Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2013
VALERIE’s POV
As soon as I see the brunette curls looking over the railing of the balcony outside the dining area, my eyes sparkle and my heart leaps automatically as I jog towards him. I quickly wrap my arms around his waist, my cheek pressing against his nape, and he leans over to see me. I giggle as I grab one of his arms and place it over my shoulder when I stand beside him. I lace my fingers with his, my other arm comfortably wrapped on his waist, and I kiss him on the cheek saying, “Good morning, Harry!”
He only answers with a smile and I join him for a little while, looking around the area. It’s true; we can practically see the wide vineyard from where we stand. The birds are flying carelessly across the bright blue sky over the scenic view of the Purbeck Hills. The sea from afar looks so still and inviting.
“Look, Harry!” I yelp and gaze at Harry like some three-year old, pointing at the field with so many horses. I look back to the field, “I’ve never seen so many horses in my entire life.” I gasp and hold onto his hand once again.
“Yeah, me too.” His answer is thrift and he looks down on the floor of the balcony.
I tilt my face to the side and examine his face. “Something wrong, Harry? Is there something that’s bothering you?” I wonder. He seems to be okay before we parted last night. What seems to be the problem now?
He only shakes his head slowly and looks to the field again. I know something’s bothering him. I might be an insensitive stupid witch sometimes, but I can feel something’s bothering him.
“Harry, I know something’s wrong. Tell me about it, please?” I frown and stare at him so intently but he doesn’t meet my eyes.
“Nothing.” is just his answer.
I pull my arms away from his waist and fondle his shoulders in place. My stare is still intense as I attempt to get answer from him. The life of his green eyes is dissolving when he looks away from me. My heart slowly sinks at the instance but I’m determined to know what’s off.
“Harry, baby. Please look at me. What’s wrong?”
“I said nothing, Valerie. Just snap out of it.” He spits and I’m taken aback. My eyes widen in shock as he takes me off-guard with his answer and the way he uttered his words.
I let go of his shoulders slowly, frowning at the floor and stare at him again with timid eyes. My heart slowly sinks down to my toes because I didn’t expect him to snap at me just like that.
“Sorry…” He tells me once he realizes his exclamation made me down. I quickly smile at him but he doesn’t reply with one. He just stares at my face with remorse, and I grin wider just to assure him it’s fine. But still, I am bothered by his off aura today.
“It’s okay.” I say, and I see to it that my smile meets my eyes. I choose not to bug him anymore with my questions as I don’t want him to snap at my face like that again. I’m used with us yelling at each other before, simply because I didn’t care about what he feels and vice versa. But now, I love him and I care about him.
“Vee, Harry. Breakfast, now.” We turn to the side and see Niall grinning as he stands along the doorway, waving us in. I giggle at the nickname Niall called me and I grab Harry’s hand with me as we walk back inside. I notice him shudder with my touch and he gazes at the way I hold his hand, as if it was a strange gesture for him. I squeeze his hand and when he glances at me, I grin at him sweetly. I love him.
When Niall pulls out a chair from the table, I quickly sit on it releasing Harry’s hand in the process. Niall scowls at me but he laughs when he realizes I am just being playful. He sits down on my left side and Harry on my right. The rest of our friends are already emerging to the room and taking their seats. I smile at Liam once he sits down next to Sophia who’s just across me. I smile at her too, though I can tell she’s surprised when I did so. She smiles back at me, nonetheless.
Harry is still silent and I am really worried about him. I don’t want to push him to open it up though. Maybe in time, he can tell me.
“Ni, I didn’t know you have a nickname for me.” I tell Niall once I turn to him.
He smiles and shrugs, “Yeah, you liked that?”
I giggle and smile pleasantly, “I love it. You should call me that from now on, okay?”
“Okay, Vee…” He smiles and turns to the food that are placed on the long rectangular table.
I smile to myself. For a moment, I was distracted from thinking about Harry’s thoughts at the moment, because I really love the nickname Niall refers to me. But once I look to my right, I see Harry sulking deep into his thoughts and fiddling his finger with a spoon over the table.
I am tempted to ask him the same questions I raised earlier but I’m afraid he would just walk out and leave us all wondering here. So, I push the thoughts aside and remind myself to save them until later.
We all started eating and we talk about our plans for the day. We all agreed on horse-back riding to stroll around the vineyard for the day. Harry doesn’t seem so excited with the idea but he went with it anyway. Everyone also noticed Harry’s mood change and I just smile to assure them that he’s fine. They just nod at me so Harry won’t notice us.
He smirks once in a while, expressing his slight delight with some ideas. He often nods, shakes his head but most of the time, he is so deep in thought that he isn’t aware that someone’s talking to him. Really, I have little to nothing of a clue as to what he’s troubled about. But somehow, I feel that he’s upset with me. The way he snapped at me earlier supports my opinion. Is he still mad about me not telling him about Dana’s mischief? But we already talked past that. We were happy just yesterday, weren’t we?
