Will You Stay?
Chapter 5
Emily and I had met at a small bookstore and sat outside on small chairs. We had talked about lots of things like, how Mrs. Hazelwood was way to strict in our Literature classes, how Emily hadn't had a boyfriend in four months, and she was wondering if anything was wrong with her. We had come to the conclusion that Jessica, (our favorite T.V. show) had cheated on Bradley with Carson. This outraged Emily, she had wanted Jess and Brad to be together forever. I, however, was actually hoping they would break up. But, enough time had passed, and we reached the inevitable question - 'What to do about Jace'. "I think you should call the cops on him. He's not gonna go away until he gets what he wants from you, Meadow" I sighed at this. I hadn't been able to fall asleep last night, I was far too busy with trying to figure out how to get rid of him. "I'm pretty sure I thought of every possibility. I was up all last night thinking. I even thought I could move to Scotland, but that's too expensive. Trust me, Em, there's nothing I haven't thought of." We sat in silence for a few moments, both of us thinking. My ringtone interrupted the silence. I got out of my chair, took a few steps away, and answered.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" It was my mom's voice.
"Ummm, some old bookstore with Emily, why?"
"There's a boy here to see you." My heart lifted, thinking it was Harry, then sank remembering Jace knew where I lived.
"Uh okay, I- I'll be there in a minute."
She hung up. I turned and looked at Emily."My mom said there's a boy at our house. She didn't say who." That was all I needed to say to get Emily out of her chair. She grabbed my arm, and we started walking as fast as we could. My house was only a few blocks away, and I prayed the whole way that it wouldn't be Jace.
We reached my house minutes later, but there were no cars in our driveway. Great.
"You can go home. I'm sure it's only Harry." I reassured Emily. She nodded and gave my hand a squeeze to comfort me. I watched her figure go farther and farther away until I summoned the courage to open the front door. I wondered what my house looked like to other people. Right as you walk through the door, there are two rooms, one on each side. If you open the right door, you'll think you walked into a tropical forest. That would be my mom's yoga room. She had spent almost a year trying to make it look like you had walked into paradise. On the door to the left, had floor to ceiling shelves, filled with loads of books. The was my favorite room. On the empty side of the room, there was a small bed, and next to that, there was a desk with a computer, a cup filled with pens and sharpies, and a small potted bonsai tree. Sometimes, I would sleep in this room, instead of my own. That's why we put a bed in here instead of the couch that used to inhabit that space. Back outside those two first rooms, there was a short hallway, lined with pictures of me and my mom, and also some of my nature pictures I had printed out. At the end of the hallway, you reach the living room. The T.V. screen faced the hallway, so you could see what shows people were watching as you step in the door. The back of the couch was also pointed in the same direction, so you could see the back of my head as I watched Food Network or whatever else I found interesting. Two chairs, filled with so much stuffing, they looked like they would burst any second, straddled the couch. I stopped before l stepped in, afraid of who I might find, although I knew who it was. I took a long breath in, held it for ten seconds, and let it out, imagining that the breath I let out, was all the nerves I had. This was an exercise I had learned from my mom. She was always doing calming things, like yoga, drinking tea, massages, long bubble baths. I, however, didn't have the time to do these things. Of course I inherited her ability to freak out over the smallest things, but, unlike her, I didn't know how to handle it. Anyway, back to the situation. I breathed a few more times, then pushed myself out of the hallway and into the living room. Jace. I knew it. He was practically laying all over our couch, definitely taking my moms advice and making himself at home. However, my mom was nowhere to be found. Jace looked up from his lounging around, and an evil smile crept across his dark face.
He slowly sat up and said,"Glad you could make it, Meadow." I suddenly hated him more than I ever thought I could. He didn't belong here, this was MY house, not his.
"Get out of my house." I said this as calmly as possible.
"Aw come on, Meadow. You won't even give me a chance?" He made a weird face. Was he trying to look innocent? Or sick? I honestly couldn't tell.
"Get out of my house." I spoke a little louder. Jace stood up, walked around the couch, and was right in front of me.
"I know you love me. You're just going out with that furball, Harry to cover it up, aren't you? But you didn't think I would find out, am I right? You've loved me since you first laid eyes on me. So tell me, how can you stand hanging around with him?" He spat the word 'him' out with so much disgust.
