I Can't Be Without You

~Chapter Eight~

The show was finally over. We were done for a few weeks. Since we were already in Sydney, Australia, I thought we would spend our few weeks off relaxing at my family farm about 5 hours north of here.

"Harry?" I whispered. We were laying in our beds. "Harry are you awake?"

"Yeah, Diana?" He sleepily replied.

"Do you want to come home with me for the 4 weeks we have off?" I asked. Nervous of his answer.

"That would be beautiful Di." I could tell he was smiling even though I couldn't see him. "That would be lovely".

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"We're here!" I yelled as I turned the car into the drive way of my family farm.

"Wow! How many horses do you have?" He asked looking like a child in a lolly shop.

"I'm not even sure anymore. I own two." I said pointing to the black and paint horses I owned.

"Wow!" He said excitedly. "I love horses!"

We unpacked our bags in a small cabin a 5 minute walk away from the house and went to the barn.

"Hi daddy!" I squealed as I wrapped my arms around my father, "where's mum?"

"Hi sweet pea! She's just gone to the shop with Bessy and the old cart to get some things." He replied happily, "who's this young man darling?"

"Dad, this is Harry, from One Direction. He's the boy I got paired to dance with on tour, and I've become quite fond of him" I smiled to both of them.

"As long as you're happy sweetheart" dad smiled. I heard the clip-clop of hooves coming up the dirt driveway and ran out to greet mum and Bessy, the old mare.

"Hi Mum!!" I yelled. Mum pulled Bessy up and I have her a long pat too. "How you been old girl!?" I said to the first horse we owned.

"Oh my sweet Diana is home! For how long sweet?" Mum asked as she have me a bear hug.

"4 weeks, then we fly to the USA to your over there too. I'm so glad to be home before we go though! This is Harry mum, yes from One Direction, and he's staying with me." I smiled at mum and pointed to Harry.

"As long as he's nice hun!" She gave Harry a hug too. "Are you two going to ride?"

"I was hoping so, Harry can you ride a horse?" I asked

"I can stay on one of that's what you mean" Harry laughed.

"Then let's go! See you later mum! You can ride Benny & I'll ride Gypsy!"

"Give me the down low on both horses while we get ready? I'd like to know about them!" Harry smiled as he picked up the stock saddle he was using.

"Well, Benny is very quiet. He's a Clydesdale gelding, so he's quite tall. He stands at 17.3 hands. He's about 7 years old. Gypsy is a gypsy vanner cross shire, she's not as quiet and is 5 now. She's 18.2 hands. She's black and white and Benny is black" I finished as we caught the horses and tied them to saddle them.

"Do you know a lot about horses?" Harry asked as I showed him how to saddle up his horse.

"I know almost everything there is to know" I smiled back and began to saddle my own horse. I finished saddling my horse and put Harry's helmet on him.

"Is this necessary?" He asked, clearly unimpressed with the helmet.

"Yes, or you could get hurt! And we wouldn't want that now would we!" I said enthusiastically back to him. I put my own helmet on and climbed onto my huge horse.

"Umm, how do I get on this thing?!" Harry asked, looking a little concerned.

"He won't move I promise. Now stand on the left side, no his left! Now put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the saddle if you need to and hoist yourself up so you're standing in the stirrup. Now be careful not to kick the horse as you swing your leg over and sit down. Then just put your right foot in the stirrup." I instructed.

I showed him the basics quickly and he got the hang of it pretty quickly.

"You're a natural! Think you can canter?!" I asked as he pulled up next to me.

"Why thank you ma'am!" He faked a country accent, "I think I'm ready"

I gave Gypsy a swift but gently kick telling her to go and she set off into a canter. Harry did the same with Benny and he jumped into a canter.

"Keep your heels down, head up, hands steady and sit up straight!" I laughed at Harry.

"How do I sit up straight?! And I have to look at the horse to see where he's going!"

"Sit on your back pockets! And no you don't! He knows where he's going Harry! Now you're getting it!" I laughed again as I realised Harry was getting the hang of cantering.

We pulled up at my favourite place on the whole 200 acre property. My old tree house. It was about 10 feet up and it had a hitching post at the bottom because I used to ride here when I was younger.

"This is beautiful" Harry whispered as he dismounted his horse. It was truly beautiful. And still in pretty good condition. It had two rooms and a small deck. I was lucky enough to stumble across this enormous tree one day when riding. The first room had a little gas stove, a bench and a sink. While the second had and old double bed frame. The mattress had to be removed when no one was using it because of rats, it was still in the shed. It was completely water proof and was even insulated. The windows were dirty and the curtains were faded, but it was still my not so little tree house.

We hitched the horses and climbed up the chain ladder to the little deck. It still had it's old railing but it desperately needed a repair and a fresh coat of paint. The front door was one a crisp white colour, now an off white faded colour. I opened the door to find it almost exactly how I'd left it. The floor was filthy and you could barely see out of the windows. All it needed was a fresh coat of paint and a good clean!

"This used to be my favourite place when I lived here, hell it still is. I'd have sleep overs out her and we'd stay up all night telling stories. It was great!" I smiled at the memories.

"Let's fix it up. I don't want to see this beautiful tree house go to waste!" Harry turned and said to me.

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I finally updated! I'm so sorry it took so long! Life has been hectic! Thank you for reading!!