" 𝕾top staring at me".

A beat of silence follows which involuntarily makes a smile form on Darlene's lips.

Her eyes remain closed but she shuffles to lay on her side, hand under her cheek as the bright sunlight slowly invading the confines of the room beats down on her senses.

"How do you know I'm staring at you?".

"I can feel it, you dumbass", she replies back smiling even wider now.

She feels him shift so that his body is perfectly aligned against hers which earns him a small hum from the blonde when part of the sunlight reaching her closed eyelids gets blocked.

"And what if I don't?".

Her eyebrows pull together and slowly, she blinks her eyes open squinting against the light streaming through the half open curtains.

"What?".

Harry grins moving his face closer to hers.

"What if I don't stop staring at you? Then what?".

Darlene inhales curling her lips in playful consideration.

"Then I.....I won't kiss you".

His brow perks up, "Who said I wanted you to kiss me?".

"Sure did seem like it last night", she grins watching a subtle blush take over his face as he chuckles.

"God, I'm so hungover. My head hurts", Darlene scrunches up her face pushing her head into the pillow.

"Do you.....do you remember last night? Like clearly?".

The reluctance in his voice causes her to snicker quietly.

"Yes, I do".

"And do you....regret it?", he flinches at his own words.

Darlene doesn't respond instead she brings her hand up to his disheveled hair, some free curls delicately falling on his temple.

Brushing the stray strands back from his temple, she leans up planting her lips on his cheek.

Feeling his breath get caught in his throat earns another smile from her.

"No", she murmurs lying back down and looking up at him.

He goes to reply but she cuts him off.

"But I'm not doing anything, not even kiss you until.....".

The grin on her face makes him nervous as he narrows his eyes at her.

"Until what?".

Her grin grows wider.

"Until you prove yourself".

Harry almost chokes on his spit.

"Prove myself?".

Darlene nods.

"I should know if I can trust you".

His face softens at her words and the way she's fiddling with the end of the white coverlet causes him to bring his hand up and tuck her hair behind her ear.

She swallows turning her gaze to his, a small smile on his lips.

"Okay".

instagram stories !

𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗵𝗮
1 𝗁

When evening comes, Darlene finds herself being dragged from the hotel by Harry on a 'surprise trip' to god knows where.

All throughout the car ride, she tries to hound him down for her answers but the only thing she receives is a shrug accompanied by a smug smirk at the fact that for the first time since they've met, Harry is the one holding all the cards.

He parks right off the beach and has to — physically — pull her out of the car because she keeps complaining about the evening being too cold for spending it at the beach.

She whines the entire time they take to the walk over to the sandy area a little secluded from the scant group of tourists hovering around on the other side.

She carefully eyes him as he puts a blanket on the ground along with the basket he'd oh so effortlessly thrust into the backseat when they were leaving the hotel.

Sensing her gaze on him, he looks up at her skeptical expression with a smile.

"What?".

"Is this supposed to be a picnic?".

"Yes, darlin'".

Darlene's eyes turn to giant saucers at the nickname, she bites down on her lip to suppress the smile begging to show.

Harry, himself tries to look at her with a  straight face.

"You like that?".

She rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet and shrugs.

"Like what?".

"When I call you darling?".

Pursing her lips, she attempts to hide her smile by looking down at her feet.

"Maybe. It's also the meaning of my name".

He sets the basket down and approaches her with extended hands.

She looks up in confusion but slowly places her hands in his.

"Your parents are pretty smart".

Darlene giggles, "Why?".

"Because it's the perfect name for you", he replies with a smile guiding her to sit down on the blanket beside him.

***
^ they make me cry why are they so cute