"Oh please. You're not jealous that I love Harry, are you? He's much more that you think. So if you would kindly leav-"
"No!" He cut me off before I could finish, "You don't know what he's really like. You don't know how much of a baby he was only a few years ago. That's right. I knew him way before he even came to Florida. I lived in Holmes Chapel, we went to the same school for three years. And I made those three years terrible for him. He was so small, so easy to beat up." I had no idea that Jace was from Cheshire. He hid his accent very well. But Jace beat Harry up? That couldn't be right... "I made him cry for his mommy." He stepped closer and closer to me, with every word. He was near enough now that I could see he had a couple stitches in his eyebrow.
"No. Get out!" I yelled. He grabbed my arms and pushed me against the wall.
"You don't know him like you think you did. You don't know why he started acting so tough, huh? Every day, my friends and I would corner him after school. He would leave with fresh blood on his skin, new bruises on his face. But he couldn't tell his mommy who was hurting him now could he? Because we knew where he lived. We knew what route he took to deliver the paper. We knew how to get to him, like giving him notes that said something had happened to his sister, or his mommy. And that made him angry, so he would try to fight back. But the little weakling couldn't defeat us. Did he tell you that?" I could smell nicotine on his breath. "Answer me! Did he tell you what a weakling he was? How he had such a soft spot for his sissy?" All of this sunk in. I was filled with new hatred for Jace. The next few moments happened quite quickly. I kneed him in the balls as hard as I could, making him release my arms. Then, I grabbed his arm, yanking it behind his back, and pushing him out the door. "Don't you dare come back here!" I said before slamming the door in his face. I turned and leaned back against the door, locking it. I had learned a little self defense after Jace found out where I lived. Just to be prepared. "Meadow? Are you alright?" My mom came down the hallway, a cup of tea in her hand. "Yeah, I'm fine." She turned and we walked back into the living room, turning left, and entering the kitchen. There was a long breakfast bar, bar stools lined up along one side, and hanging lights lined up over the center. We each sat next to each other. Finally I spoke, "Mom? Don't ever let him in. Ever."
Harry and I were on our third date, he came and picked me up in his Range Rover at about ten ish in the morning. We were going to drive around and find places we'd like to go. That morning, as usual, I picked my outfit with ease. I chose a sleeveless denim shirt that went down to the middle of my thigh, and my new galaxy leggings. My shoes were regular black sneakers. I wore my messy brown hair in a fishtail that ended at my belly button. We stopped first at a quiet park. There were hammocks hanging from large trees, so Harry led me to one. We both laid down on it and admired the sun streaking through the trees all around us. The breeze was so cool and it made the hammock sway a bit. I could've easily fallen asleep, but I wanted to remember how it felt to have Harry lying next to me. Harry was the first to break the silence, "I know you probably don't want to talk about this now, but I think we should." I turned my head to look up at him. So he continued, "I suspect you've noticed that someone's following you."
"Yeah, Jace." I said urging him on. "He came to my house two days ago." Harry looked surprised and worried when I said this. "But it's alright. He just wanted to talk."
"No. He wants more than that." I wanted to tell Harry that I knew about him being bullied, but I didn't know how.
"What did he say to you?" He asked me. I wondered if I should tell him. Frantic thoughts ran through my mind. "Meadow, what did he say?"
"Umm, well, he said he lived in Cheshire at the same time you did. And that you went to the same school." I chose my words carefully. He was looking up to the sky, and I was watching him intently. He looked calm, but I knew he wasn't. He couldn't be. A group of clouds passed over the sun, darkness passing over us. But only for a moment. He spoke again, "What else did he tell you?" Oh gosh. Well, here goes.
"He said that he and his friends would beat you up every day." Well, I said it.
He took a breath in, and let it out.
"You have to understand, Meadow. There were five of them. And they were all two years ahead of me. I couldn't handle all of them. And they would trick me, too. Say that they killed my mum and my sister. They started beating me up when I was only ten. They kept doing it until I'd had enough. I started to work out. I was tired of being the loser, so one day, I fought back. I was thirteen then. So, they left me alone. But Jace, he started working out as well. He wanted to get revenge, 'cuz he thought he would always be able to hurt me. On my eighteenth birthday, Niall and I boarded a plane and came here. Unfortunately, Jace followed us. So now he'll get revenge by trying to take you away from me. And I can't let that happen." A strong wind blew through the trees as I let that all sink in. Now all I wanted to do was stay like this, my head on his chest, his arms around me, mine around him. "Harry-" I began, but he cut me off. "No. I'm fine, and I don't need you feeling bad for me. I'm much stronger than I was back then."
