In This World (Harry Styles)

26

(DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. It's important to remember this is all totally fabricated, embellished, and exaggerated for entertainment purposes.)

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Right now

It's like you're carrying all the weight of your past

I see all your bruises, yellow, dark blue, and black

But baby a bruise is, only your body

Tryna keep you intact

MUNA - I Know A Place

Once we made it home and changed clothes, we fired up the grill, or the barbie as they called it, and played a bit of poker. I wasn't the best at it yet, but Gray had been teaching me for a while along with a few Aussie games, and I was excited to see him up against his brothers, who he swore were the keenest players in the world. Particularly Noah, since he was a veritable genius in his eyes. Right away I devised a plan to help him cheat as he grilled up a bit of sausage, or snags as they called them, chicken and vegetable kabobs, beef steak, and prawns for me.

"Alright blokes, who's in?" Archie asked, as he sat at the patio table in the outdoor kitchen where Gray had set up shop.

He had a deck of cards before him, and Gray's custom chip set which was housed in a fancy aluminum case. Quite a serious set up. He also had a box of luxury cigars he intended to break in, even though Gray told him not to smoke around me. But I insisted it was fine because I'd never been addicted to tobacco. And furthermore, I was in a good place now, and this was evidenced by the fact that my mouth didn't water once when I saw Archie and Noah toasting to the good life on the yacht over glasses of decades-old Yamazaki. Ok...there was maybe a little salivating, but it was hardly even noticeable. And the impulse to drink was still far more controllable and quenchable now than it was before, and I was willing to take my wins wherever I could get them.

"I'm in!" Noah and Gray said simultaneously.

"Not me," I drawled. "I'll sit this one out and learn a little."

"Fair play," Noah muttered, sitting next to Archie at the table.

"Why, my love?" Gray asked, glancing back over his shoulder. He was wearing the apron from the kitchen that he'd done the nude photoshoot in. I chuckled inside each time I saw him in it. That then suddenly reminded me to run and grab my camera.

"Because I'm not very good at it!" I called, running inside and straight up to our room.

I stretched across the mattress and grabbed the Pentax off the far nightstand, then sat in the center of the bed and checked the film. I was nearly out, but I didn't want to start a new roll just yet. I checked Gray's and he was good to go, so I took his camera back to the table and began snapping them in motion. They were my most fascinating subjects to date. Three devastatingly gorgeous Aussies, all with their own distinct craze and temperaments and quirky mannerisms. Archie cut a fine figure, toking on the massive cigar and shuffling out poker chips for everyone. He looked like he belonged in a casino. Noah was lost in his phone at the minute, but I snapped him anyway. When he noticed me, he threw up deuces to the camera with a cheeky little smirk. Gray was singing to himself over the grill: "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood. Since he was my perpetual muse, I snapped several artsy shots of him before finally taking over cooking while he played.