Crooked Hearts

11. Chasing Cars

The trolley slows to a stop and Aria and get off, just after Aria hugs Rufio goodbye of course. We're near the beach now, it's three-thirty AM in the morning.

"Where's this party at?"

"A club, just a minute away from here, I'll sneak us in."

"Whoa wait, what do you mean sneak us in?"

"Well, you have to pay to get in, but no matter we'll just sneak in."

I stop Aria from walking and make her meet my eyes. I'm a couple inches taller than her, so I have to look down to see her bright blue eyes. "Aria, I will get spotted down there, and chaos will break lose."

"Chill Harry, you will not get spotted. Just trust me."

I want to trust her, I really do. But getting spotted by paps in there is not going to be pretty. Management is going to question me severely, the fans will get upset, and this will mean lots of bad press for me and the boys. I know, publicity, even bad publicity helps with the career, but as much as possible I do not like getting bad publicity.

And besides, what would people say about a celebrity having to sneak into a club? It's unheard of, celebrities don't sneak into clubs, because we don't have to.

"I don't want to get in trouble with the paps." I say.

"You won't. Know why? Because there will be lots of people there, they won't be able to see you through the crowds." She says, impatiently.

I don't think Aria knows what I'm up against here. I want to go to the club, but I don't want to get myself into more trouble than I already am. I want to trust Aria though, her blue eyes look sincere. "Please Harry." She says.

"Fine." I mumble. Fancy that, Harry Styles, a man so easily swayed by girls.

Aria and I walk down to the beach. Apparently, it's an outdoor club. People are dancing to the loud music on the beach barefoot. Aria slips off her shoes and shoves them into her backpack.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going to party barefoot." She says. "Take your shoes off."

I slip of my black Nike sneakers, and Aria slips them into her bag as well. She then throws the bag into a nearby bush.

"Aria, what the hell?" I shoot at her.

"Don't worry, we'll get it later."

We sneak up past a long line of people waiting outside the club entrance. There's a big bouncer at the entrance of the club, I wonder how we'll get past him. Aria grabs my hand and leads me to the other side of the club. There's another entrance here, but it's unguarded, and locked.

Aria takes a pin from her shorts pocket, and inserts it into the padlock. She gets the door open in under a minute. I'm thoroughly impressed. We enter the club, just like that.

The club is packed with people. Loud samba music plays through huge speakers, and a DJ sits at a booth. Aria grabs my hand and pulls me into the crowd. We jump around barefoot in the sand as the samba music plays on. Masses of writhing bodies push against me and Aria putting us closer together. My toes are buried deep in the sand, as we dance. I'm a terrible dancer, to be honest, but right now, the sensation of the loud dance music in my ears and Aria's body leaning into mine, is enough to me forget that fact.

We dance on and on, kicking sand around, laughing, and basically having the time of our lives. I don't know how to samba, but Aria does. She's quite good at it actually. I watch as she sambas to the music. The DJ switches songs to a rather slow one, and I hold my hand out to Aria, "May I have this dance?"

"You may." She smiles.

_______________________

"May I have this dance?" I ask Aria, with a goofy grin.

"No, I can't dance, Harry."

"Please?" I say, smiling.

Aria shakes her head, "There are too many people here."

It's our charity ball at school, where we basically pay to attend a ball, and give the money to charity. Aria and I went, both of us without a date. We're sitting at an empty table in the corner, watching party unfold. And I don't think I've ever seen Aria look so beautiful in all my life. Her dark hair is pinned up in a sort of princess/beauty queen/ prom queen, style. She's wearing a knee-length Tiffany blue chiffon dress, with these black strappy sandals. She's also wearing makeup, which is a novelty because Aria hardly ever wears makeup. She looks absolutely gorgeous tonight. The thing about Aria and her makeup is this, she still looks like Aria. Some girls aren't that pretty until they wear makeup and then suddenly become ten times prettier. But Aria is already beautiful, even without layers and layers of makeup. Tonight, the makeup doesn't hide her natural beauty, it enhances it.

"Then let's dance outside."

Aria looks puzzled, "Harry, wha-"

But I pull her out of her chair, and practically drag her outside to the school gardens. The gardens are empty, but the music from inside can be heard clearly from here. I bow and offer my hand to her. She laughs and curtsies, taking my hand. The song that starts to play is Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, God, I love that song. I put my hands on her waist, and she wraps her arms around my neck.

'We'll do it all, everything, on our own

we don't need anything, or anyone.

If I lay here, if I just lay here,

would lie with me, and just forget the world?

I don't quite know, how to say, how I feel.

Those three words are said too much, but not enough.

If I lay here, if I just lay here

would lie with me, and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told, before we get too old,

show me a garden that's bursting into life.'

As the song gets to the chorus I dip Aria, and she wraps her leg around my waist.

'Let's waste time, Chasing cars around our heads.'

______________________________________-

Aria, wraps her arms around my neck, and I hold her by the waist. And we slow dance to a not so slow song. We must look ridiculous in this crowd. "Charity ball, do you remember?" I say in her ear.

Aria nods, "I was just thinking of that."

"Chasing Cars."

"God, that is a brilliant song."

I agree with her and she smiles at me. Not a sly smile, or a wicked smile, or any of the smiles she's given me this past evening. But a sweet and shy smile, it's the kind of smile that makes me want to cup her cheek with my hand and smile back. But I don't do that. Aria however, rests her head on my shoulder, and leans into me, and I can smell that sweet minty smell on her once more.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a guy with a camera. I don't even know if he's a pap, but I want to be safe about it. I nudge Aria gently and she looks up. I nod at the guy with a camera and she understands. She lets go of me, only to grab my hand, and pull me out of the crowd.

Once we're outside, I feel relief wash over me, relief that we didn't get caught or anything. We head back to where Aria dropped her backpack in a bush. She takes my shoes out from the bag and hand them to me. I'm about to slip them on, but Aria shakes her head.

"We're going for a walk on the beach, better if you didn't put your shoes on." She says.

I nod, "Okay... so where are we going?"

"We have one last destination."