“Hey Hazza! Hi there, Avery. Where did you two go off to?” Liam asks looking at each of us as we walk up to where he stood in front of one of the many carnival games. I mutter a ‘hey there’ to Liam and Zayn along with a wave. I smile a bit as Zayn gives me a wave and a ‘hello’ in reply. Zayn was a few feet away in front of another game, where it looked like one of those that you throw the rings onto the bottles and win something based on how many points you get.

“Hey there, Li,” he tells him and holds up his ICEE before he continues, “We got one of these, which are splendid, mate,” he finishes with a grin. I smile and give him a nod.

“Cool, might have to get me one,” Liam replies back with a smile as he looks at me and then at Harry.

“You should get one, they’re good,” I tell him with a smile. He nods back at me. Harry and I talk about random things while we watch Liam play some shooting game. After a few minutes, Harry looks at me with a smile.

“What?” I ask as I look at him.

“I wanna play some; want to give it a go, Avery?” Harry asks looking at me, a smirk on his lips.

“Love to Harry, but we have to go buy the tickets at the ticket booth over there,” I tell him with a smile as I pointed over to the ticket booth as he pulls out some money from his wallet. He puts his money away and grabs hold of my wrist, dragging me toward the stand where they sold the tickets. A few people were standing in line ahead of us.

Once we get our tickets, about twenty each, which cost about thirty-five bucks almost, which was practically highway robbery. I was glad I had enough money, well, barely enough to pay for our tickets. Harry pitched in and paid the rest since I didn’t have enough on me; about fifty even was all I brought with me and had spent some to get my ICEE. I knew that it would cost more but didn’t even think of bringing some more extra cash for the games.

“Thanks, you really didn’t have to do that, I could have got them,” I tell Harry as we walk away from the ticket booth, our tickets in hand. We go back over to where Liam and Zayn were, going another round on the games they were playing.

“It’s no problem, love, I wanted to,” he tells me with a smile.

I just give him a nod as we stand in front of the shooting game Liam was at. He finishes up his game and tells us he’s going to go see where Louis went off to. Zayn went along with him to find their mate, wherever he was. My thoughts went to Claire; I’m sure her and Niall were around here somewhere, probably on one of the rides.

Harry and I tell Liam and Zayn we will catch up with them later. Before they walk off, they send Harry and I a smile and wave. We wave back at them. I let out a sigh as I look back at Harry once the boys had walked off. He had a smile on his lips as he stared back at me.

His green eyes shimmered in the sunlight as I looked at him. They were a bright emerald color with a tint of blue mixed in. Had to admit, he had really amazing eyes but I didn’t want him to think I was crazy for how I was staring. He seemed like he was doing the same with me and I kind of liked that feeling.

“I’m not good at these kinds of games,” I mumble as I look at Harry. He just smiled as he looked back at me.

“I’d love to play for you, love,” he replies with a smile.

“I want one of those, it’s cute,” I mutter with a smile as I point to a big fluffy stuffed cat with a heart in between its paws.

“I’ll be more than honored to win it for you, babe, but you might have to earn it…” he says with a smirk on his face.

What did he mean by that I have to earn it? I let out a chuckle and roll my eyes at his remark. Harry gives the required tickets to the guy who stood behind the counter. He nods as he took the tickets out of Harry’s hand and explains the rules before Harry begins.

I stand off to the side and watch him as Harry begins to shoot down the basketballs into the basket. He had to get ten in a row, which was the highest you could go. The goal was to get the ball in the net 10 times to win a prize. He begins to shoot them toward the net. The first time he tossed the ball, it went right in and down the extremely long net. Harry ended up getting the next few right in again. He was sure good at this, just like my brother.

I never did anything that had to do with sports when I was in high school or my first two years of college at UCLA. I don’t have the kind of patience for that, I wish I did, but I knew I never would. I mean, I was in Student Council and did all the volunteering type stuff like that, just not sporty things.

I shift my focus back to Harry, who was tossing the balls toward the net. I tried to keep myself from staring as I watched his arms flex from tossing the ball. As my eyes stay fixed on his chest, I try to keep myself from blushing as I stare at his chest that was clearly visible through the shirt he was wearing. I swear, what the hell was he doing to me?

He ends up getting all of them in the basket. “Go Harry!” I exclaim a bit loudly and clap. He chuckles as he tosses the last one in there.

“Why, thank you, love,” he replies with a cheeky smile.

“Pick whatever one you want, you’re able to get any of these big ones, man,” the guy running the game informs Harry. He gives the guy a nod before turning to face me.

“Which one do you want, it’s your pick, babe,” Harry tells me with that contagious grin of his that overtook his face. after a few minutes of standing there trying to decide which one I wanted, I picked the cute stuffed cat with the heart I first set my eyes on.

