chapter eighty three - someone to stay
Lucy Caddel
In the final minutes of the sunlight, Harry set up the tent and sleeping bags. Nearly falling asleep several times in the passenger seat as I watched him, I decided to get up and find us some food to eat.
The trunk was loaded with stuff, squashed in from the rush of Zayn and Harry. The tent and sleeping bags took up most of the space so all that was left was a cooler, a few large bags, and my backpack.
"Zayn said he packed us pasta if you wanted to get that out, we'll just have to warm it up over a fire." Harry exhaled, dusting off his hands.
I spotted the two containers of Zayn's pasta stuffed into one of the bags. Reaching for them, I felt the ice brick below that kept them cool because of the chicken and fish inside. Harry gathers firewood and starts a spark in the small pit he made. The orange engulfs the small section of dirt and the smell of dusty smoke infiltrates my nose instantly.
Harry takes the containers from me and opens them both up, dumping the pasta into a metal pan. He hovers it over the fire while I find a seat at the very edge of the tent, facing the warmth. I circle my thumb through my necklace and look at Harry who is focused on warming our dinner. His shirt is dirtied from smoke and dirt, and so are his pants but at least they aren't white.
"Harry."
"Yes?"
"What happens when we get to Greece?" I asked a question I had been meaning to ask since I found out we were going there, I just hadn't had the guts.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, where will we stay? And how long? And what if they find us? And-,"
"We will find a place to stay. We will stay for as long as we both need and they won't find us." Harry rapid-fire answers all my questions.
I lower my head to my knees and stare at him for a moment. He does too. It's a bittersweet thing that releases a ghastly amount of feelings in my stomach.
"Do you trust me?"
With my life.
"I do." I swallow deeply, holding my breath.
"Then trust me when I say you will be okay. Everything will work out."
What about you?
"Okay."
He lifts the pan from the flames and dishes the pasta back into the two containers, handing me my portion.
"Thanks." I grinned, feeling the warmth touch my skin. The first mouthful warmed my core within seconds, holding my mouth open to reduce the heat.
Harry sits down next to me, crossing his legs and cupping his hands around the container like I am. The fire lights up his face the softest orange, highlighting each one of his perfect features. I couldn't hide the fact I was completely besotted, not with just the way he looked or the way he dressed but also with what he does. His actions speak a lot about who he is as a person, and it's no surprise that he's changed me too. I guess that's what drew me to him.
— —
Harry Edwards
My eyelids fell heavy while I dumped a jug of water over the fire. The warmth was now gone and we were reliant on our own body heat and the sleeping bags to keep us from freezing. It's still a couple of weeks till December, but you could feel the shift of cold in the night air.
I found one last blanket in the trunk of the car, stuffed into a bag. It had some unusual patterns on it that I couldn't quite make out but Zayn had packed it so that's probably why. I brought it to the tent where Lucy was already in her sleeping bag, tucked inside. It is a two-person tent but we'd probably treat it as only fit for one person. I slipped off my shoes and kneeled to unzip the front. It was pitch black before Lucy switched on the tiny camp light that was on its last amount of battery.
"Let me know if you need me to move over," Lucy told me as I climbed in. She sat upright now, using her hands to lift herself.
"You're fine where you are." I grinned, looking into her blue eyes. Her blonde hair was tied back into a messy braid and she had pulled on a hoodie over the gray shirt that belonged to me. She still hadn't taken it off. Her eyes were glassy and her lips a shiny color from her coconut lip balm that I could smell.
I pulled the last blanket up behind our heads as a makeshift pillow before zipping the tent shut. My sleeping bag had been unzipped and laid out ready for me thanks to her. Climbing in, I grab her hand on the way. She lays back down too, facing each other as we both rest our heads on the patterned blanket.
I snaked my hand around her waist, being cautious of her wound. She understood instantly, moving herself back so that her spine brushed my chest. She was ice cold so my aim for the next half an hour would be to warm her body. Blonde hair tickled my chin as I admired the nape of her neck. I tried to shut my eyes but my conscience got the better of me and I let my lips plant a soft kiss on her skin.
She lets out a long exhale, melting her body against mine. Her neck shuffles and moves closer to me, implying her response. I released another peck on her neck. And another. One by one in a new spot each time. I paused and applied more pressure with the final one, taking in the delicate skin between my lips and smelling her perfume.
The mark she left on my collarbone had been on my mind since she gave it to me. I had caught myself touching it with my finger in reflections more times than I intended to. It was scary the effect she had on me. She insanely drove my head to a feeling I never thought I'd visit. I took in that feeling and it was comforting in the way I knew I had someone to wake up to. Someone to admire and care for.
Someone to stay.
The tiny camp light had flickered out from losing its battery power, leaving us in the darkness. The view of her face was the most faint of light left and as I squeezed her hand, I knew where more of her was. I knew every part of her, even the parts I knew she didn't want anyone to know. I felt honored to be trusted with someone like her. She was like porcelain that I would vow to hold carefully for as long as she needed.
With Greece just around the corner, the future was uncertain. But I like uncertainty. It was better than knowing I'd have to come back here while I'm framed for murder and potentially up for exile in the brutalist form. I don't think I'd ever be able to face my mother again. It was going to be hard because Gemma was in the middle of it. I couldn't see her again. Same with the guys. I'd only be able to call them, and that's even a risk. They were important to me and shaped who I am now.
"Harry?" Lucy's whisper wakes me from a dangerous train of thought.
"Yes?"
"Earlier, when you said for me to trust you..."
Oh no.
"... you said only I will be okay. What about you?"
I had to word things very cautiously around her because she could smell my lies before I even said them. Except this was different. This one wasn't a lie, it was more of a promising statement. One that I meant every word for because my aim at this moment in time, was to make sure she would be okay.
I frowned, playing dumb. "What do you mean?"
"We will both be okay, won't we? Not just me." She pauses. "I have to know that you will be okay too."
"I will be."
"Are you sure? Because if you're not okay, then I'm not either."
Wow.
I nod, "I am sure... I am sure that we will both be okay."
— —
end of chapter eighty three <3
Thanks so much for reading!!