Dark Side (Harry Styles) HOLD

Harry smirked when he saw the white tank top Lux threw on over her bikini top, and he winked at her when she caught him staring with a smile. She rolled her eyes in pure Lux fashion, turning away and pushing her sunglasses down over her eyes. Sara was bouncing up and down in her huge wedge heels that still left her shorter than everyone, watching the staircase for Niall's arrival.

“Is it just us, then? Won't that raise questions?” Harry lifted an eyebrow at the girls, who shrugged.

“We don't really care. We wanna go to the beach with cute boys and play.” Sara smiled suddenly and they both knew that Niall had appeared on the stairs. It was her Niall smile.

“Cute boys? What cute boys? I only see Harry and Niall.” Lux quipped, smirking with a giggle.

“Ah, maybe we should invite Zayn for ya, then?” Harry suggested, his mouth hardening as her head whipped to look over at him. Her smirk fell and her eyes narrowed as tension split the room.

“Oh-kay... let's go. No fighting today, please.” Niall said with a sigh, ushering everyone out the back door of the house, where they only had to walk about 100 feet to get to their private beach.
There were paparazzi like usual, always waiting like snakes to capture a moment that was meant to be private.

Sara and Lux made sure to walk a few feet in front of the boys, holding hands and keeping their heads low as the paps snapped away. Harry and Niall trailed behind them slowly, trying to look as bored and disinterested as possible so they would hopefully give up on them. No such luck.

They followed them to the beach but weren't allowed on it, so stayed behind while the four walked onto the sand. Lux saw the ocean's beautiful movements and blue color and immediately felt a calm overcome her. She breathed in the salty scent and felt the heat on her skin from the sunshine and felt like no day could be more beautiful than this day.

“Oh god. This is perfect.” Lux said softly as her and Sara both dropped their beach bags that contained the usuals – towels, water, and sunscreen. Sara glanced back at the paparazzi that still stood at a distance, taking pictures and she sighed heavily as she tugged at her dress.
“Please don't tell me you're scared to take that off in front of them.” Lux said, slowly pulling her top up and over her head as she spoke.

“Hey, not all of us are sticks like you, Legs!” Sara said and Lux laughed at the nickname.

“Please, these things make me feel like a spider. I would love to be as tiny as you. You could fit into Niall's pocket.” Lux said and Sara laughed, shrugging before slowly pushing her dress down into a pile in the sand. Her bikini was black with a few stripes on it, and like Lux said, she looked tiny and perfect in it. She was curvy in all the right places and her big dark curls made her look wild and free.

Lux always felt utterly plain next to her, especially on days like this where she's not wearing make-up or has her hair done. Sara is one of those girls that looks beautiful naturally, no make-up needed, and Lux was the kind that looked sick and pale without make-up.

Either way, she wasn't the type to lose confidence in front of cameras, so she shimmied out of her shorts as the boys laid out the towels and removed their own shirts. She caught Harry's eye out of the corner of hers, saw him staring at her as his shirt came up and over his torso, which was straight and long and flat. He was such a little toothpick.

“Race you to the water.” He suddenly said before throwing his sunglasses down by where Niall and Sara were seated, bolting toward the water. Lux did the same thing, laughing loudly as she ran after him in the sand.

“You're a cheat.” She laughed as they touched the water. She watched him smirk before diving into a wave that knocked Lux onto her ass. She giggled and pushed her hair away from her face before swimming out toward him.

“I'm still angry at you.” She stated when she reached him, pausing so they could both go underwater when a wave came. It passed and they both bobbed back up, breathing heavily.

“And why's that?” He asked, smirking as his hand brushed up against hers under the water.

“Because of that Zayn comment you made. Not funny, Styles.” She said, shaking her head.
He turned to look at the next wave, sighing before going under again with her, waiting for it to pass. They kicked out further, eying each other up as they did so. He shook his curls out and pushed them off his face, slicking them back. He looked older when he did so, and she smiled at it.

“Why not? You kissed him, didn't you? You wanted him once!” He said, his eyes darkening slightly as they narrowed in her general direction. She huffed out a sigh and floated closer to him, looking up into his eyes as she did so.

“All I want is..” She started to speak, and as she did they both got slapped with a wave and it pushed them apart. Lux came up for air and looked around for Harry, swimming toward him when she spotted him.

“What?” He asked, pushing his hair back again.

“You.” She said, “All I want is you.”

They both bobbed in the water, their breathing heavy, water dripping down their faces. Lux watched a drop fall down over his nose to his lips, hanging on his top lip for a long moment before falling.

His hands were suddenly on her underwater, touching her bare midsection gently. She let out a small sigh of pleasure as she glanced over toward the paparazzi. There's no way they could see him touching her underwater. No way. Her hands found his slowly and they clasped together, her fingers tightening around his as he pulled her closer.

“Can we call a time-out on this game? Please?” He asked softly.

“Why?”

“I want to kiss you.” He whispered, looking down at her lips as he spoke.

“There are cameras..” Lux murmured, feeling her body quiver with anticipation.

“I know.” He said, and then suddenly went underwater, pulling her down with him.

She held her breath as his hands moved up over her body until they found her face, and he pulled her lips to his tightly. She smiled against his lips at the cuteness of this kiss, at the fact that he didn't care if he had to go underwater to kiss her – he just wanted to do it. He wanted to do it with ocean in his mouth and salt in his eyes, he wanted to do it even though his mouth was closed tight against the water and therefore the kiss was tense. He didn't care, it still felt like a relief to kiss her again.

They both came up for air with gasping breaths, and his hands stayed pressed to her bare sides, his fingertips hooked into her bikini bottoms lightly. They both laughed in unison, and she reached down to press her hands over his and squeeze softly.

“So...” Lux smirked, “Does this mean I win round 2?”

“No way!” He huffed out, shaking his curls with a grin.

“Yes way! You said you wanted to kiss me and then you did. You gave in. I win!”

He squinted at her in frustration before groaning loudly and throwing himself back into the water. Lux laughed at him and then jumped on him, pushing him under again and feeling his fingers explore her body as they drifted under for a long moment. When they rose up, they weren't touching.

“Okay, you win this one, Gallagher.” He smirked as they floated around one another in circles, eying each other up as they smiled brightly. “Bloody hell, woman..”

“What?” She giggled, poking one of his dimples as he smiled even brighter.

“I'm so happy right now.”

Lux felt her cheeks flame up and knew she was blushing as she looked down at their locked hands under the blue water. Her eyes met his again and she felt her cheeks begin to hurt as she smiled again.

“I'm glad,” She squeezed his hand, “you deserve to be happy.”

Harry stared at her with an intensity that she wasn't aware he possessed, his eyes sparkling under the sun and matching the color of the ocean perfectly. It was like his irises were made from the water. Once again her eyes couldn't help but he directed toward his lips, which looked starkly pink against the pale of his face and the black of his hair, and the contrast between the three were startling.

His eyes though... they said it all, they said everything she wished his lips would say.

“I am.” He paused for a moment, “Around you.”

His mouth said, You make me happy. But his eyes... his eyes said, I love you.




And that was all Lux needed in that moment.

Notes

How do you guys feel about Lux winning round 2 of their war? TEll me what you think will happen next in the comment section below!