Flutter |h.s|

43

Harry

After two hours of hearing Holly freak out about talking to Taylor, she finally fell asleep. I heard Grace go out to the balcony a while ago, telling Holly that she just needed some air.

It's been too long since my lips kissed hers. They miss her.

Kissing her feels... indescribable. It's something I've waited my whole life for. I thank whatever gods are out there every day for telling me to go on that walk in London.

If I didn't, I would have never met my Gracie.

I open the door to the balcony, stepping out and sneaking behind Grace. She's standing at the rail, looking out at the canal. I hold her waist close, resting my head on her shoulder as I press a soft kiss to her cheek.

"I missed you." I mumble. Even being a few steps away from her is torture.

I could feel her smile grow and her hands find mine over her stomach. "I missed you too, Moonlight." she whispers.

"Bringing out Moonlight tonight? Huh, must be serious." I joke, knowing she only uses that one when she's feeling really affectionate.

"Very serious." she jokes, giggling when I press more kisses to her cheek.

I turn her in my arms to face me, giving a quick 'tsk'. "I think I need something else." I tease, leaning down to connect our lips.

Only instead, my lips are kissing her hand. I open my eyes, furrowing my brows as she just laughs. I pull away quickly, looking down at her, "Excuse me, that was a bit rude." I joke, smiling when she rolls her eyes.

She looks so sexy when she does that.

"Sit down Styles. We have to talk before we keep kissing." she says, wiggling out of my hold and going to sit down on the lounge chair to my left.

I walk over, sitting in the one across from her. "What are we talking about? Because I was serious, we could just stay in Venice and never leave." I smile.

"I know you were serious. That's why we need to talk." She says, making me a bit nervous.

Maybe I've been overdoing it. Maybe I shouldn't have said we could spend the rest of our lives in Venice. Or maybe I should have left out wanting every eternity with her. That was probably way too much.

"It's nothing bad." she quickly clarifies, probably seeing me run through every word I said to see where I went wrong.

I let out a quick breath, nodding, "Okay. But if you're not okay with the kissing that's okay. I know it's a lot." I assure her, not wanting her to feel pressured.

She's quiet for a minute, reaching over to take my hands in hers. She examines my rings as she always does. At this point she could probably name each one without looking at them.

The more time she takes, the more it makes me nervous. God, she doesn't want to kiss anymore. I totally blew it.

"I run away a lot." She speaks, still looking at my rings. "When things get bad, or when I feel like I can't push down my emotions anymore, I run away. When I was a kid, there was this one time where I just felt so alone... Eli was at a friend's house and things were just a nightmare at home. And I pushed everything down probably for like a year. I pretended I was happy and fine, until that day. That night I packed a suitcase and was gonna just run away. I had like five dollars and I was probably eight. But I wanted to run." she explains.

When she talks about her childhood, I know it's best I just listen. She's not asking for my input or for me to dig and ask questions. She's just venting and trying to deal with her trauma. All I could do is just hear her out and let her play with my hands. It still hurts my heart to picture a little 8 year old Grace, attempting to run away.