After a while we decided to go to the small city that was just a few minutes away from the beach, none of us being particularly hungry even though lunchtime had by then rolled around, but definitely not turning down the possibility of getting something hot to drink. On that day the sun was present only visually, the warmth it brought being too slight to survive the random breaths of wind that came around every once in a while.
We decided to walk there, since it couldn't have been farther away than twenty minutes by foot, deciding to enjoy the sun in the slightly chilling air.
I put the camera back into its bag and slung it over my shoulder, wanting to keep my hands free for a while as there wasn't anything interesting to photograph in that place, and closed my coat again as some clouds covered the sky, keeping the sunlight from reaching us.
I eyed the sky suspiciously, wondering if it would've ended up raining on us, but I shook the thought away, not wanting to ruin my time with worrying about the weather. Harry's mood, differently from mine, seemed to be completely unaltered by the change in warmth of the air around us, his hair still incredibly messy even though he'd passed his fingers through it multiple times after the wind tangled his curls up each time, his eyes of a very light green because of the bright white light everywhere around us, his lips chapped, but slightly curved up.
It was almost weird to see him there, away from the sharp lights of my studio, just stand there and go on about his day. There was something of so curiously interesting in him, that brought me to wonder what he usually did and what he enjoyed. It was as if he made even the most common things fascinating, simply by doing them. He made me curious, and I didn't know if it was a good thing at all. I couldn't tell if it was just him, or the fact that I'd known him before, but I knew that type of curiousness would've led nowhere good.
I wasn't supposed to be interested in him in that way. I was supposed not to care about anything that wasn't him modelling, but I still did, because he was interesting. He'd always been, and for some reason him being a bit less mysterious made him a thousand times more interesting. I wished I could've found a way to make sense of it.
It didn't take long for us to find a cafe, and we got inside quickly, the warm air inside hitting me in the second we entered.
"I'll go order" Harry said, his cheeks a bit pinkish because of the sudden change in temperature around us, making me realise that he actually already knew what I wanted to order. It seemed a bit weird for my model to know my coffee preference, and I didn't know if I liked it. It seemed a little inappropriate.
"I'll take a tea this time instead" I said before I could stop myself, and he sent me a surprised glance, clearly not having expected me to change my usual order.
I couldn't tell why I'd decided to do that. It wasn't that I was feeling a tea more of a coffee that day, and I knew that. I just hoped he didn't. It wasn't even that I wanted to prove to him that I could too make surprising decisions, because I didn't really care about that. Just, the feeling that had struck me for a second, the one that told me he didn't have me all figured out and hadn't been able to pick the right one for me - even though he'd definitely done it - made it worthwhile.
He didn't seem to be particularly surprised by my rash decision, differently from me. "What kind of tea?" He resorted to asking instead, and for a second I wondered if I'd quietly overthought the whole thing. It wouldn't have been the first time, after all.
"I can pay" I stated, already opening my bag to take out what I needed, not exactly feeling comfortable with making him pay.
He hummed. "I know you can" he replied, "but following your rule it's my turn, so I'll do it myself."
My mouth fell open at his words, I definitely hadn't expected him to say something like that. Usually people were happier when I paid my part, so I couldn't understand why he didn't want me to.
"Just whatever they have" I then said, not feeling like starting to argue about something as ridiculously stupid, and he went away without waiting for me to say anything.
I watched him go, tilting my head as I observed him talk to the girl next to the till, a calm but still entrancing vibe dominating the way he acted. I didn't know how he managed to do that. I couldn't understand how someone's presence could be so soothing but so nerve-wracking at the same time.
She smiled at him, perfect white teeth and a blink in her blue eyes as she looked at him, saying something back and seeming unable to take her eyes off him as he took a note out of his black wallet to pay her. He gave it to her, not answering to her smile, but she didn't seem to mind. I wished I knew what it was in him that made him so unique. He could give someone the very least, and yet they'd still feel lucky because he chose to make his gaze land on them.
She took the money and opened the till, taking the change and putting it in the palm of his hand, letting hers hover over his for a while longer. He took it and looked down, putting it back into his wallet and telling her something before moving away, seeming to be completely unaware of the way she kept staring at him even after someone else came to the counter to order.
He slid his wallet back into the pocket of his black coat, rubbing his nose with his index before looking back as he made his way towards me.
"Do you want to stay or go after?" He asked as soon as he reached me, and I turned my head to look out of the glass door I was still standing close to.
