Jane

Saturday I worked with my mom in the morning. She had me checking for any books out of place at one so we could get out of here by two. "So are we going to meet this boy?" She asked like I had a choice.

"Well, he's picking me up so dad's probably going to want to act tough." She drove back home while I texted Harry my address. "He has a motorcycle."

"Oh how fun, your dad is going to check that boy's license." She laughed.

When we arrived my dad was sleeping on the couch and my mom went to sit next to him, putting her feet up on his lap causing him to wake up. I went up to my room taking out my bathing suit from my dresser. Harry texted me and said he was about to leave his place.

I put on my swimsuit and put a t-shirt over it along with a pair of leggings. The night before I got my backpack ready with a towel and some essentials for the beach. I brushed my hair out and left it to fall straight down past my shoulders. I walked downstairs going to the refrigerator to fill up my reusable water bottle as well.

Outside I could hear a loud engine and I had a good feeling it was Harry. Nearly tripping over my feet I ran over to the window and sure enough, it was him. He wore his usual get up, dark long sleeve shirt and dark jeans. He had on a pair of boots as well. I assumed he had his swim trunks or whatever he was going to wear in the bag he had strapped to the side of his bike.

He walked over towards my door and my dad cleared his throat. "Is he here?"

"Yes, be nice." The doorbell rang and I waited a moment before opening it, not wanting to seem too eager "Hey."

"Hi, are you ready?" He smiled. I felt someone behind me and knew it was my dad. "Hello sir, I'm Harry." I moved to let Harry walk in.

"I'm Charles, my wife Michelle." He introduced my mom. "Nice to meet you, Harry, where are you two kids going?"

"We're going to the beach sir, Moonstone I believe it's called." My father nodded and looked at my mom.

"Harry where are you from, you have the most charming accent." My mom stood walking over to him.

"I'm from England, Manchester." I was learning new things too.

"And that's your motorcycle I assume?" My dad crossed his arms.

"Yes sir, restored it myself." He smiled proudly.

My dad looked over at it and looked impressed. "Wow, it's a beauty. You know I had one, back in the day, but I gave it up for a nice family car." He patted my head. "You have a license to drive a bike?" My dad asked seriously again.

"Yes, sir." Harry pulled out his wallet taking out his license and handing it to my dad. Out of it came flying a picture of two kids. I picked it up only getting a glimpse of it and handing it back to Harry, who quickly put it back in its place.

My dad gave back the card and put his hands on his hips. "Well then, you two have fun." He sighed. "Be responsible and careful, safe. You know getting to the beach."

"Oh boy," I said to myself knowing what he was doing.

"You know I remember my first time...you know at the beach. Wasn't very fun, didn't know what I was doing-"

"Bye, dad!" I gave my mom a look as she started laughing.

I pushed Harry out with me and closed the door. Harry chuckled helping me with my backpack. "Am I crazy, or was your dad talking about something else?"

"You're not crazy," I said embarrassed.

He grabbed a helmet, one of those that didn't cover your entire face and put it on my head. "Safety first, your wearing shoes right?" I nodded. He adjusted to fit me just right.

His helmet looked like a skull, covering his mouth, but showing off his eyes. It was old and looked busted. He handed me a pair of black sunglasses. "So nothing gets in your pretty eyes." I put them on while he jumped on the bike. I fixed my backpack on my shoulders, jumping when he turned on his bike again. It roared loudly making me nervous.

"Alright jump on." He told me. The small seat behind him was small that I would be pressed up against him.

"I'm scared," I admitted.

He reached his hand out to grab mine and pulled me closer. "Just hold on to me, I'll keep you safe." I took a deep breath stepping up on the bike. I put my leg on each side, straddling the bike. I put my hands on his shoulders and he chuckled  "I'll try not to drive crazy, but you have to hold on like this." He grabbed my hands and put them around his waist. "Alright, you ready?"

"Y-yeah." He kicked his feet up and the bike moved to make me hug him harder. I closed my eyes as he drove. The wind blew past me yet I couldn't open my eyes.

"You okay?" He asked me. He sounded happy and full of life. "Are your eyes closed?"

"Yeah!" He laughed.

"Open them, Jane, believe me, you'll like it!" I opened my eyes and smiled, it wasn't so bad. Once he got on the highway towards the beach I actually let go of my death grip around him and sat up to look. He drove in between cars and on the express lane and I was having a blast sitting behind him.

Moonstone beach was a very popular tourists location because of the beautiful sand and rocks that washed up on the shore. Only a few people were here today probably because it wasn't much of a place to go swimming. I didn't say anything when he told me, I actually enjoy just walking on the shore.

