“This place looks good” Harry commented, as they wandered down a small cobbled street, not too far from their hotel. He inhaled the savoury scent of cooking food, his nostrils flaring and mouth watering as a reflex. It was a small restaurant, rather quiet since it was mid morning but both of them were pretty hungry. Especially after their heated rendevous in the hotel room, leaving Lola wide eyed and tingly from what she’d experienced. She felt like after that he was going to be very unpredictable on this trip, which left her feeling scared, vigilant and excited at the same time.
“Do you actually wanna eat, cause we can just grab snacks from somewh-“
“No, if we have proper food now then we won’t need any more for the rest of the day. And we can save money for later or whatever, if we’re still walking or are getting another train. Besides I can smell rice so I have to go in here now”
“Okay, weirdo”
A short waiter waltzed over with a welcoming smile, taking out a menu and leading Lola and Harry his way. “Table for two?”
“Yeah, please” Harry replied with a weak cough. They followed him to a small table beside the window of the elegant yet cosy cafe. Lola quietly thanked the waiter as he pulled out a chair for her
“A drink for you Madam?”
“Erm…i’m alright, thanks” Lola said, glancing at Harry anxiously as she was worried they might be left short for money if they wasted it. Lola didn’t know how much Harry had bought with him, because she knew he wouldn’t tell her. She bought a few feeble notes and coins she’d saved over the past few months, but it was only really enough to cover her train fare home.
It was safe to say she was relying on her hopes that her Dad would be welcoming and helpful towards his daughter. Not necessarily giving her money, but lending a hand after she spent some time with him. Lola had it kind of planned out in her head how this was going to go, although she knew it wasn’t wise to get her hopes up when it could all go wrong.
Harry was also uncomfortable with Lola’s optimism, as he doubted the outcome would be as perfect as she was hoping for.
Lola felt Harry pause for a moment and glare at her before licking his lips and clearing his throat “No can we have a jug of water, ice too please?” Harry asked, the waiter nodding and noting it down “Thank you”
Lola waited until the man had walked off before she shared her concerns. She leant forwards over the small table and spoke low to Harry
“Harry we really shouldn’t waste money, let’s just eat something cheap yeah and save money for emergency”
“Stop worrying about money alright? You’re gonna need water, unless you wanna shrivel up into a raisin before you meet your Dad”
“No thanks” Lola laughed weakly, playing with the cream coloured napkin
The waiter returned with a large jug of cold water with ice cubes and lemon slices. He effortlessly prepared the tables with cutlery and drinks before dropping a rose into a glass inbetween Harry and Lola. He gave an encouraging smile to the pair, mistaking them for a couple
Lola crinkled her eyebrow in confusion before laughing slightly “I think he thinks we’re on a date”
“He can think again” Harry snorted, raising the glass of water to his mouth. Lola tried to draw her eyes away from his throat muscles contracting as the water passed through them. He exhaled contently after a downing most of the liquid and placed the glass down on the table, his bubblegum pink tongue quickly swiping across his lower lip. Lola crossed her leg over the other as she rememebered the feel of his soft tongue meshing with hers, or feel his plump lips pressing into her body. It had only been yesterday but she was already starting to crave his attention again.
She eyed the restaurant and saw a man and women eating together on a far table, gazing admiringly at one another. She smirked and noticed a gentlemen emerging from the mens toilets. He had brown tidy hair, a smart shirt and trousers on, returning to a table with a briefcase beside it. Lola let herself fall into another daydream as she wondered if her Dad could be a successful business man. Or even if he could simply be that man right there. She’d never know, if she was walking past him in the streets of Cornwall, until she met him.
Lola and Harry ordered food and Lola began to think about Jackie again. She had been thinking about her earlier too, agitated over the fact that they hadn’t spoken since their argument. She replayed the scene of Zayn and Harry fighting on the last day of school, in her head. It made her stomach churn as she remembered the cracking sound as Zayn’s fist hit Harry’s nose. The poisonous words Jackie spat as she told Lola she was on her own.
She also wondered what Zayn was thinking of her now. Did he know that she went to Harry after their fight? Was he waiting for her to get in touch, and ask for them to give it another go? He didn’t know where she was right now, but he would be upset if he found out. She wished she could explain to Zayn why she was doing this, travelling across the country with Harry, her torturous bully. But she couldn’t even explain it properly to herself, it was just something she wanted now.
“Harry, do you have my phone in your bag?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Pass it here for a sec” she put her hand out “I just wanna text Jackie”
“No”
Lola furrowed her brow in confusion, as she registered Harrys abrupt response.
“Sorry?”
“I said no” Harry shruggled calmly
“No? Why not? It’s my phone” Lola whined
“You don’t need it” Harry said authoritively, holding his intense stare on Lola and silently requesting her eye contact “We’re here for a reason, if you wanna talk it out with Jackie then you could have done that before we left. Lola you don’t need anyone else at the minute right now, understand?”
“But what if something hap-“
“If anything happens, i’ll deal with it. So no phone calls to Jackie or Zayn or anyone else” Harry saw Lola dropped her eyes down in disappointment. He rested his hand on top of hers across the table for reassurance “Do you understand?”