Louis was just talking about this ski trip he and Eleanor are planning for next year when Liam butts in, “I am also planning to take up driving lessons next year.” He nods looking down to his plate while he slices his steak.
“Wow, that’s great Liam.” I tell him and shove a slice of my own steak in my mouth. Wow, this is really good, well done and savoury. The flavour explodes in my mouth. I can’t get enough of it.
“Great, ‘cause I’m tired driving you around the city when you’re bored as heck.” Zayn jokes and we all snicker.
“Ha!” Liam half-laughs sarcastically at Zayn’s remark and he turns to face me, “How about you, Val? You want to take up driving lessons too, right? We can go together if you like.”
“Really?” I almost squeal at how Liam’s offer is very appealing to me.
“Why not?” He nods, his head is straight but his eyes dart to his food.
I almost say of course but I hold it back when I feel Harry tense up to my side. I’m reminded that he doesn’t want me to learn driving, not yet. It’s still a wonder to me why he doesn’t permit me to though. But he’s not in the right mood so I’d rather not give him more reason to be displeased.
“Hmm, no. Thanks though.” I smile at him and glance at Harry who seems to be relieved by my answer. He still doesn’t meet my eyes, and I must admit that it sickens me that he doesn’t look at me today the same way that he looked at me yesterday when we were in their room. At this point in time, I am willing to give anything just to see a smile on Harry’s perfect face. Anything, really.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind…” Liam trails off because I nod before he can finish his sentence. I already know what he means.
After Liam and my conversation last night, nothing has really changed between us. He’s still as caring and thoughtful like a brother to me as before. I just really have to try to be nice with Sophia, that’s all.
*****
Horse-back riding was fun. The adrenaline rush feels really good. I’ve never even laughed so harder than when I saw Niall almost fell from the brown stallion when he tried to race me. The pairs—Zayn and Perrie, Louis and Eleanor, Liam and Sophia—rode in three different horses. They all go slowly for the sake of the girls. Harry and I rode separately because we wanted to accompany Niall. Harry talks to me once in every while, but if he doesn’t answer me with a one-word sentence, he just smirks at me and then he goes back to scowling. I kept on smiling at him though. I want to cheer him up even though I don’t really know what’s keeping him down.
By three in the afternoon, we all head back to the cottage. Harry and I held hands but I feel as though he’s unaffected with my touch. Though I try to keep my smile, I can’t help but frown at the way he behaves. He’s so cold and I don’t even know what I did for him to feel that way. There are a lot of things that are going on in my head—the possible reasons why he is acting this way since the start of the day—but I decided to toss the thoughts aside yet again.
Though I know that I love him, there are still things that I can’t do to show my affection towards him, more so because he feels so distant today.
We were in the lounge when Eleanor asked me if I can go downtown with her. Harry is busy chatting with the boys so without any second thoughts, I agreed. Eleanor drove us to this small grocery store downtown of Dorset and we bought some snacks and her plugs—tampons. She claimed that she always had her period every third week of the month and she didn’t expect to have her first day today, so she didn’t mind bringing some.
We are three kilometres away back to Purbeck Vineyard when Eleanor pulls up to one side of the main road. The road is empty disregarding the car that we are in.
“Come on, Val. I’ll teach you how to drive.” Eleanor surprises me with her hasten statement once she turns off the engine temporarily.
“What?” I ask and laugh dismissively. She can’t be serious.
“I’m serious.” She says as if she read my mind. She starts to open the door to her side to climb off the car. She’s really serious.
I look out the window as if Harry is around just listening to us. I ponder my options whether to accept her offer or not.
“Come on, I won’t tell Harry. I know you always wanted to learn how to drive.” She pursues, and she smiles at me tauntingly, wiggling her brows. I laugh at how Eleanor looks so childish right now. I have a feeling that she asked me to come with her solely for this purpose.
She walks to my side of the door, knocking at the window for me to open up.
“Fine,” I chuckle and open the door. We switch seats, I on the driver’s seat and she’s beside me to assist while I manoeuvre her car. It’s so nerve-wracking just setting foot on the pedals and holding the steering wheel. I’m not even driving yet and my chest is already pounding that it starts to make me deaf.
“Don’t be nervous, Val. Relax.” She tells me as she holds my arms gently. I only nod at her and burst a nervous sigh while we put our seatbelts on.
First, she made me familiarize the different gears of the car, their functions and how to use them. Then she tells me to move the gear shift knob to neutral. I step on to the clutch pedal while I turn the engine with her key, and once the engine has started, I release the pedal. The car engine brooms and then I shift to first gear. I gradually step on the pedal when Eleanor instructs me to.
My heart literally jump and I shiver when the car finally starts moving. “OMG, I’m doing it, El!” I chant while holding to the wheel firmly. She laughs at the way my hand stiffens at the wheel. I am scared but at the same time I am satisfied that I finally get to make a car move. I feel like an alien.
“Feels good, right? Let’s just start with baby steps, okay? We’ll keep sneaking out from the boys until you’re finally good at this.” She tells me and both of us laugh. I mentally thank El for doing this for me, though she knows it will get us in trouble.
