California Sunshine

Ana never did end up calling Harry the next day… Or even the day after. She ended up filling in her sister about it later that night though. Jessica had then proceeded to insist that it was a sign of fate, being the hopeless romantic that she is, and tried to force Ana to call him. But of course, Ana resisted.

Perhaps she is over-thinking the whole situation, but it just doesn’t seem like a good idea to her. Even if he is for some reason actually interested in her, there is no way an international pop-star would have enough time for her. Ana actually laughs at the thought of it.

So instead of chasing around the British lad as they would call it, Ana decides to spend time with her sister before she has to leave for some promotional work for some movie or another. Plus there is the fact that she is starting her fall semester in just few short weeks so Ana values where she puts her time greatly.

It is officially 2 days after Ana has arrived in L.A. and the fearsome-fivesome that had gone to the bars her first night in had decided to make the 45 minute or so drive to Santa Monica for a beach day. It is still a Sunday so the beach is bound to be crowded up to wazoo with tourists, however the skies are blue and the California sunshine is shining its brightest, so it is hard to pass up.

Ana is starting to get used to being the only single one within their little group the past couple of days. Because both of the couples have been together for a while, they “live vicariously through her,” as Leighton would say. The past couple of nights they have even insisted on playing the role of “Wing-girls /men” for Ana. However, according to Ed, that meant shouting with a slight lisp “Heyyy boys, she’s single!” to any guys that happen to cross Ana’s path. She would always end up laughing so hard after that she couldn’t even take it seriously. Needless to say, she always feels included though and never actually feels like the odd man out, or woman in this case.

When they get to Santa Monica, the five of them decide to set up camp near the sand volleyball courts. They are loaded up with all of the beach necessities such as beach towels and beer… lots and lots of beer.

“Hey there’s open court over there, we should get a game of volleyball going,” Ed suggests to the group. There was a general murmur of agreement in response and the group then walks over to start a game.

This is something that Ana thrived at. While Jessica was always more skilled in theatre and the arts growing up, Ana was without a doubt the athletic one…And volleyball just so happens to be her best. In fact, back at Madison she was on the school team with a full-ride scholarship. It was hard to walk away from something like that but she knew it was the right choice for her well being and her sanity in the end regardless. However, she is excited to play one of her passions again today.

They split up into teams of 2 vs 3; Ana and Adam were on one team while Ed, Leighton, and Jess were on another. After a couple of volleys for warm up, the game is officially up and running. It is a nice lighthearted and fun atmosphere that Ana enjoys quite a bit.

After the third round or so of the game, Ed spikes the ball rather fiercely right at Adam. Adam is caught slightly off guard at it but is able to still just barely bump it back into the air. The ball however starts flying out of bounds, and Ana being as competitive as she is, sprints towards it to save the point. However, she doesn't look where she is going and collides head first into a shirtless torso of a guy in yellow shorts who is standing near the courts.

“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!” Ana immediately fumbles out after the point of impact and she can hear a fit of laughter from her posse behind her. She looks up into the face of her victim and a moment of horror courses through her. He is wearing sunglasses and a backwards cap, but his unruly curls and the dimples protruding from the stupid grin on his face are unmistakable.

“It’s quite alright,” Harry’s deep British voice replies back to her.

Ana is shocked at seeing him here. She was expecting to never see him again in her life and now he just happens to be at the same beach as her just two days after their original confrontation. Of all the beaches in Southern California, he is at THIS one. This just doesn’t happen in real life.

“Wow, hi… what a coincidence,” Ana sputters out.

“It certainly is. I must say that it is a pleasure to run into you again” Laughing to himself at the pun he had just made, “Although, I must say though that I never did get that call from you.”

Ana feels a heat creep up from her neck as a blush starts to form. She hopes the heat from the sun was a good cover for it though as she tries to seem composed.

“I guess I was just bummed that you didn’t serenade me with your wonderful boy-band lyrics,” She wittily replies.

Harry grins and just as he is about to reply, they hear Ed's voice ring out “Hey Ana, stop flirting with your boy toy and invite him over to join us! We have a game to play!”

“Oh he probably has other things to do--” Ana starts to respond, while trying to subtly shake her head 'no.'

“Actually,” Harry pauses and then turning to Ed he says, “I have no plans,” with a beaming smile. “S’alright if my buddies join?” Pointing to two guys standing back a little bit laughing to one another about something.

