Sparks Fly
"GEMMA! HARRY'S HERE!" I nearly jumped out of my skin when my mum screamed up the stairs. Quickly, I checked my hair in my bedroom mirror and then ran downstairs. Nearly tripping over my own feet as I did so. When I got to the bottom, I saw Harry standing there and watched as he smiled when he saw me. I couldn't help getting a little flustered. We'd been very close friends for about seven months. Everybody thought there was something going on between us since the very beginning, but that wasn't true. Although, I wouldn't mind if it was. Truthfully, I really liked him on a more than friendly basis. I just never felt confident enough to tell him. This afternoon, we were going out together. Just the two of us. We hadn't been out alone together in a while and I was a little nervous. I didn't want this outing to go horribly wrong in any way.
"Can I just ask how it takes you so long to get ready?" He had a cheeky tone to his voice and the smile to match it. I rolled my eyes.
"Let's see… Does the excuse 'I'm a girl' explain it for you?" I raised my eyebrows at him and he let out a quite chuckle.
"I just don't get it. You spend so much time trying to improve yourself when there's nothing much to improve because you're already close to perfect." He wasn't even joking when he said that, which shocked me. He actually sounded like he meant it. Nobody had ever said anything like that to me before. I began to feel my cheeks burning and turn into a bright shade of red. It took me a few minutes before I decided to lift my head up again. No way did I want him to see me hysterically blushing over something quite small. Even if to me it felt like so much more than just something small.
We left my house and walked side by side the whole way to the park. Throughout the short journey, we made small talk with each other and giggled at times. At one point, our eyes locked and I felt so enticed by him like the slightest touch at that moment, could send me off on a strange frenzy. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue/green I'd ever seen and they weren't very hard to get lost in. He'd always been the more confident one between the two of us, whereas I'd always been the shyer one. He also had the cheekier side to him, which at times could be just so cute and at others quite sexy.
When we got to the park, it was packed. There were clusters of people in nearly every inch of it possible.
"Come over here." Harry held onto my hand and pulled me to the other side of the park which was surprisingly quite deserted.
I hadn't even realised that the whole way here, Harry had been carrying a football and a picnic basket. "Eyeing up the food already? Don't be greedy." He winked at me and I shoved him lightly in the side.
"Well if you stop being so cheeky I might agree to it." I gave him a sly, tight smile.
"Oh so that's the way you want to play is it?" He had the sexiest smile on his face but I wanted to keep playing this 'game'. As even my shyness didn't control me when I was with Harry.
"Maybe… Maybe not." I started to playfully back away from him.
"Oh, bring it on." He started to charge after me as we ran for so long around the small space of park we'd taken for ourselves. Anybody walking past would actually believe we were a couple. A proper one.
Suddenly, while my back was turned, I felt strong arms wrap around me and spin me round.
"Put me down! You win, ok, you win!" I couldn't help but hysterically laugh as he spun me around a few times. When he finally put me down, I could barely stand up. When he noticed my lack of balance his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me upright, making us only inches apart. I could hardly catch my breath at how close we were. At that point, I wanted him so badly but I couldn't jump into things quickly. I didn't want to regret it. I didn't want to lose him by acting stupidly.
"Since I won… What's my prize?" This felt so strange. His arm was still firmly around my waist and his smile was so incredible that I could barely control myself. I didn't even know how to respond. "Well…?" He was making my heart race at a speed I never even thought it could go at. I slowly took his arm from around my waist.
"Who says you were getting a prize?" I replied, cheekily.
"Nice comeback. How about we play a game of football? Whoever wins gets to choose the prize?" I couldn't even tell what he was trying to imply by the 'prize'. I wish he'd just tell me what he wanted.
"Me playing football? Are you kidding?" I almost sounded disgusted that he'd even mentioned me joining in.
"Does it look like I'm kidding?" He ran over to the football and dribbled it across the ground. "Come on then, I'm waiting." He smiled at me and showed his equally adorable dimples. Without him realising, I sneaked up behind him, and took the ball from between his feet. He looked stunned that I finally joined in.
"Come on then, I'm waiting." I mimicked him and I could see his eyes light up.
"You're a dirty player aren't you?" He spoke jokingly. He came speeding towards me and I tried to run as fast as I could with the ball. He was never far behind me. I tried to keep in control of the ball but Harry came right up behind me and hooked his foot around my ankle, causing me to fall to the ground.
