You are speeding across the skies 30,000 feet above the water below. The plane was flying hundreds of miles per hour yet the scene below was barely moving. All you had seen for hours was blue water stretching out in every direction. Every now and then a fluffy cloud would float across the sky, blocking your view.
You look around at the other passengers on the plane. Most of them were sleeping. A few were watching the movie provided by the airlines and a few were reading books or studying what looked like work files. You however were too excited to sleep or to concentrate on a book or movie. All you had been able to do all flight was to stare out of the window and daydream.
The water was swirls of light and dark blue. Occasionally the plane would pass what must have been a huge ocean liner, but to you it looked like no more than a tiny spot on the surface of the water.
You were going to Ireland. You were actually going to study abroad for the whole semester. Your mind was filled with the possibilities of what could happen. You planned to enjoy yourself as much as possible. Meet people, go pubbing, and maybe even have a fling with a hot Irishman. Well maybe something more serious than a fling. You would love to end up marrying an Irish boy, if only just so that you could listen to his accent all the time.
Your heart soared as the pilot came on the intercom and announced that you would be starting the descent shortly. You squint your eyes and look intently at the landscape below. Slowly it started changing. Green specks started appearing in the midst of all the blue. The tiny little islands soon gave way to a huge mass of land. They flew over the land for a while. You admire the green of it all. You had heard so much about the rolling hills of Ireland. You couldn’t wait to reach the ground. A smile spreads across your face as you feel a lurch in your belly that tells you that the plane is starting its descent.
“Please?” You look up into the eyes of your friend, which was a mistake. Your fellow American deserved to win an award for puppy dog eyes.
“I told you...I have way too much homework to go gallivanting off to London for the weekend.”
“But it will be loads of fun. Don’t you want to get the full experience while you are here?” You look at your friend and know that she was right. You had been in Ireland for a few weeks and so far had not travelled outside of the country. It was time to explore.
“Oh alright. You know I can’t say no to those eyes.” Your friend beamed and gave you a huge hug.
The next day the you and a few of your friends arrive in London. You check into your hotel and settled into your rooms. You sit down at the desk and open up your laptop,
“What are you doing?” Your friend questions you.
“I thought I would get some work done before we went out tonight.” You are determined not to fall behind in your classes. Your friend shrugs and sinks onto her bed, only to sit up a few moments later looking at her phone.
“The girls are going to go explore the area around the hotel. I don’t suppose you want to come?” You think about it.
“I will be more relaxed if I get some work done today.” Your friend nods to show that she understood and heads out the door. Once you alone however, you discover that you couldn’t really focus on your work. You go out onto the balcony for some fresh air. Down below there were people walking this way and that. You watch a few of them, making up life stories for them as they passed by.
A young girlfriend and boyfriend. A new couple, still in the blissful stage. Unfortunately doomed to failure. The boy will end up cheating on the girl, if his constant checking out of other girls is any indication.
A mother and her young child. They just had a fight. Perhaps the child wanted something in the store and the mother refused to buy it. Now she is forced to drag the child away from the store in tears.
Movement directly below your window causes you to lean over the railing to get a better look. You see a man, his hood pulled over his head, dark sunglasses covering his face. He moved like he didn’t want to be seen. Suddenly he looked up, as if sensing your eyes on him. For unknown reasons you pulled back, even though you hadn’t been doing anything wrong. By the time you had the courage to look back over the railing, the figure was gone.
There had been something strangely familiar about the figure, something that you couldn’t quite put her finger on. They say that it is possible to recognize people simply by their build and the way that they walked, but it wasn’t possible for you to know someone all the way in London. Was it?
You knew you weren’t going to be able to do any work after that eerie experience so you text your friend to find out where the group was. They were at a coffee shop not too far from the hotel. You ask for directions and set out to find them.
On the way your mind kept drifting back to that strange man. The more you tried to push him out of your mind, the more he filled it. Why was he acting so suspicious? What did he have to hide? Suddenly you look around and realize that you are lost. You have no idea how long you had been walking, but you had somehow managed to find your way into a very sketchy looking alley way. As you turn around you see a flutter of movement out of the corner of your eye.
“Why are you following me?” You spin around and found yourself face to face with none other than the strange man in the hood and glasses. He spoke with an Irish droll that sounded very familiar.
“I’m not following you…I’m simply lost.”
“Oh, an American. I saw you in the hotel, why are you following me?” Suddenly it all clicked. You realized how you knew that voice. It was a voice that you had dreamed of hearing in person, but had never imagined you really would.
