32 || You're So Golden (Part 1)

                                    

                                          
I WAKE UP ON the same couch I remember talking to Harry on the night before.
A warm flannel blanket now covers my body. My back is curled up against the cushions with a fluffy pillow in my arms. As I take in my surroundings, a faint memory resurfaces from the middle of the night.
My arm draped over Harry's torso as he lay next to me. His hands wrapped tight around my waist. My head resting against his chest.
I look around the living room and see no sign of Harry, but a distant clanging suddenly sounds from the kitchen. I slowly get up from my spot and follow the noise. I find him sitting at a circular table by the windows. A plate full of food is already lying in front of him. A large mug rests in his right hand, and he holds an ever-present book in his left.
He hasn't noticed me yet, and I can't help but take the moment to silently observe him.
Something about him is so unique. He's like no one I've ever met before.
How can someone exude so much power and influence in public, yet in private, seem so at peace with being alone?
I begin to move toward him without even being aware. As the soft pads of my feet touch the wood floor, Harry stirs and looks up. His green eyes drink me in.
"G'morning." His deep voice draws me forward. "There's food over there if you want some." His head nods toward the stove. "There's eggs, toast, and fruit on the counter."
"Thanks." I stop next to him, running my hand along his shoulder.
I make my way over to the stove, scooping up some food and grabbing a handful of berries to put on my dish. As I prepare breakfast, I look up from the counter and see a vase of flowers in the middle of the island that I hadn't noticed before.
"Sunflowers!" I exclaim, pulling the vase closer to smell the bright yellow bouquet. 
The strong fragrance pulls me back into a bright part of my childhood. My mom - Penny - the sunflower patch that grew in our backyard. Every summer they'd be as tall as skyscrapers in my eyes.
"These are my favorite flowers." 
Harry's eyes glance away from his book to look toward me for a moment.
"I know."
I grin, sliding the vase back toward the middle.
"You do?" My movement freezes, trying to think of a time when I told him. "How?"
"Jalen told me once. In Tokyo." He pauses. "And you wore that dress." 
I feel a sudden wave of lightheadedness hit me.
Jalen told him once. And he remembered? 
The memory of his thumb tracing my sunflower dress appears in my mind.
I try hard not to blush under his gaze. The words he said the night before come ringing back in my ears.
He said he wanted to give me space. That he didn't want to say things he would regret?
This trip is pulling me even further under his spell, but there are still so many things that remain unsaid between us.
"You ready for our day?" He speaks from the table, diverting me from my weighty thoughts. "I have a studio show and some interviews over the next couple of days. But today, I'm all yours." He says before popping a berry in his mouth.
"What do you have planned?" 
"Well, while you were drunkenly assaulting me at Kacey's party, you said you went to Italy." He jokes, watching me squirm. "That you saw the Galleria Borghese and were upset because you wanted to tell me about it."