Letters to London

Chapter 19

Harry wakes up and almost rolls over when he feels Alice in his arms. He takes in a deep breath and presses his head to hers, her hair tickling his nose.

"Alice," he whispers.

He waits for a second as she stirs, and then settles.

"Alice."

She raises two fists to her eyes and rubs them. "Hm?" She mumbles, trying as best she can to face Harry.

"I didn't have any nightmares tonight."

Alice smiles with one side of her lips. "That's wonderful. Do you know why?"

"Because now I know Louis is gone."

Alice freezes. The words strike some kind of nerve and she quickly pushes herself up, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "That's... not good."

Harry sits up as well, climbing off the bed and going around to Alice's clothes drawers. "Yes it is. If I know he'll never come back to me he'll never talk to me and I'll never remember him."

Alice jumps up and slams the drawer that Harry was about to open shut. "Don't open that," she hisses, shoving him out of the bedroom by his waist. "And he misses you. He was worried last night."

"Only worried because he wouldn't have me as his friend anymore," Harry smiles as the door is shut on him.

Alice rolls her eyes as she hears him thumping down to the kitchen. She checks the time; 10:15. It's too late to bother getting ready for classes, and obviously Harry is not in the right state of mind. She's not about to leave him alone, half insane, after her chase last night.

She changes into a red sweater with white Christmas-style designs across the chest and part of the arms, although it's not anywhere near the season; then she decides on black leggings and throws her hair up into a ponytail, too distraught on Harry to bother making it neat.

Moving into the bathroom, her makeup is done in minutes; lightly-winged eyeliner she completes perfectly after years of practice, glossy pale pink lips and cover up on the few pimples of her forehead.

She skips into the kitchen and is handed a cup of tea. She takes a sip and automatically spits it back into the cup.

"Did you forget the damn sweetener?!" She coughs, grabbing two packets for herself and ripping them open.

Harry leans back on the counter, one hand supporting his weight, the other holding his cup. He shrugs. "I don't like it sweet. Going to classes?"

"Nope. Neither are you, after what you pulled yesterday."

"Ah," Harry says, holding the cup up to his lips. "You don't trust me."

"I do too!" Alice scoffs, stirring her tea and looking over at Harry in disbelief. "I just don't want to lose you."

Harry sighs. "You're not. I'll go put on some decent clothes."

"Good," Alice smirks. "You running around in boxers with too many tattoos- including that ugly butterfly-" she flicks the middle of his stomach and his hand swoops up to protect it, "is turning me on."

Harry moves out of her reach and leaves the kitchen, his head thrown back in a half-laugh. "Of course, now, we can't forget the underwear-on-the-couch incident!"

"Shut up!"

A smile comes to Alice's lips as Harry laughs; the same laugh she remembers seeing in the X Factor videos and when they first met. The laugh she'd only seen him with before he started writing the letters.

She goes to retrieve her phone from her bedroom, and only seconds after turning it on, Louis is calling.

She looks around the room once, setting down her tea on a nightstand and answering the call cautiously. "Hello?"