The sun had been hidden by the clouds once and for all, but it didn't look like the weather would've turned sour anytime soon. Besides, the least he stayed under that girl's penetrating gaze, the better. I didn't know why I was feeling so protective over him all of sudden, but I definitely hadn't liked the way she'd looked at him. He deserved better than someone that was just interested in seeing what he looked like without his clothes on. He was so much more than just a pretty face, and yet it seemed to be all everyone was interested about when looking at him.
"We can go, there's still some sunlight outside" I said, choosing not to mention the other reason why I definitely didn't mind leaving right away.
I wondered if he'd noticed. He'd acted as if he was completely unaware of the way she'd looked at him, but I wondered if he truly hadn't noticed, or if he just hadn't particularly cared in that moment. I knew for a fact that I would've never asked him.
He just nodded, giving a quick glance out of the glass as well before turning his head back towards the counter as our names were surprisingly called.
I furrowed my eyebrows at how quickly they'd made our orders, and I found myself wondering if they always were that quick, or if they'd sped them up because of Harry.
We walked towards the counter and the same girl Harry had spoken to at the till gave me my order before flashing Harry a bright smile.
"And here's yours, love" she said as she handed it to him, her shamelessness telling me that she'd probably sensed that we were just friends.
He took it and thanked her quickly before making his way out of the cafe, shortly followed by me.
We walked back into the fresh air and I couldn't help but look at him as he gently blew into the small hole in the plastic cap over the cup in an attempt to make it cool down faster, a strand of dark hair falling in front of his eyes as he tilted his head forward to do so. It was getting a bit long - not enough to be actually noticeable, but enough to make it harder for it to stay in place. It curled around his ears looking as soft as a cloud, and I wondered if it truly was as gentle as it looked to the touch. He hadn't shaved that morning, so he had a bit of stubble going on, that somehow made him look even more endearing to me.
I smiled to myself as he experimentally tilted his cup, sticking his tongue over the little hole in an attempt to check how warm it was without risking to burn himself, and I looked down, not wanting him to notice.
He cleared his throat. "Did you get the pictures you wanted?" He asked me, and I nodded.
"I definitely got some. I should check later at home, but I think they're quite nice" I said in reply, my fingers automatically grazing the bag of my camera, the strap of which was still over my shoulder.
"I'm happy to know that" he replied, his voice gentle, and I turned my head, glancing at him as he looked down, a small frown taking over his features.
"What is it?" I couldn't help but ask, knowing that there was definitely something that was going on in his mind, the way his eyebrows were slightly furrowed telling it all. It was the face he made when he was trying to make sense of something without directly asking.
He gave me a slight shrug, relaxing his arm between us, holding onto the coffee cup tightly from above. I was pretty sure that if I'd held onto a full cup like that it would've ended up in disaster, and yet he seemed to be doing it so effortlessly, naturally, as if he wasn't familiar with the fear of having it drop and splash hot liquid everywhere at all. "Why didn't you bring your boyfriend?" He suddenly asked, and I raised my eyebrows, definitely not having expected him to wonder about that.
"He didn't want to" I replied truthfully anyway. "He was busy, and he also doesn't really like this whole art thing." I paused and looked ahead before deciding to word it better. "I mean, he likes it, he just doesn't like to be a part of it. He's the kind of person that can't appreciate art for a long time. We usually don't take long to watch museums and exhibitions!"
Harry gave me a side glance, finally taking a sip from his cup before speaking. "Are you okay with that?"
I furrowed my eyebrows at his question. I'd never really thought about it that way. Was I okay with spending the majority of my time with someone that just didn't understand what I was doing? "I mean, we have different interests" I said truthfully. "He's all about work. He's very ambitious, in that sense. You know, climbing the social ladder through hard work and dedication and all. I don't really understand it either. But as long as we still support each other it's fine, in my opinion. You don't have to understand something in order to support it."
"Does he support you?" He asked again, surprising me with his curiousness. He'd never really cared to ask much about us - in fact, he'd only done it when it'd come up in the conversation until that point.
I sipped my tea quietly as I thought of an answer, quickly analysing every single one of Nicholas's behaviours. "He does" I ended up saying, "he just doesn't like to spend too much on it. I understand him though. I too would be really bored if I had to spend hours in his studio while he works."
"How did you meet him?" Harry asked again. "He seems to be very different from you."
"We met at a pub one night! I'd got there with Liam but he went to talk to someone else for a bit, leaving me alone. Nicholas was sitting a couple of seats away from me. He was studying." I smiled at the remembrance. "He told me a couple of his friends had dragged him there, but that he had an exam the day after. We clicked instantly, as you'd expect two people who'd rather stay at home to do when stuck at a pub." I suddenly realised what was going on and sent a confused glance Harry's way. "What's with all these questions though?"
