Evelyn
A beautiful morning on our small patch of land is exactly what I love, and I was extra excited for today. After getting used to living here, I've come to realise that the nature around our house is beautiful. I've always had a deep love for flowers, and I feel extremely lucky to be in a home that has so many nearby. Because of this epiphany, I've started making bouquets every few days to leave in the dining room. They add a beautiful pop of colour to the room.
As I make my way downstairs after I finish my morning routine (a glass of water and moisturising my face, before getting my clothes out for the day), I am met with one curly headed man sitting on the couch.
Hearingmy footsteps, he turns his head over to look at me, waving a hello and offering me tea. I gladly accepted, before I followed him into the kitchen. As he turns back on the kettle and grabs a tea bag, I grab our whiteboard and write out 'How did you sleep?'. Once he is done making my cuppa, he sees the board and writes back. I adore this. When he went into town a few days ago, he came home with potato crisps and a whiteboard. I was utterly confused, until he wrote down 'We can talk now', with a huge smile plastered on his face. It was an incredible gesture, one I never thought he would make.
I read 'It was fine, the birds had me up at the crack of dawn. Need to stop sleeping with the window open,' once he turned the board around. I laughed a bit at this, finding it insane that he sleeps with the window open. Even though we live in the sunny countryside of the city, the London fog still creeps in when dusk overcomes us, meaning it gets unbelievably cold overnight.
We talked a little more, before he eventually let me know he had to go in to work. Which caught me by surprise, solely because I realised I didn't know what he did for a job. I finally asked him, after thinking about what to say for way longer than I needed to.
Taking the board, I asked him; 'what do you do for a living?'
He laughed a little when he read that, and then wrote down 'I have a bookstore'.
My eyes widened and a grin quickly grew on my face. I have an insane love for books. They have been my escape from the world since I was 5 years old, and they always will be. My favourite book is probably Love Is A Mixtape. It sounds dumb, because it revolves around music, but it is so much more than that. A book about someone navigating his lost love and grief through music is something I've never read anything like. And, I love to imagine what the music sounds like.
'I love reading. What's your favourite book?' I write to him.
'Definitely Love Is A Mixtape. But also, the classics. Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, those ones.' he tells me through writing.
I smile so brightly, I think I've cracked my lips open. Not only do we share a love of books, clearly, but we have the same favourite.
'That's mine too, you know.' I reply to his anecdote. His eyes twinkle, which makes my heart flutter. He has such pretty features, I think to myself.
'It's so beautiful, that book. What are you getting up to today?' he asks me.
'I think I'll make a couple bouquets. I like having them around the house, they make up for the lack of decorations.' I jot down for him to read. Once he takes in my words, he looks a little anxious as he replies. Once his hand stops moving atop the whiteboard, I can see that he is a little apprehensive about turning it around. As he looks up at me, I give him a reassuring smile, to which he seems relieved.
'Can I have one to bring to work?' is what he wrote. He is so nice, my brain says.
'Of course, what kind of flowers do you want?' I ask him, and he seems so happy I am giving him flowers.
'Daisies and lavender are my favourite. Is that okay?' He questions. He is so sweet, he wants flowers.
'Yes, of course! I love those ones, too. What time do you have to leave?' I ask. He replies, simply saying 'not for another half hour.' 'I'll finish the bouquet before you have to leave, okay?' I write. He nods quickly, and I smile and turn around to go outside. I am so looking forward to making a bouquet. It's a lot of fun, yet at the same time, it is so peaceful.
I walk outside, and the sun shines brightly down onto my dress. I am loving the weather this particular summer. It has hardly rained, which surprises me, for London. But, before moving to Harmony, I did research, and I came to realise that in our small town outside one of England's largest cities, the sun shines almost every day.
After collecting all my flowers, I go back inside to our kitchen table and grab my twine and ribbon, to hold the bouquet together. By the time I have everything positioned properly, and the twine is tied, Harry is walking down stairs. Today, he's chosen to wear a simple black t-shirt, and wide-legged, pin-striped, black trousers. He looks effortlessly put together, which I admire and envy.
He comes into the kitchen just in time to see me tie the ribbon. I have perfected tying bows with ribbons solely because Lottie loves them so much in her hair. Once that's done, I stand up and hand him the bouquet, and his eyes twinkle as he stares down at the flowers he picked to have me tie. I think there's a reason he chose those ones, and I hope to get to know that reason someday.
We write back and forth for a little bit, before he lets me know he has to get going. I tell him a swift 'good luck!', as he makes his way to his beautiful, cream-white Mercedes-Benz SL Pagoda. How do I know his car? My dad's extensive knowledge of cars, that he unknowingly passed down to us through his never-ending talking about cars.
As I watch him drive away through our living room window, I contemplate what I want to do for the rest of the day. I'm still new to Harmony, and I need to figure out my own way around, especially when I need to get into the city, so, I decide that I should probably conquer that fear today.
I make my way upstairs to make sure I look presentable, and also grab my tote-bag. My whole outfit today matches, and it is the perfect essence of summer.
Once I am out the door, I pull out my phone to find directions to the tram. I know where it is, I just need to remember every twist and turn. Making my way, I slowly start to remember my surroundings. A couple lefts and a few rights later, I am at the station, and I ride the tram for five stops. As stop number 5 approaches, I am met with the North London gloom. A lot of people hate it, but I love it. It is somehow so comforting to be covered by clouds. It's like nothing except the pouring rain could ever hurt me.
Walking out of the tram station, I am met with the bustling London crowds. Although it is only 1pm, there never seems to be a dull moment in the city. As I walk down the street, I am met with all kinds of shops, ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. The first store I head into is the home goods shop. I've been looking to buy some new decor for the living room, and this seems like just the place.
