Hunted: Harry Styles Fan Fiction

Kate

Chapter 24

            The sun was beginning to set, and it’s remaining glow turned the sky deep shades of maroon, violet, and gold. Little pricks of starlight, still only barely visible, began to show overhead as Harry and I walked along the street, our fingers still interlaced. The night was warm, despite the light breeze that blew off of the ocean. It surprised me how whole I felt here. It was as if I’d been missing this piece of myself all along, and I’d have never known if I hadn’t been thrown into this mess alongside Harry. I still had trouble comprehending everything now. Was it really only a few days ago that I’d been a normal girl, in a semi-normal life? So much had changed since then; I’d learned so much about the person I am. I hardly recognized this girl. It was nearly impossible to imagine how life used to be anymore; I feared the memories had disappeared entirely.

            “You’re awfully quiet over there,” Harry noted, as we walked along the storefronts. He glanced over at me, the yellow glows from the windows illuminating his iridescent green eyes. “What are you thinking about?” I looked over at him, and smiled warmly, but said nothing right away.

            “Just stuff,” I responded eventually with a shrug. “About today, about us, about what to do next; about who I really am. I’m trying to figure it all out.” I looked at the ground as we continued to walk as a sudden pang of sadness hit me.

            “You think too much,” Harry commented with a smile, and he leaned over to nudge my shoulder with his. I couldn’t help but smile back, his sunny attitude becoming infectious. The store windows started to darken signaling closing time. Finally the city seemed to end; the buildings just stopped, and suddenly Harry and I were confronted by a large wooden boardwalk and the blue-green ocean of the Long Island sound. For a moment, we stood in silence listening to the rushing of waves rolling up the beach.

            “You know, if I didn’t think so much you’d be dead by now,” I teased him with a little smile playing at the corners of my mouth. I leaned over on a metal railing that stood just above the beach as I talked. Harry turned to face me, still resting an elbow on the railing while a mock astonished smile lit up his features in the fading sunlight. 

            “Shut up!” Harry half laughed, half scoffed. Afraid I’d pushed it too far, I finally looked over to see the silly, playful expression on his face, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

            “Why don’t you make me?”

            “Fine.” I was about to laugh again when I felt Harry suddenly pull me close and press his lips to mine forcefully. One hand cupped my chin, and the other wrapped its way around my waist, eliminating all the space between us. His hand slid up to toy with the ends of my hair while we kissed, sending shivers flickering down my spine. It took me a moment to react to him; to get my brain to function at all. Finally I got ahold of myself, and kissed him back. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but it felt good. In that moment I didn’t have a care in the world; everything else stopped. I would’ve given up everything to stay this way with him. Finally he pulled away, but we stood in the twilight with our faces still almost touching, breathing in the cooling night air. The sun had finally set below the horizon and all the stars glittered gently above us.

            “I don’t know about you, but I think that was my best kiss to date,” Harry breathed finally, a smile pulling at his mouth.

“I think we can top it,” I responded. I smiled and kissed him again, and before I could protest he dipped me back and held me there, suspended from his strong arms on the boardwalk. Pulling me back up swiftly, we swayed back and forth even though there was no music. This life, the air that wound it’s way around us and the silence that engulfed us, that was our music; this love was the melody, and everything else was clouded harmony. I clung to him as if he were my life preserver and I was stuck in a turbulent ocean current. The beautiful silence of the night enveloped us, and it felt like we were on our own planet. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. It didn’t matter that we were alone in the world. It didn’t matter that people wanted us dead. It didn’t matter that our future was uncertain. It didn’t matter. The only thing that was important was that we were here. We were alive, and we were together. That was the only thing that mattered.