He simply shrugged. "Only curiousness" he said in reply, raising his cup again to drink from it but stopping in his tracks as soon as he seemed to notice something. He tilted the cup to the side, slightly frowning, and I took a look at what he was staring at as well, too curious not to. There was a girl's name on the cup, written in black marker, followed by a phone number, in the place Harry's name should've been.
Harry shook his head, almost unnoticeably, his dark pink lips just contracting the tiniest bit before he turned the cup around again and took a sip.
"Alright" I replied, trying my best to pretend I hadn't noticed what he'd seen, nonchalance rolling off my tongue.
It was easy to talk to Harry. Not meaning that it was physically easy, because it was never easy to talk to someone who felt the need to be vocal less than I did, but it was, because he listened, and cared - or at least, acted like he did. If he asked a question he wanted to know the answer, he never did just because. He wasn't afraid of silence and awkward moments caused by it, so he never spoke just to fill it. If he spoke, it meant that he had something to say - something that he would've delivered in the clearest and most essential way possible, without losing himself into an endless maze of words and risking to miss the exit, like I usually did. He asked, he listened, he analysed, he stated. It was a continuous process, one that made me feel like he cared about what I had to say.
Even though he didn't speak much, though, that didn't mean he didn't let his personality show - because he definitely did, especially with people he knew. At the same time, though, he was still intimidating. I didn't know how he managed to be so intimidating when he was so gentle, it was something in his stance, in his facial expressions, in that vanilla aura that surrounded him, that was just him.
Anyone would've been lucky to get to know him. More than a number written on a cup, or a call every once in a while, or a simple glance as he passed by. I wondered if he was aware of it, of the way he was. If he knew he was more than a one night stand - that he actually did have something to offer to someone else, if he'd just wanted to. The truth was, Harry was so loveable whenever he managed to be himself, and he didn't even know it.
I wished he had someone, just because he deserved to have someone by his side in that way. Someone that would help him relax when he was stressed, make him laugh when he was upset, play with his hair while he dozed off. He didn't have to be so alone all the time. I could see from the way he just seemed to light up whenever he was in someone's presence that he too didn't enjoy loneliness. It was in the way his green eyes seemed to shine a bit brighter and the corners of his lips turned up slightly more, in the shadow of his eyelashes on his cheekbones in the bright light of my studio and the faintest blush that sometimes seemed to appear on his cheeks, so slight and so ignored that it went unnoticed most of the time.
I cleared my throat, suddenly realising that the silence around us had been persisting for a bit, and took another sip of my tea, that had cooled down considerably in the cup. I just hoped he hadn't asked me anything, because it would've been quite awkward if he had.
I kept drinking my tea just to do something, finishing it not too long after and throwing it away in the first bin I saw before going back to looking ahead.
We were walking down a long street between little shops, not knowing where it would've led us, but not really caring at the same time. It was a nice day to walk around, a bit warmer than usual. Nicholas would've surely enjoyed it, if only he'd agreed to coming with me. But I wasn't complaining - something in Harry's presence was so refreshing and almost addicting, and he almost made me feel like ours was nothing less than a little adventure. Would we have managed to get to the place we were unconsciously searching for, or would we have just walked forever? I knew forever wasn't a possibility in that case, but somehow it still felt like it was.
He finished his coffee not too long after, not seeming to hesitate much before throwing the cup away as well. Even then I made no comment about the number he'd so carelessly thrown away, and he didn't comment on it either.
"It's nice to go out of the city every once in a while" I commented, definitely saying that to fill the silence, but also meaning it. It was nice to get away from life every once in a while and recharge before going back to the rush that everything was usually.
He hummed. "I enjoy getting away from things sometimes" he said, saying a similar thing, but with a single twist.
I glanced at him, wondering if he'd had a hard time with anything lately. He hadn't said anything, but then again, he wasn't supposed to. We weren't that close in that sense anymore, he was perfectly free to share what he wanted to share, and not share what he didn't want to share. He didn't have to tell me anything, but for some reason I wished he had. Talking about things usually helped, and I had the impression that he didn't know much about sharing.
He kept it all bottled up, he'd always done it, until it was too much for him to hold it together and he just exploded, shattered on the ground for days. It wasn't healthy, but I knew I had no business in giving him advice he hadn't asked for. At that point, I was just happy our little adventure had been able to help him instead.
I widened my eyes when I suddenly felt something wet fall on my nose. I held my hand up, biting my lower lip when more raindrops hit my skin. "I think it's starting to rain" I said, starting to feel a bit apprehensive about how far away we were from the car.
