MUSE // A Harry Styles Story

Naked

"Harry, I hardly know you. No, let me rephrase that. I'm sure I have a decade of preconceived ideas about you, but I don't think I really know you as you are, sitting here next to me. I suppose after this week I would say that you're polite, quiet, thoughtful, and a natural windsurfer."

That made him smile a bit, for a moment. "I rarely have a chance to talk to someone without an agenda. Theirs or mine. I feel no pressure right now. No worry about what I should or shouldn't say. We're just sitting here, in this beautiful place. Being." He stood suddenly, putting a hand on each hip, shaking his hair around his face, taking great deep breaths.

"Lia, I feel infinite." He reached out for her hand and pulled her to stand next to him. "Do you feel it?"

"I do." And she did.

The sun had gone, leaving a deepening golden afterglow, and the wind continued to rise. Lia's dress whipped around her legs and her hair streamed behind her. Suddenly Harry was pulling his shirt over his head, then stepping out of his shorts. He was naked beneath them. Without a word, he ran into the waves, not stopping until he was chest deep.

Looking back over his shoulder he called out, "Are you coming?"

Of course she was. Lia folded her dress and tucked it under her shoes. As she slid out of her underwear the wind caught the slip of fabric and sent it tumbling through the air and into the night. Oh well, she thought, no great loss.

Knowing it would be a shock, she ran in like he had, laughing as the cold water reached her sensitive belly. Eight inches shorter than Harry, the water that lapped at his butterfly came nearly to her collarbones. When she reached his side he looked down at her and smiled.

Truly smiled.

The face splitting, dimple sinking, eye crinkling smile that had made her half in love with him the first time she saw it eleven years before. He was dazzling in the near dark.

"You're naked too, then?"

Lia burst out laughing. "Of course, I am. I thought that was the dress code."

"Good girl. It's a bit cold, though, isn't it? I think this adventure has become finite. Shall we?"

He walked out of the water and Lia followed, suddenly regretting her spontaneity. She had no towel, and her dress would be ruined if she put it on her wet body. Shivering, she looked over and saw that Harry was already in his shorts.

"Harry, may I borrow your shirt?"

Turning to bring it to her, he faltered as he caught his first real sight of her, naked, standing boldly on the grass. 

She had made Harry Styles stop in his tracks.

*****

Back in the house, Harry showed Lia to an unused bedroom where she was able to dry off, brush the tangles from her hair, and get dressed. When she came out to the living room he was lounging on a sofa, paging through a magazine.

"Sit with me?" he patted the cushion next to his. She sat. "That was good, wasn't it? And now we've been naked together so that's done. Can one windsurf naked? No, I suppose not, too many loose bits to get knocked around. You're quiet."

"You were talking. I need another minute, like the one I took when I arrived. To say something." He nodded. "I've just been naked in the Mediterranean with you. That happened, yes?" He nodded. "Alright, just a reality check."

"Is it so difficult to believe?" He looked as if he honestly didn't know the answer. "You're an intelligent, entertaining, beautiful woman. Why wouldn't I be naked in the sea with you?"

"Well, when you put it that way... and thank you for the compliments. Speaking of which, it was nice to see you smile out there. Really smile. You don't seem to do that often. Are... are you sad, Harry?"

He stood and walked around the room for a moment, brows pulled down in a deep V at the bridge of his nose, rolling his bottom lip in his fingers,  making Lia fear that she had crossed a line. When he raked a hand through his hair once, then again, she wondered if she had just lost a client. And then his forehead smoothed, and he took his seat by her side.

"Lia, do you know why I'm here?"

"Vacation?"

He shook his head. "I'm meant to be spending three months in seclusion working on my next album. My band will be here soon. We've got a mobile sound studio coming. We'll have everything we need to write and record new material. But I'm stuck. I have nothing but a few ideas I've jotted down over the past year. This has never happened to me before, and I think I've sorted out the problem."

He stood again, pacing in front of her. "I've had no drama, no romance, no heartbreak since I finished Fine Line. It's been smooth sailing. The album and videos were a huge success. The tour sold out in minutes and every show was solid. The Vogue cover was smashing. It all sounds wonderful, but... I feel boring, Lia. Not even the occasional trip has helped.

"So yes, I suppose I am sad. Sad, and bored, and worried. This is who I am, what I do, what I love, and I'm failing. Tonight, though, out there in the sunset and wind and sea, tonight I felt it. The spark. The infinite. You were part of it. Beautiful and fierce and present. You made me smile."

Lia didn't know what to do with what she had just heard, so she stayed silent for a moment. Silent, but not still. Standing in Harry's path, she rested a hand on his chest, stopping his pacing. She looked up and found the right words.

"I suspect that most artists, of all kinds, lose momentum now and then. Maybe you need to take a step back and look around, find new inspiration. It can come in surprising forms and from unexpected places. You found some down by the sea just now. I don't really know what happened here tonight, but if, even in the smallest way, I was able to help you, then I'm glad."

She took her hand from his chest and turned toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"It's late, and I have a morning lesson tomorrow. Thank you for a memorable evening, Harry."

They walked to her truck in silence. Before she got in, he took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her close, softly pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Goodnight, Lia. Thank you."

For no particular reason, she cried all the way home.