We Are Like Young Volcanoes

Part 7

After driving for 45 minutes out into the countryside, Phil pulled over into the driveway of a large house with a beautiful garden in the front; it was filled with wild looking roses and other wondrous plants. Dan stepped out of the car and walked around to open the door for Katherine. Katherine stepped out carefully onto the ground which was covered in pebbles. She steadied herself against the car trying to balance in her very high heels. Dan smiled seeing Katherine wobbling slightly as she tottered up the drive following Phil. They all went through the back gate into a stunning garden. It was just as breath taking as the front with wild flowers growing all around and a small but elegant fountain to one side. A stone path leads from the entrance to the garden towards the fountain. The path was bordered by small pink flowers. The main part of the garden was a large lawn which was currently covered by a grand marquee. Tiny blue fairy lights were draped around the inside of the tent giving it a magical glow. Inside the tent were numerous tables draped in pristine white table cloths. Each table was surrounded by a few chairs which were decorated with silver ribbon, and on the centre of each table was a simple centre piece: a crystal vase with one red rose.

Suddenly, from inside the marquee there was a loud scream. “DAAANNNN”. The voice was followed by a tall woman running towards them; she had long brown hair and was slightly older than Dan and Katherine, maybe about Phil’s age. She ran straight towards Dan and hugged him tightly. Katherine seemed quite startled but Dan just laughed. The woman stepped back from Dan and gently ruffled his hair.

“Aww look at my baby brother; looking all grown up.” She laughed as she pinched Dan’s cheeks. Dan immediately pushed her away trying to fix his hair, but still giggling. Now the woman turned to Katherine “And who is this?” She looked Katherine up and down smiling. Dan quickly cleared his throat and took Katherine’s hand in his own.

“This is my... Girlfriend.” Dan gave Katherine a quick look to check they were on boyfriend/girlfriend level. Katherine gave him a reassuring smile. “Katherine, this is Alice, my big sister. Alice this is Katherine, my girlfriend.” Dan said proudly, he loved referring to Katherine as his girlfriend and planned on doing this a lot more often throughout the day.

Alice threw her arms around Katherine, smothering her in a hug. Holding onto Katherine’s shoulders, Alice took a step back so she could look at Katherine properly.

“Oh my god. She’s gorgeous!” Alice exclaimed to Dan as she gently twisted Katherine around so she could got a good look at her. “How an earth did you manage to get with a girl as beautiful as this?” Alice said still beaming from ear to ear. Katherine laughed shyly, looking down slightly. “Is he holding you against your own will dear?” Alice asked jokingly and Katherine simply laughed feeling a bit awkward. Dan covered his face with his hand.

“Okay, thank you Alice, that’s enough of bullying me for now don’t you think.” Dan said taking Katherine’s hand and trying to move her away from Alice who finally let go of Katherine’s shoulders.

“Okay, but just wait until later when I dig out the baby photos.” She said with a wink before moving on to give Phil one of her very tight scary hugs.

Dan led Katherine towards the marquee and they approached a table with a few other Howell family members sitting around it. He leant over and whispered in Katherine’s ear.

“Don’t worry, the rest of my family aren’t such violent huggers.” Katherine giggled and the humour made her feel less nervous.

Dan introduced Katherine to the rest of his family and they settled down at an empty table with Phil, Alice, her husband Greg and their daughter Lillie. As the day went on more and more people arrived and Alice and Greg was very busy greeting all of them, leaving Katherine and Dan to keep an eye on Lillie. Lillie was a very quiet little girl and was quite content to sit at the table with her uncle and do some colouring in. Katherine watched as Dan helped Lillie colouring in a picture of a fairy princess and couldn’t help but smile at how adorable he was.

Once all the guests arrived, Alice thanked everyone for coming; she and Greg both made speeches and Katherine discovered that the party was to celebrate their wedding anniversary and suddenly felt bad for not bringing a gift. There was a buffet and waiters wearing white gloves who brought around flutes of champagne on silver trays. As the evening got darker the fairy lights started to look more romantic and a few tables were cleared to make a dance floor in the middle of the marquee and music played as a few people started to dance. Lillie stood on Phil’s feet and he held onto her hands and they danced around to One Direction.

Dan and Katherine tried to avoid dancing by sitting with Dan’s Mum and Dad and trying to appear as if they were in very deep conversation but Alice came over and dragged them all into the centre of the dance floor. As they started to dance to a fast happy song, it faded out and was replaced by a slow romantic one. As ‘The Only Exception’ by Paramore played Dan took Katherine by the waist and she placed her hands on his shoulders and they swayed slowly to the music. Katherine rested her head on Dan’s chested and he held her tighter. Katherine closed her eyes taking in the smell of Dan’s shirt and feeling perfectly at ease just as she had when she woke that morning next to him. They continued to sway softly and comfortably feeling as if that moment was lasting forever.

Never before had Katherine felt like this about someone, and never had she expected to feel like this about someone so quickly. As Hayley Williams sang Katherine opened her eyes and looked up at Dan who was watching her.

“What are you thinking right now?” Dan asked.

“I’m thinking that this song sounds like how I feel.” Katherine said, almost laughing at how cheesy her own words sounded. Dan also smiled.

“What do you mean?” Dan said.

“I mean, I don’t know, just the way this song makes me feel. It feels like...”  Katherine stood on her tip toes and reached up to kiss Dan not too passionately conscious that she was surrounded by his family and friends but romantically enough to make him know what she meant. And he understood. In that moment they both felt like this was right, the two of them, and nothing else mattered.

‘And I’m on my way to believing...’