This is the first that Ana notices them standing there. She thinks she remembers seeing them in the band pictures that Jessica had shown her. One of them is blonde and is just a couple inches shorter than the brunette haired one with a chin strap beard next to him. Both of them are equally as attractive as Harry. Of course he has a bunch of hot friends as well, of course.

Ed agrees happily and Harry then walks up to him, Jessica, and the others and immediately introduced himself to all of them while shaking their hands. When Harry wasn’t looking Jessica gives Ana a dorky grin and a ‘thumbs-up’ sign while pointing at him. Jess then mouths the word Fate.

Ana only face-palms out of embarassment in return.

“These are a couple of my mates, Niall and Liam,” Harry says while pointing to the other guys. They smile and shake hands with everyone as well. After everyone introduces themselves to one another, the three guys split themselves onto each team; Niall and Liam are on Ana and Adam’s team, and Harry is then left to join the team with Jess, Leighton, and Ed. Now they are an even four on four.

Before they begin playing though Harry pulls Ana to the side. “How about we make things interesting?” He says slyly.

“Hate to break it to ya Styles, but you being here already makes this …interesting.” Ana emphasizes the last word meaning the weirdness of the whole situation. However, Harry seems to take it wrong.

“As much as I’d love to hear more about how interested you are in me, I’m thinking we should make a wager…just between us,” Harry flirtatiously replies. Ana shamefully feels her face blush again. That is so not what she meant, or at least so she thought…He is rather nice to look at. She then looks over at the others to make sure they don’t hear, but they are all immersed in some “get to know you” chatter with one another. Ana even overhears Niall saying that they were all in the band together.

“What exactly do you mean?” She asks once she realized the coast was clear.

“If my team wins,” He pauses, “Then I get to take you out on a date,” He calmly replies, forward as ever.

“Oh yeah?” She questions back at him, “And what exactly would I get if I win?”

“You would get to take me out on a date,” He responds cheekily. Ana snorts at his humor.

“As spectacular of a prize as that sounds, I may have to pass.” Ana says before turning back towards the others

“You must be scared that you’ll lose,” Ana hears Harry challenge behind her. This causes her to turn back around. As much as she knows that this was his intention, her competitive side fiercely oozes out of her. He REALLY doesn’t want to go there. “What did you say?”

“Well you must be,” Harry challenges again.

“Alright Styles, I will agree to this wager on one condition; If my team wins, you have to shave your head. All your curly locks…GONE.” Ana dares back at him. Harry’s mouth drops open in horror.

“What!” He says while clutching his beautiful hair, “That’s not even fair!”

“A deal’s a deal. But if you are so sure you’ll win, then it shouldn’t be a problem should it?”

He pauses a moment then and looked at her. He finally says “Fine, it’s a deal. If you win, I will shave my head.”

“Oi! Ya’ll ready or what?” Ana hears a male voice call out from the court. She looks over and saw that it came from the blonde one. His accent is a little different that her British friends… Irish, maybe? The others had apparently ended their chatter with one another and are now waiting for Ana and Harry.

“Definitely,” Harry says confidently. TOO confidently. He really has no idea what he is getting himself into, Ana thinks with a grin. It is going to be a simple walk in the park, and he would be wonderfully bald shortly.

As they begin to play the first point, Niall serves the ball to Harry’s team. He does it lightly enough that Ed is able to set it up to Harry right away. Then unexpectedly, Harry leaps up right by the net and slams the ball in a spike to Ana’s team’s side, scoring the point. Ana’s mouth only hangs open in shock, while Harry just laughs cockily.

There are sounds of surprised cheering coming from his side of the court, “Looks like we’ve got the MVP over here!” Leighton jokes.

Ana had to admit, she got slightly turned on when she saw him do that. Something about athletic guys is just so.. very…HOT. She quickly brushes the thought and tries to regain her composure quickly though. “Not bad” she says with a confident smile. Although, she realizes that she is going to have to play on the top of her game.

The game persists with numerous amounts of volleys back and forth. Although it is still quite lighthearted between the group as a whole, its evident that Harry and Ana are the most aggressive of their teams for reasons unbeknownst to the others. On numerous occasions, Ana even knocks Niall out of the way in order to go for the ball herself. He replies with something along the lines of “Oi, watch me shoulder!” or “Not me head again!” with his Irish accent.

