Summertime Sadness (One Direction)

I Found a Boy

Chapter 8:

I Found a Boy

{Zoe's POV}

       I walk out of my room and into the kitchen to find Harry cooking at the stove and Zayn and Liam sitting at the table.

       "Good morning," I say, sitting down with Liam and Zayn. Harry turns around "Oh, good morning, Zo," Then resumes his cooking. "So, what were you planning on doing today?" "We were going to have Emily give us a tour of the island," Liam replies. "Oh good, Emily knows the island really well. She can show you all the little nooks and crannies nobody else knows about." Before either Liam or Zayn get the chance to respond Harry speaks up from in the kitchen, "I was hoping just me and you could go out today, Zoe." Harry steps up to the table with the food he prepared. I look up at him, "Yeah, that'd be great."

     Emily, Layla, Niall, and Louis all come down and get seated at the table with us. We pass around the plates of food and I take my share. We talk about our plans for the day and what else we want to do this summer. I think to myself that this is the very first time we've all been together since we arrived at the shore house. The very first time there hasn't been any drama since we came. Although, there was a feeling of guilt inside me knowing I made a promise with Leo. My thoughts are interrupted by Harry's voice, "Are you ready, Zo?" I snap out of it, "Yeah, let me just  get my shoes on." I run off to my room and head out the front door, seeing Harry is already in the drivers side. I get in the opposite side. "So, where are you taking me?" I glance over at him as he pulls out of the drive way, " "I was thinking we could just walk on the beach." I nod, "Yeah, that's fine."

     We pull up to the beach on 20th street, get out of the car, and begin to walk down the long wooden path that leads to the ocean. As we're walking I feel Harry's pinkie finger rub the side of my hand and his own hand quickly engulfs mine. I look up at him and smile.

     We step onto the sand and start our walk down it. As we walk we talk. We talk about everything our parents, our childhood, where we grew up. "Where are you from in England?" I ask him. "Holmes Chapel. I live in London though. That's where our band is based. I'm sure you know I'm in a band, right?"  I nod, "Yeah, you don't talk about it much though." "No, not that I don't like it or anything. I think I'm really lucky to have gotten the opportunity. It's just nice to get away from it sometimes. I can't believe we haven't seen even one pap here." He says, looking at the ground. "Yeah, that's good."

      We keep walking until we come up to another street exit. "Look over here." I point towards the exit where a long, rusted, metal pole is sticking out of the ground. I grab Harry's hand and walk towards it. "There was a shipwreck here a long time ago. It washed up shore and this is what's left of it." He looks it up and down as I stand next to him. I run my hands through my  hair to push it out of my face from the wind. After a couple minutes of observing it he finally says, "Did anyone die?" I nod slowly, "There's actually a story that was told. There was an Italian boy, only 16, named Massimo. He came to America for a better living. He left behind his family, friends, but most importantly, a girl, named Adele. He claimed he loved her. He made a promise to her that he would not find anyone more beautiful than her and that as soon as he could afford it he'd pay for her to come to America and spend the rest of his life with her. He comes to America, docks on an Island 65 miles off the coast of New Jersey, finds a job, a place to live, and you guessed it, a beautiful American women, Sophie. Years go by, Sophie and Massimo have family together, you know, the usual, while Adele is still over in Italy waiting to hear from Massimo. Adele eventually saves up her own money and pays her way on this boat right here," I point to the pole in the sand, "and it sinks. She died on the ship along with 300 other people. She never gets to hear from Massimo ever again. Although, Massimo does hear she was on the ship, at that point of course he can't do anything about it, but the rest of his life he has to live with knowing he broke a very important promise." Once I finish I realize the moral of the story and how absolutely ironic it is that it's exactly what I'm doing to Leo. I'm Massimo. I look at Harry, he throws his head back and laughs, "What a douche!" He says, in between fits of laughter. I laugh a little too. "Why don't we head back now?" I suggest.

      We walk back up to 20th street. It's noon now, but we both decide we're not quite hungry yet. So, we head over to Barnegat Light House. We pull in and walk down the path that leads to the light house. We reach the spot where the light house sits. We both stand there for a minute, taking in the view of the beautiful striped building and the bay that surrounds it.The light house is to our left and a long jetty that walks further along the bay. We head towards the light house and begin our walk up the flight of stairs. As we get higher and higher I can't help but look down. Harry takes a glance back at me, seeing my fear he says, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I say, trying to sound reassuring. We step up to a landing off to the side, Harry grabs my hand and pulls me into a hug. "You're okay. I'm right here with you." He kisses the top of my head, I feel comforted and safe. I feel happy. We continue the rest of the way up the flight of steps until we reach the top. The view is priceless. I look out onto the bay, there are a few sail boats, and I even see Miss Barnegat, the boat Emily's dad would always fish off of. "Beautiful, isn't?" Harry says. I look up at  him, Harry looks down at me. "Kinda reminds me of someone," Harry says smirking, I can't help but smile myself, "Who's that?"  He leans in, putting his hand on the back of my head pulling us together, so our lips touch. I wrap my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. We kiss for a couple minutes, the first time in having any kind of physical contact with Harry that I'm not thinking about Leo. It was the first moment I felt true, legitimate chemistry between Harry and I. 

       Our magical moment is interrupted by shouting from down on the jetty. Niall, Liam, Louis, and Zayn are all waving their arms trying to get our attention. "Zoe! Harry!" They holler. The only one in the group who isn't hollaring is Emily. She sits on the bench, arms folded across her chest with a look on her face like she's ready to kill.