She Stole My Heart
Chapter 9
Julia’s POV
A couple weeks later
I was up early with my bikini on and my sunglasses on my head. I was so excited for a beach day. With my cast finally off and my ribs healed, I was more than ready to do physical stuff. When I lived with my family in Florida, Sam and I practically lived in the water. Name any water sport, I’ve probably mastered it. I’ve built hundreds of sandcastles, collected thousands of seashells, surfed tons of waves. I’ve suffered through my fair share of skin peeling sunburns, and discovered the best aloe plants in my town. My summer jobs have all been in surf shops, swim schools, and beachside smoothie shops. I’ve gone night swimming, fished at the pier; I even have my own tiny boat. I discovered secret beaches and sand bars with my friends. I had all the swim-collection Barbies, participated in surfing competitions since I was six, I even got the award for Best Swimmer in my elite swim team. So, I kinda love the water. Anyway, I was actually up before Sam, which is really saying something. By 10:00 we were hailing a cab on the way. Yesterday I had convinced everyone to come at eleven so we would have tons of time to do a bunch of activities. We pulled into the beach parking lot a bit later and payed the driver. “Alright, let’s pick a spot,” I said. I started to run, Sam chasing after me. “Catch me if you can!” I screamed giddily. I raced onto the sand and flopped down laughing. Sam flopped down next to me and we had a giggle fit, rolling in the sand. I’m not sure why, exactly. But I was so lucky to have a friend who I could laugh with for hours without knowing why. After we got ourselves together, we found a spot by the ocean and spread out our towels. I checked my phone and told Sam that they should be here any minute. “Yay! I’m so excited!” she squealed. “I know right! It’s gonna be so fun!” I responded excitedly. After searching a bit for them, I found Harry and everyone else. I laughed at what he was wearing. “Hey look,” I said nudging Sam. “We match.” She laughed. We waved overenthusiastically, jumping up and down, trying to signal them over. At last, Niall noticed us and nudged Harry.
Harry’s POV
“Oh, there they are,” Niall said nudging me. “Wowww” I murmured. They both looked great. But when I saw Julia, it was like nothing else. The sun was glowing down on her, and she was smiling like world peace had been announced. She was tan, not too tan, and she looked amazing in the yellow bikini she had on. “There’s our girls,” Niall said, nudging me. I turned to him. “Well, me and Julia, we’re not actually…” “Oh, right. Sorry mate.” “Nah, it’s fine. I don’t even know if she likes me like that.” I told him. We showed the others where they were and started to walk towards them. Sam bounded up to Niall and he wrapped her in a hug. “Hey, princess,” he whispered in her ear. I suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. Everyone except me had a perfect relationship. I wanted it to be like Sam and Niall with Julia. I wanted to kiss her every time I saw her. I wanted to wrap my arm around her waist. I wanted her to tell me that she loved me. I sighed out loud. Too loud. “What’s the matter?” Julia asked me. “Oh, nothing,” I told her. Ugggg. I was a terrible liar. “Really, Harry, what is it?” she asked again. I gave her a smile. “No, I’m fine.” She looked at me doubtfully but didn’t press further. I breathed a silent sign of relief. So when we were all gathered together, Sam and Julia told us the plan. (I tried not to notice Niall wrapped around her.) I caught a bunch of water sports, some I had tried, some I’ve never heard of before. This was going to be interesting.
…..