Lola nodded obligingly, her hair partially covering his eyes as she stared down at her lap. She didn’t want to refuse Harry’s orders but she really wanted to speak to someone from home. Particularly Jake.
“You realise that John is going to want to speak to us and know we’re alright” she muttered downwards, feeling Harry still looking at her
“Yeah well i’ll tell him we’re alright if he calls. And you can talk to Jake then”
The waiter arrived a few minutes later with two hot plates, placing them down in front of them. Lola poked the side salad with her fork, not really wanting to eat it but she knew she’d be hungry later on if she didn’t finish her meal.
“So…maybe now would be a good time to figure out where we’re headed” Harry pulled out a map from his rucksack, unfolding it on the table. The squiggly lines looked confusing and they didn’t really know where to go, because all they had was an address.
“If i’m reading this correctly” Lola said “We need to go a little further north. The address says the town is St Ives”
“St Ives?”“ Harry looked up at her, his irises a luminate forest green “That’s the one” he whispered to himself
“That’s what?”
Harry paused for a moment “I’m going to show you something”
He reached into his bag and pulled out an beach pebble in the peculiar shape of a heart. It was grey stone, smooth and rounded, apart from the underside. It had the word carved into the rock ‘Harry’
“Impressive, is that your work of art Styles?” Lola joked, causing Harrys mouthends to curl upwards slightly in amusement as he looked down on it, stroking his thumb across the smooth stone.
“This is from June 2005. It had become a sort of annual trip to go to Carbis Bay, every summer holidays. I always looked forward to it, in the second week after school broke up. So, pretty much now, this week, every year” Harry explained
“My stepdad gave this to me, that year…he found it lying on the shore when we were walking across the beach. Well, I was jumping more like over the big boulders, seeing how far I could leap. He was impressed with the shape of it but I didn’t care much, he carved my name into the back with another stone and told me that I should keep it as a memoir of the holiday. I thought it was such a dumb idea at the time, like what ten year old boy wants a heart shaped stone” Harry let out a slight chuckle, shaking his head to himself as he looked down at the treasured item
“But we returned to that beach every year, even last year when Andy was getting ill. He still made it, a little slower walking along the shore this time. Then my Mum didn’t want to go back this year…. She couldn’t face it” Harrys voice began to thicken, and he felt a hard lump forming in his throat. He didn’t want this to happen, and gulped hard to get rid of it, but the pain was still evident in his wobbly deep voice “So, since you wanted to come down here…I wondered” he inhaled deeply “I wondered if we could go”
Lola titled her head to him sympathetically, seeing the rim of his eyes becoming slightly reflective. He was trying to disguise it but he looked up to her with hope, waiting for an answer.
“Yes” she said softly “We’ll find it”
Lola reached over and traced her finger over the letters carved roughly into the stone, her fingertips brushing against Harrys. Their eyes trailed upwards to one anothers, holding a few seconds of eye contact before the waiter returned
“All finished then?” his chirpy voice interuppted the moment as he reached inbetween them and took their empty plates. “Any deserts?”
“No thanks” Lola said.
“Erm” Harry blinked hard, quickly shaking himself back into reality “Y-yeah can we have the bill?” Harry asked. Lola began to put her jacket back on, reaching for her bag and putting it on her lap. She watched Harry hand the waiter a £20 note, trying to get a sneak peek at how much money was left in his hand.
She was still concerned that they would run out, but Harry said he’d take care of it, so she guessed she had no choice but to believe him. The two of them stood up, pushing in their wooden chairs. Lola headed towards the exit and pulled the door open, giving the waiter a thanking smile.
As she stepped outside into the fresh air, she felt Harry tug on her arm slightly. She turned around, not having much time as Harry leant down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She felt a small flutter in her stomach. So simple and ordinary, just a peck, but also the missing piece she’d wanted hours ago.
Even after their hotel antics earlier, Lola felt differently this time. She felt a tingle of electricity run down to the tip of her spine and took a blind second to react, craving the feel of his full lips on hers.
“N-no, I wasn’t expecting that” Lola said, wanting more. She gestured with her hand, a thin space between their torsos “Would you do it again”
Harry smirked down at her, warming dimples dotting each cheek, amused by her confused reaction. He angled his head slightly and quickly kissed her again, for no longer than a peck, but this time he felt her lips respond to him just before he pulled away. He wasn’t attempting to make out in public or anything, it was just his simple way of expressing himself at that minute of time.
“Can we go now?”
“Wait, what was that for?” Lola breathed, eyeing him suspiciously
Harry dismissed the question and looked over the top of her head into the near distance, wondering how far they had to walk today. Lola watched his jade eyes squint in the daylight and his eyebrows knit together
“Come on, let’s move on” he said, pulling the rucksack over his shoulder and strolling off, leaving Lola to follow on afterwards with the sun in her eyes as they headed back up the hill.
THIS IS NOT MY STORY. All credit goes to xxfan1direction.tumblr.com go follow and check her out. She has an amazing blog and is a beautiful writer.