No Regrets

*HARRY’S POV*

As I sat down at the table, I reached over and took Lizzie’s hand in mine as she looked up at me skeptically. This was when I guess she knew something was up, so I decided this was it. It was time.

“Lizzie?” I asked softly.

“Yes, Harry?” Just hearing her say my name made me smile.

“I have something to tell you..” I began, taking a deep breath, “Do you remember our first date? How the paparazzi barricaded us in your apartment, so instead you suggested that we stay there, and we ended up re-heating pizza for dinner and eating in our underwear?” Taking her smile as enough acknowledgement, I continued. “Well, that was when I knew that you weren’t like other girls- that you were special. And then, after management put us through hell, do you remember the night of my birthday? How we were in that club, and you were sitting next to me, and I wrapped my arm around you... do you remember what you said to me?”

“No, I don’t..” she said softly.

“You said, ‘don’t let me go,’ and it was in that moment that I knew I was in love with you.” I practically whispered to her, watching as she tried to hide her smile. “And right now, still being in love with you, I’ve never felt happier, which is why I brought you here. I have something I want to give you, and I wanted it to be a special occasion.” I brought up the tiny jewelry box and placed it on the table. “Before you say anything, it’s not what you think.” I opened the box, revealing the emerald from her promise ring, but it had been completely redone.

“Harry, is that..?” she began, her voice trailing off.

“It’s the same emerald from the first ring, but I changed it. My feelings for you haven’t changed, but our relationship has. We’ve gotten better, so this time, I want to give this to you as more than a promise ring, not an engagement ring though,” I clarified. “Even though neither of us knows what our future is going to be like, I honestly can’t imagine having to spend a single day in the rest of my life without you. So now it’s my turn… with this ring, what I’m trying to say is please, Lizzie, don’t let me go.”

I took a deep breath as I finished, looking up at her from where my eyes had been resting on the ring in my hands. Without saying anything, she stood up and began to walk around the small table, but I stood up and met her in the middle.

“I love you, Harry.” She said, causing my breath to catch in my throat before she stood on her tiptoes, barely touching my lips with hers as she teased me before pulling away just a couple centimeters. “And I won’t; I promise.”

“You won’t what?” I asked, desperate to feel her lips on mine again.

“I won’t let you go, Harry.” Liz said with a smile as she looked up into my eyes, just before she pressed her lips onto mine again, this time with more intensity. I kissed her back, matching her rhythm and intensity before we both pulled away after a moment.

“Well then this is for you,” I said, picking the ring up off of the table before I slid it onto her finger. Liz looked down at the newly foreign object on her finger with a smile before she looked up at me again, her golden brown eyes twinkling. “So, what do you want to do now..?” I asked, hoping she would pick up on my tone.

“Wine and dessert on the balcony!” She exclaimed with a laugh, obvious that she picked up on what I was indicating though she blatantly ignored it.

“All right,” I said with a smile before planting a quick kiss on her forehead, “balcony it is.”

*LIZZIE’S POV*

After insisting on taking pictures and getting Harry to agree, I put my phone back in my bag and grabbed a second bottle of wine to start. As Harry and I sat in the small chairs on the balcony, I couldn’t help but think of what Harry had said- especially the part about our future together. Harry was by far the best thing to happen to my life, but that thought scared me more than anything. As much as I hated it, I couldn’t help but be afraid, especially given our history..

“Liz?” Harry asked, distracting me from my thoughts, “what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” I said with a reassuring smile as I stood up to refill our wine glasses.

“Come sit with me?” He whined playfully, extending his arms to grab my waist, pulling me onto his lap.

“This is honestly so beautiful,” I whispered, resting my head in the crook of his neck, his curls tickling my forehead, as I looked out on the Paris night with the Eifel tower twinkling in the center of our panoramic view. “How the hell did you pull this off?” I asked, just now realizing what it must have taken to accomplish all of this.

“Thanks to my... what were your words? ‘Sharing circle?’ with Zayn and Louis. Louis handled this place; Zayn handled the ring.” He said, his eyes traveling down to where my hand and ring finger were resting on his chest.

“Well I’m going to have to bake them some Thank You Cookies when we get back tomorrow!” I said with a smile, forever grateful for his four best friends.

“Whoa, you can actually bake cookies?” Harry asked, faking awe.

“Oh yeah, you didn’t know?” I said with a laugh as I looked up at him, “slice and bake are my specialty.”

“Well aren’t you talented...” He retorted with a smirk.

“Just one of my many specialties…” I said looking up at him as I slowly bit my bottom lip.

Wasting no time, Harry crashed his lips onto mine as his arms wrapped around my torso, pulling me impossibly closer to him. I adjusted from our somewhat awkward position without breaking the kiss, pulling a little off of his lap so that I could wrap my other leg around him, facing and straddling his body. I let out a gasp as he surprisingly moved down my jaw line and began to kiss on my neck, which was still sensitive from the hickeys he left this morning. Slightly chuckling at my reaction to him, Harry slid his hands under my thighs, grabbing me and lifting me effortlessly with him as he stood up from the chair and walked inside, not even bothering to close the balcony doors behind us.

~~~~~~

When I woke up in the morning to the sounds of city life below us, it took me a minute to just let everything sink in from last night- plus the red wine gave me a pretty bad headache.

Turning from my left side to lay on my back, Harry’s body stirred around me as I gently moved his arm that was wrapped around my stomach and untangled my legs from his.

“Morning already?” He asked, his voice extremely raspy.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I apologized in a soft voice. Judging by the fact that Harry hadn’t opened his eyes yet, I would say the wine had an effect on him too. “What time do we have to get back? What do you have today?” I asked, anxious to enjoy whatever time we had left in Paris.

“I cleared my entire day for you. No rehearsals, no studio, no press conferences or anything. Just you, me, and Paris until we fly home this evening.” Harry said with a smile as he propped himself up on his elbows. “So what do you want to do..?” He asked, laughing at my already excited reaction.

~~~~~~

Harry and I spent the rest of the day together, starting at a small coffee shop for breakfast before we went to the top of the Eifel tower, taking the stairs as far as we could until we got to the elevators that took us to the final tier. After that, Harry insisted on taking me shopping along the Champs Élysées, always stopping to take pictures with as many fans that asked him to.

By the time we boarded to fly home, I was thoroughly exhausted and completely in awe of my perfect boyfriend and the perfect day that he had given me.

“Thank you, Harry, for everything.” I said as I snuggled into my spot underneath his left arm as he untangled his ear buds.

“I love you.” He said back as he smiled down at me, handing me mine.

“I love you, too.” I said, somewhat laughing at how happy I felt, before I placed the ear bud in my ear and slowly drifted into sleep in Harry’s grip as Beatles lyrics floated through my head..

Notes