“Alright, Harry.” Julia was telling me. We were sitting in the water, Julia floating in a lifejacket, informing me about how to wakeboard. The board felt strange attached to my feet. It was about an hour later than when we had met up. Zayn, Perrie, Liam, and Dani were in one boat, while the rest of us were in another boat. Each of our rented boats were chock full with wakeboards, water skies, and tubes for tubing. “You have to just relax. Position your lower body as you would while sitting in a chair.The front edge of the wakeboard should be perpendicular to the rope and just above the surface of the water. Your knees should be between your elbows. Whenyou feel the boat pulling you, straighten your knees and flip your hips so that they are facing the boat. Then you…” I kind of zoned out, staring at her large brown eyes. They had a small burst of green in them, which made the sun shimmer off them. Her eyebrows scrunched up a bit when she was trying to make a point. She was so cute, my little instructor. “Do that and you’ll be a pro before you know it,” she concluded. Oh, crap. I probably should have been listening. “Ummm, ok,” I said nervously. She laughed. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great.” “Thanks,” I gulped. She swam back to the boat and climbed on. “Alright, we’ll start towing you, then yell when you’re ready to get up.” She yelled. “Uh, ok,” I yelled back. I tried to sort everything about wakeboarding that I knew and I got a bit of an understanding. Julia started to move the boat forward slowly. I gulped, gripping the rope, and yelled, “Go!” the boat shot forward, and I tried to swing myself forward, but I fell back and splashed into the water. Julia swung the boat back around and yelled encouraging things to me. After about six or so tries, Julia told me to come back in the boat. “But, I thought I was doing good,” I said cautiously. “You’re doing great, but I don’t want you to get warn out. Trust me with this.” I nodded and she helped take the board off. She gave me a hug. “You did so good!” “Well, thanks,” I said. “Now I want to see you do it.” Her eyes lit up and she pulled Sam over. “Let’s wakeboard!” she told her, Sam now smiling. They hopped in the water and got their boards on. Louis got comfortable in the driver’s seat, so I sat down next to El, a towel wrapped around me. “Good job Harry!” she told me. “Thanks.” A silence fell upon us. “You like her, don’t you Harry.” She said suddenly. “Umm, what?” I asked nervously. “C’mon Harry. I can tell you like her.” I scratched behind my ear. “Well….” I paused. “Ya, I do, ok. I really like her.” She nodded. “You, know, she’s amazing. Nice, funny. You lucked out.” “Lucked out?” I asked. “Well, it’s pretty obvious that you two are gonna be a couple.” “What?!” I was really confused now. “Harry. Look me in the eyes. You like her. She likes you. Make a move already.” “You have no idea if she likes me, nor do I. Don’t make assumptions.” She laughed, surprising me. “Are you kidding? I see the way she looks at you. Do yourself a favor and ask her out already.” “She… she does?” “Of course!” Then her tone got serious. “But don’t you dare hurt her. She’s the sweetest thing ever, and I really don’t want to see her upset. Understand?” “Ya, I know.” She pulled me into a hug. “Thanks, El.” “No problem. Now look, they’re about to start. We turned and they were ready, ropes in hand. “Start towing!” Sam yelled. The boat slowly moved forward, and a few seconds later, they both screamed “Hit it!” Louis gunned the boat forward. They easily stood up. “They make it look so easy.” I said quietly. After they were up for a bit, Julia started to pull her rope towards her. “What’s she doing?” I asked Niall. He shrugged. Once she had a bunch of rope balled up, she leaned to her right. Sam lifted her rope up, and Julia glided under it, changing positions. “Wow!” I yelled. She let the bunch of rope go, only the handle in her hands. Her and Sam then, in sync, spun so that their backs were facing us. Then they spun back. “They are so good!” Niall said. Then, they both pulled out, going out of the wake. Sam, going first, leaned into the wakes and jumped the waves, pulling her board to her chest. She went back out. Then came Julia, rapidly speeding to the waves that entered into the wake. She got incredible air, and then did a flip midair. “Oh my God!” I yelled. “That was so cool!” Her and Sam high-fived each other and let go of the rope. “Down” Niall said. We turned back and hooted and hollered when they got back it the boat. I wrapped Julia in a towel. “What did ya think?” she asked. “Wow. Just wow. You two are amazing!” “Thanks!” she said, and I hugged her. “So, let’s go tubing!” Louis yelled. I released her and her and Sam attached the rope to the tube and pushed it in the water. “Let’s go, Lou!” Eleanor yelled, and they got their life vests on. Then Louis picked her up and threw her in the water. She came bobbing up, yelling at Louis. He just jumped in next to her. “You aren’t mad at me, right baby?” he asked her. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” She grumbled. Louis laughed and pulled her in a kiss. “Alright lovebirds! Get on the tube!” Julia yelled good-naturedly. After we had all taken turns tubing, waterskiing, and wakeboarding, the sun was getting low. “Alright folks, I think it’s time to meet up with the others!” Lou said. So I texted Zayn and we pulled back in to the marina and returned our stuff. After meeting at a beachside restaurant and having dinner, Niall asked, “So are we going to go home now?” Julia and Sam smiled at each other. “Actually, we have a surprise for you.” Julia said. “We rented a spot at the beach to have a campfire!” Sam exclaimed. We all cheered. “We have it until 8:00 tomorrow, they gave us wood and matches,” Sam said “And we brought blankets and bug spray,” Julia added. So we checked in at a little shack, grabbed the supplies, and layed out our towels. “Harry, will you come get the blankets with me?” she asked. “Sure” I got up. We walked to the car in silence. “Alright Harry, man up and ask her out. C’mon. Don’t be a coward,” I told myself in my head. But I kept my mouth shut. “So, did you have fun today?” she asked. I smiled at her. “Of course I did! We need to do this again!” “Ya, definitely.” We reached her car and she opened her trunk. “Alright. Blankets are right here, bug spray and lanterns are in that bag, and-” she smiled at me “the guitar is right over there.” “You brought a guitar? That’s genius! You came well prepared!” I said. “Thanks!” We grabbed the stuff and headed back, where they had gotten the campfire started. I had started to swear at myself for not making a move. We all spread out on the blankets and watched the sunset. My arms around her, the sand in our toes, it was a perfect moment. When the sun finally set, Julia took out the guitar and handed it to a very happy Niall, with Sam lying on his lap. Julia layed her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her. We sang a bunch of songs, and lucky for us, the beach was empty. After a while, we all got tired, so we put out the fire and one by one, fell asleep. Julia, lying next to me, looked so peaceful. It’s true that everyone looked younger in their sleep. After a while, I layed down and fell asleep, under the stars.
Julia’s POV
I woke up to rustling. I sat up, confused, but then I realized where we were. I looked over at a sheepish Harry. “Sorry, I was trying to be quiet, but,” “It’s fine, Harry, I’m a light sleeper.” He was lucky I wasn’t in a bad mood. If you wake me up when I’m in a bad mood, watch out. I looked around and everyone was still asleep. “Hey, want to go for a walk?” Harry asked. “Ya sure,” I smiled. We walked for a while, chatting about our lives. All of a sudden, Harry asked if I wanted to sit down. “Ok,” I said. We sat down, and a silence fell. It wasn’t awkward, but I wanted him to say something. “Ok, so um,” he finally broke the silence. “Well, I have something to tell you.” “Yes?” I asked. “Well, so, I, um, I think you’re really um nice and you have a great personality and like, well, um… doyouwannagooutwithme?” he said in all one word. I stared at him, my mouth open. He waited nervously. “Yes Harry! Yes!” I hugged him. He breathed out. “Really? You want to be my girlfriend?” “Of course!” I told him. “But I didn’t think that you liked me like that.” “Are you serious?” he asked, dumbfounded. “Julia, you are the most amazing girl in the world.” I blushed and looked down with a tiny smile on my face. “Hey,” he said, lifting my chin up. “You are beautiful, sweet, funny, everything I could ever want. Don’t ever think otherwise.” Then, he leaned in, I could smell his sweet breath, and our lips met. The kiss was better than anything I could have ever imagined. I lifted my hands up and ran them through his hair. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my body closer to his. Out of breath, I finally broke the kiss and caught my breath. “Harry, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He kissed my nose. “I feel exactly the same.” This time, it was me who leaned in, sealing the deal.
