M A R Y
harry watched me graduate.
it sounds like such a weird thing to say, but it was true. even with the boys being off of break now and heading different places for reappearances, he managed to show up for my graduation.
it was maybe the second best day of my life.
"congradulations!" harry greeted me after the caps had been tossed. leave it to him to come up with a pun for every occasion.
i smiled wholeheartedly. "where's my graduation gift, rich boy?" i joked. I loved using that line because harry knew me well enough to know that i wasn't using him for the money. we basically had no filter.
he smirked and reached into his pocket. "your twentieth pay check!" he said cheerfully, handing me an envelope. this was nice. the way harry worked, every ten pay checks you get you get a raise. that was one of the many benefits of working for a terribly rich franchise with few workers.
"how much is it?" i asked. last time, my raise had been from 10 dollars an hour to 11.
he shrugged like he didn't know, which i very well knew he did, and motioned to the sealed envelope. "open it and see... i don't know. louis filed it this time. he wouldn't even tell me."
i guess he really didn't know.
i tore carefully at the seal, surprised to see that what was inside wasn't actually a pay check. i decided not to be worried because that's what I should have been getting, but instead opened the paper and saw that it was two round trip tickets to london.
i almost dropped everything. "no way." i gasped out, momentarily unable to breathe.
harry looked worried and leaned over my shoulder. "what is it, babe?" he asked, and read the paper carefully. afterwards he gasped as well. "get out, louis bought us tickets to fly to england? that son of a--"
"why would he do this for us?" i asked, truly confused. this was a bit too much. the fact that it was for us and us only, and that harry could've bought it himself was a bit baffling.
but then i saw the date for the ticket.
august 1st, 2017.
what the hell?
"harry." i said as calmly as I could. "louis has made a mistake here. it says august of 2017. that's two years from now. he couldn't have given these to us for us to travel in two years. we could get tickets now and fly in tomorrow if we pleased."
"yeah." harry agreed, pursing his lips and barely touching the paper. "this is odd."
when we got to harry and louis' house, louis was already cooking. that was a strange sight, but he did always prepare the meal on special occasions.
"hey, lou." harry said smoothly, kicking off his leather boots and taking his sunglasses off. i kicked my heels off and slipped on that pair of harrys fuzzy sucks that were always balled up on the floor by the coat rack.
he waved from the kitchen. "has mary opened her present?"
"mhm." i hummed, still holding it. "why is the date set for two years from now?"
louis and harry exchanged glances, like they were talking telepathically. i was jealous because damn, me and harry couldnt do that.
"harry knows now." louis said simply like they really had just finished having a silent conversation with their eyes. what kind of friendship...?
"is he going to tell me?" i asked.
"no." louis turned back around and resumed to his cooking. I looked at harry, shocked, but he just gave me a shrug and looked at his feet, finding them interesting all of a sudden.
"we're just going to have to wait it out, mary." was all he said before kissing me quickly and joining louis in the kitchen.
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H A R R Y
i woke up very early in the morning.
it was the first of august, in the wonderful year of 2017.
the day that the love of my life and i were to fly out to london. but only i knew that wasn't our final destination.
we walked down a narrow hallway, filled with childhood photos. a little girl who looked very similar to mary was in a picture with a dog, wearing a bright red hat. right next to it was an old newspaper article about the same girl dancing at a music festival. leeds.
id been there before, me and louis. it was a lot of fun, and ever since ive been going back there alone-- every year.
maybe mary would want to go with me.
she turned around to face me and stopped in her tracks. i was caught in the act.
but instead she just grinned. "those pictures are so embarrassing, im sorry." she apologized. there was no need to, because they were actually really adorable.
we kept walking. her house was big.
"so you like going to leeds?" i asked her, to stir up conversation. even though her back was to me as she walked, i could tell she was smiling.
"i went there once as a kid." she reminisced. "im guessing you saw the picture on the wall... why, do you?"
it was my turn to smile at the memories i had made there. "absolutely love it. we should go together next year, i went two months ago and it was awesome. best in a while, actually."
she nodded slowly. "harry, i'd love to."
and now we were.