All I could imagine right now is the day when I finally get my own car, and drive it smoothly; strolling around with my friends, especially with Harry.
“Thanks, El!” I glance at her for a second.
“Oh no, no, Val! Keep your eyes on the road.” She says quite frantically but she smiles at me.
“Oops, sorry.” I giggle and fix my eyes on the road again. The car smoothly runs on the asphalt road as I drive slowly but surely so we’re safe until when Eleanor drives us both back to the vineyard.
******
“What did you think you’re doing, Valerie? Ha?! I told you, I told you so many times. But you didn’t listen. How can you be so stupid?!” Harry’s voice travels around the lounge as he scolds me for about half an hour now. I just sit on the couch, my head cast down to my lap while I fidget my finger. I didn’t mean to lose control of the steering wheel when we crashed on the lamppost. I am just lucky that I was driving slowly, or else the impact would have been greater.
“Harry, nobody was hurt. I already said sorry.” I tell him, my voice is small compared to his raging one. All our friends are around the lounge while he keeps on nagging me about the accident. I am utterly embarrassed but all I really want now is for Harry to calm down. I know he was worried but I’m safe now, but he still doesn’t stop cussing me out. My tears are already starting to fall but I fight them back.
“Hell, yeah you’re lucky nobody was hurt, Valerie. But what if you got hurt, will you still be here to tell me that, huh?!” I am not looking at him but I know his features are covered with anger and disappointment. “Why don’t you listen to me for once, Valerie? Just for once, for heaven’s sake!” He starts to pace around the area, throwing his hands in the air furiously.
“Harry, please calm down,” Eleanor tries to interrupts Harry’s outburst. “Don’t blame Valerie. I was the one who forced her to drive. I’m sorry.”
“No.” He stops in his position, looking down at me. “She knew very well that I didn’t want her to drive a goddamn car. If she really gives importance to my words, no matter how you convince her to drive, she wouldn’t dare.” I purse my lips in his venomous words and gulp. My chest is throbbing and my eyes are starting to sting me already. I don’t need to argue with that because I know Harry is right. If I only listened to him, then none of this would’ve happened.
I can feel our friends around look at me with pity as Harry continues flaring up. They dare not to step in the way, they just listen and watch. Only Eleanor dared to speak and I know she really feels sorry about me. I don’t blame her either. It was solely my fault.
“I will get your car fixed when we get back to London.” Harry speaks monotonously. I don’t have to look at them to know he was speaking to El. I can tell that he finally calm down but I dare not look at them still.
“No need, mate. We’ll take care of it.” I hear Louis tell him. The shadows of their movement in the room tell me that he’s patting Harry’s shoulder. Compared to Harry, Louis is relaxed. I know he was worried about Eleanor too, but when he saw that Eleanor wasn’t hurt, he just ran up to her and kissed her in relief. Harry did otherwise. He was scowling at me the whole drive back to the vineyard. He didn’t say a single word until we arrived here and he started yelling at me.
“You’re lucky we arrived before the police gets in the scene.” He tells me, his voice lower now compared to his shouts earlier. “Or else, you’ll be in jail now for driving without a fucking license.”
The image of me behind bars hunts me as soon as the words slipped from Harry’s mouth. Those words affected me the most compared to his naggings earlier, and I feel a pang in my chest that I know I’m going to cry any moment now.
I stand up from the couch, looking away from him, from everyone else in the room.
“Excuse me.” I mutter with my voice starting to crack.
I don’t wait for him to speak again. I just walk fast to get to the girls’ bedroom.
Once I get inside the room, I toss myself to the bed and cry on the pillow. I’m so stupid! I feel my shoulders tremble and my hiccups echo inside the room. My heart is squeezed up that the tears keep welling up my eyes.
I slowly sit up once I feel a warm hand rubs my back. Perrie sits beside me while Eleanor is behind, still rubbing my back.
“Hey, Val… Are you okay?” Perrie whispers to me. “How dare I ask you that question? Obviously you’re not.” She chuckles at herself and the three of us laugh, only that mine is a bit forced.
“Valerie, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you.” Eleanor tells me and she leans her chin to my shoulder, rubbing my arms in the process.
“No,” I shake my head a bit. “Harry was right. It was my entire fault.” I tell them, fidgeting my fingers. I am still hiccupping from crying.
“Just know that he’s just worried about you, no matter what.” Perrie says while she holds my hand in a very comforting way. “He was too frantic when he received Eleanor’s call. I can only imagine how terrified he was for you.”
I manage to smile at Perrie’s statement. I find it really sweet but when I go back to the earlier scenes in the lounge, I shed a tear again.
*****
Poor Valerie, STRIKE ONE! LOL
Don’t cry guys. It’s all good.
You know how stubborn Valerie is. She deserved it! Joke!
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Glyz <3
DEDICATED to sinkingboats! Thanks for the votes and comment, Juliet! I love youuu