Hailey's POV
"I'm never leaving." Niall sighed as the three of us laid in the sun, staring up at the bright blue sky. "Everything about this place is sick. It really is a whole other world up here."
"Well, you're always welcome any time you want. I've got two spare rooms so you can come visit whenever you need a break." I smiled over at him.
"I will definitely take you up on that." He sighed, letting the sun hit his face as he closed his eyes. "This place is paradise."
"I told you." Harry chuckled as he playfully punched him. "It's about time you start listening to me once in a while."
"Well excuse me, but this is the first time listening to you wouldn't have gotten me into a shitload of trouble."
"Oh please, you listen to Louis way more than me and we both know he gets you in way more shit than I do." Harry laughed.
"Fair enough." He chuckled.
I smiled to myself at their bickering, I'd been listening to it for the past three days and I was positive I'd never get tired of it. I loved how playful they were with each other, how they kept each other in line and constantly kept the other on their toes. I heard Niall say something about the GoPro before their voices blended into the background as I relaxed in the sun.
I closed my eyes as I listened to the water cascading over the cliff, the sound of it putting me at ease before I felt a large, cold hand on my stomach. My eyes shot open just in time to see the mischievous grin on Harry's face before he lifted me up and threw me back into the swimming hole. I resurfaced as I heard him cackling, obviously pleased with himself as he doubled over with laughter on the rock he was standing on.
"Dick move, Styles. I was just getting warm." I scoffed. "Help me out."
"Yeah right. As if I don't know you'll pull me in." He replied, thinking he was so much smarter than me.
I tried to contain my smile as I watched Niall circling behind him as he continued to taunt me, until Niall shoved him from behind and sent him flying into the water right beside me.
"Well played, young Niall." Harry laughed as he resurfaced and Niall laughed from the seat he'd taken on the rocks.
He was holding the GoPro, checking it out before he held it up towards Harry and I, and I immediately jumped up and pushed Harry's head under the water. He immediately grabbed me and pulled me under with him and I almost choked I was laughing so hard. We continued to battle for a few minutes until we both figured we should stop before one of us drowns.
Our laughter echoed off the trees as Niall jumped in with us, handing me the camera before he started to scale the rocks to the top of the waterfall.
"I want a shot like that one you took of Harry." He said excitedly.
"Okay, be careful climbing over there though, it can get slippery." I instructed as I hopped out and got into position, setting the timelapse for half second intervals.
He reached the top of the cliff a few minutes later, climbing across towards me and calling down to me to make sure I was ready.
"Where do I jump?" He called down.
"Right here." I pointed. "But make sure you clear this rock."
"Okay, tell me when."
I hit the button and looked up to see he was ready.
"Go!" I called up and I watched him take a running start and jump, landing exactly where I'd told him to.
He resurfaced a few seconds later, a huge smile on his face as he looked over at Harry.
"Alright, now I need to jump with you to get one like Harry's." I instructed and he hopped out so we could both climb back up to the top.
"Be careful, please." Harry called after us and I just rolled my eyes at him.
We reached the top a few minutes later, and I told Niall what we had to do to get the shot. He nodded in understanding as we both looked at Harry, waving down to him before we jumped together and I did my best to get a good shot for him. We spent the next 30 minutes climbing back up and jumping down, the three of us all wanting various photos. Niall wanted one of him and Harry jumping, and then one of all three of us, and I'd become accustomed to such requests over the past couple days he'd been visiting.
I'd done some work early each day while the two of them went off to do their own thing, but in the afternoon when I got home Harry and I would take Niall around to one of our spots to show him some of the places we'd been hanging out. We'd been on a new adventure every day, and Niall seemed fascinated with the way I could capture them with the camera. Every day when we got back he was so excited to see what we'd captured that I'd have to download them immediately to show him. It was nice to see that he appreciated my photos so much, and seeing him so excited made me excited.
"There's literally probably thousands of pictures out there of me and Haz together, but none like the ones you take." He smiled as the three of us leaned over my laptop seeing what we'd got from the day.
"Do you mind if I put one on Instagram? I can tag you for photo credit if you want, I won't post it til I get home so nobody will know the location."
"I don't mind." I shrugged.
"Don't tag her in it though, bro. And don't follow her." Harry chimed in, a serious tone in his voice.
"Yeah...good point." He sighed.
I looked over at the two of them, both with a sort of frustrated look on their face. There was a sudden heaviness in the air, and I felt like I'd missed something.