He parked his bike right in front of the boardwalk and turned it off. He pulled his helmet off and turned back to look at me. "You look really adorable with that helmet on." He smirked. My heart started beating faster so I got off the bike fixing myself. "Not many people." He started opening the storage unit that carried a jacket, extra clothes, and some other small things I couldn't quite see.

"It isn't a popular beach to swim, people mostly come here for the view, photography, picnics." He stood up straight and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, were you looking forward to getting in the water?"

I shook my head. "No it's okay, I like it here-"

"Because we can go to another beach." He offered.

"Harry, it's fine." It was nice of him to offer but I was just happy to be there. "Come on let's go." He grabbed what he needed and tied the helmets to the storage locking it.

We walked down a few steps and onto the boardwalk. He made small talk about the weather being colder than he thought. I pointed out a nice spot to set our stuff down right by a large area filled with rocks. He pulled out a rolled towel and set it down, I did the same thing right next to him.

I sat down on it and took off my shoes and put on a pair of sandals. He took off his boots and rolled his pants up. He pushed up his sleeves and looked out into the water. The sun was currently being covered by a small cloud, so it wasn't bright out.

"Tell me something about yourself," I said after a long pause of silence. "Because I know very basic things about you, but nothing personal." He looked at me and thought for a few seconds.

"I sleep naked." Well, that's great.

I laughed, already feeling my cheeks blushing. "What?"

"You said something personal, that's personal." He laughed with me.

"I mean something else like, what do you want to be when you grow up?" I turned my body around to face him. He began picking at the sand next to him and pulled out a multicolored rock.

"I want to help people make the right decisions." The story Niall told me came to mind immediately and I wanted to ask him. I just didn't want to ruin the conversation.

"That sounds nice."

"I'm gonna ask you a question." He told me. "What do you hate the most in the world?" He threw the rock he had found as far away as he could back into the water.

I wasn't a fan of the word 'hate'. But I guess I could think of one thing. "Rude people, people who like to pick on those who have done nothing wrong. People who judge each other for things they can't control."

"Like a bully?" He asked. I nodded making him frown.

"Yeah, exactly a bully." I felt our conversation getting heavy very quickly. I stood up and walked a few feet away towards the rocks. I looked around and found a green one that reminded me of Harry's eyes. "Huh, look!" I walked back and put it up to his eyes and they seemed very close to each other.

"Should I find your eye color?" He stood up and walked over to the same pile. "Wait let me see your eyes." I walked up to him and he examined them carefully. It made me anxious that he was looking at me so carefully.

He assorted through them and eventually found a dark black with brown specks on it. He compared it with my eyes smiling at the match. "Beautiful."

"It is a nice rock." I smiled looking at it.

"I meant your eyes." He walked past me to go towards the water. I blushed, placing the rock in my backpack. I decided to take my shirt off exposing my bathing suit. I left my pants on, not caring if they got wet because I had packed an extra change in clothes. Harry left his shirt on and it made me even more curious as to what he had under it.

Maybe he was embarrassed about his tattoos, or maybe he was shy. I walked over and my feet touched the water. Harry looked at me and did a double take. "Are you getting in."

"Waters okay, there are a few people in over there." I shrugged and walked in more towards the water. "Are you going to get in?"

"Just my feet are fine." All of a sudden it began to bother me that all I've ever seen Harry in was long sleeve shirts. It would be fine if it was winter, but right now we were literally on the beach, in summer. A wave crashed down sprinkling me with water. "Your gonna get your shirt wet." I walked in more until the water was at my calves.

Harry looked almost embarrassed and I could tell something was bothering him. "I don't mind." He shrugged.

After a while, I decided it was time to go lay down on the sand and relax. He followed next to me sitting down on the towel. "Okay new question."

"What is it?"

"I've already asked you this, but I want an honest answer." I stick my pinkie out and he chuckled. He grabbed it with mine and promised. "Why did you move all the way from Manchester to California?"

He looked into my eyes and sighed in what seemed like defeat. "When I was younger, my sister had this book of photographs full of pictures she got out of magazines and books. London, Tokyo, Australia, New York, everywhere. But her favorite place, for whatever reason, was California. I don't know why she never told me." He looked down at his hands and continued. "She was seventeen when she died, and she never got to travel as she wanted too. So I decided to come here and try to see the beauty she was talking about."

"How did she pass away?" I asked gently holding his hand. It seemed foreign for someone to hold his hand like this, but he accepted it.

He hesitated, squeezing my hand. It seemed like such a challenge for him to say what he was going to say. But when he did I knew why. "She killed herself."

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Thanks for reading. Xx

-k