um hello
this is the 100th chapter of the camp cherry series 🧍♂️
which is kinda crazy bc it means i've written at least 250,000+ words for these books
so i'm emotional i suppose
✩︎
HANA
The flight seems to last much shorter, I'm not sure why. Harry had claimed he'd felt sick around the six-hour mark - he had appeared rather pale - and he proceeded to spend the rest of the flight with his head on my shoulder, whining and complaining about how much his stomach hurt, or in the bathroom.
Nevertheless, he seems to have freshened up a little now we're currently making our way through security, thankfully not encountering any altercations or obstacles, and we can finally step back onto American ground. It's ten minutes past three in the morning, so it's obviously pitch black and I'm absolutely exhausted, as is Harry.
I spot Carl first, and I hope Harry'll be okay on the journey home; he appears fine when we reach Carl, but I can feel the way his fingers tighten around my hand instantly and his entire body tenses that he's struggling.
"Baby," I nudge him lightly, and his hardened features immediately soften as he glances at me, and his lips twitch into a smile eventually. "You're okay," I state, and he nods with a small smile, almost like he's trying to convince himself.
"Hi," he greets Carl quietly, silently placing our bags in the trunk of his car.
"Don't throw them, what the fuck are you trying to do?" Carl reprimands him seethingly, and Harry flinches as he nears him, repositioning the bags slightly and, to be honest, I really can't see a difference. Carl's expression is stormy as he climbs back into the driver's seat and slams the door, loudly enough the startle a passing woman. I really want to tell him to shut the fuck up - maybe do it for him with a punch.
Harry breathes out shakily, clearly trying his hardest to avoid a panic attack with five minutes of being back in America, "fucks sake."
"Harry, just hold my hand, ignore whatever fuck shit he says - he doesn't matter, right? It's just us, okay?" I calm him quietly, and he tenses as the car horn blares suddenly, that obviously being Carl's way of telling us to hurry the fuck up.
"Okay, just stay with me, I need you, Cherry," He doesn't sound like the confident, jokey Harry I left Italy with anymore; he sounds terrified.
"I'm right here, Harry," I whisper reassuringly, and he winces at the glare he receives through the rearview mirror as soon as we climb into the back of the car.
We remain in complete silence; no music, no how was your trip?, absolutely nothing, though I'm sure Harry prefers it that way. Just the rumbling of the engine breaks our uncomfortable quietness, and Harry's gripping my hand so hard I can barely feel it.
He drives for fifty minutes, multiple stormy glances sent directly Harry's way, all of which he cowers further into me at, and I'm struggling to control my fist as it'd really love to punch someone right now. Abruptly, Harry tugs away from me, placing his hand on the top of the passenger seat to stabilise himself as he speaks, "Could you, uh, drop us off here?" he asks timidly, his hands shaking slightly and I lower my eyebrows in confusion.
"Why?" Carl combats his request roughly, and Harry inhales calmly.
"Please? I'm sorry for making you come out so late and thank you for picking us up," he rambles, sitting back into his seat and grasping my hand again.
"Fine. Your bags'll be in the car," he doesn't seem too impressed as he jerkily drives the car into a car park, not even bothering to park properly before he sends us an expectant glare that clearly means get the fuck out. So, we do as fast as possible, landing us in a random carpark with small corner stores and diners being the only source of light. Now that Carl is gone, Harry seems to be energetic, practically bouncing on the spot as he glances at me, his hand holding mine tightly.
"Harry, why are we here?" I inquire, wondering what there possibly was for us to do here.
"Come on," he smiles, gently tugging me to a dimly lit store with an extremely bored teenage girl behind the counter, staring at passing cars through the large window displaying several posters. "Wait here," he orders, and I shake my head in humour as he disappears into the store. After two minutes, I poke my head around, and he notices almost immediately, mouthing at me to turn back around.
I do so with a smile, and it's only another minute before the door creaks and he reappears, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"Are those for me?" I tease, and his grin grows.
"No," he answers, looking rather shy as he pulls out another from behind his back, extending it towards me, "but these are."
"Thank you, baby," I respond softly, both of us seeming to realise I now had a bouquet of flowers to carry around. "Should've got them—"
"After, yeah."
