Light Up The Fireworks In Me

“Holy shit, is your boyfriend rich or something!?” Marnie was freaking out over here, now visibly excited. Man she had no idea what she was in for. “And he took you to a Coldplay show!? Holy smokes, I can’t wait to meet this guy!”

I laughed nervously, keeping my eyes on the area that he should be walking out of since a couple of more people were walking through with their luggage.

“Violet.” Rose’s voice was full of suspicion and I was completely familiar with that tone of voice. It meant she put the clues together and was going to attempt to get the truth out of me no matter what. “Why can’t you tell us his name again?”

“Umm...” I knew she was starting to figure it out.

“Is it because the name of your boyfriend could possibly be familiar to us?” Rose continued to question.

Marnie jumped in. “Rose, what are you getting at?”

“I’m starting to think that our good cousin Violet here, was worried that her boyfriend’s name might have rang a bell. You know, someone we’ve heard of before”

That Rose. She was always the smartest Beaumont.

“You mean famous?” Marnie looked from Rose to me. “Violet, is your boyfriend famous!?”

“Look, you guys need to understand that we wanted to keep this secret for as long as possible.”

“Who is he, Violet?” Rose was excited now that I had finally answered her suspicions.

“Oh my God, who is he? Who is he Violet?” Marnie was jumping at this point, the anticipation was clearly killing her.

I wasn’t able to answer her in time because a young couple of girls, who seemed to be waiting with their mother, started screaming uncontrollably right next to us. I knew that sound so well and it only meant one thing: my boyfriend has arrived.

It was like a domino effect when Harry Styles walked out into the arrival area of any airport. All the younger children -girls, if we’re going to get specific here - who are in the area, see him and lose control. There would be two screams, then another scream, four screams, five screams, six. It would get so loud and chaotic at times that airport security would get involved by escorting Harry outside. I was hoping this wouldn’t be the case tonight because my cousins were here.

Speaking of my cousins.

“No fucking way.” Rose’s voice was full of disbelief and her eyes were full of bewilderment. Marnie’s eyes were as wide as saucers and completely focused on Harry Styles walking towards us. Unfortunately, I couldn’t completely enjoy the full reaction of my cousins because after all, my boyfriend was here and I hadn’t seen him for over three months.

With a huge smile on my face, I ran up to Harry and jumped into his arms. He was ready for it, he always was. That familiar scent of cologne he always wore was eminent on his favorite black pullover sweater as I hugged him tightly. I noticed he was also wearing his grey beanie to hold back his curls, his black jeans and white lace up Converse. I started giggling uncontrollably as he spun me around several times. When he finally put me down, he placed a strand of hair behind my ear and learned down to give me a kiss. The ‘welcome back’ kiss was always short, flawless and honest. It was my favorite.

“Ello Monty.” Harry spoke when we broke apart. That was his new nickname for me, inspired by the ‘mont’ part in my last name. He knew I hated it. “Girl, did I miss you.”

“Missed you too.” For a moment, I almost forgot that we were being watched by a copious amount of fan girls and my two cousins, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of Rose and Marnie. “Come on, I have family for you to meet.”

As we walked up to Rose and Marnie, they were paralyzed.

“Rose. Marnie.” I started. “This is Harry Styles, my...boyfriend.”

He readjusted the strap of his duffle bag on his shoulder and extended his arm out. “It’s so nice to finally meet you two. She talks about ya all the time.”

Rose slowly took his hand and shook it. “Yeah, it’s you nice too meeting.”

“What?” I started laughing at Rose’s incapability to speak.

“Harry Styles knows who I am.” Marnie stumbled backwards into Rose. “I feel faint.”

I pulled Marnie over to me and placed both my hands firmly on her shoulders to prevent her from falling. “Marnie’s actually a really big fan of One Direction, aren’t you Marnie?”

“Oh wow, that’s fantastic!” Harry smiled at Marnie before sharing a smirk with me. I had warned him earlier that I had a couple of cousins who were obsessed with his band. I’ve actually warned him for the past couple of months about my family but he has told me time and time again, that he was dying to meet the Beaumonts. All fifty-eight of them.

Before Marnie could burst into tears, one of the security guards tapped Harry on the shoulder. “Mr. Styles, would you like a ride with security to the Rental Car building? The crowd is starting to grow restless.”

I was so excited to introduce Harry to my cousins that I was completely unaware that there was a huge crowd of girls forming around Rose, Harry, Marnie and myself. They all had their cameras out and were taking pictures of us.

