Chapter 9

“Muchos gracias senor!” Harry tapped the front of the taxi just before the moustached driver sped off with our cash.

It was way past midday and the sun had dropped a little, making it easier to bare. We had driven for half an hour through Valencia’s backstreets and highways, ending up back in the centre of the city? I was confused myself. What all that effort had been about escaping, I had no idea. I had not spoken a word to Harry throughout the whole car trip. I was in total shock. He just examined the road ahead and occasionally took out his phone.

Strangely, there were very little people on the streets considering it was school holidays now and tourist season had started. I gazed up at the high beige coloured wall, curious to find out what was behind them

“So…” I pushed the one bike we had onto the footpath next to Harry. He too was staring up at the wall. “After all that driving, what are we doing here?”

“Jardi Botanic de la Universitat de Valencia.” He read the rusting plaque a little bit to the left of the vines growing over the wall. “That’s what we’re doing.”

He turned to me, his eyes open wide with excitement. I stared back “…What?”

“Ahh you’ll see!” He took the bike from my hands and we walked around the walls to the main entrance.  He started to walk inside before I said “Wait, do you think they’ll let the bike inside?”

He looked back, “Tilly, please. They know me.” And we walked inside, Harry with a confident grin on his face.

The entrance foyer was dark, with the exception of exotic fish tanks producing a blue florescent light which bounded off every wall. There was a large clouded door to the front of us and a small grey door which looked more like a janitor’s closet. The only noises heard were the tip tapping of our footsteps and the tick tick of the bike chain as Harry pushed it towards the grey door.

“Um Harry…” He looked back at me again, “Yes?”

I looked around suspiciously. “Where is everybody? All the lights are off and there’s no one at the help desk.” I gestured to the silver desk across the room.

He held up a pair of keys in front of my face. “That’s why, we have the keys.” My eyes widened as he turned the keys to the grey door and opened it up. Light poured from behind it and Harry walked into it as if it was the sun.

“Harry?” I called out, unsure for the second time that day.

“Come on Tilly!” His voice seemed as if it was in the distance yet he was so close. “Oh and close the door behind you.”

I approached the light; it was more blinding as I came closer and closer. As I walked through I shut the door reluctantly behind me

What I turned around to face was astonishing. It was absolutely another world than to what was behind the walls. Luscious green grass blew in the slight breeze and exotic flowers grew on the vines crawling across the sandy walls.  I stumbled forward, in a daze to what Harry had brought me to.

Harry had already sat himself down underneath a tree, covered in pinky-reddish flowers that occasionally would fall of the tree due to the gentle wind. I sat down as gracefully as I could next to him.

He obviously had seen the look on my face, “So, what do you think?”

“I… I love it.” I really could not have described it anyway other way else. His smile made the sun seem a little brighter. Cheesy or not, it was true. “But are we even allowed to be here?”

Harry lay back onto the grass. “Don’t worry, please… We’re here now.”

I waited for a few moments. I couldn’t tell if his eyes were closed or not because of his sunglasses. His chest raised up and down, so he was still breathing. Thank goodness. Birds flew in and out of the garden, playing in the birdbath, splashing each other around.

“What happened back there? Over at McDonald’s I mean…” I thought that maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but I did have a right to know. After all, I was there.

“Hmm..? Oh that…” He sat upright to face me. “It was really nothing, honestly. Don’t worry about it.”

Everything he said I wanted to believe. I just didn’t understand why. Nothing made sense with him.

“I get the feeling that you’re already bored in here…”

My mouth dropped. “Are you crazy??? It’s amazing in here! How could anyone get bored?”

“I don’t know… You just looked a bit bored I guess.” He stood up. “Come on lets go and explore, what do you say?” His hand was held out at me. I looked up at him. I never noticed how tall he was, but he was a giant. I took his hand and he pulled me up.

“You’re not too short yourself.” He smiled at me. It was like he read my mind.

