Floss // A Harry Styles AU

nineteen

Harry picked me up as we arranged, wearing the same cream linens as yesterday with a white vest and a weird kind of pale blue Hawaiian shirt. I'd never looked at him and immediately thought 'dad' until now. He leaned over the centre console to give me a kiss once the door was closed, pushing his sunglasses into his hair first.

"Long time, no see." He joked.

I laughed as I clipped in my seatbelt. "Gonna be like this for a while, I think. At least until Ruby is over whatever weird spot this is that she's in."

He hummed, pulling off. "We'll manage."

He drove us out to the Sherborne Estate and parked up a little out the way. I thought we'd be doing the same walk as I had done on Ruby's birthday, but when Harry pulled a picnic basket out of his boot I grew a little confused. There was no way we'd be carrying that around with us for hours.

"I know a little spot." He said with a smirk when he noticed the look on my face.

I lifted my head slightly. "Okay."

I hoped his 'little spot' wasn't far, because I was not wearing suitable clothing for a long walk. I had on a blue and white vertical pinstripe skirt that barely reached my knees, a white cropped t-shirt with a peach embroidered on the breast and some white hi-top Converse.

He took my hand to lead the way, in the opposite direction to where I would usually go. I supposed that was a good sign.

Harry led me through the trees that lined the estate, taking extra caution to keep me on my feet; ensuring I didn't fall on my face. At this point we both knew it was a very high possibility that that might happen. The sun shone through the treetops so that everything had a golden glow and a lushness to it. The floor was covered in bluebells and thick ferns, spread wide and far right to the edges of the woodland.

Only a few minutes into the woods Harry stopped, picked the biggest bluebell he could find and handed it to me. The sentiment made me blush, and he pressed a kiss to my temple when I didn't immediately say anything.

We walked a little further, in a direction that was completely lost on me. I was hoping and praying that wherever we went, that by the time we were home I wouldn't be covered in grass stains and stinger rashes. If I'd have known we were going walking in the woods I would've put my jeans on.

The trees and grass grew thicker the further in we went, brushing around my ankles and my knees so that it tickled like feathers. I clung onto Harry's hand as if my life depended on it, my gaze permanently fixed on the floor.

After maybe 20 minutes of walking, Harry suddenly stopped. I looked at him with a frown, but he didn't meet my gaze. He just pulled back a thick mass of green leaves and dark branches and nodded me onwards.

"Tú primero, querida." You first, darling, he said, and even though he wasn't looking at me, I could still see that proud grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes and squeezed around his broad frame through the bristly bushes.

I found myself, somehow, inside a small, grove-like clearing. It was bright and open, no trees above us, filled with colourful wildflowers and bright green grass. There was a single park bench at the far end almost lost to the greenery around it, so it was obviously a known part of the estate, but there was no one else here. It was just Harry and I.

"Como demonios..." I muttered to myself as I stared around the private sanctuary, utterly bewildered. How had I lived here my whole life and not known that this place existed until now?

"What d'you think?" Harry asked, an excited lilt to his question.

"Er," I laughed once, breathy, "I think it's a pisstake that I've lived here forever and never knew this was even here, and that I'm being shown to it by an outsider."