"—yeah," I laugh, unable to fight my smile at his adorableness as his cheeks flush and he fumbles around for my hand once again, leading me towards a small diner, flickering neon letters spelling out Halle's. "Harry," I chuckle as he pushes it open slowly, grinning at me with undeniable dimples, "it's four in the morning, I'm tired," I laugh, though I'm curious to see what his plan is.
"Hal, it's your favourite customer!" Harry announces, lifting his eyes to look up to the right as he listens out, stepping forward at the sound of footsteps across the black and white tiled floor.
"Harry! I've not seen you in... what? Two years?" A woman with deep red lipstick and colourful clothes exclaims joyously, embracing Harry tightly, though he continues to hold my hand. "You're so big now!" she marvels, smiling warmly and hugging him again as he hands her the flowers which she places on the counter carefully.
"Think so," he exhales, looking to me when he pulls away, "this is Hana, my girlfriend. Han, this is Halle, only owner of the best pizza diner in quite possibly all of America," he announces seriously, and I blush as I notice Halle studying me. Thankfully, she appears to approve as she returns to her position behind the counter.
"Oh, shut up," Halle dismisses him with a slight pinkish tone to her cheeks, and Harry only smiles at her, with teeth and dimples.
He tilts his head, concentrating on the music playing extremely quietly, "what song is that? Turn it up," he requests, nodding his head as Halle does as he says, and his smile grows quickly as he tugs me into the open space before the counter. Luckily for Harry, the song had pretty much only just started - What'd I Say, which is typically one of our favourites to listen to whilst high - and our halfhearted attempts at dancing are just as shit as usual, but we're having fun nonetheless. "Large pepperoni pizza and... am I pushing it too far if I ask for a beer?" he makes a face, hoping he'd be able to slip past her.
"Careful, Harry, I know your age."
"No, it's been three years since you saw me, right?" he jokingly tries to convince her he's over the legal age, but Halle's having absolutely none of it. "Fine... two lemonades, please."
"Coming right up," she sends him a pointed look, which he only smiles widely at.
"Stars still out?" he calls, leaning over the counter and retrieving two strawberry lollipops from a tub with a mischievous smile.
"Of course!"
"Cherry, do you wanna go see the stars?" his smile is the most genuine I've seen it in a long time, and I nod and follow him just to see his permanent massive grin and dimples. He leads me towards a back entrance, slowly trailing his hands along my arms and lightly grasping each of my hands in his, bringing them up to my eyes. He keeps his hands over mine, ensuring I can't see anything at all, though I hear as he uses his hip to push the door open, our steps small and awkward as I try not to fall over. "Just, careful, okay? Sit down, don't—don't fall, Cherrypop," he laughs handsomely as I struggle to sit down to the floor without my hands, although I manage eventually.
"Can I see now?" I tease, nudging him in the stomach with my elbow.
"Shush. Lay back," he orders with a chuckle, and I sigh as he retracts his hands and makes sure I keep mine firmly over my eyes. "Are you comfortable?" he asks softly, and I nod, not trying to hide my wide grin anymore, "okay, look up, but keep your eyes closed," he says, and I hear him shuffle beside me and lay down right next to me. His voice is quiet and appears happy, "open your eyes, Cherrybaby."
Nervous to do as he said for a moment, I don't follow his instructions for a few seconds, and my lips part in awe as soon as I do; the sky is littered with luminous stars, and it's as if an entire galaxy is in high resolution right in front of me.
"Harry, I..." I'm still speechless, which he must find amusing by the little puff of air the escapes his nose, and I glance at him momentarily, about to act on my urge to kiss him before I can't help but look back at the sky.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it, I love you," I whisper, "it's so pretty."
"You're so—"
"Don't even think about it," I cut off the cheesy line he had on the tip of his tongue, and he grins brightly, eyes closing for a moment and his long eyelashes tapping against the tops of his rosy cheeks.
"Couldn't help it," he shrugs, sneaking his hand down and taking mine, holding it softly as we both look back up to the sky, laid flat on the grassy ground. A silent minute of simply observing the clear sky later, I feel him shift closer to me, now laid on his side and resting his chin on my shoulder, his nose nudging against my cheek lightly, "I just wanna marry you, Cherry. I know we say that all the time, but I really do."
