Songs for this chapter:
i saw you in a dream - The Japanese House
Dream - Shawn Mendes
Something Great - One Direction
***
Harry Styles
It was almost ten o'clock at night now, and I sat on the edge of my bed in deep thought. All of this was really happening, whether I wanted it to or not. I was ready to move on, and I needed to. I had feelings for Caroline. I always knew that there was something there but I kept pushed it away in fear of getting hurt again. I was used to keeping my distance from people, but I just couldn't stay away from her. I didn't care if it crashed and burned in the end, because she was my addiction. I couldn't get enough.
So I kissed her. I kissed her and she kissed me back. I didn't quite know what was going to happen next, but I didn't mind how spontaneous things were.
The rest of the night went smoothly after that. We had our pizza and watched the movie. Well, we were talking over it half of the time, but we tried to.
She was so sweet, and I could talk with her forever. Her smile is so warm, and when she talks about her interests you can see her eyes light up. It's wonderful.
I groaned, and flopped backwards onto my bed, my legs dangling off of the end. I looked up at my ceiling as if the answers I was looking for would be there. I was exhausted, but I knew that all of my thinking would keep me awake. I did my best to shake it all off as I began to get ready for bed. I stripped of my clothes and brushed my teeth before crawling under the covers. It wasn't until hours later I finally drifted off to sleep.
-
"Wake up, love. You need to take Darcy to school." A voice of a woman rang out from behind me, and sun streamed through the window. I didn't remember leaving the curtains open, though. I rolled over to see whoever was talking to me. I was faced with a woman with short, blonde hair that was slightly curled, and a round face with large grey eyes that seemed familiar to me. She stood with a baby yellow night gown hanging on her slender frame, and a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Who are you and why are you in my house?" I narrowed my eyes at her.
"What are you on about? Are you alright?" She tilted her head and looked at me quizzically. That's when I realized that I was in fact, not in my own room. I quickly sat up, looking around in a panic.
"What's wrong, dear?" The woman reached out and touched my shoulder, sending a shock throughout my whole body.
Bits and pieces of memories hit me all at once, and I watched them play through my head. I didn't even know if I could call them my own memories. I caught glimpses of the same woman here and there, but she was with a man I didn't recognize. I felt like I should know him, though. Each and every vision was a different event with different people. Some seemed like they occurred centuries ago, and others seemed more recent based on the scenery. There was one memory that particularly caught my attention.
-
"Daddy!" A little girl called out as she ran up to the man and into his arms. The man was dressed in business attire, a brown suit and tie. His brown hair was slicked back, but some of it had fallen into his face.
"Hi sweetie, how was school?" The man asked the girl, who must've been his daughter, as he hoisted her up into his arms.
He attempted to fix blonde hair that was sticking up in different direction from the wind while she babbled on about her day, her green eyes lighting up. They were the same as her father's eyes.
"Alright Darcy, let's get you inside so you can see mommy." He said after she had finished talking. He carried her inside, the front door shutting. Laughter from the girl and an older woman could be heard from outside. The older woman's laugh, I recognized immediately. It belonged to Caroline.
-
I was jolted awake by the sound of someone knocking on the door. I heard Mitch call out from the other room. There was some commotion, and quiet chatter between him and whoever was at the door.
I made a noise of protest as I pulled my tired self out of bed, and stumbled to throw on a pair of sweatpants. I checked the time on my phone. It was almost twelve. How could I possibly have slept in that late? I put my phone in my back pocket and went to investigate the noise. I walked out of my room and into the living room to see Mitch and Caroline talking, while Mitch brewed some tea in the kitchen.
What. is. happening.
Seeing her face immediately reminded me of my particularly strange dream, but I did my best to push it to the back of my mind.
"Caroline?" I interrupted, tilting my head in confusion. She spun around to face me, her wavy blonde hair swishing as she did so. She looked nice today. She had on a pair of ripped denim jeans, and a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt.
"Oh, hi Harry. I was just-" She paused for a moment, as her eyes drifted down to my torso. Maybe I should've put a shirt on. She cleared her throat and continued on, "I was just seeing if you were busy today. I took the day off, since I haven't had one in a while."