"So, is that where the bruise is from? Did you and Jace fight recently?" I already knew the answer, but asked anyway. He nodded his head. "Well, don't worry.. I could never love him. He's a horrible person." I tried to make him feel better, and I thought it worked until he said, "It's not love he wants, Meadow."
Our moods had cleared up after we ate lunch at a place called Pineapple Willy's, which was a nice restaurant on the beach. Now we were standing outside a fancy hotel, which looked more like a skyscraper to me. "Well, let's go." I heard Harry say. We ran across the road and into the parking garage. There, we found the elevator. I did the honors and hit the button marked '50', and we started to rise. Harry was holding my hand the whole way, and we laughed about a horrible joke Harry told about a giraffe and his long face. Once at the top, my butterflies went crazy in my stomach. I hadn't told Harry this, but I was a little afraid of heights. I held on a little tighter as we went to the railing and looked out over it.
"You're afraid of heights aren't you?" I heard Harry say.
I nodded my head a little, and Harry gave me that award-winning smile he had.
"Don't worry. I'm here." And with saying that, he wrapped his arms around me. We stood together like that, hugging and looking out at the view, for a long time. I didn't want to leave, and I could tell he didn't want to either, but it had started to rain on us. We laughed and grabbed each others hands, running back to the elevator. Once inside, we leaned against the wall, busting our guts from laughing so hard. It wasn't that funny, really, but we kept laughing in spite of it all. Finally I hit the button for the parking garage. He had his arms around me again, and I rested my head on his incredibly muscular (but still soft enough for my head) chest. When the elevator reached the garage, we stepped out. We walked through the rows of cars for awhile, and I enjoyed how close together we were. We reached a section with very few cars, and Harry stopped. He stepped in front of me, and held both of my hands. "I don't know if you feel the same way, but I really enjoy being around you." He spoke slowly, his voice deep and husky. "So I just wanted to ask you, would you be my girlfriend?" He looked nervous and shy as he said this. My stomach erupted with butterflies, I was so happy. "Yes, of course I will." That's all I managed to say before Harry fit his mouth to mine, he let go of my hands, only to wrap his arms around my waist, and I found my own arms reaching up around his neck. The kiss felt warm, and passionate. Our mouths worked together, and all I felt was his warmth. I was in paradise whenever I was with him, but I couldn't think at the moment. I was too preoccupied with Harry. Soon, Harry broke the kiss. "Wait." He said. He fumble in the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a small box. He opened it, and I saw a small, simple ring, with a butterfly on top. He took it out of the box, and held it in his hand. He looked up at me and said, "This is a promise ring. It means as long as you keep it with you, you'll stay with me. Here." He put in on my forefinger on my right hand. It was a perfect fit. "Harry, I love it." The ring was silver, and the butterfly perched on top had turquoise colored wings. I absolutely love it. "I'll always keep it." I promised him. I kissed him for a moment before hugging him tightly to me. I realized that moment that I truly loved him. I knew I could trust him, and I knew he felt the same about me. It was perfect.
The rain had stopped, and the sun was setting. Harry and I had driven down to the beach to walk along the shore. We held hands, our fingers intertwined. We had left our shoes in the car, so could get our feet wet without losing a shoe, or ruining them with saltwater. I looked in my bag and found a smaller Ziploc bag, to put seashells in. We found too many to fit in the bag, so we walked a couple steps away from the water and sat down. As we spread the seashells out, trying to pick our favorites, we talked about our past. He told me about his life in England (the parts where he wasn't getting hurt by Jace), and I told him about my life, growing up here. He talked about his first kiss, and that after he kissed the girl he said, "Ewww you have cooties!" (He was only six at the time) and we laughed about that. I told Harry about the time Emily and I were walking in the hallways at school, and she pushed me into my crush, so I fell on top of him, knocking his books everywhere. He almost died laughing at that. But after we were done picking out our ten favorite shells, we put them in the bag, picked up the leftover shells, and started throwing them back into the ocean. That turned into a competition to see who could throw farther. "Haha! That was way farther than yours!" He ran over at me and lifted me up off the ground throwing me over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" I yelled, trying not to laugh.
