My Beloved ~ H.S.

Chapter Fifty Six: Harry's House

A little while later, after we've indulged in some mindless chit chat that has me feeling very much like Kate and Harry instead of Kathryn and Harry Styles, he pulls into a side road that leads up to an iron gate. He rolls down his window and leans out to punch a code into the box that stands guard in front of the gate. As he does so, I let my eyes wander past the gate to try and determine where we are exactly, but only seeing a dark path lined by leafy dark trees, I give up and just wait. He pulls his body back inside and smiles at me as the gate opens mechanically in front of us. Honestly, if this wasn't Harry and I didn't trust him as I do, I might be a little intimidated. But instead I just feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, anxiously awaiting whatever comes next. Once the gate has opened wide enough to let the car through, we slowly roll through it, then make our way up the winding path to whatever lies beyond. I say up because I can definitely see and feel that we are going up some sort of moderately steep hill.

Finally a structure comes into view before us, and I squint my eyes to determine what it is exactly. As my eyes focus on the massive looking formation, I can now see a garage that is well lit by several sconces attached to the building, as well as up lights all around the perimeter. The garage looks like it could hold at least two cars, and there is a winding row of stone steps to the right leading to an illuminated porch where I assume is a front door. Sweeping my gaze upward, I see that above the garage are two levels of windows, indicating at least two more floors above the garage. Tall luscious trees surround the entire property, with a few tall palm trees to finish out the L.A. look. It's something right out of Hollywood itself and as I take in the impressive dwelling, I realize that it's not a building at all. It's a house. A very large house, but nonetheless someone's home. Just as we pull into the garage, I notice that the house extends beyond the stairs to a whole other side, and I wonder just how big it actually is. After Harry has parked the car and turned off the engine, I turn to him and smile questioningly.

"Where are we?" I ask, but of course he doesn't answer. He just grins back and opens his door to exit. Once he's left the vehicle, I notice that there's no other car in the garage. Just as I am looking around for some other clue, my door opens and Harry extends his hand to help me out. I take it, then wait for him to close the door behind me.

"Come on", he says excitedly, grasping my hand harder to pull me forward. We stop at a regular sized door where he punches in another code into a complicated looking keypad. Once the red light turns green, he opens the door and we step inside a laundry room that is bigger than my entire bedroom.

"Are we here to do laundry?" I joke. Harry simply shakes his head and the suspense is killing me. He tugs me forward again and we walk out of the laundry room and into a pristine, gourmet looking kitchen with sleek white cabinetry, stone countertops, a large center island, and high-end appliances. We don't stop there though, we keep going to empty out into a living area with a huge sectional white sofa, high ceilings and hardwood floors throughout, as well as a tv perched over a fireplace. On one end, instead of normal painted drywall or windows, there is a wall of literal glass with what I can only imagine is a magnificent view beyond. Harry walks to the coffee table and picks up a remote. Are we here to watch television? He aims the remote at the wall of glass and presses a button, then the glass slowly begins to slide into the walls on either side like a huge pocket door. From my viewpoint it doesn't even look like there's enough room for the glass to go, but there it goes anyway, right in front of my eyes like a magic trick. I look back at Harry to find him beaming at me like a child looking for approval. I simply smile at him and take his hand once again when he holds it out to me. We walk together in silence to the balcony beyond the now open wall, and my breath catches when I finally see what I guess he wanted me to see. Off in the distance, I can see the beautifully lit L.A. skyline, surrounded by so many trees that it almost doesn't seem like we're in L.A. I move my head slowly all the way across the panoramic view and if I squint really hard, I can just make out what looks like a small neighborhood filled with hundreds of little houses below the skyline, maybe a few miles away. Well, they look little from here. I turn sharply to Harry who is watching me to my left. "What is that? Down there?"