"I'm not busy."
"Alright. I was thinking we could do something." She said as Mitch brought her over a cup of tea, and she happily accepted it.
"So are you guys a thing now?" Mitch asked, sipping his tea slowly.
I glanced at Caroline, not really sure of what to say. We exchanged looks, and she decided to answer for the both of us.
"We're not."
That stung a little, I'll have to admit, but it's understandable.
Mitch just raised his eyebrows at us, his face full of doubt.
"I have to go now, but I'll see you guys later?" Mitch asked us.
"Yeah, see you later man," I replied. He nodded, and downed the rest of his tea, and headed out the door.
"He's not one for staying in one place too long, is he?" Caroline chuckled.
"He's usually here more often, he's just been with Sarah a lot recently."
"Who's Sarah?" She asked.
"His girlfriend," I explained. "She plays the drums. I think you'd like her. I don't know her that well though."
Caroline just nodded, and then said, "Go put a shirt on so we can go."
"What, don't you like me shirtless?" I joked. Her face immediately started to get red, and I laughed at her. She crossed her arms and pouted.
"Awe come on, I'm sorry." I cooed. She was still pouting. I made my way over to her and wrapped my arms around her torso, pulling her closer to me.
"I'm sorry, sunshine," I mumbled. She wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her forehead on her shoulder.
"Apology accepted."
. . . . .
Caroline Laurier
Sunshine. He called me sunshine.
No one's ever called me that before, but it made me inexplicably happy. As I stood there in his arms, I felt content against his warm skin. I brought my arms down from his neck, and traced the butterfly tattoo on his chest, and then the two birds on his pectorals. I didn't understand tattoos, or the appeal of having something stuck with you for the rest of your life. But there was something about his that made them intriguing.
"What do they mean?" I whispered, looking up at him. He gave me a weak smile, and tucked some of my hair behind my ear that had fallen in my face.
"I'll tell you eventually, if I'm lucky." He pulled away from me, and head towards his bedroom, leaving me feeling cold without his touch.
I couldn't help but wonder what he meant by 'if I'm lucky', but I had a feeling it wasn't meant to be explained. At least not yet. I patiently waited for him to finish getting ready, tapping my foot against the hardwood floor. Eventually, he entered the living room again, and this time he was wearing a black t-shirt along with the same gray sweatpants. It was very laid back compared to his usual attire, but he still looked just as good. To be honest, he could probably wear anything and look good.
"Alright, let's go." He waltzed up to me and linked our arms. We made our way out the door and off we went.
-
The rain poured down against the windshield as I drove my beat up car down the road. The weather wasn't something I took into account when planning this. Harry sat next to me, humming along to the radio. His hair was still damp from the apartment complex to the car.
Harry then turned to me and asked, "Where are we going?"
"You'll see." I replied, smiling a bit at the frown on his face.
"Carolineeee!" He whined, shifting in his seat to angle himself towards me even more.
"You have to wait until we get there."
"How long is that gonna take?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"About fifteen more minutes."
He groaned at my response, and I chuckled at his lack of patience.
I took one hand off of the steering wheel to brush some hair out of my face, and let it fall to my side. There was a few minutes of comfortable silence as we both watched the road. Then, I felt a hand intertwine with mine. His rings were cold against my skin, yet a warm feeling filled me. I glanced over at him, and he was looking out his window. Little did he know I could see his reflection in the glass, and there was a bright smile on his face. The dimples on his cheeks were showing.
I turned my focus back to driving, and we rode the rest of the way hand in hand, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand gently. The familiar feeling of butterflies returned.
For the rest of the car ride, we were hand in hand. I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off of my face. Eventually, I stopped at our destination.
"We're here," I announced. Harry turned and looked out the window, through the rain.
"A warehouse?" He questioned, turning back to me.
"It's not just a warehouse. Let's go!" I unwillingly let go of his hand and opened the car door, stepping out into the rain. The cold droplets hit my skin, and the wind blew in my face. I quickly grabbed a bag out of the trunk of my car and ran towards the entrance to the warehouse, Harry following close behind me. I pushed open the heavy door and was finally able to escape the rain. The door closed behind us, and we were enveloped by darkness.