"Make me!" He said. He ran out into the water, until he was knee deep.
"Harry!" I screamed. He took me off his shoulder, but didn't put me down. He carried me bridal-style, threatening to drop me into the water. I clung tightly to him as a wave got my feet. He finally put me down, so I was standing with him. But, since I was so much shorter than him, the water went up to the middle of my thigh, getting the end of my denim shirt wet. I stood on tiptoe trying not to fall into the water. I attempted to get out of the ocean and back to the beach, but Harry's arms wrapped around my waist when I was half-way there.
"Where do you think you're goin?" He whispered in my ear, all of a sudden, he started tickling the life out of me.
"N-No! Stop it!" I laughed those words out.
We continued messing around in the water, until we realized it was so dark, if we held our hands in front of our faces we wouldn't be able to see them.
Once we were back in front of my house, Harry helped me out of the car, and held my hand all the way up to the front door. He kissed my forehead and hugged me tightly for a moment, then let go.
"See you." He said quietly. I nodded and let go of his hand. I fished my keys out of my bag, and opened the door, walking inside. I went down the hall, when I reached the living room I went to the right, where there was an open space filled with chairs scattered around a stone fireplace. Next to the fireplace was a huge spiral staircase going up to the second floor, and down the basement. My room was upstairs so I think you know where I went. After climbing the stairs, there's another open space that I call the Junkyard. If ever there's something you don't need, throw it in the Junkyard and someone who sees it and wants it? Well, it's theirs. The cieling of the top floor is slanted, so my room is like that as well. My room is through the junkyard, down a long, useless hallway, and at the end is my door. Its a sliding door because my room was part of a big and fancy walk-in closet. My mom went through a crazy redecorating phase when I was a kid, so she tore down the master bedroom, (which started at the beginning of the useless hall and all the way to the end of my room.) made the closet door open up to my new room. My favorite thing about my room is the huge bay window and window seat that you see right when you walk in, where I read, and listen to, and play, music. The window was split down the middle, so when you flip the latch it opens. My mom forgot to put a screen in, so if I wanted too, I could sneak out. My bed was to the left when you walk in, awkwardly stuffed in the corner of the room. I had a view of the front yard, so I could see when people walked by. I used to have a built in bookshelf, which I loved, but mom tore the shelves out and put in two bars to hang my clothes on. So I didn't have much space to put my clothing, which is why I keep a large cardboard box under my bed, for lazy day clothes that didn't need to be hung up. To make up for tearing down my bookshelf, my mom built a new one. Now remember, my room is really long, and takes up the whole front side of the house, so the cieling looked like a half-opened book was sat on top of the house, instead of a real roof. Anyway, the bookshelf takes up the whole wall, exept for a doorway that leads to my own bathroom (a big plus). I dumped my bag next to my bed, and collapsed down on it.
Only about five seconds later my mom knocks on my bedroom door. I got up and opened it, seeing she was in her travel clothes.
"I forgot to tell you, Meadow, I'm leaving for a week." My mom was always going on these trips to scenic places, teaching yoga classes, and helping people find new ways to relax themselves.
"Oh, ok." I said "Where are you going this time?"
"Fernando de Noronha"
"Where's that?"
"I don't know, somewhere in the ocean. But it'll only be seven days, so take care of yourself sweetie." She said this while giving one of her warm and welcoming hugs.
"Allright bye, love you." I said as she let me go.
"Bye! Love you too!" She said while running through the Junkyard and to the stairs. My room was the only bedroom on the top floor, so her suitcase was probably downstairs. Her bedroom was hidden from everywhere else, and I loved the idea of that. To get to her room, you had to go through her tropical yoga room, move a few palm tree fronds, and find the doornob. The door was camouflaged in with the rest of the room, and only my mom had mastered finding where it was.
I closed the door again, and re-collapsed on my bed. I looked at the slanted cieling, where I taped a bunch of posters or bands I liked, pictures of me and Emily and a few of my other friends. I didn't see much of them, because they went to a different school, but I was as close to them as I was to Emily, believe it or not. I didn't talk to them much during the first month or so of school, because they go to a really prestigious school that lays on all the homework they can in the first few weeks.
