(The playlist for this chapter is:

Seattle by Jason Walker       What makes you beautiful- cover by 1975     Say when- The Fray    

The river has run wild- Mads Langer    )

"Wisconsin!" Karen says loudly, clapping her hands together.

"Oh my fucking god," Harry huffs, laying his head back on the seat.

"Would you stop? She's having fun," I scold him.

"Texas!" Liam calls out.

"Just open the door and I'll jump out here," Harry adds.

"So dramatic," I tease and look over at him.

"We're so excited for you two to see the boat and the cabin." Karen says.

"Cabin?" I ask.

"Yeah, we have a small cabin on the water there. I think you'll like it Tessa," Karen remarks.

I'm relieved to find that I won't have to sleep on the boat like I had assumed.

"I'm hoping the sun stays out, this weather is nice for February, it's even better in the summer. Maybe we can all come back?" Ken says, looking in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah," Liam and I answer in unison.

Harry rolls his eyes. Apparently he's going to stick to his pouty, child like persona for the remainder of the drive.

"Do you have everything ready for Seattle, Tessa? I spoke with Christian yesterday and he's really looking forward to you coming," Ken says and I feel Harry's eyes on me.

"I'm going to pack when we get back but I have already enrolled in my classes at the new campus," I tell him.


"That campus is nothing compared to mine," Ken teases and Karen laughs.

"No, it really is a nice campus. If you have any trouble let me know,"

"Thank you, I will."

"Come to think of it, we're getting a new professor from the Seattle campus next week, he's replacing one of our religion professors."

"Oh, which one?" Liam asks, looking at me.

"Soto, the young one. He's your professor right now isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is." Liam answers.

"Where is he going?" I ask.

"I don't remember actually, I think he's transferring out." Ken says.

"Good thing," Liam remarks under his breath but I catch it and smile at him.

"Do the two of you have a place already?" Karen's voice is soft.

"No, I had an apartment, or so I thought but the woman has dropped from the face of the earth apparently. It was perfect too, right in my budget and close to the office." I tell her.

I want to add that Harry isn't coming but I'm hoping to use this trip to convince him otherwise.

"I have a few friends in Seattle, I can see about getting you a place before Monday if you'd like?" Ken offers.

"No," Harry interrupts.

"I would like that actually," I look over at Harry, "otherwise I'll be spending a fortune staying at a hotel until I can find a place."

"It's fine, I'm sure Sandra will call her back," Harry says.

"How'd you know her name?" I ask him.

"What?" He blinks, "You've said it one hundred times,"

"Oh," he spreads his hand across my thigh, squeezing gently.

"Let me know if you want me to call anyone," Ken offers again.

"Thank you,"

"So how about eye-spy?" Karen looks back at us.

"Yeah, Harry, how about eye-spy?" Liam's lips turn up into a vibrant smile.

"I'm good, it's nap time for me but I'm sure Tessa and Liam would love to play," Harry leans against me, his head on my shoulder, and his arm wraps around my stomach. The public intimacy warms me and makes me smile.

I remember a time when Harry would only hold my hand under the dinner table at his father's house and now he doesn't seem phased to be holding me in front of his family.

"Okay! I'll go first, I spy with my little eye..something...blue!" Karen squeals.

Harry chuckles lightly, pretending to be asleep.

"Ken's shirt," he whispers and nuzzles further into me.

"The navigation screen?" Liam guesses.

"No,"

"Ken's shirt?" I ask.

"Yes! Tessa, it's your turn now," Karen smiles.

She's having way too much fun with these cheesy games but she's too sweet for me to deny.

"Okay, I spy something.." I look down at Harry, "black,"

"Harry's soul," Liam jokes and I laugh.

Harry opens one eye and sticks up his middle finger at Liam.

"You're right," I giggle, teasing Harry further.

"Well then, the lot of you can shut up so me and my black soul can get some sleep." He says, eyes closed.

A few minutes later Harry's breathing turns heavy and he begins to lightly snore into my neck. He mumbles for a moment before sliding down, putting his head on my lap and his arms around my waist. Liam lays across the middle seat, joining Harry in sleep.

After playing eye-spy for much too long, Karen ends up falling asleep too and I enjoy the silence as I stare out the window for the

"We're getting close, only a few more miles." Ken informs me.

