SEABROOK; Harry Styles

2

TWO

Harry stood at the counter of Coastal Café, his coffee cup warming his hands, scanning the room. It was peaceful in here, far from the noise and chaos that usually followed him around. He'd come to Seabrook for a break, hoping for some quiet time to clear his mind and escape the pressures of his usual life. The last few months had been overwhelming, and he needed the space to think, to breathe. Here, no one knew him. It was exactly what he'd hoped for.

His gaze flicked over the patrons, most of them locals, quietly chatting or reading. But then, something caught his eye.

In the corner of the café, sitting at a table by the window, a woman was hunched over a notebook, her hand moving quickly across the page. She was drawing—no, sketching—something with careful precision. Harry's attention lingered on her, not out of vanity, but because there was something about her focus that felt different from the rest of the people in the café. She wasn't looking around, wasn't distracted. Her eyes were fixed on the page, her expression serene yet intense.

She wasn't trying to catch anyone's attention. She didn't need to. But still, Harry couldn't help but notice her.

His coffee sat untouched for a moment as he observed her, studying how absorbed she was in her work. There was a calm about her, a stillness that made the world seem quieter. It was almost like she was in her own world, untouched by everything else happening around her.

He found himself drawn to that calm. People often seemed restless around him, eager to talk or approach him for one reason or another. But she wasn't like that. She didn't seem to care about anything except what was in front of her. And that intrigued him.

After a few moments of watching her, Harry decided to take a chance. He grabbed his coffee and walked over to her table, pausing just a few feet away.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice soft but warm, trying not to startle her. "I couldn't help but notice what you're working on."

She looked up at him, her dark eyes meeting his for a brief moment. There was no immediate recognition, and for that, Harry felt a strange sense of relief. It was just him and her, two strangers in a small town café. No one else was watching.

Her expression was curious but not shocked, which made him feel less out of place. "It's just a map," she replied, her voice soft and steady, as if she had no reason to be bothered by a stranger approaching her in the middle of her work. "I'm just sketching out some of the local trails."

"A map," Harry repeated, looking at the page in front of her. The lines were intricate, curving and sweeping across the paper, tracing paths he recognized and some he didn't. "Looks like a lot of work."

She smiled slightly, the corner of her lips lifting ever so slightly, her attention flicking back to the page. "It's nothing special. Just a few trails. I've walked them enough to know them by heart."

Harry found himself fascinated. He couldn't help but admire the quiet dedication in her movements, the way her focus seemed undisturbed by anything around her. "I'm terrible with directions," he confessed, his voice tinged with a touch of humor. "I've never been able to follow a map properly."

"You don't need to follow the map," she said, her tone thoughtful, almost like she was speaking from experience. "You just need to know where you're headed and let the map help you get there. People think maps are about following strict rules, but they're just guides. The journey's what matters."

Harry blinked, slightly taken aback by the way she phrased it. There was something almost poetic in her words, something deeper than just the casual talk he was used to. "I think you're the first person I've ever met who talks about maps like that," he said, his smile widening a little.

"I guess I've had a lot of time to think about it," she said, her eyes flicking up to meet his. There was a hint of something beneath her calm demeanor—an openness, but also a guardedness. She wasn't giving everything away at once. Harry could sense that.

She wasn't the type to overshare, but there was a quiet confidence in her that made him want to know more. She wasn't trying to impress him, and that made him feel oddly at ease. In his world, that was rare.

"I'm Harry," he said, offering her a friendly smile, figuring it was only polite to introduce himself now that they were talking.

She nodded, glancing at his hand for a moment before looking back up at him. "I'm Mara," she said simply, not adding anything more, not asking anything in return. There was a calm finality in her voice, like she didn't need anything else to be said.

For a moment, Harry wasn't sure what to say next. He hadn't expected her to be so... unaffected. Most people were eager to ask questions, curious about why he was in Seabrook, what brought him here. But Mara didn't seem interested in any of that. She just seemed comfortable in her own space, focused on what mattered to her.

"You don't seem like you're from around here," she said, looking up at him with a curious glance. "Are you visiting?"

"Yeah," Harry said, his smile softening. "I needed to get away for a while. Just... a break from everything."

She didn't respond immediately, just looked at him for a moment. There was a quiet understanding in her gaze, as if she didn't need to ask more questions. She knew what it was like to need a break, even if she hadn't said it.

"I get that," she said quietly, turning her attention back to the map. "It's easier to think when there's nothing distracting you."

Harry nodded, feeling the weight of her words more than he expected. "Yeah, exactly."

There was a pause, but it wasn't awkward. It was just comfortable, like the silence was part of the conversation. He didn't feel the need to fill it with anything more. He stood there, leaning slightly against the chair, watching her sketch for a moment.

"Well, I'll let you get back to it," he said after a beat, already sensing that she wasn't the type to want small talk. But he didn't want to leave just yet. He was curious about her, about this quiet, calm world she seemed to have built around herself.

"Thanks for stopping by," she said, her voice soft as she returned her attention to her work.

Harry smiled and nodded before walking away, feeling strangely drawn to her calm, her quiet resolve. There was something about Mara, something in the way she moved through the world without needing to be noticed. It was... refreshing. And for the first time in a while, Harry felt like he might actually be able to find some peace here.