“Wait, hang on. You’re…” But before you could finish your sentence you found a hand clamped over your mouth.
“Shhh don’t say it, you never know who might overhear.” You nod the best you could with him holding your head and he slowly released you. Cautiously you reach up to take off his sunglasses. Sure enough, the blue eyes of Niall Horan were staring back at you. You couldn’t help but gasp and take a step back.
“Oh my god…I can’t believe it.”
“You aren’t going to faint are you?” Niall was looking at you wearily.
“No of course not, don’t be stupid. It’s just a little surprising to run into one your favorite singers in a random alleyway in London.”
“So you didn’t follow me?”
“I already said I didn’t.”
“I thought you recognized me at the hotel.”
“No I had no idea…well you did seem a little familiar. And actually that was what was on my mind as I was walking to meet my friends. I was so distracted I ended up getting lost.” You ran a hand through your hair, it was all a bit too much to handle. Niall’s eyes soften as he finally accepted your story.
“You really are lost. I’m sorry for not believing you.” He took down his hood, exposing his mop of blonde hair.
“It’s really alright. I probably wouldn’t have believed me either. I suppose you have a reason to be paranoid.”
“Hey! Who are you calling paranoid.”
“Well you did run away from a girl three stories up that you happened to make eye contact with because you thought she recognized you.” Niall simply shrugged and grinned.
“My true fans would have recognized me.”
“Well…I think I sort of did. That is I think I watched so many videos of you guys that I recognized your build and walk. Wow that sounds super creepy when I say it out loud.” Niall shrugged again and you got the sense that nothing you could say would ever really bother him.
“At least your honest, that’s quite a nice change.”
“My friend would absolutely die if she knew I was standing here talking to you. She loves you.” Niall grinned like a school boy being told the girl he liked also had a crush on him.
“And what about you? You’re not a Niall girl, I can always tell. Hmm let’s see…Zayn! No wait Louis…No Liam…wait I’ve got it…Harry!”
“Wow, you should be a detective.” You didn’t try to hide the sarcasm in your voice.
“It’s a gift” He said with a smile. “Well unfortunately I have to be getting off” his smile faded as he said those words, “The coffee shop you are looking for is just down that alley and to the right. It was really nice to meet you.” Niall put his glasses back on but didn’t make any effort to leave. You got the sense that he would love to stay there and talk with you all day. You had to admit that you felt the exact same way. You had always gotten the sense that you and Niall would be great friends. Of course at the time it had been silly fangirl daydreaming, but now in real life you had hit it off immediately.
Not wanting to delay the pain of parting any longer, you turn to head down the alley that Niall had pointed out. You hadn’t taken 3 steps when you heard Niall call out from behind you.
“Oi! Are you going to be in London for a while?” You shake your head
“We are only staying the weekend; I am studying abroad in Cork.” Niall’s eyes lit up.
“We have a long break coming up. Cork is less than 3 hours away from Mullingar. I’m sure I could come down and visit you…if you wanted. Harry is meant to be staying at my house for a little while also. I’m sure he would love to come meet you…and maybe you could bring that friend of yours…?” You could hardly believe your ears. Niall Horan was trying to arrange a get together with you, plus he was offering to introduce you to Harry Styles. Could this be real life?
“That would be absolutely amazing…” You said feeling dazed.
“Awesome! Let me just get your number so I can let you know what our plans are.” Niall took your phone out of your numb fingers and typed in his number. “I’m going to put it in as ‘N.H.’ so that it doesn’t raise any suspicion.” He saved his number and sent himself a text so that he would have her number. “I will see you soon!” and with that he was off.
You watch as he put his hood back up and walked out of the alley. Your friend was not going to believe it.
In the end you decided against telling your friends. One of two things was bound to happen, either they would think you wer lying to get attention or they would believe you and want to meet the boys with you. It seemed selfish, but you just wanted this first meeting to be you and your one other friend. Your friend was the only true One Direction fan of the group. The others would love to meet someone famous just because, but they wouldn’t appreciate it like she would.
You decided to keep it a secret from your one friend as well. You really wanted to surprise her. She thought that you were going to spend a nice weekend away, just the two of you. Little did she know that they were about to meet Niall and Harry at Niall’s secret cottage that was just outside of Cork.
“You’re quite anxious.” Your friend noted “Excited for our weekend away?”