"Is there a light switch somewhere?" Harry's voice rang out behind me.
"Yeah, give me a minute." I squinted, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dark as I made my way towards where I knew the power box would be. My footsteps echoed through the large space as they hit the cement floor.
I made it to the corner of the room and patted the wall until my hand hit the power box. I opened and pulled the lever. All of the lights overhead flicked on, practically blinding me. I blinked a few times, and looked over at Harry who was rubbing his eyes. Once he lowered his hands from his face, he observed his surroundings. His expression went from confused to shocked in a matter of seconds.
"You did this?" He stared at the ground in awe.
paintings filled with color covered the floor. Some were small, and others were larger. Some had a meaning behind them, and others were just mindless brush strokes. There was still a decent amount of space left though, considering how big the place was.
"Yeah. I come here when I need a break from everything, and I just paint," I explained.
"It's beautiful," He said. Except he wasn't looking at the paintings anymore. He was looking at me.
As I looked into his green eyes, that emotion that I couldn't recognize reappeared. It really bothered me that I couldn't figure out what was going on in that mind of his.
"What's in the bag?" He asked, gesturing to the tote that was slung over my shoulder.
"I'll show you," I said, opening it and pulling out a blanket. I spread it out on the ground as Harry watched from afar. I sat down cross legged on the blanket, and began to pull out the food that I packed from the bag. This got his attention, and he came and sat down across from me.
"You didn't have to do this," He told me.
"I wanted to."
"I never thought I'd be able to say that I had a picnic in an abandoned warehouse," He joked, taking a sandwich from me. Our hands grazed for a moment, sending sparks up my arm. "How'd you find this place anyway?" He asked, before taking a bite out of the sandwich.
"I like to go on drives sometimes, just because. One day I passed this place and I wanted to go inside. Obviously, I had to pick the lock on the door, but no one's been here for a while except me. I cleaned up in here, and now I keep coming back."
Harry nodded as he chewed his food. We sat in peaceful silence as the rain pattered on the roof. I laid down on my back and stared at the ceiling, and the wheels in my head began to turn.
I wondered where we stood now. Sure, we kissed, but does it really mean anything? After it happened, we just kind of...continued on like we didn't do that. It was confusing to say the least. I've known this man for less than a few days but it feels like it's been so much longer.
"What are you thinking about?" Harry's head suddenly popped into view as his face hovered over mine.
"Nothing," I shrugged as I looked up at him, my heartbeat quickened at how close we were.
"You're lying. Your face scrunches up when you're thinking." He smirked at me.
"No it doesn't!" I protested.
"Oh, but it does. And it's cute." He laughed. I felt a blush make it's way onto my cheeks as I swatted his arm in annoyance. This just caused him to laugh harder. It rang through the empty space and bounced off of the walls. I watched him as his laughter died down. He looked at me, smiling. I admired him, and the way his eyes sparkled. I did my best take a mental picture of this moment as I observed him. My eyes flitted down to his lips. They looked so lush and soft. I wanted to kiss him right then and there.
"Caroline?" Harry snapped me out of my trance.
"Hm?"
"You're thinking again. Tell me what you're thinking about."
"I'm thinking about you," I whispered.
"What about me?" He asked, his voice equally as soft.
"About how much I want to kiss you right now."
"Is that so?" He smiled, and leaned down over me, our noses touching, "Do it then."
My heart was beating a mile a minute now as Harry's warm breath tickled my skin. I leaned forward a bit and captured his lips in mine. It was almost like fireworks were going off in my heart. All thoughts that I had soon faded away, and the only thing I was focused on was the feeling of his lips on mine. My hands found their way to his jawline as I moved my lips against his. Harry's hands were now pressed against the ground on both sides of my body, holding himself over me. Time seemed stop as he kissed me back passionately.
After a heated few minutes, we reluctantly pulled away from each other. My head was spinning as I smiled up at him. His lips were now red and slightly swollen, and his hair was disheveled from running my hands through it.
"We should do that more often." Harry said, looking dead serious. We both began to laugh, and he rested his forehead against mine.
"I like you a lot, Harry." I whispered.
"And I like you a lot, Caroline."
. . . . .
