A/N: Guys! Important authors note at the end of the chapter so until then: enjoy! But make sure to check it out!!
Tilly's POV
December 13th, 2019
3:13am
I lay on the grass outside in a brown turtleneck and dark green plaid trousers I've rolled up at the ankle. The laughter and carry on from inside warms my heart and I feel happy for Harry. The album was released just over three hours ago and already has over a million streams. My hair is crumby from the chardonnay that Mitch spray all over Harry and considering I was standing next to him; I was the unlucky associate of the chardonnay disaster. But I don't mind, not one bit. The sky is clear and the two stars right to the moon shine down brightly and I can't help but think of Dad and how proud he would be of Harry in this moment. He'd be drenched in chardonnay and would be devouring the cheese platter right next to Gemma and Mitch. The backdoor slides open and I tilt my head back to see Anne making her way over with a flannel shirt and I smile at her and look back to the stars.
"You look goofy when you do that." She says with a soft laugh as she sits beside me.
"I always look goofy." I smirk and rest my hands on my stomach and look to her. Her dark hair falls just over her shoulders as the moonlight contrasts against her face with the soft orange glow of the back porch light.
"No... But you used too... Remember when you got your braces off in tenth grade?" She says and I cover my face with my hands and groan.
"Don't remind me..."
"You wouldn't stop smiling and it made your Dad and I laugh so much... you'd greet everyone on the street with this giant, glowing smile." She says and I sit up next to her and she wraps the flannel shirt around my shoulders.
"Thank you." I smile, pulling the shirt into my chest.
"Don't mention it." Anne says.
"No, really, thank you. Thank you for all you've done." I say and she presses her lips to my cheek.
"Oh! I've left a lipstick stain!" She says as she licks her thumb and cleans my cheek of her lipstick and I laugh and push away at her hand and she smiles.
"You could say it's a strawberry lipstick state of mind, no?" I say sarcastically with a wink and she smiles. I look up to the star filled sky that twinkle and blink down at me.
"It's good to see you smiling and laughing again, Til." Anne says as she rests her head on my shoulder.
"That's what Harry said this morning... I didn't realise I was laughing so hard until he pointed it out." I shuffle on the ground and rest my head on top of Anne's as hers stays put on my shoulder.
"Well it's good to laugh... keeps the soul happy!" We sit in silence for a little while, looking at the lights below us on the coast and the sound of everyone inside screaming the lyrics to 'Golden' drowns out the ocean crashing its waves into the dark shore below.
"You don't think I'm being unfair, right?" I ask.
"To who? Harry? No, darling, I'm sure he's fine inside with-"
"I mean Dad... moving on... I feel like it all happened so fast. One moment I was walking around the garden with him and the next I was saying goodbye for good. I've tried to keep busy in order to maintain some kind of mental stability, but I feel like it's just... too fast."
Anne shakes her head as she lifts it from my shoulder and wraps her arm around me.
"No, Tilly, you haven't moved on too fast. He'll always be here, and we'll never forget how amazing your father was and still is. He lives on in our memory and he lives on in everything you do my darling... It's good to keep busy, I suppose if I sat in my kitchen all day thinking of him I'd lose my mind." She says and I take a deep breath.
He lives on in everything I do.
******
5:17am
"No, you're drunk." Harry slurs and he taps my nose, making a 'boop' sound as I take off his shirt and put him into bed when he sits up, looking at me with a sloppy smirk and his hands folded in his lap.
"Oh really?" I say as I bend down and kneel on the floor to undo his shoelaces and remove them from his feet.
"Oh, I like where this is going..." He mumbles and I scoff at him and shake my head.
"Not a chance." I say softly and he lets out a groan when I come back up.
"I'm not even that drunk, missy." He remarks as he inhales deeply and exhales, closing his eyes and smiling at me, a dimple raising in his cheek which makes my stomach flutter.
"Wanna bet?" I challenge and he nods at me, opening his eyes and fluttering his eyelashes at me.
"Fuck yeah I do." He says and I giggle at him. I press my finger to his chest, just above his butterfly sternum tattoo and smile at him and he nods confidently, and I shrug my shoulders at him and gently begin to push into his chest, and he falls back onto the bed, arms above him.
"Okay maybe I'm a little drunk..." He admits in defeat.
"It doesn't really matter; it was your album release, so you deserve it." I say and he makes a sound of contentment which makes me giggle.
"Wait! How did Mitch get home?!" He says as he sits up quickly with wide eyes.
"He went home with Sarah." I say and he smirks and raises his eyebrows at me, and I shake my head at him.