Harry reached for my hand and responded to his security guard. “That would be great Bill, thank you so much. Where should we meet ya?”

“Right this way.” Bill said before speaking into his little walkie-talkie. Before I knew it, three other security guards were behind us. Before I knew it, we were being escorted out of airport.

“Holy crap, what is happening?” Rose realized girls were now trying to push their way past security and reaching out to Harry. She huddled closer to Marnie and me.

“This uh, happens sometimes.” I tried to explain while we followed Bill out of the airport. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen since it was Christmas eve but apparently everyone wanted to be at Atlanta airport tonight.

They walked us past baggage claim and out the sliding glass doors to an SUV that was parked right outside. The girls were still following us and started screaming uncontrollably for Harry. Other travelers started starring while we all climbed into the car.

“WOW!” Marnie exclaimed, looking at all the crying fans outside. “I feel famous.”

I pulled our clasped hands into my lap. “You must be ecstatic to be back in America.”

“Of course I am.” Harry said seriously. “I’m finally meeting the infamous Beaumont family.”

“Oh God, I just remembered Violet’s boyfriend is literally Harry Styles and now I think I’m going to vomit.” Marnie slowly started to reach out for Harry but Rose quickly slapped her hand away.



When we arrived at the Car rental offices, Harry was whisked away by one of their employees to sign off on the vehicle he wanted to use for the next week. The minute he was out of earshot, Rose and Marnie were going to make sure I didn’t hear the end of it.

“A One Direction singer? Violet, are you FREAKING kidding me!?” Rose exploded. “Our family is going to destroy him.”

“And you can now see why I didn’t tell anyone!” I replied.

“Yeah hey, here’s a good idea. Let’s just take a minute to think about how many younger cousins we have that are girls and will react exactly like Marnie here, if not, worse.” Rose gave a pointed look at Marnie, who was secretly taking pictures of Harry’s back and posting them on instagram. “Marnie!”

“What?” She complained. “Harry Styles is about to spend Christmas with us. Of course I’m going to instagram this.”

“Rose, you have to help me keep the family at bay.” I begged her in a hushed whisper. “You’re my best friend and the prettiest cousin in the whole world and I’m extremely concerned the family might kill him. Or me.”

Rose laughed and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we got this.”

When Harry finished, he walked back over to us with a smile. “Got the car. It’s waiting out front.”

“Shotgun!” Marnie shot up with excitement.

“Nope.” Rose yanked her back from Harry by the hood of her coat. I noticed Harry tried with great difficulty to not laugh out loud at my two cousins.

As I followed Harry outside, Rose gave me a quick thumbs up while Marnie tried to fight her off. I gave her an appreciative look.

The black Range Rover was Harry’s favorite car. He loved renting it when he was in the states and even owned one back in London. I offered to drive us home since he’s been traveling all afternoon but he was dying to drive this stupid thing on the highway. He threw the duffel bag in the trunk, Rose and Marnie climbed into the back and we were finally on our way back to Richmond Hill. It was only fifteen past four, which meant by the time we’d get into Richmond Hill, we’d be just in time for dinner. Once we hit the highway, Harry reached over for my hand and laced our fingers together.

“I’m so glad you’re back.” I told him, grazing my fingertips against his.

“Me too.” He looked over at me for a quick second and smiled before averting his eyes back on the road.

The drive home was nothing short of cozy. There was always something about driving at night that was so calming. I always found comfort in the dark cold night outside while sitting in a heated car. Christmas music was playing softly in the background, the highway was practically empty and my cousins were finally warming up to Harry. Rose asked legitimate questions about his career choice while Marnie scooted up to the front seats as close as possible, resting her chin on her hands with a thoughtful look while Harry spoke. I kept quiet for the most part of the ride, partly because I was so relieved that Rose and Harry were getting along so well. I was also caught up in thought on how the family were going to react to Harry when we walked into Grandma’s house. Rose and Marnie took it upon themselves to explain to Harry which family members we liked and which ones we disliked. Marnie listed off all the cousins who were most likely going to attack him when they see him and Rose explained which older male cousins were probably going to be assholes to him because he’s better looking than them. I noticed he blushed slightly at that comment.

When we finally arrived at Grandma’s house, I noticed there were a bunch of familiar cars lined up outside the house. Everyone was officially here.

“Wow.” Harry spoke, closing the car door behind him. His eyes were fixed on the house. “What a beautiful home.”