He pulled me softly towards the pathway leading through the trees. There were all sorts of different types of plants, obviously I couldn’t name them all individually seeing as how I never payed attention in Biology. My teacher was a total bore. Hand in hand, we ventured into the gardens…

***

The world was so different from inside the gardens. The high walls blocked out the hustle and bustle of Valencia and the beeping car horns that followed.  It was 4:30pm. Harry and I had spent 2 hours exploring the gardens and honestly, it was amazing. Harry seemed to know an awful lot about plants which was kind of weird, but cute. So he didn’t just have the looks after all… Usually, on a an excursion to the botanical gardens back at home, I would’ve fallen asleep on a park bench in less than 20 minutes, but  with Harry… Harry made it interesting.

As we walked out, back onto the grass, there was a shrub of yellow roses to the side of the field. Harry walked over to them and carefully plucked one of them out of the bush. He turned back to me and held it above my air.

“Hmm…” He pondered for a second, “Yellow is definitely not your colour.”

He took back the rose and placed it under the shrub. Running back into the garden, he shouted “I’ll be one second!”

I stood awkwardly in the middle of the field, unsure whether to sit down or to stay standing. The breeze was still there but the heat had faded away slightly. The sun was slowly setting over the walls of the garden. It must’ve taken years to collect all the different plants, I wondered before Harry came running back through the shadow of the trees.

Most people looked goofy when they ran, but Harry looked perfect. He ran as if he was really determined to get somewhere.

He stood so close to me, but not too close. His legs were together as if to make him seem taller. My height must be a threat to him, I laughed quietly to myself. Harry took out another rose from behind his back. A single red rose.

He placed it behind my right ear and whispered “Rosa Rubligniosa”. “I thought that since we were in Spain that a red rose must’ve been appropriate.” He winked at me and stepped back a bit with his hands held out.

“I present to you, the lovely Matilda of Australia!” He shouted to anyone and everyone who could hear. Although nobody was near, I went red like the rose itself. “Come on! Do a flamenco dance for us!”

“Harry… really? REALLY? There is no way I am dancing. I look like a whale out of water when I dance. Trust me.” I held my arm and twisted my foot, isn’t that how people show other people that their awkward?

“Oh I guess you’re right…” Harry still had that cheeky grin, “No one can really dance without music!”

Once again, he took my arm and ran back to the main building. He opened the grey door and we went back inside the darkness. My eyes took a few seconds to adjust but Harry was already opening another door. The other room was even darker but at least it was cooler.

Harry flicked on the lights and rows of plush toys and pamphlets came into view. “The gift shop?” I turned to Harry, confused.

Harry started walking down one of the aisles, “Well as I like to call it, The Souvenir shop.” He examined the shelves for something useful. I walked down one of the next aisles and took one of the toys. A stuffed palm tree. Who would buy a stuffed palm tree?

I looked up, about to throw it at Harry, but he wasn’t there. I freaked out for a second but then I realised that he had just gone right to the back of the shop.  I glided down the aisles and towards him.

He was looking up at the guitars on the wall. Usually at gift shops, every item had the place’s name printed all over it, but the guitars surprisingly looked professional.

Harry turned to me, “Which one do you reckon?”

I continued to examine the guitars. They were all really wonderful to be honest.

“Umm… That one!” I pointed to the traditional wood looking guitar that was right in the middle of the wall. I felt like a child, picking sweets but that guitar was the one that really stood out to me the most for some reason.

Harry reached up and took it off the walls. He held it as if it were the most important thing in the world, carefully straightening himself up. “What colour do you want to strap to be?”

“Surprise me.” I smiled and he bent down to take a guitar strap out of the box.

His fingers wrapped around the strap as he fastened it into the sides of the guitar. It was navy blue. My favourite colour. Of course, he must’ve learnt that from his little internet stalk.

Harry stood up properly and smiled at me. “Alright. Ready to go?” He swung the guitar strap over his head and put the guitar behind him.

As we started walking out, I said “You’re not seriously going to play that are you?”

He slapped 100 Euros on the front counter and we walked back out the door. “One of my many many talents.”

Oh gosh… I thought and we walked back into the sunlight.

Although the suns full light was blocked out by the walls, we could still see where we were going. Instead of sitting under the tree, we sat in the middle of the field.