A couple weeks later
I was up early with my bikini on and my sunglasses on my head. I was so excited for a beach day. With my cast finally off and my ribs healed, I was more than ready to do physical stuff. When I lived with my family in Florida, Sam and I practically lived in the water. Name any water sport, I’ve probably mastered it. I’ve built hundreds of sandcastles, collected thousands of seashells, surfed tons of waves. I’ve suffered through my fair share of skin peeling sunburns, and discovered the best aloe plants in my town. My summer jobs have all been in surf shops, swim schools, and beachside smoothie shops. I’ve gone night swimming, fished at the pier; I even have my own tiny boat. I discovered secret beaches and sand bars with my friends. I had all the swim-collection Barbies, participated in surfing competitions since I was six, I even got the award for Best Swimmer in my elite swim team. So, I kinda love the water. Anyway, I was actually up before Sam, which is really saying something. By 10:00 we were hailing a cab on the way. Yesterday I had convinced everyone to come at eleven so we would have tons of time to do a bunch of activities. We pulled into the beach parking lot a bit later and payed the driver. “Alright, let’s pick a spot,” I said. I started to run, Sam chasing after me. “Catch me if you can!” I screamed giddily. I raced onto the sand and flopped down laughing. Sam flopped down next to me and we had a giggle fit, rolling in the sand. I’m not sure why, exactly. But I was so lucky to have a friend who I could laugh with for hours without knowing why. After we got ourselves together, we found a spot by the ocean and spread out our towels. I checked my phone and told Sam that they should be here any minute. “Yay! I’m so excited!” she squealed. “I know right! It’s gonna be so fun!” I responded excitedly. After searching a bit for them, I found Harry and everyone else. I laughed at what he was wearing. “Hey look,” I said nudging Sam. “We match.” She laughed. We waved overenthusiastically, jumping up and down, trying to signal them over. At last, Niall noticed us and nudged Harry.
Harry’s POV
“Oh, there they are,” Niall said nudging me. “Wowww” I murmured. They both looked great. But when I saw Julia, it was like nothing else. The sun was glowing down on her, and she was smiling like world peace had been announced. She was tan, not too tan, and she looked amazing in the yellow bikini she had on. “There’s our girls,” Niall said, nudging me. I turned to him. “Well, me and Julia, we’re not actually…” “Oh, right. Sorry mate.” “Nah, it’s fine. I don’t even know if she likes me like that.” I told him. We showed the others where they were and started to walk towards them. Sam bounded up to Niall and he wrapped her in a hug. “Hey, princess,” he whispered in her ear. I suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. Everyone except me had a perfect relationship. I wanted it to be like Sam and Niall with Julia. I wanted to kiss her every time I saw her. I wanted to wrap my arm around her waist. I wanted her to tell me that she loved me. I sighed out loud. Too loud. “What’s the matter?” Julia asked me. “Oh, nothing,” I told her. Ugggg. I was a terrible liar. “Really, Harry, what is it?” she asked again. I gave her a smile. “No, I’m fine.” She looked at me doubtfully but didn’t press further. I breathed a silent sign of relief. So when we were all gathered together, Sam and Julia told us the plan. (I tried not to notice Niall wrapped around her.) I caught a bunch of water sports, some I had tried, some I’ve never heard of before. This was going to be interesting.
…..