“Oh yes” You barely refrained from blurting out the whole plan right then and there. “It’s going to be quite exciting.”
“I thought we were just going for a nice relaxing weekend?” She looked at you puzzled.
“Well I may have a few surprises up my sleeve.” You winked at her and left it like that.
“And then I just ran away!”
“No you didn’t!” You laugh and look around the campfire. The four of you had hit it off quite nicely. It made you smile to see Niall’s hand holding your friend’s, their fingers intertwined. She had handled the surprise quite well. Of course there had been a bit of fangirling and a moment where she didn’t look too steady on her feet, but she had recovered quickly. The four of them had unpacked and cooked dinner together, laughing and joking around like they were old friends. You had already stopped looking at them as superstars and started looking at them as regular guys.
Something shifted against your leg and you looked over at the boy sitting next to you. Sparkling green eyes met yours. Harry smiled and your heart fluttered. Well maybe not totally regular. Harry was extraordinary. Not only was he inhumanely handsome with those cheeky dimples, crazy mop of hair, and that wonderfully long and lean body, but he was also kind and sweet and a really down to earth person. You lean against Harry and he immediately shifted his body to make you more comfortable.
You catch your friend’s eyes from across the circle. She smiles and shakes her head slightly; she mirrored your own disbelief that this was really happening. You felt overwhelmed when you started to think about it. Stuff like this just didn’t happen in real life. Since you couldn’t really come to terms with it you decided to just live in the moment and not think too much about it.
You close your eyes. You could feel the warmth of the fire across your face as well as Harry’s body heat. You smelled that wonderful campfire smell that mingled with the musky scent of Harry. You heard crickets, the cracking of wood, and Niall’s wonderful laugh. You would gladly stay right there for the rest of your life.
“Oi, Alley Cat, you’re not falling asleep on us are you?” You smile at Niall’s nickname for you. You open your eyes and meet his. He had become very dear to you in such a short time, they both had. Niall was like a brother to you, and Harry...well they would just have to see where that one led.
“How could anyone fall asleep with your racket?” You teased. Harry laughed deeply, his body shaking.
“It’s true Niall” He confirmed “Everything you do seems to require the most amount of noise possible.” Niall mumbled something about ‘pick on Niall day’ under his breath. Just then a cool breeze blew over them. You shivered and Harry looked down at you.
“What you ye say we move this party inside? Maybe watch a movie?” He said. A movie sounded great to you. They all went inside the house and gathered blankets and pillows. You and Harry claimed the couch while your friend and Niall lay on the floor. Since Niall was still pretending to skulk about the teasing you let him choose the movie. His choice ended up not mattering to you since you didn’t pay attention to any part of the movie, Harry was too distracting.
He kept running his fingers up and down your arm, tracing random circles and other shapes as he went. He seemed to be fascinated by the feel of your skin. As he skimmed his knuckles along the length of your arm you got shivers all up your spine. Harry must have thought you were still cold because he put his arm around you and drew you close. He lifted your legs and placed them so they were thrown over his lap. He then began to run his long fingers along your leg. Finally you couldn’t take it any longer so you grabbed his hand to stop it. Harry gave you a very self-satisfied grin.
“Am I distracting you?” He whispered huskily in your ear. Before you could think of a clever comeback his mouth was on yours. He gave you the sweetest, gentlest kiss you had ever experienced. He pulled back ever so slightly, giving you the opportunity to let him know if you wanted more or not.
“What about the others?” You said softly. You weren’t huge on PDA and didn’t think they would appreciate you making out above them.
“They are fast asleep.” Harry’s breath was hot against your face. You glanced down and saw that sure enough the two were dead to the world, cradled in each other’s arms.
“Well in that case…” You said and joined your lips once more. This kiss was hotter and more intense. Harry’s mouth moved hot against yours as his tongue entered your mouth. One of his arms wrapped around your back, pulling you closer to him. His other hand cupped your cheek and drew your mouth more fully against his.
You had never experienced anything like it before. You wouldn’t have been surprised if fireworks had gone off in the background. It was one of those earth-shaking, life-changing kisses that they always show in those cliché romance movies. You knew that after that kiss nothing would ever be the same. Maybe you and Harry would last and maybe you wouldn’t, but either way leaving him the next morning was going to be difficult. Finally you separated. You could tell by Harry’s wide eyes that he was feeling similarly to yourself.
“Wow…um” Harry raked his hand through his hair. You reach up and lightly stroke his cheek, calming him.
