"Not only did I love her, but I could tell that the universe loved her, too. More than others. She was different. After all; I would be a fool not to notice the way the sunshine played with her hair."
- Christopher Poindexter
Aflame - Chapter 41
"I didn't expect you to bring me here."
"It's my Uncles' ranch. This is where my family would come to every time we had the chance to." Harry walks with me hand-in-hand as we make our way through the yellow-colored grass beneath our feet. "It's been a while since I've been here, so I thought why not visit it again... Only this time, with you."
I look up at Harry as his gaze is already on me and I couldn't hide the excited and appreciative smile that forms its' way onto my lips.
I can't remember the last time I've ridden a horse, it must have been when I was five-years-old or something, but only, it wasn't a horse.
A pony, to be exact.
So this would be a new experience for me. Hopefully I don't mess it up, but then again, I am Paige "Clumsy" Greyson.
"I'd be lying if I said that I'm not excited."
I smile brightly as we are getting closer and closer towards the ranch in front of us as I can see a couple of the horses standing around and eating on hay.
The breeze that flows by is so refreshing and the weather is just perfect as it isn't too cold or too warm - it's just right.
Why do I sound like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
I shake the thought off as Harry starts speaking up again.
"I'd be crushed if you weren't," He speaks up once again as his eyes is on the view in front of us as he takes in a deep breath before leaning down towards me. "Because I want to show you that I'm really good at riding more than just you." I gasp at him and playfully shove him from me as he lets out a little laugh. "I'm only joking," I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips at his words as I shake my head at him. "Or am I?"
"Really, Harry?"
I palm my face at his dirty comment and cheeky little ways as he finds himself quite amusing.
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We finally make our way inside of the barn where I notice a guy sat on a chair, busy cleaning off dirt from a horse shoe. He looks focused as he whistles some tune to himself and is wearing a red flannel top with blue jeans and boots.
As soon as we come closer towards him, his brown eyes lands on both Harry and I in surprise before he puts the horse shoe onto the floor and then wipes the remaining dirt off from his hands.
"Harry, my God, it's been ages, mate."
He smiles at Harry as Harry reciprocates and they give each other those hugs that involves that little slap on the back.
"Liam, it's great to see you again." Harry speaks up as he then lets go of him before placing his hand onto the small of my back. "This is Paige-"
"Is this your girl?" Liam looks down at me as I notice the stubble on his face and his hair is perfectly styled. "She's gorgeous." I smile shyly at him as he reciprocates a smile that reaches his eyes, almost making them appear as their fully closed, but he has a really great smile to be honest. "I'm Liam," He reaches out his hand for me to take as I do so. "A childhood friend of Harry's."
"Nice to meet you, Liam."
"He is my Uncle's, cousins' child."
I try to calculate that inside of my head, but I didn't have the time.
"That I am," Liam speaks up. "So you came to see your Uncle or...?"
"Actually, I came to bring Paige here for a little horse riding."
"Ah, I see." He smacks his hands together before looking behind him. "Hey! Can you come here for a second?!" Liam shouts at someone on the far end of the barn who is busy stacking hay onto each other in a white t-shirt and jeans as well. Liam then sets his eyes onto us this time. "I won't be able to guide you two, but my friend would gladly do so."
"Great."
Harry speaks up as he looks down onto me with a sweet smile on his face that shows off his deep dimples as he pulls me in closer towards his hip. I let out an excited grin as he doesn't stop staring at me and I could see that he was excited himself.
"Ah, and here he is now." We both set our gaze onto Liam before it falls onto the guy beside him who's head was down. He dusts off his blond hair before looking up to us and his blue eyes quickly meets with both Harry and I as I could feel how my mouth went agape at the sight. "This is Niall, he will be your guide for the day."
"What?"
Niall speaks up with wide eyes and looks genuinely surprised at both our presence there and also the words that slips out of Liam's mouth.
Well, this is not awkward at all.
"You won't mind, would you?"
Liam speaks up as I could feel Harry's fingers digging into the side of me as I look up at him and his smile had instantly disappeared as soon as he realized who would be helping us out today.
I didn't know that Niall worked here.
I haven't even seen him around in quite some time after our last little "incident".
Has he been hiding from me?
"Isn't there someone else that's around who could possibly help us instead?"
Harry speaks up as I know for a fact that he would rather take a random guy who knows nothing about horses off from the street than Niall.
"No, Niall is the only one currently available for today."
Niall looks a bit uncomfortable and I really don't blame him because that's exactly how I am feeling right now.
I saw the look on Liams' face as I am sure that he is catching on and Harry is glaring at Niall this time and I knew that I had to get rid of this awkward tension - one way or another.
"That's fine with us. We're just here to enjoy our day horse-riding, right Harry?"
I look up to Harry as he clenches his jaw and examines Niall for a while and then sets his gaze down onto me as his eyes goes soft.
"You're right."
I let out a breath of relief as I was more than happy that Harry didn't try to complicate this even more. I love how maturely he handles situations like this, even though I know that he doesn't have a liking towards Niall after the last time.
"Great, now let's have fun. Yay..."
I lift up my hands with enthusiasm even though my voice was soft and everybody is staring at me this time.
Goodness, Paige, just shut up, why don't you?
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Harry was now speaking to Liam outside of the barn, probably catching up or something, as I am standing near the little fence, staring over at Niall.
He's busy putting up the saddle onto the horses and he looks focused, but I know that he knows that I am looking over at him as he has set his gaze on me a couple of times.
Maybe I should just end this awkwardness between us for once and for all.
I mean, it's only for the best, right?
