing everything in her power to keep it in. I took in a deep breath and exhaled quietly. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought stupid shit up like that, but I don't really want to talk about this anymore. I don't want to tell Harry I love him, end of story."
She nodded, and the next few minutes were silent as I pulled up to the shop, parking in the small lot beside it.
The three of us got out and made our way into the shop, quickly grabbing a trolley to load with some food.
"Why not just do burgers?" Georgia asked from beside me. "It's simple, and guys like burgers."
"Sure, that's fine," I shrugged and head towards the frozen foods section. I grabbed a package of 24 burgers, tossing them into the trolley.
We grabbed some buns, condiments and some crisps and soda before quickly heading to the registers.
"We should pick up some more beers for the guys, they almost finished the whole case after you and Harry went to bed last night," Georgia laughed and pulled out her wallet to pay for the food.
I mumbled in agreement as we quickly loaded everything in the back of the Range Rover. We loaded ourselves back in the car and I followed Perrie's directions to the liquor shop.
I pulled up out front and parked outside of the sketchy store. We loaded up a trolley with two cases of beer, four bottles of rum and vodka, ten packages of Apple Sours shots, a bottle of peach schnapps, and a bottle of peach mango wine, the last three thing being just for me. Hopefully this will last longer than just one night.
The first few minutes of the drive back were silent, before Perrie spoke quietly, cutting the silence, "I haven't said it to Zayn this time yet."
"Said what?"
"That I love him."
"Okay? That's your own decision."
"I haven't said it to him simply because I know I don't love him. We met when we were about ten. He was in my class in year four, but I didn't really get to know him until high school."
"So you've known him a while," Georgia spoke quietly. I had almost forgotten she was next to me.
"Yeah. When we were sixteen, we dated for a year. He never told me he loved me, and I was crushed because I had told him time and time again that I loved him. I felt so hurt every time he wouldn't say it back to me.
"Eventually I realized that I didn't want to waste any more time on him, with no clue about if he was ever capable of love. I'd never even heard him say it to his own mother."
"But he tells her that all the time," I mumbled.
"Yeah, now he does. It's almost as if when you came into the picture, he was able to actually see how to love someone. There isn't a time when he leaves her without telling her he loves her.
"Did you know, last night when we went back into the tent, he spent a half hour talking to her? He told her how he missed her and that he loves her so much."
"Okay?"
"I just want you to know that he did love you, even if you don't think he did. You changed him for the better, and I have hope in us now," her tone got louder as she spoke, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes sarcastically at her. "When we broke up the first time, I hated him. I hated him for taking everything from me."
"What do you mean?" Georgia asked sincerely, shifting herself to face the back seats.
"I mean he took everything from me. He was my first kiss, my first boyfriend, first love, first... time," her voice was barely audible by the end.
I slammed on the brakes, stopping the car in the middle of the road, "Sorry, did you just say first time?"
I turned backwards in my seat to face her, watching her stunned expression as she nodded, "Yes..."
"Are you fucking joking me?"
"No, should I be?" she asked, sincerity flooding her voice.
"You have to be joking. I don't believe you!" I shout, turning and pressing my foot down on the petrol pedal. "That fucking bastard. Lying cheater."
"What?" Georgia's hand rubbed my arm gently, and I flinched away. "What's wrong?"
"Don't Georgia," I hissed. "Not right now."
The drive back was quicker than the drive there, with me easily going 20 over the speed limit. Thankfully there were no police out to pull me over.
The second we parked, the two girls got out and pulled the food bags out of the trunk, heading to the fire.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Harry ran to the car and pulled the door open. His arms quickly wrapped around me, and I instantly started sobbing.
"Everything was a lie. A fucking lie," I cried into his chest. His hands were rubbing gently along my back in a soothing manner, and I couldn't help but calm down somewhat under his touch.
"Shh, it's okay," he cooed, pulling back and meeting my stare. He brought his hands up and brushed the hair out of my face, before placing a kiss to my forehead. "What happened? How could you leave with a smile on your face, and come back this frustrated?"
"He fucking lied, Harry. I'm guaranteeing you that nothing about our relationship was the truth."
"What was a lie?"
"Everything," I sighed, looking away from him. My gaze fell upon Zayn, and I started breathing heavily again. "I'm going to fucking kill him, Harry."
"Shh. No, no you're not baby," he hushed. "Maybe we should just go for a walk to clear your head."
"Fine. But I need a drink first," I groaned and stepped out of the car.
"That's my girl!" he chuckled loudly. I went to the back and popped it open, reaching for the apple shots we purchased. I easily downed four of them, before grabbing the bottle of wine and popping the top off, drinking directly from the bottle. "Easy there, love."
I bitterly laughed, bringing the bottle to my lips again and taking a large gulp. "You know what? We should just stay here, it's by the booze," I mumbled, cracking open another package of apple shots and easily knocking the next four back.
"Slow down, Charli. You're going to make yourself sick," Harry warned, moving to stand in between my legs. His hands gently ran up and down my thighs in an extremely calming manner.
"Maybe that's what I want," I groaned and took another drink from the bottle. "I already feel sick with betrayal. Maybe now all I want is to forget about all of this and just fucking not give a shit in the world."
