A New Love

Seven

For the next two weeks, Harry and I got to be good friends, and living with him was becoming a more comfortable routine.

When we weren't working, we would hang out with Niall, Joy, and Alex. Sometimes we had opposite shifts so when I was just coming home from work, he would be leaving and vice versa. I still had yet to see him around the amusement park.

Harry was also pretty cool with letting Alex come over. We mostly stayed in my room since I did not want Harry to feel weird in his own home. He said he did not mind us being out in the living room, but I thought it would be awkward for some reason.

One sunny afternoon, Harry invited me to accompany him to a botanical garden so that he could take photos for a project. I agreed since I had never been to a botanical garden.

It was about a twenty minute drive from here and the traffic was not too bad at this hour. I made sure to take my water bottle with me. It was almost one in the afternoon.

"Are we going in your car?" I asked him as I filled up my water bottle.

He was packing some equipment in the living room. "Yeah, if that's fine with you."

"Of course. Let me just grab my purse."

In the car, Harry inputted the address on his phone's GPS and we set off. His equipment bags jostled in the backseat.

A Maroon 5 song started playing on the radio, and I hummed along to the words as I stared out the window. Cold air blasted through the small vents.

I rummaged in my purse for my sunglasses.

Harry and I did not speak too much until we arrived at the garden.

The parking lot was essentially a dirt lot with white lines spray painted on to create the spaces. They were barely visible as a result of cars driving over them.

I mistakenly went to lean against his car and hissed as the hot metal made contact. The sun was smack dab in the middle of the sky and it beat down on us.

Harry sidled up next to me with his camera hanging around his neck and a black bag slung across his body. "Okay. I'm ready to go."

"Cool," I smiled.

We walked to the front entrance where there was a box for optional donations to keep the garden maintained, and we slipped a few dollar bills into it as we walked by.

"Where do you want to go first? " I asked as we stood in front of the map.

It pointed out the different areas of the garden by types of plants and trees. A red dot at the bottom indicated our position. I made a mental note of where the restrooms are.

"We can wander around the garden and see what catches our eye," he suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

We followed the dirt path and politely smiled at people as we passed them by. Harry stopped a couple of times to take pictures of the flowers and a small waterfall. A stream flowed from it and ran to a large pond. We stood on a bridge overlooking it.

I was staring at the water, trying to get a glimpse of what seemed like tadpoles, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye Harry was taking pictures of me.

My hands immediately flung up to cover my face. "What are you doing?"

He chuckled. "Remember, I take pictures of whatever catches my eye."

I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips, and laughed. "Stick to the plants please."

He lowered the camera. "You don't like people taking photos of you?"