He held the guitar firmly in his hands, tuning it to its proper sound. The twang of the tuning has always annoyed me but this time it was absolutely fine.

“Welcome welcome to Friday afternoons with Harry Styles on BBC Radio 1! Call in for your song selections now. The lines are open!” He began playing smooth chords whist watching me with a smile. “So, what do you want me to play?”

“Umm…” I was not prepared for that.

“I heard that you liked Maroon 5?” He got the guitar ready; he must’ve learnt that from the stalking too.

“Yeah I do…” I was beginning to get excited.

“Well then…” He plucked one of the strings on the guitar…

“Oh! This love has taken its toll on me…”

***

“…Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be so hard… I'm going back to the start.”

I clapped and smiled. In 45 minutes I had learnt that Harry not only liked Coldplay, but he could sing. Like really sing. And play the guitar. “Are you going to play any other songs?” I asked.

Harry nervously at me without the usual confidence he had, “Well there is one song that I’ve wanted to sing to you today. Would you like me to sing it for you?”

I nodded and with tense slight shiver, Harry began to play the intro.

“It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. I don't have much money, but boy if I did. I'd buy a big house where we both could live…” He looked back up at me quickly before turning back to the guitar.

“And you can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple, but now that it's done .I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words. How wonderful life is while you're in the world…”

The music stopped. He stopped singing too.

“Why did you stop?” I asked quietly.

Harry looked into my eyes. I looked straight back into his. He took the guitar off and put it to the side. As he came towards me slowly, I was unable to breath.

Before I knew it, his lips were on mine and I bent back so that we were lying in the comfort of the grass. His lips… His perfect lips.

As soon as I had met Harry Styles, I had dreamt of kissing those lips and there we were, in the botanical gardens, all alone.

It was like nothing else existed. Just Harry and I. He made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment, at that exact period in time.

He slipped his hand underneath my back and I held his neck. I could feel his curls in between my fingers. I gripped them tightly as if I never wanted him to pull away.

It wasn’t a hard kiss. It was slow and smooth. Relaxed and ready.

***

After a few moments, Harry pulled away and sat up. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have…” He looked away.

“Harry… “I rolled us over so that I was on top of him. “That was amazing. Everything about that…”

He looked promisingly into my eyes, “So you liked it?”

I nodded and whispered into his ear. “It was my first kiss.”

Harry whispered back, “It was our first kiss.”

I rolled over next to him and we looked up into the sky. The sun was almost setting and the stars began appearing in the skies. It was dusk but the air was still warm. The heat between us was bearable and beautiful.

“What time is it?” Harry turned his head to me.

I laughed slightly and checked my phone. “6:37.”

He sat up and checked his phone. “You’re right. We should probably head back…” Disappointment filled his face.

“Oh no… Harry, I never want to leave.” I felt as if this was the last time I’d ever get to see Harry again, though I knew it wasn’t.

He stood up and pulled me up gently with him. “Don’t worry. We’ll come back here one day. I promise.”

Harry cupped my chin and kissed me again. Our second kiss. Why did we have to leave…?

Picking up the guitar, Harry handed it to me. “This is yours now.” He smiled.

“Oh no… I can’t. You paid for it.” I refused to take the guitar.

“Please Tilly…”

His voice persuaded me. I took the guitar in my hands and I followed him inside the main lobby. He locked up all the doors and ushered me back out onto the streets. It was as if I had never heard a car before, the horns startled me.

Harry put his arm around me and hailed a cab off the street. As a yellow car pulled up to the side, Harry opened the door for me and I hoped inside. It was a change from being thrown inside by a complete stranger.

He shut the door and lent over the passenger seat to the driver, “Hotel Las Arenas Balneario.”

I felt gutted that we were going home. I was going to face the reality of real life again. I had just had my first ever kiss, a kiss with Harry Styles. The mysterious British boy… Were we ever really going to go back there?

Harry took my hand as reassurance. We were going ‘home’.

I glanced at the side of the guitar, where something was engraved into the wood. My left hand wiped across the carving.  Jardi Botanic de Valencia. A place to remember.