Harry is equally as aggressive; he always runs after the ball going out of bounds at a full sprint, even if it is on the opposite side of the court from him. He seems to always run into people on the sidelines blindly just as Ana had run into him earlier. Ana has to force herself to not get distracted by the reason that he was playing so fiercely though. He must really want to go out on a date with her… Either that or he REALLY didn’t want to have to cut his hair. She preferred to think it was the first one though, even if it isn’t true.

The game gets down to the wire at the with the score coming down to a 13-13 tie. Playing to 15 and also win by two. Ana is up to serve. She looks at the ball with intense focus, and remembers the skills that she had ever so carefully practiced over and over again.

This is it.

She throws the ball up and takes a couple steps before throwing her body into the air with the exact-right timing. She then connects her hand with that sweet spot on the ball which causes it to launch forward and sail over the net. She has perfect placement as it hits the gap right between Jessica and Leighton for a beautiful ace.

“14-13. Game-point.” Ana says slyly. Very aware that this next point would either win it for her team or they would go into overtime. She risks a glance over at Harry, who is in the front row on the other side. She sees his brow furrowed in concentration on his face as he stares back at her, waiting for her to serve. She is surprised when she actually gets a chill down her spine just by how smoldering he looks.

She quickly shakes herself out of it though and becomes focused again. She throws the ball up another time and launches it over the net. This time, Ed gets a hand on it and bumps it to Leighton, who then set up Harry for a spike by the net. Harry does spike it, but missed the gap between players and sends it straight to Liam instead.

Ana knows the big moment is coming, she can sense it as Liam bumps the ball high into the air. It was perfect for someone to get under it and set it back up. Adam goes for it and sets the ball with perfect placement right by the net.

It is all coming down to this.

Ana feels like she is in slow motion as she approaches the now descending ball. She times herself as flawlessly as possible as she jumps up, and with all of her strength from her small frame she slams the ball downward in a powerful spike on the other side of the net. Harry reacts at a lightning pace though and dives sideways as far as his body can extend to reach the ball. However, he ends up just an inch or two short of as it falls beside his hands and into the sand.

There is an eruption of cheers from Ana’s side as all of a sudden she is lifted into the air by one of the three guys that are on her team. She looks to see who it is and noticed Liam playing around. After he puts her down, him and Niall bump chests. Ana laughs as she watches them. These guys genuinely seem like a lot of fun.

Ana's eyes avert over to where Harry is then. She notices his bummed expression as he is still laying down in the sand from his layout.

“Well I am just famished after that,” Leighton exhales, “Shall we go get some food up on the pier?” She asks to the group as a whole.

“Well I think we actually need to be heading back to the studio, we only had a few hours for a break,” Liam replies, “But it was a blast hanging with you all, we should definitely be in touch while we are still in the area!” And with that they all exchange contact information before him and Niall started to walk away from the group.

Harry stays back briefly though and slowly walks up to Ana. Ana cant quite describe what she is feeling as she watches him walk closer to her. Triumph for winning the game? Or sad for the bummed look in his incredibly good looking face.

“Hi,” Ana says when he gets close enough to her.

“Hi,” he replies with a small smile, “You are one heck of a player, y’know that?”

Ana lets out a small laugh, “Thanks, you know you weren’t too shabby yourself.” And with that there is a pause between the two of them, neither knowing what to say exactly. All of Ana's pre-game cockiness evading her.

“Come on Ana!" Ana turns when she hears her sister's voice. " We are going to get Bubba Gump Shrimp!” Jess calls out as she and the rest of their gang start walking up towards the pier. Her sister oves Forrest Gump. So naturally, Bubba Gump Shrimp is the obvious option for food. Ana turns back towards Harry.

“You should go with your sister, I gotta head out anyway,” Harry says to her, “I guess I’ll see you around though Ana.” He looks at her one more time before turning to go join his buddies.

Ana doesn’t know what comes over her at that moment. Maybe its the dejected look on his face, or maybe its that she is obviously attracted to him despite her not wanting to be.

“Wait,” she says before she can stop herself and Harry turns around. She grabs a pen out of her bag and walks up to where he stands and grabs his hand to write on it. “This is my address. Pick me up around 8:00 tonight... Oh and you better still have those luscious locks on your head. I wouldn't enjoy the wrath of those teenage girls once they find out who was responsible for Baldy Styles!” Ana says. And without waiting for a response, she turns around to go join Jess and her friends. She feels a surge of excitement course through her body.

She has certainly never done anything like THAT before.