I smile gently towards the dark, starry sky, squeezing his hand tighter, "I know, I do, too."
"I think... we should go back to the airport, get a flight to Vegas and just get married," he whispers, his voice so relaxing it almost sends me to sleep, though he's obviously joking.
"That'd be amazing," I reply quietly, turning slightly to glance at him, his eyes bright and the corners of his lips curled into a small smile.
"Yeah? Why don't we just do it?" he teases, pressing his nose against my cheek again to force my gaze back to the stars and shuffling even closer into me.
"I think we should eat the pizza we ordered, and then, maybe we could discuss it."
"Sounds like a good idea, Cherrybaby," he responds, sighing softly against my jawline and allowing his eyes to drift shut, though mine remain open and focused on the sky.
"Harry!" Halle calls from inside a moment later, and his eyebrows drop into a deep frown, irritated at the interruption from the nap he clearly intended to have, though the sight of a large pepperoni pizza and two lemonades set out on one of the booth's tables seem to wake him up easily.
"Thank you, Hal," he shouts, muffled by a mouthful of pizza while I take a large bite of my slice, smiling as the cheese struggles to break, and Harry swipes his thumb over my chin, probably wiping away some of the rich tomato sauce from the delicious pizza.
"Thank you," I repeat, and she simply nods with a playful roll of her eyes, her hand finding its way into Harry's curls and messing them up as she passes us, which he grumbles at and fixes it again.
"My half of the pizza is done, Cherry, could I—" he reaches for one of the slices of my side, barely even waiting for me to approve.
"The fuck, no, put that down," I disagree, and he frowns, dropping the pizza anyway.
"Why? I'm hungry."
"Because so am I, and I'm about to eat that."
"No, you weren't. I can tell you're struggling to even eat that one," he claims, and I scoff in offence, though I'm really just irritated I now have to force myself to eat another slice even though I'm already full just prove my point.
"That's just not true," I deny, taking a large gulp of my drink in hopes I would be able to actually eat it, because there's no way he's winning on this.
"When you're sick later..." he shakes his head disapprovingly, obviously underestimating me as he appears rather impressed by the time I, fortunately, managed to finish it, out plate and glasses now empty.
"See," I tilt my head with a sarcastic squint of my eyes, which he gladly returns. His fingers tangle with mine the moment we slide out of the booth and hop up onto stools just in front of the counter, where Halle is leaning against whilst jotting down numbers into a notebook.
"Pizza was even better than I remembered," Harry declares, Halle sending him a pointed look that says she doesn't believe that. "Really. It was amazing before but now it's even better, I swear."
"I'm sure it is," she replies with a small shake of her head, causing both me and Harry to smile softly, our hands still intertwined underneath the counter, "how long have you two been together and why am I only just hearing about it?"
Harry chuckles, nudging the underside of his nose with his knuckle as he speaks, "almost a year, and I don't know. Thought after the last time you wouldn't want me in here anymore."
"What happened last time?" I ask, curious to hear the backstory to this.
"I brought two of my friends which... somehow turned into fifty people showing up in the car park, all from the high school, and then I kind of... got in a fight," he explains, the last bit much quieter and rushed.
"You got in a fight? Why?"
"My friend, - Brooke - her ex was being a proper dickhead, so I punched him," he elaborates, and I shake my head, smiling at him subtly.
"Of course."
"You didn't just punch him, Harry," Halle corrects, "you broke his nose."
Harry simply shrugs innocently, "he deserved it."
"I suppose he did."
"Thank you for the pizza, but we're gonna go home now," he states, leaning over the counter to press a light kiss to her cheek, and she ruffles his hair again, smiling at the way he slings his arm around my shoulder, waving once we reach the door and guiding me towards the side of the building. "Was that a good date?" he comments, leaning against the brick wall as we reach the phone, dialling the numbers I presume for a taxi.
"Very," I reply, my eyes wide and focused on the sky as he speaks to the person on the other end of the line, informing me that a taxi would be here in ten minutes and leading me back towards the car park, "thank you, baby, it was amazing, even though I'm very tired right now and I'll be sleeping as soon as we get home."
"That's okay," he chuckles, tugging my hand to gesture for me to join him, sitting uncomfortably on the sidewalk as we wait for the cab, "I will be, too, Cherry."