A few seconds later, Harry was on top of me and quickly lifted himself up, so his elbows were supporting his body above me. Our bodies were actually touching and the look in Harry's eyes was so intensifying. My heart was flipping insanely in my chest and my temperature dramatically increased. He reached his hand up and gently stroked my hair, before shaking his head and rolling onto the grass on the other side of me. What had just happened? Should we have kissed? Did he want me then, like I wanted him? No, that couldn't have been it.
"You ready for some food?" He sounded a little breathless but he got straight up off the ground.
"Yeah, sure." I grabbed onto Harry's outstretched hand and he pulled me upright. At least this time our bodies were not touching, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to control myself given a second chance at the feeling.
We strolled over to the picnic basket and sat down on the grass. Harry opened the basket up and laid out the food he'd prepared for us. The thing that caught my eye was a candle holder, shaped as a love heart with white and red candles slotted in it. He hadn't even noticed I'd been staring at it as he pulled it out of the basket and pulled out a lighter. Each candle was lit up individually and slowly, and his eyes shimmered as the flame reflected in his eyes.
Throughout our dinner we didn't usher a word to each other and the tension looming in the air was insane.
"The food's great… Did you do it yourself?" I tried to make some sort of conversation; I didn't like feeling awkward with him.
"Yeah, I did. Did I get the right sandwich filling and crisps flavour right?" He seemed genuinely interested to know.
"Oh my god, you made my favourite! How did I not realise? Why am I so dumb?" I sort of pretended to look dozy but kind of felt it anyway.
"You're not dumb." He almost had a stern edge to his voice. I saw him look at the floor. He put his sandwich down and sat upright, facing exactly in my direction.
"What's wrong?" I pushed my food and the candles aside and sat in front of him.
"Actually, nothing's wrong. Nothing at all. Why do you put yourself down so often?" That was a random question and was totally not the subject we were discussing.
"Um… I don't know, I guess it's just natural for me now. After being bullied years ago, the comments haven't left me Harry. In fact, you know what I think every time I look in the mirror?" He shook his head, wanting me to continue. "I think, why do I have to look like this? Like maybe if I was just a bit skinnier, or I was prettier, I'd never have to feel so bad. If there was any way I could change myself, I'd consider it. Plastic surgery, whatever because I hate feeling this way Harry. I really hate it. If I hadn't been called 'fat' or been told 'nobody will ever love you' so many times, I might not have believed it, but I heard it every day. No matter where I went, the words constantly haunted my memory and I just wanted to be alone and away from everybody. I deliberately tried to isolate myself because I never felt good enough. Then when I met you all that changed. I was still shy but with you, I feel almost invincible. Harry, if I didn't have you in my life, I don't know how I'd be coping right now, or if I'd still be coping at all." I'd just told him all my darkest secrets. The things I'd never told a soul or even wrote down anywhere. Tears were streaming down my face and Harry wrapped his arms around me so tightly, I felt protected from all evil. He pulled away and held my face in his hands.
"Listen to me… Never think that you're not good enough because you are, you're incredible. Never, ever, think about changing anything about yourself ever again because you will always be perfect too me. You're the best person in my life and when you're upset, I'm upset. When you smile, I couldn't be happier. You are my World. Please never make yourself feel as low as that again. Whenever you need a shoulder to cry on or somebody to talk to, I promise I am always here. I don't care if you ring me when it's early hours of the morning when I'm fast asleep or when I'm at work, I'll always answer my phone. I love you." Everything stopped when he said that. His lips pressed delicately against mine and my whole body relaxed. The tears were no longer pouring down my face, all I could feel was my heart racing and the intenseness of the kiss. The passion coming from both of us was immense. I have to admit we were getting a little carried away, so I pulled away first, even if I was slightly reluctant to do it. We were both practically gasping for breath but the smiles we showed each other spoke volumes above what any words could. I leaned in towards his ear and steadied my breathing before saying, "I love you too." Oh how I wanted more of our outings to the park to be like this one. Besides talking about the upsetting things. That was my very first kiss and I'd only imagined ever sharing it with Harry. Now that I'd done exactly that, I was looking forward to future ones.
This day had been by far one of the best, and if given the chance to change anything about it, I'd refuse. Nothing could have made it anymore amazing.