Grandma’s house was your typical southern dream house. A traditional three-story house coated in bright white paint, with the edge of the roof trimmed with Christmas lights. The elongated porch had your typical swing seat and an antique coffee table that I remember Grandma picked up at some antique store in Nashville, Tennessee. You could hear a very muffled Ella Fitzgerald singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” from inside, indicating the family were still spread out across the house, catching up over drinks and appetizers. It was always how the Beaumont Tradition started. First, everyone meets up at Grandmas and when everyone is finally there, we sit down for dinner. Once the big Christmas dinner is over, everyone kinda disperse and socializes a little more until midnight mass. From there, the parents usually go out for a drink together while they hire us big cousins to babysit the younger cousins until they come back home. Usually Marnie, Rose and I get out of it and just go back to my house and watch some classic Christmas movies with hot chocolate. Hopefully, we can keep that part of tradition tonight.

“Come on slow pokes!” Marnie was already running up the steps to the porch. “They’re waiting for us!”

Before Harry, Rose and I could even reach the steps, Marnie managed to swing the front door open and address the whole living room. “GUYS! YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE WHO VIOLET’S BOYFRIEND IS!”

“Jesus Christ.” Rose rolled her eyes at Marnie and turned to Harry. “Sorry in advance for whatever’s about to happen, dude.”

“You still have time to back out of this, you know.” I assured Harry. “We can just back up right now and get back in that little car of yours and-”

“Monty! Stop!” Harry grinned at me. “I’m seriously excited to meet your family, no matter how crazy they are.”

“Alright Styles, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I narrowed my eyes playfully at him before tugging on his hand and walking through the threshold of my Grandma’s house.

When we walked in, there was about half of the family in the living room. Naturally, all the younger cousins were in there, playing by the Christmas tree. I noticed both of my parents sitting amongst the family on the couches, with wine in their hands. Grandma was already standing up, ready to great us.

“Sorry we’re a little late, Grandma.” I smiled apologetically. “There was a bit of a hold up at the airport.”

Before I even had a chance to introduce Harry, my little cousins started to notice who was standing in the room. And that’s when the noise started.

“HARRY STYLES!!!” Eloise, Jennifer, Cassidy, Dakota and Sarah Beth started shrieking violently, scaring the rest of my family momentarily. Rose tried blocking them off when they started jumping up and down.

“Relax guys, you’re about to trample over Grandma!” Rose scolded them as they tried to push past her.

Of course the commotion in the living room caught the attention of the rest of the family, who were socializing in the kitchen and dining room. I could feel my cheeks turn bright pink from all the attention. Harry, on the other hand, was enjoying every single bit of it.

“Everyone.” I addressed the room. “This is my boyfriend, Harry.”

Grandma was the first one to greet him. With a big grin on her face, she planted a huge kiss on Harry’s cheek and rested both her hands on his shoulders. In her very southern accent, she spoke. “Welcome to Richmond Hill, Harry! I hope you’re hungry because we have a huge dinner planned!”

After that, my mother and father managed to fight their way past our incredibly vicious group of female cousins and introduced themselves to him. Luckily, Rose had somewhat of a good hold on the cousins while they spoke momentarily.

I noticed Dallas, my twenty-one year old cousin, walked into the living room with a brand new plate of appetizers. The minute she laid her eyes on Harry, however, she yelped in surprise and dropped the plate to cover her mouth. It shattered to pieces on her red boots. I groaned, face palming at her reaction. She was always the dramatic one.

“Oh my stars, Dallas, what has gotten into you!?” Grandma scolded Dallas. Clearly, Grandma didn’t understand the commotion over Harry.

“I’m so sorry, Grandma!” Dallas exclaimed. She started shaking uncontrollably. “Why is Harry Styles here? Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”

All Harry could do was grin.

The younger cousins finally broke past Rose’s death grip, and started surrounding Harry with their extremely exaggerated buzz. I could tell Harry was overwhelmed but was handling it very nicely.

“Easy, guys.” I picked up little Eloise and positioned her on my hip. She shyly waved at Harry and hide in the crook of my neck when he waved back at her.

“Come on now, children.” Grandma was back now, trying to gather up the cousins around us. “We’ll have time to talk to Harry after dinner. Let’s all find our spots at the table.”

They all perked up at the word ‘dinner’ and finally started running towards the dining room. I put Eloise back down so she could run after them.