“Alright, Harry.” Julia was telling me. We were sitting in the water, Julia floating in a lifejacket, informing me about how to wakeboard. The board felt strange attached to my feet. It was about an hour later than when we had met up. Zayn, Perrie, Liam, and Dani were in one boat, while the rest of us were in another boat. Each of our rented boats were chock full with wakeboards, water skies, and tubes for tubing. “You have to just relax. Position your lower body as you would while sitting in a chair.The front edge of the wakeboard should be perpendicular to the rope and just above the surface of the water. Your knees should be between your elbows. Whenyou feel the boat pulling you, straighten your knees and flip your hips so that they are facing the boat. Then you…” I kind of zoned out, staring at her large brown eyes. They had a small burst of green in them, which made the sun shimmer off them. Her eyebrows scrunched up a bit when she was trying to make a point. She was so cute, my little instructor. “Do that and you’ll be a pro before you know it,” she concluded. Oh, crap. I probably should have been listening. “Ummm, ok,” I said nervously. She laughed. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great.” “Thanks,” I gulped. She swam back to the boat and climbed on. “Alright, we’ll start towing you, then yell when you’re ready to get up.” She yelled. “Uh, ok,” I yelled back. I tried to sort everything about wakeboarding that I knew and I got a bit of an understanding. Julia started to move the boat forward slowly. I gulped, gripping the rope, and yelled, “Go!” the boat shot forward, and I tried to swing myself forward, but I fell back and splashed into the water. Julia swung the boat back around and yelled encouraging things to me. After about six or so tries, Julia told me to come back in the boat. “But, I thought I was doing good,” I said cautiously. “You’re doing great, but I don’t want you to get warn out. Trust me with this.” I nodded and she helped take the board off. She gave me a hug. “You did so good!” “Well, thanks,” I said. “Now I want to see you do it.” Her eyes lit up and she pulled Sam over. “Let’s wakeboard!” she told her, Sam now smiling. They hopped in the water and got their boards on. Louis got comfortable in the driver’s seat, so I sat down next to El, a towel wrapped around me. “Good job Harry!” she told me. “Thanks.” A silence fell upon us. “You like her, don’t you Harry.” She said suddenly. “Umm, what?” I asked nervously. “C’mon Harry. I can tell you like her.” I scratched behind my ear. “Well….” I paused. “Ya, I do, ok. I really like her.” She nodded. “You, know, she’s amazing. Nice, funny. You lucked out.” “Lucked out?” I asked. “Well, it’s pretty obvious that you two are gonna be a couple.” “What?!” I was really confused now. “Harry. Look me in the eyes. You like her. She likes you. Make a move already.” “You have no idea if she likes me, nor do I. Don’t make assumptions.” She laughed, surprising me. “Are you kidding? I see the way she looks at you. Do yourself a favor and ask her out already.” “She… she does?” “Of course!” Then her tone got serious. “But don’t you dare hurt her. She’s the sweetest thing ever, and I really don’t want to see her upset. Understand?” “Ya, I know.” She pulled me into a hug. “Thanks, El.” “No problem. Now look, they’re about to start. We turned and they were ready, ropes in hand. “Start towing!” Sam yelled. The boat slowly moved forward, and a few seconds later, they both screamed “Hit it!” Louis gunned the boat forward. They easily stood up. “They make it look so easy.” I said quietly. After they were up for a bit, Julia started to pull her rope towards her. “What’s she doing?” I asked Niall. He shrugged. Once she had a bunch of rope balled up, she leaned to her right. Sam lifted her rope up, and Julia glided under it, changing positions. “Wow!” I yelled. She let the bunch of rope go, only the handle in her hands. Her and Sam then, in sync, spun so that their backs were facing us. Then they spun back. “They are so good!” Niall said. Then, they both pulled out, going out of the wake. Sam, going first, leaned into the wakes and jumped the waves, pulling her board to her chest. She went back out. Then came Julia, rapidly speeding to the waves that entered into the wake. She got incredible air, and then did a flip midair. “Oh my God!” I yelled. “That was so cool!” Her and Sam high-fived each other and let go of the rope. “Down” Niall said. We turned back and hooted and hollered when they got back it the boat. I wrapped Julia in a towel. “What did ya think?” she asked. “Wow. Just wow. You two are amazing!” “Thanks!” she said, and I hugged her. “So, let’s go tubing!” Louis yelled. I released her and her and Sam attached the rope to the tube and pushed it in the water. “Let’s go, Lou!” Eleanor yelled, and they got their life vests on. Then Louis picked her up and threw her in the water. She came bobbing up, yelling at Louis. He just jumped in next to her. “You aren’t mad at me, right baby?” he asked her. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” She grumbled. Louis laughed and pulled her in a kiss. “Alright lovebirds! Get on the tube!” Julia yelled good-naturedly. After we had all taken turns tubing, waterskiing, and wakeboarding, the sun was getting low. “Alright folks, I think it’s time to meet up with the others!” Lou said. So I texted Zayn and we pulled back in to the marina and returned our stuff. After meeting at a beachside restaurant and having dinner, Niall asked, “So are we going to go home now?” Julia and Sam smiled at each other. “Actually, we have a surprise for you.” Julia said. “We rented a spot at the beach to have a campfire!” Sam exclaimed. We all cheered. “We have it until 8:00 tomorrow, they gave us wood and matches,” Sam said “And we brought blankets and bug spray,” Julia added. So we checked in at a little shack, grabbed the supplies, and layed out our towels. “Harry, will you come get the blankets with me?” she asked. “Sure” I got up. We walked to the car in silence. “Alright Harry, man up and ask her out. C’mon. Don’t be a coward,” I told myself in my head. But I kept my mouth shut. “So, did you have fun today?” she asked. I smiled at her. “Of course I did! We need to do this again!” “Ya, definitely.” We reached her car and she opened her trunk. “Alright. Blankets are right here, bug spray and lanterns are in that bag, and-” she smiled at me “the guitar is right over there.” “You brought a guitar? That’s genius! You came well prepared!” I said. “Thanks!” We grabbed the stuff and headed back, where they had gotten the campfire started. I had started to swear at myself for not making a move. We all spread out on the blankets and watched the sunset. My arms around her, the sand in our toes, it was a perfect moment. When the sun finally set, Julia took out the guitar and handed it to a very happy Niall, with Sam lying on his lap. Julia layed her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her. We sang a bunch of songs, and lucky for us, the beach was empty. After a while, we all got tired, so we put out the fire and one by one, fell asleep. Julia, lying next to me, looked so peaceful. It’s true that everyone looked younger in their sleep. After a while, I layed down and fell asleep, under the stars.
Julia’s POV
I woke up to rustling. I sat up, confused, but then I realized where we were. I looked over at a sheepish Harry. “Sorry, I was trying to be quiet, but,” “It’s fine, Harry, I’m a light sleeper.” He was lucky I wasn’t in a bad mood. If you wake me up when I’m in a bad mood, watch out. I looked around and everyone was still asleep. “Hey, want to go for a walk?” Harry asked. “Ya sure,” I smiled. We walked for a while, chatting about our lives. All of a sudden, Harry asked if I wanted to sit down. “Ok,” I said. We sat down, and a silence fell. It wasn’t awkward, but I wanted him to say something. “Ok, so um,” he finally broke the silence. “Well, I have something to tell you.” “Yes?” I asked. “Well, so, I, um, I think you’re really um nice and you have a great personality and like, well, um… doyouwannagooutwithme?” he said in all one word. I stared at him, my mouth open. He waited nervously. “Yes Harry! Yes!” I hugged him. He breathed out. “Really? You want to be my girlfriend?” “Of course!” I told him. “But I didn’t think that you liked me like that.” “Are you serious?” he asked, dumbfounded. “Julia, you are the most amazing girl in the world.” I blushed and looked down with a tiny smile on my face. “Hey,” he said, lifting my chin up. “You are beautiful, sweet, funny, everything I could ever want. Don’t ever think otherwise.” Then, he leaned in, I could smell his sweet breath, and our lips met. The kiss was better than anything I could have ever imagined. I lifted my hands up and ran them through his hair. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my body closer to his. Out of breath, I finally broke the kiss and caught my breath. “Harry, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He kissed my nose. “I feel exactly the same.” This time, it was me who leaned in, sealing the deal.
Notes
Hey guys! Julia and Harry are finally an item! Yay! Thanks for reading! Comment, subscride, and vote! I love you all!
-Julia @five_little_things
Update now !!!!! X
1/12/14