Walking in the Wind [ON HOLD]

Eleven.

October 30th, 2012. Afternoon.

I wasn't surprised to learn Liam had become a firefighter. I mean, I was surprised, but it wasn't a shock. He always had that superhero gene in him. His want to save lives.

I don't think in that dream of mine he was aware of the fact that he actually saved lives, just not in the way he pictured himself doing it. It is one of the things I liked most about our music: the amount of people that had told me that it had changed their lives for the better was hard to get my head around.

Louis parks near the station and we get out of the car.

"Have you thought about what you're going to say?" Louis wants to know as we make our way to the building.

"Oh, now you're letting me do the talking?" I inquire raising an eyebrow.

Louis rolls his eyes dramatically.

"You're the one trying to get us all together, so I think it's only fair"

I hide a smile and we continue walking.

Just when I can make out the main entrance to the fire department, a loud siren goes off.

"Jesus Christ" I exclaim taking my hands to my ears.

The next few seconds are madness.

A huge truck exists the fire station, and I see people rushing around.

"Maybe not the best time to make an entrance" Louis says stopping, and I halt as well.

"Get in, now!" a tall man shouts, putting on what looks like a heavy suit and climbing into the truck.

More firefighters exit the station.

"There he is" I mumble under my breath, "There he is!" I repeat a little louder so Louis can hear me over the loud noise.

A couple of feet away, Liam exits the building jumping into one of those big, heavy suits the rest of his coworkers are wearing.

I can't help a smile when I see he's wearing a buzz cut: Action-man Liam has become a thing in the real 2012 too.

"Come on, Payne!" the tall man shouts from inside the vehicle.

The rest of the sentence is muffled by the truck's siren that has started to mix with the one in the Fire Station.

Liam climbs up and the truck drives away.

"Let's go" Louis says, starting to walk towards the station again.

"Wait!" I run getting to where he is; "What are you going to do? You just saw Liam go"

"I know that" Louis answers cheekily, "But they don't" he continues pointing inside of the building, "I want to see how popular our friend is over here"

And without saying anything else, he enters.

"Good morning" he greets one of the boys tying up his shoe laces.

The tone of his voice is nothing like the one he used a couple of hours ago to greet the secretary at Trisha's school. No innocence, just the bit of sass that has always characterised him.

"Can I help you?" the boy looks up and stands. He's about five inches taller than Louis.

"I'm looking for a friend of mine" Louis answers, looking up at him and holding the stare; "I believe he works here. His name is Liam, Liam Payne. Do you know him?"

The man scoffs.

"I don't know who you're talking about" he says, "Hey, Dashner!" he shouts at a girl a couple of feet away, "Some people over here are asking for a Payne?"