"wake up, lazy head!" i cheered loudly, jumping on the edge of the bed like a five year old as mary struggled to get out of bed. "it's the day that we ride our first plane together and im so very excited, as should you be!"
she wiped her eyes and got out of bed in a sleepy haze, which was really adorable. every morning she did this and it was something I would never get enough of seeing.
"ill be excited after I brush my teeth." she mumbled. "geez harry, your breath stinks too."
i breathed into my mouth and gagged. she wasn't wrong.
we both brushed our teeth, got changed, and ate in a matter of ten minutes. it was a nice record, but to be safe mary wasn't wearing makeup today and we were both wearing the most comfortable outfits we could find. that meant sweatpants and tees.
"you ready, baby?" I asked, and this time she was more excited than she had initially been. her grin was lively, he smile wide, and he gripped her suitcase and carry-on like he life depended on it.
"im ready to travel the world with you, harry." she said, and those were the words i had been waiting two years to hear.
*
the flight time was long, about three planes for the duration of twelve hours, equivalent to half a day. it was torturous. some lady on the third plane, who had also been on our first two, complained she was getting a blood clot for all the inactive activity in her leg. there was actually a doctor on board that checked her out and it turned out it was true.
weirdly enough, it was an odd sight to see an old lady walking around the plane when the seatbelt lights were on to ensure that the clot didn't travel up to her heart and cause a heart attack. it was weird, because in those brief moments that I considered medical school I didn't remember reading anything about walking curing leg clots. but it wasn't my business.
over the span of the two years mary and I had spent waiting for this trip to remember, we had grown immensely closer. she moved in with louis and I, spending so much time with us I thought I would go crazy from the abundance of love she gave me. speaking of such, we grew closer in a physical sense too. it was odd, because no matter how many times we made love or even had sex it felt like the first time. we still had no idea what we were doing, but it made me fall even more in love with her.
we had started to act like a married couple by the beginning of 2017. going out for last minute dates, having her show up to my movie premieres. she took being in the spotlight very well. actually, she embraced it. she loved every aspect of it except for the paparazzi and the endless strings of hate.
and here we were, standing in the london airport and waiting for a taxi while random strangers took pictures of us. thankfully, the fans matured and kept their distance. they didn't seem to bother with me as much nowadays anyway, seeing I was already taken and saw no interest in them. but I still loved all them. they just didn't love me as much anymore.
"where are we going?" she asked.
"you know, I have no idea." I bluntly lied. she huffed and stomped a couple times, but a cab pulling up stopped her from throwing a fit in front of all these people.
the cab driver took us to where I quietly asked him to-- leeds. he was curious at first because frankly, that was a three hours drive. he told me angrily that we could've just booked a flight to leeds instead. it was hard to explain that louis was ultimately stupid and had no idea that there was such a place. so I tipped him a thousand dollars in cash and we were off.
mary whined the whole ride. she probably expected it to be short lived, but every passing minute she asked if we were there yet. when we finally did there, she said she was pretty sure that there was another airport we couldve landed in. I had to tell her that louis was dumb as well.
I picked a nice, quiet hotel in almost the middle of nowhere, that was actually five stars. we got a very nice room, with a view of the gloomy sky that somehow still managed to look pretty.
"how long are we staying?" mary asked, throwing her suitcases down and plopping onto one of the beds. I didn't know how to actually say this.
"about three weeks." I sighed with a smile.
her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "why so long? and why this city, anyway? I don't even know where we are. aren't we supposed to be in london?"
I scratched my forehead. "baby, do me a favor and shut up." I joked. "we waited two years, we can wait three weeks."
she nodded apprehensively. "what are we waiting for, exactly?"
I dodged the subject. "just help me push these beds together so we can have more room but still technically sleep in the same bed." I said in one breath. I was so whipped.
she giggled nonetheless, forgetting about the three week wait and pushing the bed she was sitting on into the middle of the room. I did the same with the other, and we worked together to move the bedside table with the small decorative lamp on it to the side where the balcony was.
"we might as well redesign the entire hotel." she smirked. she was so cute.