I decided later I would call them and we would all get together.
I had called my other friends like I had said. There were three, there was Danielle, who had brown eyes, and messy brown hair that I loved to braid. Eleanor, again with brown eyes, but her brown hair was kept in small waves. And then there's Perrie, with blue eyes like mine and white blonde hair. They were all so much fun to be with, and I missed them so much! Tomorrow, we would all get together at Emily's house, and catch up with each other.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" It was my mom's voice.
"Ummm, some old bookstore with Emily, why?"
"There's a boy here to see you." My heart lifted, thinking it was Harry, then sank remembering Jace knew where I lived.
"Uh okay, I- I'll be there in a minute."
She hung up. I turned and looked at Emily."My mom said there's a boy at our house. She didn't say who." That was all I needed to say to get Emily out of her chair. She grabbed my arm, and we started walking as fast as we could. My house was only a few blocks away, and I prayed the whole way that it wouldn't be Jace.
We reached my house minutes later, but there were no cars in our driveway. Great.
"You can go home. I'm sure it's only Harry." I reassured Emily. She nodded and gave my hand a squeeze to comfort me. I watched her figure go farther and farther away until I summoned the courage to open the front door. I wondered what my house looked like to other people. Right as you walk through the door, there are two rooms, one on each side. If you open the right door, you'll think you walked into a tropical forest. That would be my mom's yoga room. She had spent almost a year trying to make it look like you had walked into paradise. On the door to the left, had floor to ceiling shelves, filled with loads of books. The was my favorite room. On the empty side of the room, there was a small bed, and next to that, there was a desk with a computer, a cup filled with pens and sharpies, and a small potted bonsai tree. Sometimes, I would sleep in this room, instead of my own. That's why we put a bed in here instead of the couch that used to inhabit that space. Back outside those two first rooms, there was a short hallway, lined with pictures of me and my mom, and also some of my nature pictures I had printed out. At the end of the hallway, you reach the living room. The T.V. screen faced the hallway, so you could see what shows people were watching as you step in the door. The back of the couch was also pointed in the same direction, so you could see the back of my head as I watched Food Network or whatever else I found interesting. Two chairs, filled with so much stuffing, they looked like they would burst any second, straddled the couch. I stopped before l stepped in, afraid of who I might find, although I knew who it was. I took a long breath in, held it for ten seconds, and let it out, imagining that the breath I let out, was all the nerves I had. This was an exercise I had learned from my mom. She was always doing calming things, like yoga, drinking tea, massages, long bubble baths. I, however, didn't have the time to do these things. Of course I inherited her ability to freak out over the smallest things, but, unlike her, I didn't know how to handle it. Anyway, back to the situation. I breathed a few more times, then pushed myself out of the hallway and into the living room. Jace. I knew it. He was practically laying all over our couch, definitely taking my moms advice and making himself at home. However, my mom was nowhere to be found. Jace looked up from his lounging around, and an evil smile crept across his dark face.
He slowly sat up and said,"Glad you could make it, Meadow." I suddenly hated him more than I ever thought I could. He didn't belong here, this was MY house, not his.
"Get out of my house." I said this as calmly as possible.
"Aw come on, Meadow. You won't even give me a chance?" He made a weird face. Was he trying to look innocent? Or sick? I honestly couldn't tell.
"Get out of my house." I spoke a little louder. Jace stood up, walked around the couch, and was right in front of me.
"I know you love me. You're just going out with that furball, Harry to cover it up, aren't you? But you didn't think I would find out, am I right? You've loved me since you first laid eyes on me. So tell me, how can you stand hanging around with him?" He spat the word 'him' out with so much disgust.
"Oh please. You're not jealous that I love Harry, are you? He's much more that you think. So if you would kindly leav-"
"No!" He cut me off before I could finish, "You don't know what he's really like. You don't know how much of a baby he was only a few years ago. That's right. I knew him way before he even came to Florida. I lived in Holmes Chapel, we went to the same school for three years. And I made those three years terrible for him. He was so small, so easy to beat up." I had no idea that Jace was from Cheshire. He hid his accent very well. But Jace beat Harry up? That couldn't be right... "I made him cry for his mommy." He stepped closer and closer to me, with every word. He was near enough now that I could see he had a couple stitches in his eyebrow.
