Twenty-Two ➳ l.p.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Epilogue

Chapter Twenty-Three: Epilogue

                “Want to do something fun today?” Louis asked, brows raised and bouncing on his heels. He looked at me with excited eyes, like he didn’t just completely barge into my flat and grinned. “Do you? Do you?”

                “Depends on your definition of ‘fun’,” I countered back evenly, because even though I had now known Louis for a little more than three years, and he was soon to be twenty-five in a few months, it seemed that his maturity level hadn’t changed and I wasn’t sure how into the idea I was of being arrested. Yes, that had actually happened on more than one occasion, all because ‘no, nothing will happen Ali; when have I ever lied to you?’ (And then, in the back of too-small police car, there was always, “Okay, so I lied this once. Sorry.”)

                “Oh come on,” Louis groaned (theatrically, of course), throwing his hands in the air and plopping down onto the couch next to me, shaking his head. “Don’t tell me that Liam’s sensibleness has rubbed off on you. Really.”

                “I’ve only been around him all my life, Lou,” I shot back, and albeit the response was a little sarcastic, I couldn’t help the grin that was slowly turning my lips. “I wouldn’t call it being sensible, it’s just that some of us actually have half-a-brain and don’t go out of our way to do stupid things.”

                “Rude,” the brunette quipped, sending me an even glare before falling on the couch, propping his legs on the coffee table. I swatted at them half-heartedly but I already knew that he wouldn’t move them. “Why can’t we just hang out without you thinking I’m going to endanger your sanity?”

                “Because you’re the reason I have no sanity.”

                “Once again,” Louis harrumphed, “rude. Fine. I won’t treat you to a film with me and the other three lads and we won’t go and get ice cream later. See if I care.” With that he did quite a dramatic turn on his heel and started to steadily stomp toward the door of my flat, and I couldn’t help but laugh, clambering off of the couch too.

                It wasn’t often that I really got to have a day with all of the guys anymore. Obviously I saw Liam almost daily, and Louis tended to stop by more than the others just because he was Louis and needed to disturb the peace whenever he could and ‘make sure all of you haven’t forgotten about me, alright?’, but the most I got to see Harry and Niall and Zayn was maybe a few select days out of the month. Yes, the boys were still One Direction, but the fad for them had definitely passed over the past three years and even though they were still together, they had drifted apart a little too. All of them now had solo careers in addition to being One Direction (which had turned more into a side project than a career) but they were all happy, and so I was too.

                “What about Liam, though?” He had been over earlier but had left after saying that he wanted to head out to the gym, but I didn’t want to leave him out if all the others were going to be there too.

                “He’s a twenty-two year old man; he’ll be fine,” Louis groaned, but then stopped when he saw my expression. “Fine. Text him to meet us there.”

                And that’s how, a few minutes later, I was cramped in the backseat of Zayn’s car, trapped in the middle between Louis and Niall. Niall wouldn’t stop fidgeting because he hated being trapped in spaces like this, and Louis wouldn’t stop because he’s Louis and knows it annoys me.