Harry Darling

chapter 9

He led me through the forest to a clearing. You could look up and see every star. The sky was amazingly clear, but my focus was soon centered on the middle of the clearing. Candles, a picnic basket, and a red and white checkered blanket all set out for us to used. I turned to Harry, completely surprised. He chuckled and we walked to the blanket.

"Harry this is way to much. You really didn't have to go through this trouble." I looked up at him. His big green eyes staring into mine.

"You're right I didnt have to, but I wanted to give you the best first date ever. Away from everything: the city, the lights, and the craziness of everything." The sincerity in his voice was killing me. He cared a lot about me and I could tell. He did all this for me and I couldn't even tell him how I really felt. We finally reached the blanket and sat down.

"What's in the picnic basket? We already ate dinner."

"It's just a little wine. I promise you'll like it this time," He chuckled at the thought of my reaction, "Oh and a couple little snacks for later." He smirked at me and I knew he had something planned.

"So I'm not allowed to know? Wow Harry you keep a lot of secrets from me." He laughed as I joked with him, patting the blanket to get me to lay down with him.

"Carter, look," Harry pointed to the sky, "That's the Leo constellation and that is Pisces." He pointed to different areas of the sky as he said the constellation names. I watched him as he looked up at the stars.

"Where did you learn the names of all of them?" He broke his gaze from the stars to meet my gaze.

"Ummmm... when I was little my mom would bring us here, on clear nights and tell us about the stories of the stars and the names of different constellations. I guess you could say it kinda stuck." He blushed almost like he was embarrased that he knew all this information.

"Well I think it's hot." In my head it sounded a lot better but it didn't come out like I expected. My flirting skils were almost non-existent, and in times like these it would have been very useful. Harry laughed at my failed attempt and turned back to look at the stars.

"The stars make feel safe I dont really know why, but we could on completely different continents and I know that the stars I see are the same my sister and mom sees. Its stupid I know but it helps me deal with being home sick." Harry confessed this to me as he stared into the expansive darkness. It made me feel connected to him. He had just told me something that he hadn't told, probably, anyone else and I felt obligated to tell him something back.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Love?"

"When I was 13 I ran away from home so my dad decided to look for me." Harry was watching and listening to me at this point, " He got in a car crash looking for me, and died two weeks later. It was all my fault and I had a horrible time dealing with it. My mom didn't speak to me for almost year and I don't blame her. I took away the love of her life I would've hated the person who did that too." I was crying now. Everything just flowed out. I never told anyone that story. Ever. It was something I needed to get off my chest. The weight was lifted that I carried around for so long.

"Babe, she didn't hate you. No one could hate you. You're too kind. It wasn't your fault. Things happen for a reason. You just haven't found the reason why this happened yet. Keep your eyes open. Your dad will have one last gift ready for you when the time comes." Harry wrapped his arms around me, calming me down. He whispered into my ear and we layed back down, looking up at the sky for a short period of time before Harry spoke.

"Ok I think it's time we checked out whats in this wonderful picnic basket here." He sat up, smiling at me. His large hand making his way to the picnic basket. Two wine glasses were pulled out first, followed by a bottle of wine.