"No. Get out!" I yelled. He grabbed my arms and pushed me against the wall.
"You don't know him like you think you did. You don't know why he started acting so tough, huh? Every day, my friends and I would corner him after school. He would leave with fresh blood on his skin, new bruises on his face. But he couldn't tell his mommy who was hurting him now could he? Because we knew where he lived. We knew what route he took to deliver the paper. We knew how to get to him, like giving him notes that said something had happened to his sister, or his mommy. And that made him angry, so he would try to fight back. But the little weakling couldn't defeat us. Did he tell you that?" I could smell nicotine on his breath. "Answer me! Did he tell you what a weakling he was? How he had such a soft spot for his sissy?" All of this sunk in. I was filled with new hatred for Jace. The next few moments happened quite quickly. I kneed him in the balls as hard as I could, making him release my arms. Then, I grabbed his arm, yanking it behind his back, and pushing him out the door. "Don't you dare come back here!" I said before slamming the door in his face. I turned and leaned back against the door, locking it. I had learned a little self defense after Jace found out where I lived. Just to be prepared. "Meadow? Are you alright?" My mom came down the hallway, a cup of tea in her hand. "Yeah, I'm fine." She turned and we walked back into the living room, turning left, and entering the kitchen. There was a long breakfast bar, bar stools lined up along one side, and hanging lights lined up over the center. We each sat next to each other. Finally I spoke, "Mom? Don't ever let him in. Ever."
Harry and I were on our third date, he came and picked me up in his Range Rover at about ten ish in the morning. We were going to drive around and find places we'd like to go. That morning, as usual, I picked my outfit with ease. I chose a sleeveless denim shirt that went down to the middle of my thigh, and my new galaxy leggings. My shoes were regular black sneakers. I wore my messy brown hair in a fishtail that ended at my belly button. We stopped first at a quiet park. There were hammocks hanging from large trees, so Harry led me to one. We both laid down on it and admired the sun streaking through the trees all around us. The breeze was so cool and it made the hammock sway a bit. I could've easily fallen asleep, but I wanted to remember how it felt to have Harry lying next to me. Harry was the first to break the silence, "I know you probably don't want to talk about this now, but I think we should." I turned my head to look up at him. So he continued, "I suspect you've noticed that someone's following you."
"Yeah, Jace." I said urging him on. "He came to my house two days ago." Harry looked surprised and worried when I said this. "But it's alright. He just wanted to talk."
"No. He wants more than that." I wanted to tell Harry that I knew about him being bullied, but I didn't know how.
"What did he say to you?" He asked me. I wondered if I should tell him. Frantic thoughts ran through my mind. "Meadow, what did he say?"
"Umm, well, he said he lived in Cheshire at the same time you did. And that you went to the same school." I chose my words carefully. He was looking up to the sky, and I was watching him intently. He looked calm, but I knew he wasn't. He couldn't be. A group of clouds passed over the sun, darkness passing over us. But only for a moment. He spoke again, "What else did he tell you?" Oh gosh. Well, here goes.
"He said that he and his friends would beat you up every day." Well, I said it.
He took a breath in, and let it out.
"You have to understand, Meadow. There were five of them. And they were all two years ahead of me. I couldn't handle all of them. And they would trick me, too. Say that they killed my mum and my sister. They started beating me up when I was only ten. They kept doing it until I'd had enough. I started to work out. I was tired of being the loser, so one day, I fought back. I was thirteen then. So, they left me alone. But Jace, he started working out as well. He wanted to get revenge, 'cuz he thought he would always be able to hurt me. On my eighteenth birthday, Niall and I boarded a plane and came here. Unfortunately, Jace followed us. So now he'll get revenge by trying to take you away from me. And I can't let that happen." A strong wind blew through the trees as I let that all sink in. Now all I wanted to do was stay like this, my head on his chest, his arms around me, mine around him. "Harry-" I began, but he cut me off. "No. I'm fine, and I don't need you feeling bad for me. I'm much stronger than I was back then."
"So, is that where the bruise is from? Did you and Jace fight recently?" I already knew the answer, but asked anyway. He nodded his head. "Well, don't worry.. I could never love him. He's a horrible person." I tried to make him feel better, and I thought it worked until he said, "It's not love he wants, Meadow."
