[A/N] If you're here to catch up with your reading, I wanna thank you for that :) But you should know I've added a prologue to the book and it would be great if you could read that before going through the chapters! To access the Prologue, just click on the EXTERNAL LINK and there you are!

"Some day you'll need someone like they do, looking for what you knew." - Led Zeppelin because my friend, if you think they are all about Stairway to Heaven, you are so wrong, so wrong.

SEVENTEEN

“What’s your fucking problem?” He asked, his head still feeling dizzy due to the sudden shock, patting Sylvia to move from the top of him.

“You tell me!” His smirk didn’t falter as it continued to get bigger as he watched the girl remove her knees from either side of his friend. “All those red spots are-?”

“What about the fucking respect of knocking on the door?” Sylvia freely and casually spatted, not all that happy with that intruder.

“I’m sorry for interrupting. I guess the little break wasn’t enough.” Louis chuckled as someone entered the room.

“Hello lo- for hell’s sake mate, who stabbed you?”

Harry stepped closer towards their proximity with goggled eyes and pretended to touch his mate's pale-reddish skin, but soon his hand was shoved away. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

“Can you tell me what the fuck is going on here, because it’s a quite unusual scene.” Harry looked around to see what was settled in that room.

“That was only a massage, for heaven’s sake.” Sylvia finally took a seat by Niall’s side and squeezed his undone neck right after he put his shirt back on.

“Who cares? Let’s just go to the point.” Louis went to the opposite couch and took a seat, resting his chin on his palm and faking a cute expression. “I always knew that you two were together. Why did you try to hide it?”

“What are you talking about?” Niall was close to blowing his top, but tried to control himself, yet the annoyance was clear in his tone.

“C’mon Niall, it’s everywhere. Haven’t you seen that?” He made himself more comfortable on the couch, resting his arm over its top, involving a curious Harry to take a seat by his side.

“Louis, seriously, cut this shit.”

“How was dinner? Or better yet,” he smiled mischievously and shared a glance with Harry, who was still trying to understand what Louis was saying, “how was dessert?”

“That’s gross, Louis.” Harry finally spoke by himself before his friend could go further, and he was sure he would go a lot further than that.

“Ssh Harold, let me talk to them,” he stood from his place and moved towards the couple that was still confused. “Niall knows that this kind of shit-,”

“Alright mate,” Niall faced him and avoided him to take any step closer, “we don’t even know what you’re talking about so just-,”

“Gossip, mate! It’s everywhere and you should be warned about that.” His eyes glued on Sylvia and he quickly brought his gaze back to Niall. “But I can say it’s not really gossip, right?”

“Is this all because of a damn massage and a dinner?” Sylvia shrugged and furrowed her brows, feeling a bit of anger taking over her.

“Oh no sweetheart, it’s actually because they’re mentioning a kinky talk in a fucking restaurant with tons of fans and media outside.” His tone increased with every word, causing all of their attention to travel towards him, who was most likely just looking for some attention. “God dammit Niall, you know that Modest-,”

“Can you just shut the fuck up for a second?” Sylvia rose from her seat and placed herself between the boys. “You don’t have the right to talk to him like this.”

“Of course I do. Actually I also have the right to say you’re so wrong here, Sylvia.” Louis chuckled and held his eyes on hers. “Being the freshman doesn’t mean being stupid and going outside for a fancy dinner just to get some attention for yourself.”

For a reason unclear, Louis frame was towering over her. Niall had to hold him back whilst Sylvia watched his eyes burning with fire.

“Louis, that’s enough-,”

“Stop it, Niall.” Louis got rid of his hands and, again, flashed a fake smile at Sylvia. “If she’s seriously just looking for a quick shot to fame, she better learn what it’s like to have Modest on her back before being this- naive again.”

“Get your shit together, Louis. You’re going too far.” Harry left his seat from the couch and set his cool tone aside as he grabbed Louis’ arm, forcing him to take a step back.

“Oh really, Harry? Are you now defending her? She can do that by her-,”

“You’re such an asshole, Louis.” Sylvia calmly stated what she already knew about the boy who was playing hard, by keeping the bogus and disturbing smile on his lips.

“I’m just being the nicest one and preventing you from what-,”

“The fact we’re touring together doesn’t give the free ticket to be a dick.” It was her turn to move towards him and speak aloud what she what she had planned to say right after he first spoke, in the sweetest encounter of them all. But then again, she tried to keep the peace, which proved to be worthless.

“You-,”

“Let’s get out of here.” Harry was the quickest to cut their gaze by grasping Sylvia’s arm and taking her out of the spa room, already knowing that Niall would keep Louis grounded after that little unexpected and bitter uproar.

“Let me go, you’re hurting me,” Sylvia complained about Harry’s grip, but he didn’t acknowledge her words. He carried her around the deck and made her sit in one of the lounge chairs close to the bar.