After spending a good 45 minutes browsing all of the interesting pieces that could be added to my new home, I decide that I'll come back another day. I want to have Harry's input since we share the house. As I'm on my way out the door, I notice several people putting up their umbrellas. Great, I think, the one day I don't bring one! I should know by now that you must bring an umbrella anytime you go outside in London. Just as a precaution.
Quickly throwing my hood up, I decide that I will run down to the last place I want to go, the bookstore. I have been specifically wanting to pick up Anne of Green Gables. Ever since I told my Mum about my new job, she has been calling me Evelyn of Harmony Gables. I first rolled my eyes at that, but I then remembered that my mum only says these things for good fun. She and I have bonded over Anne of Green Gables since I was a young girl. She lived in Canada for about 5 years in her teen years, so she has a special connection to the book that made such a cultural impact on the country.
I want a copy of the book to have in my own house, so I can one day read it to my children, just like my mum did with me. Family traditions like that are very important to me.
Approaching the bookstore, I notice that the windows are littered with new and old books, and little signs that have meaningful phrases. I can already tell that I will like this shop, based on how welcoming it seems. Before going in, I look up above the door and see the words "Paperback Writers" plastered on this tall, brick building.
Stumbling into the shop, I can finally pull my hood down. I am unbelievably soaked from head to toe, but that's nothing I can't fix. I am thankful to have walked into a heated shop for once today. Once my body is acclimated to the store, I am quick to notice the lingering smell of cinnamon and vanilla. Those two smells are so comforting to me, because they remind me of my protectors in life; my Mum, my Dad, and Olive.
Starting to make my way to the fictional-novels section of the rows, a certain something sitting on a table catches my eye. I turn my head more to get a better look, and I come to realise that a bouquet is sitting atop the "oldies, newbies, and beauties" table. Inside the bouquet is the little note I wrote that says "make someone smile today". This basically confirms that it is my bouquet, and that also confirms that this is Harry's bookstore. How the hell did I stumble into my roommates bookstore, of all the ones in London? This may be one of the biggest coincidences I've ever encountered.
When I realise that I've been staring at my flowers for the past 5 minutes, I swiftly go over to the column of books I had originally planned to look through. After a solid 2 minutes of searching, I come to find "Anne of Green Gables", under the 'M' section. Next to the book I want are the 7 other books in the series. I'll come back for those another day.
After grabbing my book and looking through a few more sections, I head up to the counter and wait behind two other people. As the person just ahead of me finishes up at the counter, I notice that the check out lady went to the back of the store, before coming back out with a lunch bag and her coat. Just as the door closes behind her, it reopens again, and I am met with one Harry Styles. He is staring down at a book and doesn't seem to be paying attention to where he was going.
As I set my new book down on the counter, he does the same with his. He doesn't even look up at me before grabbing my book to scan it, and saying a small hello. After scanning my book and setting it in the floral paper bag, he only then looks up to my face. He is in pure shock as he realises who he's been interacting with for the past few minutes. He greets me again after gaining some confidence, because he seemed to have lost it all when he noticed I was standing right in front of him. He asks me how I am, and if I'm okay, since he knows I can lip read simpler phrases. I respond a little bit just to get my point across.
Once I'm done paying, he takes me in once more before grabbing a sticky-note to write "You're drenched from the rain. Do you plan to be in the city much longer?" I chuckle at this and shake my head, knowing this was my last stop. He grabs the sticky note once more, and jots down a note. I can tell that he's nervous about what he's written, since his face has faltered a bit. His eyes hold so much knowingness, I want to bathe in the sea of green that pours from his irises.
"Do you want to stay here until I am done? We could drive home together, I should only be here another twenty minutes." I read off the sticky-note. He's so generous. I think about it for a moment, before asking for the pen and notepad. "I'd actually like that a lot... I've wanted to look through the other sections of the store you have, which is beautiful might I add." I hand the note back to him, and his cheeks become rosy. He nods at me, before letting me know that I can look around wherever I please, and that he'd come find me soon.
After about fifteen minutes, I see him rounding the corner of the nook I'm sitting in. Umbrella in his ring covered hand, he tells me that he's all done for the day. As I pack my things up, I joke with him a little bit, telling him that I was surprised he finished ahead of schedule.
Making our way out of his shop, he quickly notices the continued downpour, and opens up his umbrella. He noticed early on that I didn't have one, which prompted him to take my hand to lead me under the umbrella, closer to him. He let me know that it was only a short walk to his parking spot, and before I knew it, his beautiful, shiny car came into my vision.
We travel down the busy streets of London, before eventually we get onto the countryside roads. The differences between London and Harmony are like night and day, you wouldn't expect them to be a short twenty-minute drive from each other.
Comfortable in the car, I decided to pull out my book. Harry seems a bit rigid, and I think it's because he realised we can't talk while he's driving. Trying to ignore his stiffness, I look through the pages. I love the smell of new books, and I feel safe at this moment. Although, I wish I could talk to Harry. Small things he tells me just make me more and more interested and keen to know everything about him. I am infatuated with Harry Styles. I am held captive by his eyes and the way their colour changes in the sunlight, and I want to memorise every "imperfection" on his face, not that he has any.
When Harry and I got into the house, I told him I had no idea that I was walking into Paperback Writers and that I'd be running into him. He laughed a lot at the coincidence of today. I make us a cuppa before I sit down on my burgundy armchair that resides in our living room. Slowly, I reopen my shiny new book, and I am brought back to all those nights with my mother in my room, when we would read this book together.
My favourite quote from Anne of Green Gables has always been "Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
I learned a new meaning to that today.