Lessons Learned (Sequel to Love At War) Harry Styles

Chapter 31

The cold water lapped at my toes as I walked along the beach, a pair of flip flops in my hand. The sun was beating down, the warm rays a nice contrast to the waves. Castillo de la Dequesa was my destination; I was taking a well deserved break from work. I'm a photographer, I take family portraits for famous clients that are signed up to the agency I work for. I love my job, it pays all the bills and leaves a sizeable amount of money left over for holidays and other treats.

I live down in Portsmouth now, right near the docks of Southsea, which is a beautiful place to live. My job involves a lot of travelling so I'm not actually home all that much, but I don't think I could ever leave Portsmouth for good. It's home, it has been for seven years, and it's perfect. There are loads of little restaurants and cafés, and it's right near the beach and the funfair. It's very picturesque, not unlike Holmes Chapel in that sense, but it holds none of the bad memories.

So I guess I'd better update you on the Harry situation. One Direction are still together, they're still making headlines even when they're not doing tours. Harry's twenty seven now, and so am I as of three weeks ago. I don't know how the time goes by so fast, I feel so old! Louis and Eleanor got married a few years back, and they had their first baby a year ago. So as of tomorrow, August 21st 2021, the boys come off of sabbatical. They go back to making music, touring the world and generally just going back to the lives they knew for ten years.

Castillo de la Dequesa was a half an hour drive from Marbella, the place that Harry always promised to take me to. I cried as I drove past it on the way to the apartment, having flown into Malaga. It was one of the strangest things I've ever done and I wasn't sure how I was going to do it when I left later that day. I'd been in Dequesa for two weeks now and I needed to get back for work. Apparently I had a lot of clients waiting for my return home.

My eyes drifted to two little girls who were playing in the water. They were playing beach tennis, or their version of it. They would hit it back and forth twice at the most, before it splashed into the water. One of them had curly blonde hair, and the other had straighter brown hair, but both were completely gorgeous. They were giggling, they didn't have a care in the world. When you're that age, you don't...the worst thing is when you fall over and graze your knee. You feel so much pain and you don't think anything can be worse. When you're that age, you don't know what it feels like to have a broken heart.

The little girl with blonde hair squealed as the ball hit the water, and splashed her in the face. Her sister laughed at her and picked the ball up, hitting it with the bat as best she could. I smiled as I sat down in the sand, my toes wiggling as the grains fell from them. I was still crying, and I didn't even know why. It had been an emotional holiday for me, especially being so close to the place I always thought I'd go with Harry.

"Mummy, Mummy!"

The brown haired girl ran from the sea and headed towards the shore. She had a huge, toothy grin on her face, her hair flying behind her as she ran. The bat was still in her hand, her knuckles turning white because of her tight grip.

"Mummy, I won!"

"Well done baby!" I smiled, as she crashed into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"I let you win Ellie!" shouted the other girl.

"No Maddie, that's lying and Mummy says we mustn't lie!" called Ellie, poking her tongue out.

"Enough of that you two," I chuckled, as Maddie knelt down in the sand beside us. "You both did amazing."

"Thank you Mummy!" smiled Maddie.

"Girls, don't argue," came Harry's voice from behind you. "You don't want to ruin the last day of holiday."

"We're not arguing Daddy, but I clearly won that game," stated Ellie, a-matter-of-factly.