"Is it?" He asked, holding out a couple of fingers and furrowing his eyebrows when he discovered that not only it was raining, but that it was quickly raining more and more as the seconds went by.
I stopped walking and turned around, quickly realising that a lot of rain was about to come down from the grey sky, and that we weren't close to the car - and had nothing to protect ourselves under, too. "Let's go" I said quickly, hoping that we would've managed to get back into the vehicle before the shy drops of rain became a shower.
We started walking, faster and faster as the rain kept hitting the ground harder and harder.
"Run!" I shouted at one point, trying to shorten the time we would've spent outside even though I knew that, because of how far away we were from the car, we would've ended up being drenched regardless.
He must've known it as well, but it didn't stop him from sprinting down the streets right after me, quickly reaching me and adapting his pace to mine.
We ran down the streets as if something was after us, trying our best not to hit the random passerby that we encountered - and that ended up glaring at us, laugh bubbling up in my chest when I discovered that, even though it definitely wasn't like me to act like that, I was enjoying myself quite a lot. At least that, considering that by then we were absolutely drenched under the harsh rain.
All of sudden I spotted a small canopy right over the door of some kind of shop and I didn't even think twice before grabbing Harry's arm, keeping my camera from hitting my thigh with the other hand, and ran towards it.
I got under it quickly, pulling Harry towards me in an attempt to get him out of the rain faster before leaning back against the door - that thankfully seemed to be locked - laughing as I rested my head against the glass, trying my best to catch my rushing breath.
Harry seemed to be as elated from our latest run as I was, pinkness on his cheeks and sparkly eyes, his dark curls completely wet and sticking to his forehead. He looked to the side, a laugh escaping from his chest, breathy and faint but there all the same, his dimples appearing much deeper than usual.
As I started to breathe again normally, I became suddenly more aware of the way his body was close mine, his hands on the glass at either side of my middle, as he'd put them there when he'd stopped himself from crashing into me when I'd pulled him towards me. I could hear his quick breath over the sound of the drops hitting the ground and wooden canopy above us, the smell of vanilla and rain seeming to be everywhere around us.
Harry looked back at me, seeming to realise how close to me he was only in that moment and quickly moving to stand next to me, his back to the glass door as well.
I turned my head to look at him, he was staring ahead, his profile defined and sharp, but soft in all the right places, even his eyelashes wet.
Without thinking twice, I slid the camera out of its bag, careful not to accidentally drop it, and turned it on, pointing it towards him. "Look at me" I told him, and he did, tilting his head towards me, his lips parted, the ghost of his past laugh still playing on his chiselled features, and I snapped a picture without thinking twice, taking one more just to make sure I would've never forgotten that moment before putting the camera back in its place.
We stayed there until the rain eased off a bit, and then I sent him a glance.
"Do you think we'll manage to make it to the car before it eventually gets worse?" I asked, already mentally preparing for another quick walk.
He shrugged. "Let's find out" he said, seeming to have way less doubts than me as he easily got out from under the canopy to stand under the fragile rain, waiting for me to do the same.
It turned out we didn't. We got close though.
The rain got worse just as we entered the parking lot, leaving us to run the few seconds that separated us from Harry's car.
He opened it and we both rushed inside, closing the doors quickly and catching our breath for a few seconds.
"Any chances the sun will come back?" I asked him after a while, staring at the way the raindrops hit the windshield roughly, and he turned his head to glance at me, his eyes telling me that he was pretty sure I was delusional.
"We can wait a bit" he said instead, and I gave him a little nod, deciding that it was the best thing we could've done. Even though I'd enjoyed the last few hours I'd spent with him, I definitely wasn't ready to go back home yet.
"Alright" I told him, sitting up and putting the bag of my camera on the backseat before taking off my wet coat and putting it there as well, moving my hair to the side, its auburn having turned into a much darker brown shade.
He took off his coat as well to reveal the dry white shirt he was wearing underneath before passing his fingers through his hair and brushing it back, making it unstick from his forehead. He turned on the car just to turn on the heater, the sudden warm air filling the vehicle, joined by the low sound of music coming from the radio, that he hadn't turned off when we'd got off earlier that day.
I turned my head, observing him as he rested his head back against the car seat with his hair wet and dripping down his neck, the low sound of some cheerful song I didn't recognise coming from the speakers. Yet he looked prettier than ever before, and I couldn't believe I'd been lucky enough to share such a special moment with him.
"Harry?" I called him, and he turned to look at me, his green eyes a bit darker in the shadows of the car. "Thank you so much for coming with me."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for the delay, things have been a bit hectic lately. x
Miki