Harry Styles
We laid there chatting, my head resting on Caroline's stomach. Her hand mindlessly played with the ends of my hair.
"Harry?"
"Sunshine?"
"What do you want in life?" She asked me. I hadn't really thought about it that much. It took me a moment to work out a response.
"I just want to spend my time doing what I love, surrounded by the people that I love. I couldn't tell you exactly what I want because as long as I have that I'd be happy," I said slowly. "What about you?"
"I guess I want to live in the moment. Forget about the past and future you know? I want to enjoy what I have right now. It might not be a lot, but I know that there will be bigger things for me later on."
I hummed in agreement, and listened to the downpour of the rain outside. I was completely content in this moment. I sighed, and closed my eyes.
"I have an idea." Caroline said.
"What's your idea?"
"Get up and I'll tell you." She answered. Just to mess with her, I turned over and wrapped my arms around her torso so she couldn't sit up.
"Nope."
"Harry! Let me go!" She laughed, struggling against my strong hold. Her laughter was a reminder of strange dream I experienced last night, but I shook it off once more. I wasn't sure why I kept thinking about it. It was just a dream after all.
"I'm not letting you go." I taunted her. She went still for a moment, confusing me. Then, she somehow managed to flip me over so that she was over top of me. I looked up at her, and she was breathing heavily with her wavy blonde hair hanging in her face. She crawled off of me, and offered her hand to pull me up. I took it, and stood up next to her, still shocked.
She walked over to the bag she had brought with her and began pulling out different colors of paints.
"What are you doing?" I asked, walking up behind her.
"I thought we could do some painting while we're here. It's kind of tradition for me now." She held up the paint tubes.
"Sounds fun." I smiled at her, and she smiled back. I knew exactly what I would paint.
-
About an hour had passed when we finally finished our paintings. I was pretty happy with what I had created.
"Done!" I exclaimed proudly. I stood up from the ground and admired my work. Caroline stood up as well, and made her way over to me. She gazed down at my painting on the ground, a grin breaking out on her face.
"It's a sunflower."
"Mhm. And do you wanna know why I painted a sunflower?" I turned to her, and put my hands on her waist.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because it reminds me of you. You're my sunflower," I told her. I could see a faint blush dust her cheeks, and she got on her tiptoes to kiss me softly. Once she pulled away, I asked her what she painted. She took my hand and pulled me over towards her creation.
"A butterfly." I observed, looking at the many different colors making up the picture. It was beautiful.
"Do you wanna know why I painted a butterfly?" She asked, repeating my words.
"Why?"
"Because it reminds me of you." She placed her hand below my chest, where my butterfly tattoo was.
Yeah, I was definitely falling hard.
-
When we finally decided to leave the warehouse, Caroline gathered up her stuff and shoved it in the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She took my hand, and I pushed the door open. We sprinted through the rain and towards her car. Instead of heading to her side and unlocking the car, she just stood in front of me
"What are you doing?" I asked her, not even caring about my clothes getting soaked from the rain because she was standing in front of me.
"Dance with me," She said, setting her bag down on the ground.
"What?"
"Dance with me? Please?" She gave me puppy dog eyes that I just couldn't say no to, so I played along. I placed my hands on her hips and she wrapped her arms around my neck. We swayed slowly as the rain poured down on us. I should be cold from the water on my skin, but being this close to Caroline filled me with a warm feeling.
"Spin me?" She asked, and I obliged. I spun her around, and she fell into me, laughing.
"You aren't very graceful are you?" I laughed along with her.
"I'm far from it," She replied. Her arms made their way around my waist, and she buried her face in the crook of my neck. "It's strange..." She trailed off.
"What's strange?" I questioned. She sighed, and look up at me with those mesmerizing grey eyes.
"I feel like I've known you for forever, but I hardly know you at all," She hesitated.
"Then get to know me."
"Will you let me?"
"Only if you let me get to know you too."
"Deal," She smiled, and pressed her lips against mine once more. "Come on, let's go home."
This girl is going to be the death of me.
***
Hihi!! This is definitely my favorite chapter I've written so far. They're so cute I can't handle it. Anyways, yeah. Not sure how to wrap this up so bye!