"nah." I said cooly, jumping onto the bed and she did the same. we met in the middle and my eyes prodded into hers. "this is just
for us."
*
it was the opening day of leeds, and mary was very impatient.
"today's the day." she said, finishing applying her lipstick and curling her hair. she looked really good today, and I wondered what she thought was in store.
"yeah." I agreed, touching up my hair as well. I had trimmed it recently and I liked the way it looked, it just demanded some attention every now and again. "are you excited?"
she shrugged into the mirror. how beautiful was she. "I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to be excited for..." she frowned before perking up again. "but yes."
"good." i smiled, fumbling in my jacket pocket and finding the tiny box with my fingers. my heart almost fell to my stomach at the realization.
I wasn't ready for today.
M A R Y
harry definitely had something under his sleeve.
we hailed another cab, and thankfully harry told me that it would be about a twenty minute drive. we spent the whole time kissing and saying nice things to each other. harry made me feel so loved it was crazy.
then when we arrived, I saw the sign and everything came crashing back to me.
leeds.
"you seriously remembered this?" I asked out of pure shock, and harry handed the money to the driver before nodding with a smug grin. he was so cheeky and romantic and it made me feel like I wanted to combust.
"you're the best." I hummed as we hopped out of the cab.
"I know."
we walked up to ticket sales and harry showed the man two tickets that had already been bought. he was so sly.
as we walked in, I could hear a familiar imagine dragons song being played with a lot of bass to it. this was one of my favorite festivals, and harry had remembered that and brought me here.
"let's eat first." he said suddenly. at festivals, harry always wanted to eat first.
so we ordered a plate of nachos to share and started digging in.
about halfway through, i felt something hard in the cheese that made my tooth ache right away. "ow." I whined.
"what is it?" harry asked, concerned. he was sipping on some iced tea.
"there's something really hard in here." I groaned, trying to bite it again but only hurting myself. I hesitantly reached into my mouth and pulled it out.
oh.
I couldn't have been hallucinating....
it was a diamond ring that was probably worth millions by the beautiful designs, and it was in my food. I looked up from my admiring to see harry down on one knee.
"oh my god." i mumbled, covering my mouth with my hands and seeing tears starting to brim my sight.
but harry ignored that. "mary, ever since I realized that deep down you were the most beautiful and genuine person I had ever laid eyes on, I knew this day would come. I just didn't know it would be so soon, but I'm more than ready to take this leap of faith for you. for us. so please, will you marry me?"
people were crowded around, making soft noises and I could hear a few fans crying.
so was I.
"yes." was all I could get out, hugging him tightly and never letting go. he laughed lightly as he tried to clean the ring and rid it of its cheese by pouring a bottle of water over it, which didnt really work but it was fine. I put it on anyway.
he also gave me a necklace with a book as a charm, which was what I was guessing as a reminder of his journal that brought us together in the first place.
"I love you." he said, his eyes prettier than stars as they stared into mine. everyone around us wouldn't stop crying and it was actually kind of a beautiful moment.
"I love you more."
he thought for a moment before smiling faintly. "remember the newspaper headline with you dancing with that dog?" he asked and I nodded, still crying and in shock. "girl dances with dog. well, how about this for a headline? 'royal couple engages at leeds and starts to live a happy, royal life together. with very cute babies and a bright future running a rich franchise that eventually turns into an empire and the two rule the world together'."
"that's a very long headline." I laughed through a choked out sob. "but it's worth a shot."
"we're like a fairytale." he chuckled.
"what a perfect ending." I hummed, staring at my engagement ring adorned on my finger.
he kissed me delicately on the lips. "and we lived happily ever after." he cooed.
THE END.
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I love this story and even though the reaction to it wasn't what I expected, with not very many votes or comments, I still love it. it'll be one of my favorites with murder house as #1 :)
I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! maybe you just didn't feel like voting or commenting but that's fine. I just hope you liked it!
so tell me: what was your favorite part? watch no one answer this but that's alright. if you want to say just inline comment here or you know, let this story look like it was a total flop. it's fine. :)
I don't want to say goodbye to this book but I guess I have to!
stay amazing!!!(:
-amira