Before She Falls

Chapter 16

As soon as we make it to the Boathouse Downtown, there are already people taking pictures of all of us. And I know I shouldn't really pay attention to it, because the boys don't, even Perrie and Danielle seem used to it. But having people trailing behind me and walking by my side just to get a picture of me next to my cousin and his friends makes me just a tad uncomfortable. I can tell Vanessa's isn't really enjoying it either.

"Do you want to share a kayak with me?" Niall asks Vanessa and I can see her eyes lit up.

"Yeah" she smiles as she straps a life jacket onto her torso.

"C'mon babe" Liam sits in a kayak on the river and reaches his hand out to Danielle, who is still on the dock. Danielle takes his hand and carefully steps into the boat, using Liam's shoulder as a balancing tool.

"Come on lads, hurry up and get out on the water" Perrie calls to Niall and Harry from the water. She and Zayn are already paddling to turn their kayak around in the other direction.

Niall lays his kayak out on the calm water in front of the dock and steps in it, while also helping Vanessa.

"I can't wait forever, Kat" I hear Harry's voice behind me and he's already seated in an orange kayak off of the dock. He's wearing a pair of black sunglasses on his face and his mouth is hanging in a half smile.

I hop into the kayak behind Harry, trying my best not to rock the little boat too much. He starts to paddle away from the docks before I'm even properly seated.

"I can't let Niall ahead of me" Harry shouts and I look over to see that Niall is also sitting in the front of his and Vanessa's kayak, and also paddling harder to try and keep up with Harry.

"We're not even racing anywhere" I tell Harry. I mean, Liam and Danielle and Zayn and Perrie are drifting just about fifty feet in front of us.

"To the bridge" Harry says competitively, like I should have already known that the bridge is the first stop on his ridiculous little race with Niall. I decide to help him out and give a little bit of extra muscle from my end of the kayak.

"Now you look like you want to win" Harry turns his head around quickly to give me a wide grin, then turns his head forward again to continue pushing the kayak through the water.

I roll my eyes and break into a smile as he turns away and maintain my paddling and before I even realize we're already under the bridge.

"Too fast for ya, mate" Harry yells to Niall as the other kayak drifts behind us only about fifteen feet back.

Niall sticks his middle finger up to Harry and the four of us in the kayaks laugh loudly at Niall's losing gesture.

"Are you two idiots racing each other?" Liam rows his kayak over to us; Danielle is seated in the back seat. Zayn and Perrie trail behind them.

"Let's all go down to the other end, yeah?" Zayn asks from his kayak with Perrie riding in the back seat as well.

"Beat ya there Haz" Niall starts to push the paddle into the water forcefully.

"No racing! Make it a relaxing ride lads" Liam yells and then takes his own paddle into the water and makes his way down in the other direction.

Harry and I push our kayak around and slowly paddle down the river. It's absolutely beautiful out day, ninety degrees, no cloud in the sky, and the city actually looks appealing from this angle in the water.

The only real noises to hear now are the small waves falling into each other as we paddle further and the quiet conversations that can be heard over the water's sounds.

My view of the back of Harry's head is almost as lovely as the bright blue sky above us. His hair is waving backwards with the slight wind that is hitting us, his tattooed muscular arms are visible even under his white t-shirt, and his strong hands are gripped tightly around the plastic paddle as he crosses it over his body and then back again. I could sit back here and watch him for days. I stop rowing and place the length of the paddle across my lap.

"Why are you stopping?" Harry twists his body to face me with a concerned look, as if something had suddenly happened to me a two feet behind him.

"Just trying to enjoy the surroundings" I take a breath in.

Harry just smiles and pulls his paddle out of the water. He turns his face and then starts to look around everywhere; the skyline of the buildings, the other boys on their kayaks, and the what seems like endless water down the river.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" Harry says.

"It's gorgeous" I add to Harry's comment.

The sunlight of the afternoon is reflecting right over the water and shining right into our faces, blinding us a little and then I regret not bringing sunglasses with me today.

"So where are you guys going after New York?" I ask Harry, my curiosity coming out. I have been kind of wondering where the boys were heading to after their quick stay in New York City.

"We'll be flying out to California, well Los Angeles for about a week" Harry spins himself around a little so that I can see his face; however his eyes are still covered by his sunglasses.

I squint my eyes to protect them from the blazing sun ahead of us and I nod as Harry says his plans.

"We're going to promote the album on Ellen and then stay there until we travel to Atlanta for another couple of days. Then it's back to the UK for a little vacation time" Harry grins as he continues to tell me his schedule. "Liam told us that you and family will be visiting England during that time."

"Maybe" I inform him. "It all depends on what my mom wants to do."

"Maybe you could try and convince her to go there because it'd be a very nice opportunity to reconnect with some old family friends" Harry's smile turns into a smirk and I can tell he's basically telling me to come to England so I can visit him while he's there, as well as Liam and the rest of my family.

I place my paddle back into the water and start pushing back to the docks where the other boys are heading.

"Maybe" I smile.