"Okay," I say and run my fingers through Harry's soft hair.

His eyelids lightly flutter under my touch but he doesn't wake. I trail my fingers down his back, slowly, taking in the view of him sleeping so peacefully, his arms wrapped tightly around my body. Ken turns down a small street, the entirety of it lined in large pine trees.

"Our cabin is right on the coast," Ken explains.

I watch out the window as we turn onto another street and the coast comes into view. It's beautiful, glittering blue water lining the shore. I can't imagine how beautiful this place is in the summer, the grass is brown , dead from the harsh Washington winter, and the streets appear to be empty.

"Here we are," Ken says moments later, pulling into a long driveway.

A large wooden cabin comes into view, the Styles' definition of "small cabin" is clearly very different than mine. The cabin is two story, made fully of dark cherry wood, a white trimmed porch covers the span of the bottom floor.

"Harry, wake up," I run my index finger over his jaw line.

His eyes open and he blinks rapidly, confused for a moment, before he sits up and wipes his eyes with the backs of his hands.

"Honey, we're here," Ken says to his wife and she lifts her head up, followed by her son.

Harry carries our bags inside and Ken shows him to the room we are staying in. I follow Karen into the kitchen and Liam takes his bags to his room. 

The Cathedral style ceiling from the living room repeats in the kitchen on a smaller scale. This kitchen is a smaller yet equally as beautiful replica of their kitchen in their home.

"This cabin is beautiful," I praise.

"Thank you dear, it's nice to finally have company in it." Karen smiles and opens the refrigerator.

"Thank you for inviting us,"

"We love having the two of you along, I would never thought that Harry would be on a family trip with us, I know it's a short trip but this means the world to Ken," she speaks softly, making sure I'm the only one to hear her.

"I'm glad he came along too, I think he'll enjoy himself." I tell her, hoping that if the words are out there in the air, they will come true.

"I sure will miss you when you go to Seattle, I haven't had much time with Harry but I will miss him too," she says, putting her hand over mine.

"I'll still be around, it's only a few hours." I assure her, and myself really.

I will miss her too, and Ken. I don't allow my mind to remind of Liam's looming departure. Even though I'm leaving for Seattle before he leaves for New York, I'm not ready for him to be so far. Being in Seattle, I will be in the same state at least. New York is far, so far.

"I hope so, with Liam gone too I will be lost, I've been a mother for nearly twenty years and now he'll be across the country," she begins to tear up.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so proud of him." she dabs at her eyes with her fingers, stopping the tears, "Maybe the three of you can run to the store down the road while Ken gets the boat ready,"

"Yeah, of course we can." I say as the three men enter the room.

"I left the bags on the bed for you to unpack, I know I would do it wrong," Harry tells me.

"Thank you," I'm grateful that he didn't try to unpack our things. He likes to shove things into dresser drawers and it drives me mad.

"I told Karen we would go to the store for her while your father gets the boat ready," I tell him.

"Okay," he shrugs.

"You too," I turn to Liam and he nods.

"Liam knows where it is, it's just down the road. You can walk or take the car, the keys are hanging by the door." Ken says.

The weather is forgiving today, the sun makes it feel much warmer than it should this early in the year. We decide to walk down to the small store at the end of the street and I'm comfortable in jeans and a short sleeved shirt.  The sky is a clear blue, I can hear the waves crashing and smell the salt in the air each time the wind blows.

"This place is so nice, it feels like we're in our own world," I say to them.

"We are, no one bothers to come to the beach in fucking February." Harry comments.

"Well I think it's nice," I ignore his attitude.

"Anyway," Liam looks at Harry, who is kicking at the rocks as we walk down the gravel road, "Danielle has an audition for a small theatre show this week,"

"Really?" I beam.

"Yeah, she's really excited. I hope she gets it."

"Didn't she just start school though? Why would they give the part to an amateur?" Harry's voice is calm, wondering.

"Harry,"

"They would give her the part because regardless of her being an amateur or not, she's an excellent dancer and has been practicing ballet her entire life." Liam fires back.

"Don't get pissed, I'm just saying,"

"Well don't, she's talented and she will get the part," Liam defends his love.

"Okay, damn."

"It's nice that you support her," I smile at Liam in an attempt to break up the tension brewing between them.