"I hope they get married someday." He says softly and I smile and push him back down gently so I can take off his trousers and get him into bed to sleep it off.
"Me too." I say in agreeance and I unzip his trousers and throw them onto the floor, I pat his pillow and he climbs up to it and I pull the bed covers over his body as his head hits the pillow with an exhale. I sit next to him on the bed and push his curls out of his eyes and a small smile surfaces on his lips. I trace his bone structure with my index finger and admire his face as he begins to drift asleep. I stand to my feet and turn on my heel to make my way to the bedroom door to go downstairs and clean up a little but my hand becomes trapped in his and I look down to see a large hand holding my wrist, a tiny cross tattoo between his thumb and index finger.
"Can I help you?" I ask and he nods, opening his eyes to look at me.
"Do you wanna get married?" He asks and I feel my chest become tight as I stand in shock.
He wants to marry me one day?
"Maybe someday... tonight is a little too ambitious don't you think?" I laugh and he shakes his head slowly but then begins to nod it faster when he agrees and I sit back down next to him on the bed, my legs hanging over the edge and I hold his hand in mine, gently tracing it.
"How about this, you ask me again when you're sober." I say.
"Is it because I don't have a ring?" He says and pouts his lips out and I shake my head.
"I'd marry you with or without a ring, H. I'd marry you barefoot and wearing jeans if I had too... As long as you're by my side. That's all that matters." I say and he nods his head.
"I'm gonna get you the perfect ring..." He says and I tuck a curl behind his ear.
"I'm sure you will Mr. Perfectionist."
"Your Dad said I could y'know." He mumbles and I knit my brows in confusion.
"Said you could what?"
"Marry you one day. I asked him... right before... y'know..." He says and he opens his eyes, glassy and red from the alcohol, to look at me again and I stare into them.
"You asked him?" I say softly.
"I couldn't not." He responds and I sit quietly, thinking this over.
"I hope that's okay!" He pipes up and I bend down to press my lips to his, my hand holding the warmth of his cheek.
"It's more than okay, Harry." I smile.
******
December 14th, 2019
3:22pm
I take a cup of coffee upstairs to Harry whose still, understandably, in bed at three in the afternoon. Mitch called me about an hour ago and the first thing he said was: Fuuuuuuuck my head hurts. Which made me laugh. I open the bedroom and see Harry sprawled across the bed, his chest raising and falling as he snores. I place the mug on the bedside table next to a stack of books and his rings I took off for him last night.
"Harry..." I sing softly.
"Harry baby..." I say and he groans at me.
"Don't groan at me you big baby." I say.
"A second ago you were calling me 'baby' in a cute way now you're insulting me with it... make up your mind, Tilly Girl." He says and I slap his bicep which he doesn't react to.
"Gem and Anne are coming over for dinner in a few hours, maybe you wanna shower?" I say and he lifts his head to look at me through squinted eyes.
"They're fucking what?" He sighs.
"Hey, don't be rude... you organised it last week before they even got here." I declare and he groans.
"You also said you'd cook for them." I lie.
"What! Surely I didn't-"
"Nah I'm just messing with you." I say and I laugh at him which he gives me a dirty look for and I smile.
"Get up, get your shorts and we can go for a swim before they get here if you'd like?" I ask as I stand and walk into the walk-in wardrobe and pull out a black one piece.
"Sure." He calls out and I throw his red swimmer shorts at him which makes him groan again.
"Groan one more time and I'll have to slap you." I remark.
"Righto, Tilly Girl." He says.
*Play song now: Summer by Phillip LaRue*
After many arguments about what to have for dinner and complaints about how bright it is or how loud it is, we make our way down to the beach and I place our basket full of towels onto the sand. I look to the ocean; the sky is painted a soft pink tinge with a tangerine horizon that sets the ocean ablaze and I inhale the scent of sea salt and fresh air deep into my lungs as two seagulls fly over us, squawking and making noises as they communicate with one another. The sky explodes with hues of warmth above our heads that ignites a deep sensation of clarity within me as I devour each second, I stand on the golden sand, riddled with small seashells waiting to be collected by children that hold red buckets in their hands on a summer's afternoon. It's winter here in L.A. but the soft wind warms my skin as I take off Harry's Beatles tee-shirt and make my way down to the ocean bank that washes foam that resembles strawberry jelly in and out of the coastline. I turn around and usher Harry over and he makes his way down to me with his black sunglasses perched on his nose and his arms folded across his shirtless chest.
"It's too loud." He mumbles in reference to the ocean waves and I shake my head at him.