“Here ya go, enjoy,” the guy, whose name was Shawn, according to his nametag. Harry takes the stuffed animal from Shawn and thanks him before turning to me, the stuffed cat in his arms.

“Thanks,” he tells the guy.

“No problem, have a great day,” he replies with a chipper grin as his eyes look at each of us. I reach out to take the stuffed cat from Harry when he pulls away from me and smirks.

“What are you doing?” I ask Harry with a chuckle as I look at the curly-haired boy beside me.

“If you want this, love, you’ll have to catch up with me first,” he says and takes off running, leaving me standing there, eyes wide. I stand there a few minutes before; I begin to spring toward the cheeky boy running from me.

“Harry!” I yell as I begin to run after him.

Every so often, he would glance back at me, slowing his pace down a bit, laughing before picking his pace up again. I slow down a bit so I could catch my breath. I have no idea why this – running – was so hard for me. One of the obvious reasons I wish I was athletic.

“Harry, stop! Won’t you give up already; I don’t know how much longer I can do this!” I yell toward him, noticing as he slows to a halt, glancing back at me.

“I’m sorry, Avery, was just having a bit o’ fun with ya,” he says as he comes toward me, the cat firm in his grip.

“You’re too much,” I reply with a laugh as he holds the stuffed animal he won out for me to grab. I am a bit hesitant at first as I reach out for it, when I notice him chuckle as he looks at me.

“You know you like it,” he mumbles with a smile.

I grab a hold of it and cradle it in my arms like it was a real live animal. “Thanks!” I exclaim with a smile as I look at him.

“Not a problem, babe. You know, you’re the first girl I’ve ever won a stuffed animal for,” he tells me with a smile as he looks at me.

I feel my cheeks heat up, making me want to know why the hell he keeps doing to me, whatever it was. I finally ask myself-in my mind, of course – if I was actually starting to like him. Yes, I think so… I reply to myself in my mind. I just didn’t want to rush it; things were already turning out pretty good between us. As he looked back at me, it was totally obvious he felt the same way about me. If he didn’t care, I don’t think he would’ve wanted to spend the day with me, playing games, well in our case, a game and getting to know each other while we drank ICEE’s.

“I feel honored,” I reply with a smile as I look back at him. He continued to stare back at me, a smile playing on his lips. Harry and I talk as we walk beside each other along the boardwalk. We go on about a bunch of random things.

For the next few hours, we go on some of the rides and have a great time together. I felt so natural around him, which felt nice. Since we were right next to the beach, Harry thought it would be the perfect time for us to go in the water since that’s why we decided to come here for the day. I just laugh and nod my head as Harry leads me down onto the sand. The wind was blowing a bit, my long strawberry blond hair blowing in the breeze.

“Harry,” I chuckle as I look at the curly-haired boy beside me as I lay out a couple towels down on the sand so we could sit on them. “You’re crazy, you know that? It’s cold from this damn wind and the suns close to setting,” I tell him with a smile as I sit down staring up at the tall boy who stood over me.

“Come with me, you’re coming in the water with me, Avery,” Harry says as he looks at me with a cheeky smile on his face. He pulls his shirt off until he was just in his swim trunks. He reaches for my hand as he stands up, kicking his feet out of his flip flops.

“N-no, hell no I’m not, it’s freezing, Harry,” I tell him in a serious tone with a slight laugh. I stare up at him, my eyes taking in his many tattoos on his bare chest, exposed stomach and bare arms. He was really fit and built, I had to admit. After a few more minutes of deciding against it, I finally accept his offer and go with him after I pull off my shirt and shorts until I was in my bikini. I mean, you only live once, right?

After a while, Harry and I head back up to where our things were. He gave me a piggy back ride up to where our stuff was laid out on the sand. It was fun, swimming in the early evening with him. He was fun to be around and I really liked being around him. It was totally obvious he felt the same way, because I think if he didn’t, why would he keep looking at me the way he has?

As he looks at me, I could see a spark in his eyes, his smile never leaving his lips. He smiles a bit before slowly leaning in, his eyes focused on my lips. I could feel his soft breathing against my parted lips. Is he seriously going to kiss me? Is this really happening? I think to myself as I stare at him, his eyes staring intently back into my blue ones. I take in a small breath as I stare at him as I slowly begin to lean in as well.

All too soon, Harry’s phone begins to go off a bit loudly in his pocket. Harry pulls away cursing under his breath and pulls out his phone glancing down at his iPhone screen. My brows furrowed together in confusion as I stared at Harry, wondering what was going on.

Notes

here's the next chapter!!! soooo sorry I haven't updated this sooner!!! I've had a bit of writer's block with this story D:

also, sorry for the cliffhanger at the end! you'll just have to wait and see what happens next.... tons of drama ahead ;) stay tuned! c:

Hope you enjoy! Please drop a comment and let me know what you think - it would really mean a lot <3

thanks for reading & enjoy :D