"That's not you."
"Who knows who I am anymore? The last few years of my life have been a complete waste of my time, and it turns out they were all just a big fucking lie. Everything was a lie, Harry. Everything!" I shout.
"Shh," he hushed, pulling me closer to him. "I know who you are. You're my amazing girlfriend who I love with all of my heart. If drinking is what you want to do to forget about the bad, then let me in on it. I'm not going to let my girlfriend get drunk by herself because some asshole had to ruin her day."
I looked up, feeling his stare burning into me. When my eyes met his, I couldn't help but lean forward and connect our lips sloppily. I needed whatever he was willing to give me at this point.
His lips moved cautiously against mine, taking his time as he scooted closer to me and pulled me into him.
I hummed in approval when his tongue poked at my bottom lip. Quickly letting him in to explore, he moved throughout my mouth hungrily causing small moans to escape from both of us.
My hands roamed up and down his toned chest, before wrapping around his back and pulling him closer to me.
He parted from me, and his hand went out to grab the bottle of wine that was perched beside us. He brought it to his lips, taking a large gulp of the golden liquid. "This tastes like shit, why would you buy it?" he chuckled, handing it back to me.
"It's not that bad," I huffed, recapping it and setting it aside. I dug through the brown paper bag and pulled out another pack of Apple shots, "Want one of these?"
"To keep up with you I'll need two packs, love," he let out a small giggle, which in turn made me giggle.
"God, you're so fucking adorable Harry. I hate it," I mumbled. "Why the fuck are you so cute?"
"I see the alcohol had started taking its effect on you," he smirked playfully, leaning in for a quick kiss.
"I still feel like shit," I groaned, reaching in the bag for the bottle of peach schnapps. I twisted the cap off and brought it to my lips, cringing at the foul aftertaste. "Maybe I should've bought a mixer for this."
"Who buys this stuff in the first place?" he raised an eyebrow at me, earning a smack to the chest.
"I wasn't thinking. I like peach and it was the first thing I saw," I huffed. "Now, do you want some or not?"
"I'll pass. What else did you buy?" his hand dug through the paper bag, pulling out a bottle of rum. "We have soda we can mix this with at the fire. Let's go get drunk, baby."
His smirk turned into a wide, teeth-baring grin, with dimples on full display. There was no way I would ever be able to say no to him.
He slowly moved from my lap, pulling me to stand beside him. I took the keys and my purse, running to toss them in our tent. His hand linked with mine as he led me over to the picnic table that had random things scattered across it.
He picked up two cups, filling them with Coke, topping it off with way too much rum, before picking them up and handing me one.
Before long, we had both gone through five drinks, and I can say that I was feeling the effect off the alcohol strongly. It's been so long since I've drank, that my body isn't responding the same way to it.
We had eaten with the rest of the group about an hour ago, and Georgia continued to give me apologetic looks to which I rolled my eyes at. She didn't know why I was angry, so why the hell should she be acting this way.
I had stuffed down three burgers before I felt full, and I stood up, wobbling my way over to the table to grab myself and Harry another drink.
I managed to pour the liquid into the cups with no problem, slowly making my way back to him and sitting myself down on his lap.
He groaned loudly but started laughing when I handed him his cup. "For you, my wonderful boyfriend!" I giggled, leaning in to peck his lips.
"Thank you, my wonderful girlfriend!" he roared, tilting his head back in full laughter, before covering his mouth with his free hand. "Oh fuck. I love you, Charli."
"I know, and you're crazy for that."
"You keep telling me I'm crazy. Am I missing something?"
"Not anymore now that I'm in your life," I dramatically winked at him. I took a big gulp of my drink, cringing at the overwhelming taste of rum and barely any soda. "I should've let you make these, this is horrible!"
"Hey, you win some, you lose some."
"I think I've won with you," I slurred and leaned my head on his shoulder.
"Yeah, me too," he sighed softly. "I don't want to pry, but did you want to talk about why you were so mad when you showed up, love?"
"It's probably too awkward, so no."
"It doesn't matter about awkward. Spill."
"I don't feel comfortable talking about him when I'm with you," I sighed, looking across the fire to see the dark haired boy with his arm around the small blonde.
"Well, whenever you want-"
"You know what? I'll talk," I turned and looked up at him, feeling the burning jade staring into my soul. He nodded slowly before leaning in, resting his forehead against mine. "And I apologize if it's not what you want to hear, but I'm furious about it. I just need to vent."
"That's okay," he smiled and leaned in to kiss my cheek. "If you can't talk to me,who can you talk to?"
"Yeah... so you know how he was my first?" I asked in a whispered tone, hearing him hum. "So I don't know if you knew, but I was his first too."
"Yeah? He'd mentioned something along those lines one time."
"Well, Perrie told us on the way back that that was just a lie. She was his first."
He pulled away, narrowing his eyes and staring into mine, "But if she was his first, then that means..." he trailed off, turning towards Zayn. "He lied to you?"
"About the biggest thing in my life. He lied about it, and I don't even know what else he lied about."
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Authors Note:
Oh. So that happened.
Just an FYI, there won't be many more chapters!
Does anyone actually even read this?
As always... please comment and vote! ❤️