“Come now Harry and Violet.” My mom signaled for us to follow her. We followed my mom through the living room, past the kitchen and into the dining room. The dining room was probably the biggest room in the whole house. It was long and had the most incredible dining table inhabiting it. It was a nut-brown oak table, that could impressively fit the whole family around it. It was a little cramped, yes, but we managed.

I introduced Harry to a couple more of my cousins and aunts and uncles as we passed them. Some of the cousins weren’t phased by Harry, some were shocked he was with me, and some were even impressed that I managed to get someone like him to date me.

“Violet, you dog!” Colton was my twenty-two year old cousin who was actually the star of the family. He was a linebacker for the Georgia State football team. He was very built and intimidating to most people but he was actually a pretty nice guy. I usually hung out with him and Rose at most family occasions. He was also very strong and manly, which is why he probably thought it was appropriate to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder before spinning both of us around jokingly. I protested the whole time he did it and finally, after several punches to his back he put me back down. “You’re dating an international pop-star, go you! Hey dude. Dude. My girlfriend loves your band, man.”

Harry smiled politely and thanked him. I could tell Colton wanted to talk to him more but our parents were ushering us to sit down. When Harry and I sat down, I turned to him and raised my eyebrows. “Overwhelmed yet?”

Harry pointed his chin up slightly and smirked. “Not one bit, Monty.” Before the turkey and mashed potatoes were served, he planted a quick kiss on the tip of my nose.

The dinner was a success. Ninety percent of the time, the family’s attention were mostly towards Harry and me, which was pretty annoying. Especially Dallas. She barely ate. She sat in her seat, watching Harry’s every move. It was kinda making me uncomfortable.

Harry was answering every question that was thrown at him from my cousins, Grandma and parents, who were sitting the closest to him. As I watched him talk animatedly towards my parents about how much he loves the south, I realized that he was actually enjoying himself. I can tell when Harry was faking comfort and when he wasn’t. His eyes were bright and he was holding interesting conversations with my family. I was impressed.

After dinner, Harry was dragged back into the living room by a copious amount of my cousins, leaving me to follow behind. Rose managed to get past the parents and caught up with me.

“Hey, how’s it going?” She questioned as we watched Harry sit down and talk to the younger cousins. “It was hard to tell what was going on at dinner because stupid Austin was complaining to me about his dumb girlfriend problems the whole time.”

I looked over at Harry, who now had Eloise on his lap, while putting his arm around my other cousin, Sarah Beth, who was obviously hanging onto every word that was coming out of Harry’s mouth. “He’s being perfect.”

Rose nudged me with her elbow. “You found yourself a keeper.”

When it was time for Midnight Mass, the whole family bundled up and started making their way towards the local church. Typically, we would all walk to the church since it was only a small way from Grandma’s house. I made sure the majority of our family were almost at the church before Harry and I made a small detour.

“Where are we going?” Harry questioned.

“My house.” I grinned, taking his hand and leading him down Peachtree street.

I figured if Harry and I were going to have any alone time this Christmas break, it would only be the time when everyone else was busy singing Silent Night at church. When we arrived at my house, the house was completely dark. The minute I closed the front door, I pulled Harry into me and kissed him eagerly.

Harry pinned me up against the door, immediately responding to my hunger. I could feel him smiling into the kiss. “What’s this then, Monty?”

“I’ve been waiting to be alone with you all night.” I whispered, kissing him again. And again. And once more. “Come on.”

I pulled him up the stairs and through the corridor. When we finally made it to my old bedroom, I flicked the switch and closed the door behind us. I even locked it, just in case one of my ever-so-intruding cousins decides to come looking for us (more-so, looking for Harry).

“Your family is very charming, you know.” Harry commented as he pulled the zipper of his jacket and threw it on my bed.

I was leaning against my bedroom door, smiling at him. “I couldn’t imagine a bigger hit with them.”

He pushed his hair to the side and sat down on my bed. It creaked slightly under his weight. “I missed you terribly, Violet.”

I knew he meant it because he used my actual name. I carefully unbuttoned my black peacoat and tossed it to the side. I was wearing my favorite little black dress. I specifically wore it tonight because it was the dress that drove Harry crazy. With a small smirk, I slowly unzipped my dress and let it fall to my ankles. I could feel my heart racing with excitement because Harry was finally seeing the new lingerie that I bought especially for him. It was a combo of black and gold lace that, even I had to admit, made me look sexy. I was pretty proud of myself.