"Am I missing something? What just happened?" I laughed.
"Harry's right. It's a bad idea." Niall sighed.
"What was? I don't mind if you use the photo..."
"It's not the photo, Bear. It's just....trust me, it's not a good idea for him to tag you or connect with you on social media." Harry sighed as he stood up and went into the kitchen, obviously frustrated.
I turned to look at Niall, still confused, as he looked back at me sympathetically.
"He's just looking out for you." He said softly. "If I add you or tag you in the photo, people will know that you were with me and start trying to figure out who you are."
"Just because you follow me?" I asked, surprised.
"Pretty much. They'll invade your privacy and try to figure out how you know us, and god knows what could come of that. It's just better to avoid the situation. That's why Harry doesn't really use social media, it frustrates him too much."
"I'm sorry, Niall." I said, feeling horrible that they had to be so careful what they do.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. You take amazing photos and I just wanted to share them, but Harry's right, I definitely can't tag you."
"Still, it sucks that you even have to worry about who you talk to or hang out with." I said sympathetically as I reached over and put my hand on his.
"You don't know the half of it." He sighed. "But, it comes with the job. We know how blessed we are, we're not gonna complain about it. It's just not always easy."
I looked into the kitchen, noticing that Harry was just leaning against the counter and staring out the window, obviously lost in thought and still frustrated.
"I'll go talk to him." I said as I stood up and headed into the kitchen while Niall moved in front of my laptop to go over the rest of the photos.
"Hey..." I said as I walked into the kitchen, standing in front of him and looking up at him. "What's up?"
"Nothing." He said, a sharpness in his tone.
"Harry, it's not nothing. Talk to me." I said softly.
"I hate complaining about it. I have a great life, I have no right to complain." He sighed as he looked down and played with the hem of his t-shirt.
"Having a great life doesn't mean nothing about it is hard. It's just you and me here, nobody else is listening. Just tell me."
I watched as he rubbed his face in his hands in frustration before he looked back out the window and began to speak.
"Our fans, they're amazing. They've done so much for us and I wish I could repay them somehow, to give even a fraction of what they've given me back to them. They deserve so much and we've always tried to do whatever we could for them, that's why we toured non-stop for five years, why we made five albums in five years. We just wanted to be there for them like they are for us."
"But?"
"But it's all the other stuff. It's having my life somehow become everyone else's business. I signed up for this, I know that and I accept that, but my family and my friends didn't. The people I care about have their lives picked apart just for knowing me and I hate that there's nothing I can do about it. I can't go for dinner with anyone without paps there, and the next day the photos are plastered all over like I'm some kind of man whore. It's so ridiculous, they don't even do research. They've actually printed articles with photos of my sister or my cousin and said I'm dating them. The second I post anything or contact anyone on social media, every photo I like or tweet I favorite is analyzed and picked apart and I hate it."
"I'm sorry, Harry."
"Like Niall, he's really excited about being here and he just wants to post something that he thinks is really cool. He just wants to share an experience he had with a friend who takes amazing photos, and he has to be careful how he does that. I hate that we have to worry about that stuff, but that's how it is. I just don't want you pulled into any of that, the very thought of that makes me insane."
"Well I appreciate you looking out for me, but it's out of your control and I'd never blame you if something happened. I'm not a big social media person anyways." I shrugged.
"I know, but that's not the point." He said sharply.
I looked up at him, hating seeing him so frustrated and feeling like there was nothing I could seem to do about it. I thought back to what he'd said a few nights ago as we sat on the deck and it somehow made a bit more sense.
"Is that....like, all that stuff...is that what you meant the other night about feeling selfish?" I asked, finding it hard to look at him as I looked past him at the wall.
"It's part of it." He sighed.
"So you think it's selfish of you to want to be close to me because you think that all this other stuff will end up hurting me somehow? Like being associated with you comes with a price you don't want me to pay?"
"I just can't bring all this shit into your life. You have a good life, Hails. You're happy here in your world where you have your privacy and I would never want you to lose that because of me. There's more to it, but that's a part of it."
"Well what's the other stuff?"
He reached up and placed his hand on my cheek, looking at me like it was painful for him as he studied my face.
"I think that's a conversation for another time." He sighed. "I don't think we can get into that right now, but if you really wanna know I'll tell you another time."
"Alright." I sighed as he pulled me into him, hugging me tightly as he kissed my head.