"Oh! C'mon sour puss, have a little fun... I told Gemma and Anne to meet us back home at 7:30 so we have exactly two and a half hours to kill." I say as I look at my bare wrist, pretending there's a watch on it and he smirks.
I walk out a little further until the cold water is at my waist and I gasp at the sensation.
"A little colder than I expected..." I mumble to myself and I turn to see Harry running at the water, full speed, his arms swinging by his side as he flops into the water side on and I laugh at him.
"Suddenly sober I see?" I call out to him.
"Go on! This was your idea! Dive in, Matilda!" He retorts.
"Mmm... I don't know it's kind of really cold..." I say as I inhale sharply with each soft wave rising at my stomach and soaking my swimsuit.
"Then you leave me no choice." He says and in an instant I turn around and begin to make my way back to the shoreline as fast as I can while screaming and lsughing, knowing Harry is running after me, ready to tackle me into the cold water. The water splashes at my thighs as I run through it, desperately trying to escape him.
"Don't you fucking dare, Styles!" I shout.
"Too late." He says.
In a swift moment he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder and I kick my legs and hit at his back screaming at him, begging him not to do what I know he'll do but it's useless because in under ten seconds flat he drops me into the water and my body goes under. I push up from below it and wipe my hair back out of my face.
"You're dead, Styles." I say and his face drops from hysterical laughter to straight lipped and I throw my body into his core, pushing him into the ocean.
"Hey!" He shouts.
"Oh! Fuck yourself you English idiot." I say and he laughs. I push him under the water and he grabs my legs and pulls me into him and I push at his chest but he dunks me under again and I come up to see his head bent back cry laughing as his wet hair drips down his back and I push him again and we both laugh. He grabs my waist and presses his lips into mine as we float in the orange tinted water together, some stars beginning to surface in the sky.
"I love you, Fish." He says.
"I love you, Boy." I smile and we part as we float on our backs and let the ocean drift over our torsos. I look up to the sky and smile at the moon that's just rising a quarter way into the pink sky and I feel Harry's hands slide underneath my back and I close my eyes as he plants a salt lipped kiss on my ocean soaked cheek.
"I know I asked you to marry me last night." He says and it catches me off guard.
"What?"
"You heard me... I want to know if that's something you'd want one day." He says and I float off my back and he wraps his hands around me.
"Of course, it is." I smile.
"Okay." He smiles back.
We make our way to the house and Harry unlocks the door and we walk in, towels wrapped around us. I turn on a few lights at the switch and the room is lit up, much cleaner than last night. I walk to the fridge and take out a bottle of white Moscato and a few wine glasses and place them on the table, Gemma and Anne will be here but we agreed on a movie night with take out so I don't doubt Gemma will show up in her PJ's.
"I wanna get another place." Harry says and I nod my head.
"Oh yeah?" I say.
"Yeah." He says and I make my way up the stairs, Harry following behind me.
"I'd sell this one and we'd get a place that's ours."
Ours.
"But you love this place..." I say softly as we reach the top of the stairs.
"But it isn't ours. It's a home, sure, but I get the feeling that's why you struggled when you first moved in... This isn't a place you feel like you can call your own, you feel that it's more so mine and as much as that isn't true, I know you can't shake that feeling." He says and I turn to look at him.
"You're willing to give up this place?" I ask him and he steps closer to me and pulls my shoulder into him and we embrace.
"I wanna get a place that's ours, Til." He says.
"Only if we go halves." I announce and look up at him and he presses his lips into mine.
"Fine." He says and I smile.
The doorbell rings and Harry goes downstairs to get it and in walks Anne who smiles and waves at me, followed by Gemma in a hoodie and a pair of trackies just like I knew she would.
A/N: SOOOOOO today we reached 27K and it's been so much fun writing this book and I welcome each one of you that are new... I adore by harry styles seeing your comments and seeing how many people are adding this book to their reading list so I wanna say helloooo and a big warm welcome to all of you! I started this book a little over three months ago and it's been such a creative and fulfilling adventure with all of you!
I ALSO just want to mention I've started writing my SECOND book and it isn't a sequel to this one but that's not me saying that there wont be a sequel... so keep your eyes peeled. The book I'm writing is called 'Blank Canvas' and it is indeed another Harry Styles FF but it's an alternate universe in which Harry meets Bronwyn in the small coastal town of Portofino, Italy where they discover more than one another, they remind themselves it's okay to fall in love with someone other than a fictional character. The book is very Mamma Mia and Call Me By Your Name vibes! I hope you check the first chapter out!
Thank you all so much, until the next chapter my lovelies! Big hugs to every single one of you!