Harry, on the other hand, was freaking out.

“Jesus Christ, Violet.” Harry mumbled as I started to climb on top of him. He placed his hands on my hips and leaned back. “You drive me bloody crazy.” 

I grinned, looking down at him with triumph. “I missed you too, Styles.”

With that, I pushed him down onto the bed and caught his lips with mine once more.



4:30 am.

I couldn’t sleep.

I was always a terrible sleeper. It was that damn brain of mine that kept me awake at night. No matter how tired I was, if I had an anxious thought or problem, I was going to be up until sunrise. That’s just how my life worked.

This night wasn’t any different.

I watched Harry with tired eyes as he slept soundly next to me. He was always tired. It didn’t take much for him to fall asleep. The minute his head hit the pillow, he was usually out like a light within the few minutes of being there. I wish it was just as easy for me.

I slowly and quietly crawled out of the queen-sized bed and felt around the hotel floor for my navy NYU sweater. Once I found it, I tip-toed out of the bedroom and into the main area of the suite. This particular suite actually had a balcony that overlooked my wonderful Manhattan. I managed to slide the glass door and slip out there without a sound.

Once I was out on the balcony, I planted myself in one of the vacant chairs. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on my knees to overlook the city. Even though it was the early hours of the morning, I was comforted by the thought that there were in fact, thousands of people below, starting their days already. I sighed heavily, watching the traffic from all the way up here.

I’ll admit, I was bummed out. Harry and I have only been dating for about four months now and the strain of the long distance was wearing me out. Surprisingly, Harry has managed to be in New York a lot within the past couple of months but that was all about to change after this small trip. He was only here for two days, before he flew back to Europe to officially start the One Direction World Tour. It started in England, went through Europe and then headed towards the Middle East, Asia and Australia. The tour wouldn’t hit the states until the summer, which meant I wasn’t going to see Harry for the next four months. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy and extremely proud of Harry and his successful band but it meant that I wouldn’t see him for a long time and that really upset me. It was hard enjoying the small time we had left when we both knew we wouldn’t see each other for a while.

I was so deep in thought that I didn’t even hear the sliding glass door open.

“Hey beautiful.” His raspy voice spoke softly behind me as he wrapped his arms around my neck. “Why are you awake?”

His mess of brown curls tickled my cheek as he leaned into the crook of my neck and left a trail of small kisses.

“I couldn’t sleep.” I replied. “I have a lot on my mind.”

Harry let go of me momentarily to pull the empty chair next to me and sat down in it. He let a yawn escape his lips before reaching out for my hand and pulling it into his lap. “Talk to me, Monty. I can see that you’re upset.”

He played with my fingers as he waited for me to answer, tracing my palms with his fingers so delicately, it tickled.

“I’m struggling to word this correctly.” I started, trying to put together what I wanted to tell him. I was never good at putting feelings into words. Harry, however, was a lot better at it. “I just...wish I didn’t have to go so long without seeing you this time, Harry.”

He nodded. “I know. I would be lying if I said I haven’t been thinking about this a lot.”

I bit my lip and watched Harry with worried eyes. “What are we going to do when you’re on tour?”

He sat up and pulled his chair closer to me so he could reach my face. He cautiously placed a wisp of my brown hair behind my ear and traced my jawline with my finger. “Don’t think about it now, Violet.”

“I hate thinking about it.” I whispered.

He was silent for a moment, resting his thumb on my chin. “I know four months sounds like a long time, but it will fly by so quickly, we’ll barely notice it. Then we’ll have the whole summer together.”

I remained quiet, trying to convince myself that our relationship will be able to handle it. I guess Harry could read me pretty well because he leaned in and gave me a small peck on the lips before he whispered. “I’m not going to give up on us. I promise.”

“I know.” I smiled sadly. “This relationship stuff sucks, huh?”

He chuckled and responded. “It’s all worth it when I get to come back to you, Violet. Every time I come back here, knowing I have you to look forward to, makes everything worth it. You’re my home now.”

I truly smiled at that one. If he was willing to put that much effort into this relationship, so was I. If he was prepared to make it through the next four months, then so was I.

“Now, come back to bed with me, won’t you?” Harry stood up and stretched. “I wanna make out with you.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Fine.”

I stood up and followed Harry back into the bedroom. When we climbed back into bed, Harry immediately wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. In a quiet whisper, he spoke.

“I love you, Violet Beaumont.”

“I love you, too.”