I heard Niall calling us from the other room, telling us to come see some pictures he'd taken and sounding rather proud of himself. Harry took my hand and led me back to the living room, where Niall had pulled up some photos from when Harry and I were wrestling in the water. Water was splashing everywhere as the two of us laughed, and as usual we both looked to be having the time of our lives. I don't know what it was, maybe just the connection we had to each other, but we had yet to produce a single photo where we didn't appear to be laughing and lost in our own world.
"I didn't even know you were taking photos when that happened." Harry smiled as he looked down at me. "I like these underwater ones."
"Well, I'm no blue eyes, but I did alright." Niall smiled as his phone buzzed on the table and he picked it up to check it.
He scrolled through his phone for a few minutes while Harry showed me which photos he wanted to put in his album, before Niall chuckled to himself and held up his phone.
"Someone sent me this the other day." He smiled as he hit the button for a video to begin playing.
We watched as a video montage of Harry and Niall began to play, showing various clips of the two of them dancing on stage or laughing together to the song shut up and dance. It really captured their friendship, and I couldn't help but smile watching it. It was a little strange to see them on stage, since I hadn't really seen that before, but it was obvious that they were the same people with the same friendship on and off the stage. They were both grinning from ear to ear watching it, obviously reliving the happy memories they'd made, and it occurred to me just how much they loved performing.
"Look at you two, look at your hair." I smiled up at Harry.
"Yeah...I pretty much grew it out for five years. I think the fans recognize it by the year, like my hair is a timeline of One Direction or something." He laughed.
"I personally think 2014 Harry was the hottest." Niall said, making his voice higher to sound like a girl.
"Yeah, the headscarves really did it for you." Harry chuckled.
"I'm gonna have to investigate this so I can make my decision." I laughed as I leaned closer, trying to differentiate the evolution of Harry's hairstyles.
"What? You haven't already? You're behind on the times Hails." Niall teased as he playfully shoved me.
"It's actually ridiculous how well you seem to pull them all off. They all look good." I chuckled as I heard Niall scoff.
"Of course he does. Harry literally pulls of any look, he can wear anything and make it look cool. It's the worst."
"Sorry, mate." Harry grinned at him.
I couldn't stop watching the video, Harry just looked to be in his element as he jumped around on stage laughing with his best friends. It made it easy to realize why he felt so guilty complaining about anything since he seemed to love his career so much, but it was obviously the stuff that happened off stage that weighed on him. He was a natural performer, his natural charm and fun personality lending itself to entertain a crowed and it just made him even more endearing. It was easy to see why One Direction had been so popular, the fun they seemed to have was infectious.
In a way, it felt like I was watching him grow up as I saw different clips from over time through his career, and it was obvious a lot had changed over the time they were in the band. It was nice to see some of his interactions with Liam and Louis as well, since I'd heard so much about them. It was somehow reassuring to me, even though the time had obviously passed, that he'd been able to experience that time with people he loved so much. I had a better idea of why going solo could be so scary for them, and why he felt he needed time away to sort that out for himself.
I finished watching and handed Niall back his phone, smiling up at Harry as he shot me a look.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothin. It's just different to talk about this stuff with you." He smiled. "And I like that it's pretty obvious you didn't google me."
"Why would I google you?" I laughed, feeling like that would have been really weird since it's not like I sit at home and google any of my other friends. "If I wanted to know something I'd ask you like a normal person."
"See?" Harry smiled over at Niall who just smirked and nodded. "Told you."
"Told him what?" I asked, confused.
"Nothing." He smirked.
"Oh geez." I sighed. "Well to be honest, I'm hardly ever on the internet that much and it never occurred to me to google you. Besides, it's not like the internet is full of accurate information, reading lies about you would just piss me off so why would I do that to myself?"
Niall shot Harry a look and smiled, obviously continuing whatever little inside joke I wasn't a part of, before Harry just leaned forward and kissed my head.
"Oh, bear." He sighed with a smile. "You're my favorite."
"Anyways..." I said as I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm glad I got to see it, it's nice to see you guys so happy."
"There's thousands of these on youtube, the fans make them. Any time I get bummed I just go watch one and it always cheers me up." Niall smiled.
"I can see why, you can't watch it without smiling. It's infectious." I smiled. "You guys look like you're having so much fun."
"We were." Harry smiled.
"Fuck, I miss it bro." Niall sighed.
