Palas

10. "Happy."

“You’re more laidback already,” he continues while I turn to look at him. “That’s a good thing. You should enjoy your time away.”

“Are you enjoying yourself?” I ask to change the subject from me to him which seems to be difficult around Harry.

“I always enjoy my time here.” And I believe him one hundred percent.

“Well, I am enjoying myself more than I thought, but I still miss home,” I tell him and he takes his eyes of the road for a moment to look at me.

“That’s understandable. You’ve only been here for a few days and it never was your dream to break free.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” I ask my curiosity for him sparking.

I want to know more about Harry and his reasons for being here. He’s trying to hide that there’s more to him than just a teasing man, but I see how he talks about home. What he said about his mother and he mentioned his sister being like me. It makes me wonder what his home was like.

“Break free?” He asks still dancing around the topic I want to discus.

I simply nod to him in hopes to get him to open up.

“I guess I am.” He shrugs still avoiding really talking about it.

“What are your parents like? You called them fuck ups and squeaky clean.”

“I call them squeaky clean, fuck ups. They just didn’t,” he pauses as I see him eyeing me from the corner of his eyes behind his glasses. “Let their children be what they deserve to be.”

“And that is?”

“Happy.” He tenses up, his knuckles turning white from griping the steering wheel. “What about you and your mother?”

My head snaps up to his face as I was distracted with his arms and hands, well his body mostly. Why does he has to change the subject when I was finally getting close to something? Not to mention that I know nothing of my mother so why waste time discussing her?

“There’s no I and my mother,” I say, already regretting trying to get to know him because of course it means that he wants to get to know me.

“Do you remember her?” His tone is cautious, as if he knows he’s skating on thin ice.

“No,” I lie, because I do remember her.

“I wish I could forget my mother,” he mumbles pulling his lip in his mouth chewing lightly on it.

“Why?” It comes out much softer than I expected and I’m not sure if he heard me, but to my surprise he answers me.

“Well let me fraise it differently. I think she would like to forget about me and Lis.”

“Is Lis your sister?”

“Yes, she’s a good girl, only not towards the right people.” He scrunches his nose, his hand shifting the car in to park and it is only then that I realize we’re back home.

“Oh.” I don’t know what else to say.

Harry seems to be in deep thoughts as he exits the car and I follow him prompt. He leads me towards the beach that is full of people sunbathing. Some brace the still cold sea and others play some ping pong or beach volley. I watch in awe as every single one of them is enjoying their selves. They’re laidback as Harry would put it. I spot a woman who dug a seat for herself in the sand to read a book and I wish I was her.

But I also observe people who seem to be simply at the beach to show off their abs covered in oil. It makes me admire Harry’s body even more as he takes of his shirt to drop it next to the storage room. His abs seem soft yet strong, complimented by his tattoos. I take off my dress, my bikini already dried by the sun and the heat. Dropping my clothes next to Harry’s, I look up to him, surprised he was watching me.