Louis shook his head in a negative gesture despite looking like he really wanted to say yes, “I don’t want to get your seats all wet – it’s not too far anyway, thanks though.” He held out his arms to show all the water running down him and why it would be a bad idea to get in the car.
Harry rolled his eyes and reached over for the handle, “Get in before you catch your death of cold!” He ordered.
Louis shook his head, as though Harry was crazy, but opened the door fully, gave himself a fruitless shake and slid into the passenger seat with a grunt. He placed his wet bag in the foot-well, closed the door and pulled on his seatbelt.
“Thanks,” he sighed gratefully as he tugged down his hood and put his hands over the car heaters blowing out warm air.
“No problem,” Harry replied with a smile. “Although, I have to say it’s not really a day to leave the car at home in the name of getting a little exercise.”
“I actually don’t have a car,” Louis replied, “never even learned to drive. So unfortunately it’s either walk-it or cycle-it for me and my bike currently has a puncture.”
“Oh, well that’s not so handy,” Harry replied, more than a little surprised that Louis wouldn’t learn to drive when he lived in such a remote place. “Um… where shall I drop you?”
“The pub will be fine.”
Harry frowned, “But you don’t go to the pub on Tuesdays – it’s Holby City night.”
There was an awkward pause where Louis said nothing and Harry mentally kicked himself for sounding like a fucking stalker. He had been quick to pick up on Louis’ absence at the pub on Tuesdays and had offhandedly asked Niall about it one time, wondering if Louis had a hobby or something. Niall had rolled his eyes and explained, ‘Holby City man – never misses it the sad sod. Never expect to see him in here on a Tuesday if it’s on’.
“Should I feel uncomfortable that you already seem to know my weekly habits?”
Harry glanced over and saw a crinkle of mirth around Louis’ eyes. It made something warm slip down into his stomach. “Uh…”
“I actually just meant I could walk the rest of the way from the pub.” Louis chuckled which made Harry blush even more.
“D-do you live far away from there?” He stammered out, keeping his eyes firmly on the road.
“About five minutes at a fast pace.”
Harry rolled his eyes, “I can drop you at your door; it’s not a problem.”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable about you knowing where I live to be honest,” Louis shot back and Harry could almost feel his amusement. “You seem to know too much already. For all I know, you might sneak back later tonight and kill me in my sleep.” Harry could see the smirk out of the corner of his eye.
“How do you know that I don’t already know where you live?” he intoned in his best evil voice.
“Because you just asked me!” Louis retorted in disbelief.
“Damn it!” Harry swore, making them both laugh.
“It’s Broom Cottage,” said Louis after a moment, “about a third of the mile down the road from your surgery on the right.”
Harry pretended to scratch his cheek to hide his grin.
Broom Cottage was a lovely little thatched bungalow off the main road. It had a long neat grassy front garden, with a large dancing willow tree at the front, pines down the side and a tonne of daffodils and tulips in full swaying Technicolor around the grass border. Underneath the criss-crossed lower windows were brightly coloured hydrangea bushes and around the front door awning was an artful garland of climbing roses. Quite frankly, it was not what Harry was expecting at all. Louis really didn’t strike him as the thatched little bungalow kind of person. Nor as the green-fingered sort of person either. Then again, how much did Harry really know about the young teacher? They’d only spoken a few times at the pub. For all he knew, Louis might actually be that kind of person or he might live with someone who was the thatched bungalow and green-fingered type. Although, Harry had been led to believe that Louis lived alone – an assumption garnered from a few offhand comments over the last few weeks.
Chapter 2
Start from the beginning