And besides, it's the right thing to do, I don't want him to feel bad for expressing the way that he felt for me. I know how hard it is to let someone know how much you like them and then to be rejected by them.
Okay, that's it.
I put away my pride as I walk up to him.
He sees me coming on, but pretends that he doesn't.
I start to fidget with my fingers as I finally make my way up to him and he was still busy with the saddle.
"Hi."
I speak up as he looks over at me for a few seconds and passes me a quick, tight smile.
"Hey."
He then looks over at the saddle as he makes sure that it is correctly fitted onto the back of the brown horse before me.
This horse is really big-
Focus, Paige!
"I didn't know that you worked here."
I speak up as I anxiously wait on him to at least try to not make this as awkward as it already is.
"Yeah, I just need the extra money, you know?"
He then looks my way this time as his eyes are slightly squinted due to the sun and he has his one hand on the strap of the horse.
"Oh... I see." I smile at him as I then look down for a second as I suddenly feel a bit nervous bringing this up, but I knew that I had to if I wanted things between us to be good. "So-"
"I hope that you're not upset with me, still."
He speaks up before I could and I watch him with wide eyes.
He looks kind of concerned as he waits for my reply.
"That's actually what I wanted to speak to you about."
"Again, I am really sorry about that..." He then looks down as he lets out a little breath through his nose before looking back up at me. "I should have known that-"
"It's okay," I speak up as he furrows his brow slightly towards me as I quickly tuck a hair - that had escaped from my ponytail - to the back of my ear. "Really, you apologized and I already got over it."
"You did?"
"Yeah," I smile at him this time as his gaze grows a bit softer at my words. "I'm not upset, I just want for us to be in the same room as each other and to not feel that 'awkward tension' arise every time, do you know what I mean?"
"Trust me, I do." He laughs a bit this time as my smile only grows at the sight as I knew that he had a weight fall from his shoulders. "So, we're cool?"
I nod my head at him.
"Yeah, we're cool."
Harry's P.O.V.
I had to keep my eye on him.
I know what he is capable of and he made me even more suspicious of him when he basically asked my girl out in front of me.
Who does he think he is smiling at her that way?
Look, and now he's helping her onto the horse with his hands all over her.
I need to get over there before he starts to get a bit too comfortable.
He needs to know who he is dealing with.
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"You good over there?"
I call out to Paige as she's beside me on her horse, holding tightly onto the straps as the excited grin wouldn't leave her precious face.
"I'm so good!" She replies cheerfully at me as she smiles my way and I swear that her smile shines brighter than the sun that perfectly caresses her brown hair behind her, making it appear as a beautiful golden shade as I watch her in awe. "But I want to go faster!"
She's just like a little kid and I loved that she has this side to her.
It's refreshing, really.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea."
Niall speaks up behind us as I forgot about his existence again.
I try to contain myself as I shut my eyes for a second before speaking up.
"Let her live while she's young." I call out as I look behind me and he has his gaze on me. I then look over at Paige this time. "Here, I'll show you how to have a bit of fun."
After telling her how to get the horse to go a bit faster, she tries to do it herself.
"You got it?"
I call out to her as she nods her head at me.
"Yeah!" She replies back. "Like this?"
She hits her heels to the side of the horse and pulls the straps back and I knew that she just did what she shouldn't have.
"No, not like-"
Suddenly, she's passing by me as fast as lightening as her horse runs through the wind.
"HARRY, HELP ME! I CAN'T DIE YET!"
She screams out at me as I make my horse run faster as I try to catch up to her.
As soon as I am beside her, I ask her to reach out her hand towards me.
"Give me your hand!"
She tries to let go of the horse, but I could see that she was awfully frightened by it.
"I can't, Harry! He's going too fast!"
"Don't worry, I've got this!"
I see Niall who has picked up pace with us as he has a little rope in his hand as he manages to swing it around the horses' neck and pulls it back as he then gets Paige to jump off from her horse, straight onto his.
She is now cradling him as I could tell that the fear was still inside of her as her arms are wrapped tightly around him and her head buried into his neck.
I could feel the sting of jealousy overtaking me as I know that I could have saved her just fine without his help.
"Thank you, Niall."
I hear her speak up as his horse stops as well as the other horse as he gets it to calm down.
"No problem at all." He speaks up and his gaze then catches mine. "I'll take her back to the barn, she's still a bit shaken up."
"I think it would be better if I took her back instead."
I wasn't going to let him be all over Paige.
He then gives up as he comes closer and I manage to get Paige to sit behind me as her arms are now wrapped around my waist ever so tightly and her head lied onto my back.
"How are you feeling? Are you alright?"
"Yeah," She lets out as I could hear the fear in her voice. "Even though that was really scary and I almost died, it was probably one of the best things ever."
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips as I hear her little giggle as well.
"Looks like we're both adrenaline junkies now."
"I guess so."
She lets out as her grip tightens around me and it felt great knowing that she is here with me right now. It would have been nice to come here alone, but with her, it's ten times better.
"You're fine with me, babe."
I then look over at Niall as I could tell that he clearly heard everything that was said between us as he is now riding beside us.
I'll admit, I'm appreciative of the fact that he had saved her, but I couldn't be completely happy with him right now.
It's hard having to pretend that everything is great, he still upsets me and I don't even think that he knows what I do.
(A/N: Yay! Another update! :D Ooh, the tension between Niall and Harry is only growing, why would Harry be so upset at Niall after all this time? Do you think that they'll be able to sort this whole thing out? Or would the feud just continue?
Please leave those comments, I really, really need them. The more I get, the more motivated I am to update chapters. Also, don't forget to vote! Thank you so much, sweeties!! Xx)