A Slide Into First ➵ narry

Chapter 12

The late August air was sticky and cool on Harry as it blasted into his face through the open window. The five of them were piled in his mom’s sedan on the way back to Braxton after a fun-filled day at Splash World, a small waterpark nearly an hour to the south. Harry could still feel the chlorine on his skin and could still hear the sound of an infinite number of small children screaming, and it all felt so… so end-of-summer. So like squeezing in the last few drops of fun before everyone had to return to their regularly-scheduled events of boredom, and the whole lot of them were no different.

“What kind of monster actually thinks the cream part of an Oreo is superior?” moaned Louis from the back seat, and really Harry had to laugh. The rest of them had been going on with this fight for the past few minutes, and really he was just happy they hadn’t gotten to him yet.

“Without cream you can’t make a milkshake!” Zayn yelled from the other side of Niall.

“Honestly? Who the fuck makes an Oreo milkshake? Just eat the damn thing by itself and admit that the cookie part is better. Liam, are you ready to change your mind?” Louis asked, his voice seemingly getting higher with every passing minute.

From his spot in the front seat, Harry could see that Liam was clearly regretting answering Louis’s dumbass question. And even more so he was regretting answering ‘incorrectly’.

“I’m not. I’m not gonna apologize for my opinion, Lou,” he answered.

“Wow. So much disloyalty in this car. I thought, of all people, that I could trust you, my flesh and blood-”

“We’re not,” Liam interrupted.

“-to have my back. But no. At least I have sweet Niall in agreeance,”

“God, don’t look at me. That was a tough question if I’ve ever heard one,” Niall groaned, the palms of his hands pressing into his eye sockets.

The day had been fairly good so far. For the amount of time they had spent together there had hardly been any fighting, and really if it had taken until nearly six in the evening to fight over something as trivial as favorite bits of a sweet then it was a success. Splash World wasn’t exactly a top-notch, world-class waterpark, but considering its location in the middle of a state that was cold as hell for most of the year it wasn’t bad. But really, what they all knew in their hearts, the best part was just being there together. There hadn’t been many times when the five of them could just hang out all day, so Niall getting a day off a few days before they all had to part ways was a Godsend.

It was something they had all been avoiding, but none-the-less hung over their heads the entire day: leaving. The next day was the first day of classes for Louis. He went to school in town and roomed at home so it wasn’t really a big deal, but it was the first reminder that things had to (and were going to) change. Then the following day was Zayn’s last. He had a flight from Detroit for early that Friday morning, and even though Harry had offered to drive him, Zayn refused. He had already scheduled a car to pick him up. Then that Sunday Liam would be heading back to his own school. It wasn’t that far away, but far enough. Everything was happening so quickly that Harry felt he was having trouble processing it all. It was only three months before that he had arrived in Braxton. He had stepped off the plane hoping that he could manage to get through the summer without too much boredom, getting a few bucks at a job he thought he’d hate, and trying to tide himself over until Northwestern would finally open their doors. He had never expected to find four new best friends, a boyfriend that loved him more than he could ever have imagined, and a new home that really felt it. Or that the coffee wasn’t half-bad if you actually knew where to look.

“Harold!” Louis cried from behind him, and Harry braced himself for the question, “What about you? What’s your favorite part? And remember, the boy who sucks your dick says cookie,”