"I'll always support her, no matter what she does. That's why I'm moving all the way to New York," Liam looks at Harry and Harry's jaw tenses.

"So this is how this trip is going to be then? The two of you fucking ganging up on me? Count me fucking out then, I didn't even want to come on this shit anyway." Harry spits.

The three of us stop walking and Liam and I both turn to Harry, "Well then you shouldn't have come, we would have a better time without you and your sour attitude anyway," my eyes widen at Liam's harsh remark and I feel the urge to defend Harry but I stay quiet.

Liam's right, mostly. Harry shouldn't make it his goal to ruin our trip by having an attitude for no good reason.

"Excuse me? You're the one with a fucking attitude because I said your girlfriend was an amateur."

"No, you started being a jerk in the car," Liam says.

"Yeah because your mum wouldn't stop singing along to every fucking song on the radio and yelling state names while I was trying to sleep," Harry's voice raises.

I step between them as Harry tries to step towards Liam. Liam takes a deep breath and stares at Harry, challenging him.

"My mum is trying to make sure we all have a nice time!"

"Well then maybe she should.." Harry begins.

"Stop it, you guys can't fight like this the entire time. No one will be able to stand it so please just stop," I beg, not wanting to take sides between my best friend and my boyfriend.

"Okay," Liam sighs,

"Fine," Harry huffs.

I nearly laugh at the way they behave as brothers despite the fact that they try so hard not to.

The rest of our walk is silent aside from Harry's boots kicking at the rocks and Liam's soft humming. Karen's list was longer than I realized and the three of us leave the store with multiple bags in our hands.

"What are you going to wear on the boat?" I ask Liam as we walk up the driveway to the cabin.

"Shorts, I think. It's warm right now but I'll probably being a sweat suit."

"Oh," I wish it was warmer so I could wear a swim suit. I don't even own one but the idea of shopping for one with Harry makes me smile.

I can picture him now, saying crude and perverted things, he would probably end up in the dressing room with me.

I don't think I would stop him.

I need to stop thinking these types of things, especially while Liam is talking about the weather and I need to appear to be listening.

"The boat is insane, it's so big," Liam says.

"Oh," I cringe.

Now that we are closer to the boat ride my nerves are beginning to take over. We unpack the groceries, by we, I mean Liam and I. Harry disappeared to the bedroom.

"He's pretty sensitive when it comes to talking about Seattle, he still hasn't agreed to go has he?" Liam asks.

I look around the room to be sure no one can hear us, "No, not exactly," I chew on my bottom lip in embarrassment.

"I don't get it, what is so bad about Seattle that he won't go with you? Does he have some sort of history there?"

"No, well not that I know of," Harry's letter comes to mind and I don't remember him mentioning any hardships in Seattle, though he may have left them out.

I hope not. I'm not ready for anymore surprises.

"Well there has to be a reason because he can't even go to the bathroom without you, I can't imagine him being okay with you moving away without him. I thought he would do anything to keep you close to him, literally anything." Liam exaggerates.

"Me too," I sigh, not knowing why Harry has to be so stubborn.

"And he does go to the bathroom without me," I joke.

"Barely, he probably installed a camera on your shirt to keep track of you," he laughs along.

"Cameras aren't my thing, I'm more of a tracking device type of guy," Harry's voice makes me jump and I look over to find him leaning in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Thanks for helping prove my point," Liam says and Harry chuckles, shaking his head.

He seems to be in a better mood, thank goodness.

"Where is this boat? I'm bored and listening to you two talk shit about me,"

"We weren't, we were joking," I tell him and walk over to where he's standing.

"It's fine, I do the same when you're not around," he says in a mocking tone but I can't help but detect a hint of seriousness behind the words.

(I just wanted to thank you all so much for getting me to over 100 million reads! Its so incredible and I appreciate your support so much! A lot of people have been asking of this is still the last book but I don't have an answer yet! I think it will be but I'll let you know, lol. Also, tons of you guys have asked about doing the first book (or some of it) from harrys pov, I am pretty sure I'm going to do that but not until this is finished, unless I do a chapter at a time randomly,  but it would be a separate book for sure, anyway, thanks again! I love you all and I appreciate all of you, making my wattpad account was the best choice I've made! xo)