Stage Lights || H.S.

the rain

We sat in the car in silence. Harry's Range Rover was the same as his Los Angeles one, but this one smelled new, like he barely took it out on a drive. We each had a cup of iced coffee on the cupholder, he drank from his more than I drank from mine, and I knew most of the songs he played, I hummed as he sang along the words once in a while.

It felt comfortable. Not because I wore leggings and a crewneck that smelled like his vanilla cologne, not because the leather seat was heated and large enough for me to crawl up in a ball watching the endless road ahead of us, but because I had never experienced something like this and being with him just felt right.

Harry's fingers tapped on the steering wheel when the song was more up beat, like a Rolling Stones one, Bon Jovi or even Johnny Cash. When Songbird by Fleetwood Mac came on, he took one of his hands off of the steering wheel and rested it on my thigh. I placed mine over it, turning my head and traveling my eyes off the road to his face. The green scenery flashed behind him, the same that its been for the past three hours. It wasn't quite as green as his eyes though, the hint of blue in them made them special. His nose crunched up when he noticed me staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing."

"C'mon, something's got to be on your mind." He turned his hand around, his palm open and inviting me to lace my fingers with him. "Whatcha thinking?"

"Just that you're pretty."

He laughed. "I'm pretty?"

"And that I'm happy."

"Well, I'm glad you are, love." And then we fell silent again, the sound of Stevie Nicks' voice filling the car.

It took us a little while and a couple more songs until Harry pulled up in smaller streets and finally into a parking lot. There were two other cars there, and it was surrounded by greenery in a way we couldn't see anything else. I looked at him confused but he just grabbed his belongings and hopped off the car. I slid off and shut the door, and he was already walking to meet me around.

"Where are we?"

He stole a kiss on my lips before wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "I figured we'd make a stop before getting into the village. This is one of my mum's favorite places." We started walking towards the path. "Haven't been here in a while. Since the weather looks bad I figured there wasn't going to be a lot of people here."

I looked up at the cloudy sky, it was a dark shade of grey that was not very common in California but that I definitely have seen before in Seattle and Chicago. We walked in silence for a while, his hand gripping my shoulder keeping our bodies together. We reached a long very green and well mowed grass area. There were perfectly straight bushes that made me feel like I was in a maze, a fountain in the middle, an older lady leaning down to smell a pink flower, and a big house after a large flight of stairs.

It looked like something out of the movies. "It's gorgeous."

"I know. It's a mansion from the medieval times. I used to think it was dumb when my mom brought us here, but now I just think it's beautiful." I looked up at him, he looked down at me. "Like you. You're beautiful."

Harry let go of me, stepping ahead so he stood in front of me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my cheek on his chest. I blinked a couple of times, inhaling his smell mixed up with the smell of the rain that was approaching and the garden around us. I could hear the thunder from afar.

Harry kissed my forehead before wrapping his arms around my and pulling me up off the ground. He span me around a couple of times, making me laugh and the lady to turn around to see what we were doing. He put me down again, pushing my messy hair to behind my ear.

"I'm--" He began to say but was interrupted by a drop of water that fell from the sky and hit him right on the nose. He glanced up and then down at me again. "I'm--" This time the drop of water fell on me, right on my cheek. Followed by another one, and another one. He sighed. "Way to ruin the moment."

"What do you wanna say?"

"We should probably go before it gets bad."

+++++++++

It got bad. It got awful. It got terrible. The rain poured down on us as we jogged our way back to the car. Now Harry pulled up in the quiet streets of Holmes Chapel as we both sat in silence, with no music playing this time, and completely soaked, drenched. My hair was stuck to my face, my hoodie completely wet, making me shiver, I knew my mascara was now streaming down my cheeks.

The house in front of me had brick walls and was big enough for a large family to live in, it also looked nothing like houses I was used to see. It looked like something out of old movies, surrounded by grass, bushes and trees, vines growing on the corner making its way up until it reached the roof, with large white windows and a pebble walkway.

"Is this where you grew up?" I asked looking over at him. His hair was pulled back and completely wet as well, his white t-shirt stuck to his body making him look more muscular than I knew he was.

"No, we sold that one. It started to get really busy, girls would camp outside my mum's door." He picked up his phone and walled. "I got her this house when her and Robin got married."

"Well, it's gorgeous."

He smiled proudly. "Let's get inside."

We both got off the car. I followed him to the house, the breeze hit my body making me shiver again, and the more I squeezed my arms around my waist the more I felt the water sliding down my skin. He turned around to me before opening the door.

"I can feel you shaking and it's not completely because you're cold."

"I'm nervous."

"Why? You've met my mum before, she thinks you're lovely."

I sighed. "I've never done this before. Ever."

"Hey." He pressed his finger on my chin, bringing my face up and forcing me to look into his eyes. Gosh, they were so green. "Luna--"

I interrupted him. "I just want to say before we go in and I make a complete fool of myself." I let out a long exhale. "That you mean a lot to me, Harry, and I wouldn't want to be doing this with anyone else but you."

"And that makes me the happiest guy in the world, love."