“Hi,” he pressed his lips in a tiny smile as he watched the girl. There was some rage left on her face and he knew she would deny if he were to ask, but her anger was definitely burning inside.

“What was that?”

“That was-,”

She cut him off by slapping his arm with all her strength. “You're fucking hurt me, you son of -,” Harry gripped her wrists, attempting to avoid another attack, and placed them on her knees.

“Relax and listen, ok?” His intense gaze on the girl patiently waited for her to take a deep breath and finally loose most of her temper. “I just wanted to take you out of that room before any blood was shed.”

“Ok, I’m fine.” Another deep breath and her eyes settled on him. “Now can you tell me-,”

“Louis,” he simply stated like it wasn’t anything new, “his break wasn’t as good as he expected.”

“What happened? Zayn was with him, right?”

“Yeah, they were, but-,” he seemed to look or anything to say, but he rather watched the girl who finally looked calmer by the way she sprawled herself on her seat. “They’ve just got here so they haven’t told the whole story, but what I know is Modest keep playing hard on them.”

“Oh, Modest!” She chuckled and rolled over the lounger, her belly pointed up and she stared at the bright dark sky above. “Should I get myself ready for any war with Louis and Modest?”

“C’mon,” Harry moved from his place and seated on the edge of her seat, “Don’t waste your time over thinking it. Besides, Modest loves you.”

She went back to her sitting position and glanced at the Harry who was closer this time. For a moment the rush inside her brain was forgotten and she noticed how his fluttering hair seemed longer without his signature bandanna, not really noticing the coy smile that overtook her features.

“Trust me, don’t worry about it.” Quickly he was on his heels and held Sylvia’s wrist to follow him as he walked around the terrace. “We have other things to do now.”

“Like what?” She rested her back on the balcony and asked herself why the hell she couldn’t take her eyes of that silly, charming boy.

“Like this.” Harry pointed his head to the view on her back and he turned her body, already placing his hands on her hips. “This is too beautiful to be true.”

“Indeed,” the lonely word sounded like a sigh as the vision ahead mesmerized her. “Oh my God, this is truly beautiful!”

“See? It’s perfect.” Harry stood behind her and soon got closer to her as the two shone under the night lights and watched the sky dancing over the dark, yet bright, ocean; a view that certainly would be a perfect set for their next few days.

Sylvia simply nodded, intertwining her hand with the one that was resting over her waist.

“I never imagined I would make this far, this fast.” Then the girl turned to Harry and watched his lips molding a proud smile. “You guys own the world, Harry, and you deserve everything.”

“I know.” He embraced the girl and tightened her within his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder and sharing the brief silent moment with her. “I want this tour to be the best one ever.”

“It’s already the best tour ever,” she lifted her face a little enough to get to his features and smile to him.

Soon his smiling lips met her forehead, but he didn’t let her go off his hug. “And I’m glad we’re doing this together.”

Harry didn’t need to go any further to get deep with her. Sylvia already knew he was the kind of guy who would never save his words if he truly cared about someone. Yet all of his kindness was something she would never get tired of being surprised with. For her, it was simply Harry being Harry, and she loved the fact that after the little storm Harry was one of the best souls to be with.

“What?” His smile was wide enough for his tiny dimples to dance at the corner of his full lips, bringing her back to that flawless and curly headed reality in front of her. “What is this face for?”

“Nothing.“ Oh boy, her thoughts seriously went too far for her own sanity, but denying was an easier option by that time. “Let’s go to sleep, we have a great day ahead.”

He linked his arm with hers as they made their way through the hotel, talking about the days they weren’t together and still complaining about the fact she couldn’t enjoy all of their company during their break. Soon they got to her room and she had a hard time denying his offer to cuddle for the night, but still accepted his promise for a wakeup call.

The next morning, Sylvia was not that blessed with Harry’s loud wake-up call and got herself ready for the day that had just begun. The scandalous winter sun scorching through the curtains was an invitation to take the swimsuit from the bottom of her luggage. Of course the boys were already outside trying to cover up their paleness with some of the tropical heat.

On her walk to the breakfast room, Niall and her crossed paths and both enjoyed a little morning time together as they ate, not even mentioning a word about the occurrence on the night before. It was Niall, he never did give a shit about what people thought. He didn’t even care for the fact he would get a farmer’s tan if his shirt wasn’t taken off any time soon.

They made their way to the terrace’s pool, and weren’t surprised to find everyone already having a good time in the peak of being on tour in such a stunning place. The bright blue sky and the sounds of the ocean waves fit perfectly together with all the clinking glasses, the laughs and the carefreeness everyone emanated.

“What a great contrast of white and red! Nialler my boy, what about you being this rose?” Zayn asked as soon as he saw his friend approaching them and tearing his shirt off on his way.

