That Summer Feeling: SUMMER 4EVER [H.S.]

ENDLESS SUMMER V

"You will fall in love with your friends. Deep, passionate love. You will create a second family with them, a kind of tribe that makes you feel less vulnerable. Sometimes our families can't love us all the time. Sometimes we're born into families who don't know how to love us properly. They do as much as they can but the rest is up to our friends. They can love you all the time, without judgement. At least the good ones can."

- Ryan O'Connell

☼

"Some things simply aren't meant to last forever," he told me, "but you," he smiled, "are an endless summer."

"And I... " he paused, "am just a boy, unworthy of such
a love, seeking shelter from the cold."

- Cindy Cherie

⋆ ☀︎ ⋆ ☼ ⋆ ☀︎ ⋆ ☼⋆ ☀︎ ⋆ ☼ ⋆ ☀︎ ⋆ ☼

'in this world, it's just us'

MAY 2020
LAGUNA BEACH, CA

HARRY

The salt-scented breeze brushes against my face when I step onto the smooth pavement. It almost hurt to stretch my body after hours of being chained to a seat. Where we ended up is a wild contrast to where we've been all day— we've traded the crowded, stuffy airports for a massive beach. The palm trees softly sway and rustle above us. I watch the waves crash into each other from a distance. The peek of the moon illuminates the sharp cuts of the dark open ocean and the dirty sand.

Fuck the beach and fuck this house.

"Holy shit!" I could hear Niall yell out as soon as I round the car and unlock the trunk. He comes up to me in a hurry bouncing on his feet. "What the fuck, Harry? This place is insane! Why didn't you didn't tell us you were fuckin' loaded?"

"Yeah, you selfish bastard. We could have had a holiday here every year instead of sweating in Niall's shitty flat!" Louis comes up to us next.

"No one's forcing you to stay at my shitty flat," he grits.

"I'm not loaded," I say in the same breath that Niall spoke and rolled my eyes, locating the handles of our luggage to pull out from the car.

"Pfft! Right, then explain this fucking mansion on a private beach!"

"I told you lot already, my mum's husband rents this house. He's got fucking properties around the state or some shit." I quickly slapped my palm against the back of my neck when I heard an annoying buzzing and a pinch on my skin.

God, I loathe beaches.

"Your mum's husband? So your step-father," Zayn chimed in, reaching for a suitcase beside me.

My jaw is wired shut with the same tension I feel across my shoulders before opening my mouth to utter a single word. "No."

"C'mon, don't look so depressed, mate. We're on the beach! How can you be depressed on a beach?"

How can I not be, is the better question.

My eyes wander around the gated property as we take our belongings up to the front door. Every bush is impeccably trimmed, there's a goddamn stone fountain built along the curved wall of the driveway where two cars currently sit, and the glass doors that spoil a peek into this enormous house are spotless. I'm not surprised Richard shows off his money like this. I'm less surprised my mother and sister let him.