"Yeah...me too. Nothing like it." Harry said before he turned to look at me. "Well, almost nothing."
I saw Niall roll his eyes before he let out a soft chuckle and looked over to the guitar resting against the wall.
"Oh that note, why don't we order a pizza, sit on the deck, get drunk and play some songs." He smiled.
"No way, we're going to the bonfire tonight!" I said excitedly as I reached over and playfully shook him, Harry chuckling beside me.
"Bonfire?"
"Yeah, it's tradition. The whole town goes, it's sort of an official kick off to summer. Then next week is Canada Day. Are you gonna stay for it? We take it very seriously, obviously."
"I'll have to see about next week, but I'm down for tonight." He laughed. "So you guys just make a big fire in the middle of somewhere? That sounds very...Canadian."
"Why do I feel like you're just picturing us all standing around in plaid shirts swinging axes like lumberjacks and drinking maple syrup?" I laughed.
"That's actually exactly what I was picturing." He grinned as Harry rolled his eyes at him.
"Finn was telling me about it the other day when we hung out for a bit. It sounds fun." Harry chimed in, smiling down at me.
"Yeah, there's all kinds of games and stuff. Tons of food. Then all the families tend to go home and the rest of us just get drunk and have fun."
"Well shit, what are we still doing here?" He asked as he jumped up. "You had me at food."
Harry and I just laughed and shook our heads, something I noticed we did a lot when it came to Niall. They both went up to shower and I told them I'd be back in 20 minutes to get them so I could head to my place to get ready. Once we were all showered and changed, we started the walk towards the bonfire.
"Oh man, this is how summer should be. Just being outside and having fun, I still can't believe that waterfall today." Niall smiled as he playfully nudged me as we walked.
"I've never really known anything different." I shrugged. "When it's nice out, we go outside and take advantage. Summer is always the same around here."
"Well, I personally think it's the perfect kind of summer." Harry smiled as he threw his arm around me and kissed my temple.
"Maybe next summer you can both come back." I smiled up at him, hating that it brought me sadness to remember that he wouldn't always be around.
"Sounds perfect." He said as he pulled me into him, holding me close to him as we walked.
We arrived at the bonfire and I spent the first fifteen minutes introducing Niall and Harry to the rest of the town they hadn't met yet. Of course, they were both charming the pants off everyone and I couldn't help but smile. We raided the food area, all of us making sure we had a solid base in our stomachs before we started drinking. I had a feeling the Irish in Niall would come out and he'd be pounding back the beers, and I was eager to see him and Harry drunk together.
We walked around for a bit, playing some games and meeting up with some of my friends before we found a spot to watch the fireworks and waited for them to start. Harry stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my neck as Niall stood next to us chatting away to Sam and Finn. It was nice to see that Harry didn't act any differently in public, still being his cuddly self as he pulled me into him and rested his cheek against my head. I loved how comforting it was feeling his arms around me, how safe and protected I felt, and I loved that he didn't care who was around.
I knew Harry and I weren't a couple, but it felt like we were. It was times like that, standing with him and looking up as fireworks started to light up the sky, that I found myself pretending that he was mine and wondering what it would feel like to really be with him. The thought was enough to give me butterflies and send a shiver through me strong enough for Harry to notice.
"You cold?" He asked, the warmth of his breath heating up the shell of my ear as he spoke.
"No, I'm perfect." I smiled as I turned my head to look at him and he squeezed me tighter, kissing my head.
He held me while we watched the fireworks, laughing and rolling our eyes while Niall taught Finn and Sam how to "drink Irish", which appeared to just be chugging beer after beer. After the fireworks, most of the families and older people headed home, and the rest of us headed over to the fire where music was echoing through the field.
"Come on, Blue Eyes, let's see what you got." Niall smiled as he took my hand and led me over to where people were dancing, spinning me around and dipping me while I laughed.
Harry watched us from the sidelines, laughing with Finn about something and nodding over at us and smiling every time I looked over at him. I had to hand it to Niall, he was quite the dancer, but he scurried off to get more beer as soon as he noticed both of our cups were empty and left me alone on the dance floor.
I laughed to myself as I watched him run off with each of our cups in his hand, shaking my head at him as I felt an arm snake its way around my waist. A smile crept along my lips as I felt him rest his head against mine, until I felt warm breath on my ear and a familiar voice that sent chills through my entire body.
"Hi, Baby. Long time, no see."