Our moods had cleared up after we ate lunch at a place called Pineapple Willy's, which was a nice restaurant on the beach. Now we were standing outside a fancy hotel, which looked more like a skyscraper to me. "Well, let's go." I heard Harry say. We ran across the road and into the parking garage. There, we found the elevator. I did the honors and hit the button marked '50', and we started to rise. Harry was holding my hand the whole way, and we laughed about a horrible joke Harry told about a giraffe and his long face. Once at the top, my butterflies went crazy in my stomach. I hadn't told Harry this, but I was a little afraid of heights. I held on a little tighter as we went to the railing and looked out over it.
"You're afraid of heights aren't you?" I heard Harry say.
I nodded my head a little, and Harry gave me that award-winning smile he had.
"Don't worry. I'm here." And with saying that, he wrapped his arms around me. We stood together like that, hugging and looking out at the view, for a long time. I didn't want to leave, and I could tell he didn't want to either, but it had started to rain on us. We laughed and grabbed each others hands, running back to the elevator. Once inside, we leaned against the wall, busting our guts from laughing so hard. It wasn't that funny, really, but we kept laughing in spite of it all. Finally I hit the button for the parking garage. He had his arms around me again, and I rested my head on his incredibly muscular (but still soft enough for my head) chest. When the elevator reached the garage, we stepped out. We walked through the rows of cars for awhile, and I enjoyed how close together we were. We reached a section with very few cars, and Harry stopped. He stepped in front of me, and held both of my hands. "I don't know if you feel the same way, but I really enjoy being around you." He spoke slowly, his voice deep and husky. "So I just wanted to ask you, would you be my girlfriend?" He looked nervous and shy as he said this. My stomach erupted with butterflies, I was so happy. "Yes, of course I will." That's all I managed to say before Harry fit his mouth to mine, he let go of my hands, only to wrap his arms around my waist, and I found my own arms reaching up around his neck. The kiss felt warm, and passionate. Our mouths worked together, and all I felt was his warmth. I was in paradise whenever I was with him, but I couldn't think at the moment. I was too preoccupied with Harry. Soon, Harry broke the kiss. "Wait." He said. He fumble in the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a small box. He opened it, and I saw a small, simple ring, with a butterfly on top. He took it out of the box, and held it in his hand. He looked up at me and said, "This is a promise ring. It means as long as you keep it with you, you'll stay with me. Here." He put in on my forefinger on my right hand. It was a perfect fit. "Harry, I love it." The ring was silver, and the butterfly perched on top had turquoise colored wings. I absolutely love it. "I'll always keep it." I promised him. I kissed him for a moment before hugging him tightly to me. I realized that moment that I truly loved him. I knew I could trust him, and I knew he felt the same about me. It was perfect.
The rain had stopped, and the sun was setting. Harry and I had driven down to the beach to walk along the shore. We held hands, our fingers intertwined. We had left our shoes in the car, so could get our feet wet without losing a shoe, or ruining them with saltwater. I looked in my bag and found a smaller Ziploc bag, to put seashells in. We found too many to fit in the bag, so we walked a couple steps away from the water and sat down. As we spread the seashells out, trying to pick our favorites, we talked about our past. He told me about his life in England (the parts where he wasn't getting hurt by Jace), and I told him about my life, growing up here. He talked about his first kiss, and that after he kissed the girl he said, "Ewww you have cooties!" (He was only six at the time) and we laughed about that. I told Harry about the time Emily and I were walking in the hallways at school, and she pushed me into my crush, so I fell on top of him, knocking his books everywhere. He almost died laughing at that. But after we were done picking out our ten favorite shells, we put them in the bag, picked up the leftover shells, and started throwing them back into the ocean. That turned into a competition to see who could throw farther. "Haha! That was way farther than yours!" He ran over at me and lifted me up off the ground throwing me over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" I yelled, trying not to laugh.
"Make me!" He said. He ran out into the water, until he was knee deep.
"Harry!" I screamed. He took me off his shoulder, but didn't put me down. He carried me bridal-style, threatening to drop me into the water. I clung tightly to him as a wave got my feet. He finally put me down, so I was standing with him. But, since I was so much shorter than him, the water went up to the middle of my thigh, getting the end of my denim shirt wet. I stood on tiptoe trying not to fall into the water. I attempted to get out of the ocean and back to the beach, but Harry's arms wrapped around my waist when I was half-way there.
