Summer

Chapter 27

        The plane ride was relatively uneventful. We all watched Love Actually, and Hazza and I took a nap because we were pretty tired from all of the driving we’ve done lately.

        I woke suddenly because Zayn was singing into one of my ears, and Liam in the other. I shot straight up out of my seat.

“Jesus, you guys scared the shit out of me!” I yelled.

“Sorry love, we needed to wake you because we’re landing now, but we didn’t know which way was best… So we settled on singing.” Liam said, shrugging.

“Oh. Well next time, just shake me and say, ‘Hadley, get the hell up!’” I said, laughing.

“Good to know.” Zayn said, shaking his head.

“Where’s Haz?” I asked.

“He went to take a wazz.” Perrie spoke up from across the cabin where she was sitting with Dani.

“Oh, nice.” I said, laughing.

        Just then, a pair of hands slipped over my eyes.

“Haz!” I exclaimed.

“No, just me.” Liam said, removing his hands from my eyes and laughing.

“Not cool.” I whined.

        I went to sit in my seat and look out the window at the view. The ground was quickly coming closer. We really were just minutes from landing. Where the hell is Harry? Just then, another pair of hands came down over my eyes.

“Nice try, I’m not falling for this again!” I said.

“Falling for what again?” Harry asked, picking me up from my seat and hugging me.

“Oh… Liam… His hand… My eyes… You were him…?” I trailed off sounding stupid.

“We’ll just leave it at that then…” Harry said, eyeing me like he thought I might pass out or something.

        The fasten seatbelt sign came on overhead, so we all took our seats and buckled up; Harry put his arms around me as best as he could since we were in different seats. He remembered that the one thing I hate about planes is the landing. I don’t know why. They just scare me. I was so touched that Harry seemed to remember everything about me, even if it was the smallest, stupidest little detail. He must seriously love me.

        Harry finally released me only after we stopped moving on the tarmac. We grabbed our bags from the overhead bins and exited the plane into the regular airport that my family uses when we come to the beach house, so thank God I’ll know how to get to the boat.

“So, show us the way!” Dani yelled excitedly, taking my hand and pulling me towards the exit.

        I got us a taxi and we all threw our stuff into the trunk in one big pile. We all stuffed ourselves into the little car. I was wedged between Dani, who was still holding my hand so tight you would think she was giving birth, and Zayn, who was currently making out with Perrie like they were the only ones in here.

“So, Danielle, when do I get my girlfriend back?” Harry asked, slightly annoyed.

“Never! She’s mine now!” She laughed jokingly.

“Fine, then Liam’s mine!” Harry shouted, taking Liam’s hand.

        I laughed out loud. We all get along so well. Before all of this happened, and I was still just a fan, I thought that for sure the boys were lying about getting along. I mean, surly they fight, right? Wrong. They are seriously like brothers. It’s so cute.

        Dani finally released her grip on my hand and decided to start bouncing in her seat. Someone’s excited… Just then, the taxi pulled over at the dock. I handed him the money, we got out, grabbed our things, and then everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

“Why did that man just drop us off at a boating dock?” Zayn asked skeptically.

“We’re going to die out here!” Perrie shouted, grabbing onto Zayn.

“Would you guys relax? It’s a private island, remember? We have to take a boat to get there.” I said simply.

        They all chorused a long ‘Oh.’, and I showed them the way to our boat. It’s pretty big, for a speed boat. I showed everyone where to put their stuff, and then they all took seats on the deck while I found the key and started the boat’s engine.

“You know how to drive this thing?” Harry asked, standing behind me and grabbing my waist.

“Of course. My mom made me learn in case I ever had to drive it for some reason.” I lied lightly.

“You’re lying to me.” Harry said, catching me.

“How do you know?!” I asked.

“Oh, I’m never telling. So I’ll always be able to catch you when you lie.” He said, winking.

“Not fair!” I whined.

“So what’s the truth?” he asked, his face hardening slightly since I lied to him.

“My mom didn’t teach me; my dad did.” I half whispered.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I made you tell me that. I should have trusted you more.” He said, pulling me close to him and rubbing my back soothingly.

        On the way to Biltmore, I told Harry about my dad. I told him all about how he cheated on my mom countless times, how he was a drunk who didn’t care about Lila or me, how he lost his big piloting job at a commercial company, how we almost lost everything because of him, and how now we don’t speak. He’s just the world’s worst dad. We’re better off without him, honestly. Harry seemed to understand parts of it, but that was the one thing that I didn’t expect him to understand about me. His parents are divorced too, but he has a better relationship with his dad than I ever did with mine. So he just listened and held me. God, I love him.

“Are we ever going to start moving?” Dani yelled out.

“Yeah! Sorry, I had some trouble finding the map.” I lied again.

“Okay, now let’s get this show on the road!” Perrie cried.

        As I pulled the boat out of the dock and accelerated through the water, I could only think of one thing: I fucking love these people.