“You would never believe if I told you mate. And morning to you too.” He stood himself straight in front of Sylvia, giving her his back, ready to be smeared with sun block. Surely Sylvia’s hands were a little bit rougher on his white skin than she expected.

“Morning? It’s almost twelve, boy.” Harry stated with a smug grin plastered on his features as he enjoyed the bright view around. “This is heaven man, look at this place.”

“This is the moment I love life the most,” Zayn said as he replaced the drink with a cigarette between his lips, pointing to the great landscape outside. “The sun, the beach, the insane alcohol-,”

“The delicious girls,” Niall immediately cut him off in the exactly same instant Sylvia tore her tank top off, exposing her body and earning a huge and stupid satisfactory grin from Niall, explicitly showing his enjoyment by what he had just seen.

“You’re too ridiculous for my own sanity,” she lightly slapped his arm and chuckled, looking around and finding the boys diverting their eyes from her. Oh yes, Niall probably wasn’t the only one enjoying the view.

She turned on her heels and walked towards Harry, whose body was halfway inside the pool. She took a seat on the boarder next to him, surrounding her legs around his waist and pressing her chest against his back. “And if you don’t stop, all this red on you may become deep purple.”

“I’m sorry miss,” he watched her behind his sunglasses and turned to Zayn, whose drink was suddenly stolen from his hand. “Gonna save my words for all these Brazilian chicks. Just look around and enjoy, please.”

Niall opened his arms to the sky, just like he was being blessed by something from up there. But in fact, he was just overjoyed with all the perfect gifts, personified into half-naked tanned girls. “Ok Malik, time to get drunk and lose some fears.”

Sylvia chuckled at Niall’s kinky ways, already playing with Harry’s hair with her fingers. She followed the boys with her eyes until they approached the other group at the bar, which seemed to be having a heated conversation.  No doubt Louis was the one overreacting due to the look on Liam and Paul’s faces, both looking unpleased by his manners. Louis’ diva was much on the way.

“What is this for?” Harry’s hoarse voice echoed in her ear and she got her eyes back on the boy whose back was pressed against her body.

“Nothing much,” her thumbs were slowly running through the length of his hair and he loosened his body over hers due to her constant soft pulses. “Should I stop?”

“You should never stop,” he sighed as a pretense to show how much he was enjoying her caress, letting a giggle escape his from his mouth. “I guess I know now what made Niall dizzy and rose yesterday”.

Her hands were gently fondling his hair and his nape, releasing a little shiver down his spine as he felt her fingers digging deeper into his tousledstrands. But from moment to moment somehow her touch got softer and less focused, making Harry turn to see what was actually taking her attention off him. “What’s the matter?”

“What?” Instantly she got back to Harry’s face, totally caught off guard by his question. “What are you saying?”

“He pissed you off, right?” Harry glued his eyes on the group not that far from them and carefully studied what was going on, trying to get a hit of what was messing with Sylvia.

By that moment, Louis had already pretty much burst out loud something he was not happy about whilst Liam and Paul ranted at him and Niall was explicitly more interested on his drinks. Zayn was the only one who seemed to stand Louis' manners, yet a desire to run for that pointless discussion was written all over his face. So Louis simply blurt some barely heard words and left them by his own as he kicked his anger in his way inside, still erupting some hot steam from through all of his vents, but not before shooting Sylvia some bold eyes.

His bad temper and diva attitude was turning everything into a circus and all of her doubts about his presence being unpleasant were confirmed. Honestly, as he once stated, that would be a living hell, but she wasn’t up for spoiling the best time of her life.

“Listen, I- I’m gonna talk to him, I don’t want to see you that bothered by this shit. He needs to apologize.” With his gaze still attached to them, he attempted to soothe whatever was on her mind, but knowing it would be a hard task for his own.

“It’s ok,” her eyes were back on him and she briefly smiled, still working her fingers on his hair as she enjoyed the silence between them. “Now you better relax.”

Her hands trailed down along his neck and Harry tilted his head down enough to her, as he felt her hands pulling his curls back.  Sylvia wrapped some of his hair with her hands and arranged them into a ponytail on the top of his head, and she couldn’t help but chuckle by the unexpected arrangement she had just made.

Harry turned his body to her, his legs still in the pool and he leaned his torso closer to the girl. He glanced at her attempt to keep smiling, knowing there was still something disturbing her. “Tell me.”

“It’s just- weird.”

Placing himself between her legs, Harry closed the space and lowly said in her ear, “What do I have to do for you to stop over thinking this?”

Sylvia didn’t answer. As soon as Harry’s face was closer to hers, they watched each other’s eyes and all he got was a genuine smile playing over her lips that would tell him more than they both would expect. She simply repeated his movements before cupping his face and reaching his ear.

“We have other things to do now, right?”

[A/N] VOTE and COMMENT because Harold needs you. Tchau!