"Where do you think you're goin?" He whispered in my ear, all of a sudden, he started tickling the life out of me.
"N-No! Stop it!" I laughed those words out.
We continued messing around in the water, until we realized it was so dark, if we held our hands in front of our faces we wouldn't be able to see them.
Once we were back in front of my house, Harry helped me out of the car, and held my hand all the way up to the front door. He kissed my forehead and hugged me tightly for a moment, then let go.
"See you." He said quietly. I nodded and let go of his hand. I fished my keys out of my bag, and opened the door, walking inside. I went down the hall, when I reached the living room I went to the right, where there was an open space filled with chairs scattered around a stone fireplace. Next to the fireplace was a huge spiral staircase going up to the second floor, and down the basement. My room was upstairs so I think you know where I went. After climbing the stairs, there's another open space that I call the Junkyard. If ever there's something you don't need, throw it in the Junkyard and someone who sees it and wants it? Well, it's theirs. The cieling of the top floor is slanted, so my room is like that as well. My room is through the junkyard, down a long, useless hallway, and at the end is my door. Its a sliding door because my room was part of a big and fancy walk-in closet. My mom went through a crazy redecorating phase when I was a kid, so she tore down the master bedroom, (which started at the beginning of the useless hall and all the way to the end of my room.) made the closet door open up to my new room. My favorite thing about my room is the huge bay window and window seat that you see right when you walk in, where I read, and listen to, and play, music. The window was split down the middle, so when you flip the latch it opens. My mom forgot to put a screen in, so if I wanted too, I could sneak out. My bed was to the left when you walk in, awkwardly stuffed in the corner of the room. I had a view of the front yard, so I could see when people walked by. I used to have a built in bookshelf, which I loved, but mom tore the shelves out and put in two bars to hang my clothes on. So I didn't have much space to put my clothing, which is why I keep a large cardboard box under my bed, for lazy day clothes that didn't need to be hung up. To make up for tearing down my bookshelf, my mom built a new one. Now remember, my room is really long, and takes up the whole front side of the house, so the cieling looked like a half-opened book was sat on top of the house, instead of a real roof. Anyway, the bookshelf takes up the whole wall, exept for a doorway that leads to my own bathroom (a big plus). I dumped my bag next to my bed, and collapsed down on it.
Only about five seconds later my mom knocks on my bedroom door. I got up and opened it, seeing she was in her travel clothes.
"I forgot to tell you, Meadow, I'm leaving for a week." My mom was always going on these trips to scenic places, teaching yoga classes, and helping people find new ways to relax themselves.
"Oh, ok." I said "Where are you going this time?"
"Fernando de Noronha"
"Where's that?"
"I don't know, somewhere in the ocean. But it'll only be seven days, so take care of yourself sweetie." She said this while giving one of her warm and welcoming hugs.
"Allright bye, love you." I said as she let me go.
"Bye! Love you too!" She said while running through the Junkyard and to the stairs. My room was the only bedroom on the top floor, so her suitcase was probably downstairs. Her bedroom was hidden from everywhere else, and I loved the idea of that. To get to her room, you had to go through her tropical yoga room, move a few palm tree fronds, and find the doornob. The door was camouflaged in with the rest of the room, and only my mom had mastered finding where it was.
I closed the door again, and re-collapsed on my bed. I looked at the slanted cieling, where I taped a bunch of posters or bands I liked, pictures of me and Emily and a few of my other friends. I didn't see much of them, because they went to a different school, but I was as close to them as I was to Emily, believe it or not. I didn't talk to them much during the first month or so of school, because they go to a really prestigious school that lays on all the homework they can in the first few weeks.
I decided later I would call them and we would all get together.
I had called my other friends like I had said. There were three, there was Danielle, who had brown eyes, and messy brown hair that I loved to braid. Eleanor, again with brown eyes, but her brown hair was kept in small waves. And then there's Perrie, with blue eyes like mine and white blonde hair. They were all so much fun to be with, and I missed them so much! Tomorrow, we would all get together at Emily's house, and catch up with each other.
Can u update pretty please? We've waited 3 months :))) :)) oh wait never mind
1/8/14