“Yeah.” You say simply.
“Yeah.” He repeated. “Do you…erm…do you want to go for a walk? I know it’s late but I know this great little spot.”
“Sounds great.” You say thinking that at that moment you would follow him anywhere. Harry grabbed a few blankets and you head out the door. You walked hand in hand for a while. Neither of you say anything because words weren’t necessary. You were simply enjoying being with each other.
“This is nice.” Harry finally spoke. “Most girls feel a need to fill up every silence with meaningless babble.” It was like he could read your mind.
“I feel like I have known you for a lot longer than just a night. You know how you have those really good friends, and you will spend time with them and not talk for long periods of time. You just hang out together but kind of do your own thing, and afterwards you feel like you gained something from the experience even though you didn’t actually talk all that much?” Harry nodded his head at your words. “Well that’s how I feel with you. I feel completely at ease and comfortable with you.”
“I feel the same way. Normally I have to deal with girls going to great lengths to try to impress me. All they see is Harry Styles from One Direction. But being with you I can forget the fame and just act like a normal guy for a change.”
“Wait…You’re Harry Styles from One Direction? No way!” You exclaime. Harry nudges you with his shoulder
“Ha ha. Very funny” He said sarcastically, but he laughed all the same. “Ah here we are” You gasp in joy as you looked at the spot they had arrived at. It was a tiny little pond, surrounded by trees. Fluttering all around them there were hundreds of fireflies.
“Harry, it’s beautiful” You say, then you noticed what he was doing. “Harry…what are you…?“ but he cut you off with a quick kiss and returned to taking off his clothes. He stripped down to his boxers and with a crooked grin at you, jumped into the pond.
“Come on! It’s really warm” You glance down at what you had assumed to be blankets, discovering now that they were in fact towels.
“Harry it’s freezing out here, we are going to get sick!”
“Trust me; the water is warmer than the air. Just come in.” With a sigh you give in. You slowly took off your clothes until you are standing in just your bra and underwear. Even though it was just like a bikini you felt oddly exposed. Maybe it was the way Harry was watching you.
“Get in here” he growled. You took a leap of faith and jumped into the water, making sure to get Harry thoroughly soaked in the process. Harry had been right, the water was pretty warm. You had barely surfaced when Harry’s hands were on your waist, pulling you toward him. His wet mouth slammed against yours. You kissed him back with equal passion.
Harry broke the kiss and with one swift motion lifted you up and sent you flying into the water. You came up sputtering.
“Harry Styles! I’ll get you for that one.” You tried to dunk him but he was stronger than you were and you ended up underwater again. This time you grabbed his legs and pulled. He lost his balance and went tumbling into the water. He came up laughing.
“I like your style” You grinned in response. You floated in the water and talked for a while. Eventually the chill caught up with you and you were forced to get out. You quickly dried yourself off and put back on your clothes. Your teeth were chattering and your whole body was shaking.
“If-if I g-get hypothermia I’m s-sending you the d-doctors bill S-Styles” You said. Harry, who was shaking just as badly as you were responded by pulling you against him. He hugged you tight, your body fully pressed against the length of his. You buried your face into his chest and wrapped your arms around him, holding on like your life depended on it. Eventually your shivers started subsiding and you started to think about things other than the cold, specifically how right your body felt against Harry’s. If felt like you were two puzzle pieces that were meant to fit together. Nothing had ever felt so perfect and so right.
“Feeling better?” Harry asked. You had no idea how long you had been standing there like that.
“Yes but don’t let go quite yet” You mumble into his chest.
“With pleasure” he said and tightened his grip. Finally you drew out of your embrace. Harry kissed you affectionately on the nose. You intertwine your hands and set off back towards the cottage. You were surprised to see the sky beginning to lighten. Time seemed to cease to exist when you were with Harry. When the cabin finally came into view Harry stopped suddenly. You looked up at him curiously.
“I just wanted to let you know that you and I…I don’t see this as just a weekend fling. If you want…I would like to keep seeing you”
“I would like nothing more Harry.” He grinned like a school boy and kissed you hard. As you walked up the steps you didn’t think you could be any happier. That is until you walked in and saw Niall and your friend kissing on the couch. They broke apart when they heard your footsteps. You wink at your friend and she sent you a smile. Your friend had never looked as joyful as she did now. Your own personal feelings were mirrored in her face.
“Well friends. What shall we do today?” You ask.