"I am so tired," is the first thing I say when Cole wakes us up.
"You both told me that you would be up and ready at six," he says.
"Yeah, and that's what we planned on. But then we started to watch the Twilight Saga and went to bed around two," I mumble, pulling the blanket over my face.
"If I say I've already got Dunkin' on the way will you both get out of bed?"
Lili and I spring up and mumble "yes" before we demand him to wait outside the room while we change our clothes. We gather our bags and grab a pair of sunglasses.
We open the door and Cole looks us over before laughing hysterically.
"You guys look hungover, you sure you didn't drink?"
"Cole, it is six in the morning. Please, shut up before I throw something at you," I say.
He holds his hands up in defence with a grin lingering on his face. We follow him out to his silver Chevy Malibu where he opens the trunk and we go to put out suitcases in but I stop, noticing there were already two in there.
"Why are there two?" I ask.
"Yeah, I thought you said you only packed one? You told us to pack light," Lili jumps in.
"Ladies, ladies, before I say anything can we empty our hands please? I don't want items thrown at this sculptured face." he dramatically says.
I place my suitcase in the trunk as I wait for his answer.
"I got the coffee.." a dark accent rumbles behind us.
No. He did not.
I make a face at Cole as he looks at me with apologetic eyes.
I turn around and face Harry who is standing in a black hoodie and sweatpants. His hood is up covering most of his curls and his black shades hide his eyes.
"What is he doing here?" Lili grumbles.
"He is coming with us, I guess. I tried to talk him out of it, believe me, but he demanded to come," Cole reasons. He's pleading for mercy.
I say nothing as I stare at Harry, thankful my sunglasses are covering my eyes. I take a deep breath before taking a coffee from the carrier in Harry's hands.
"Right." I press my lips into a line before continuing, "We have basically a ten hour drive ahead of us so let's just go," I sigh.
I'm confused as to why Cole allowed him to come considering Cole wanted this to be a breather for me. It makes no sense to invite the man who is suffocating me on a trip to ease my lungs.
I don't know how I feel about this. I should be mad, angry, fighting Harry telling him he's not welcome but apart of me is leaping for joy that he's here.
God, this is all so confusing. I hate this.
I climb in the back seat and cover up with my travel blanket. I have taken it on almost all my trips since I was a freshman in high school. It's light purple with blue flowers, it's big enough to cover me up but not enough to take up the whole car.
I lay my head on the window as Harry slides in the backseat with me. I debate on whether or not I should bang my head against the tinted window as Cole drives towards the highway.
My phones buzzes in my lap and I look down. He texted me.
Harry: Are you still mad at me?
I roll my eyes before responding.
Me: yes. a little.
Harry: Don't be mad at me on this trip. You can be mad at me when we get back.
We can play 8ball to pass the time.
I look over at him and he has a cheeky grin on his face as he stares down at his phone, no doubt trying not to laugh at the way I'm looking at him.
I decide to not respond and try to sleep but my phone buzzes again.
Harry: Lay down on my lap.
Me: no.
I put my phone on Do Not Disturb before I close my eyes, pulling my blanket up to my chin.
I'm about to fall asleep when I feel Harry's hand undo my seatbelt and wrap around my waist so he can pull me towards him.
I don't fight it, I give in. I'm too tired and I don't have the energy to pull away. I let out a heavy breath through my nose as my head makes contacts with his legs.
His left hand is resting on my side while his right is scrolling through his phone, he purposefully has it to where both of us can see it. I can't decide if that is good or bad because what if it's so I can see something I don't want to? Like, a girls chest or something. I frown just thinking about the intention behind it.
I watch as he scrolls through Instagram and Facebook, mindlessly going through his feed. He carefully leans down and grabs his headphones from his bag before plugging them into his phone. He surprises me when he puts the left one in my ear and opens Netflix. Maybe he wasn't trying to be malicious at all.
He scrolls through until he finally settles on Dynasty, a show I have never seen and I assume he hasn't either because it immediately plays the first episode of season one.
My eyes feel heavy as the episode goes on and before I know it, I'm asleep.
"Ari," I hear a raspy voice whisper in my ear.
I hum, not opening my eyes, I can feel Harry's right leg moving up and down rapidly.
"Angel, I'm going to piss all over you and this seat if you don't get up right now," he speaks desperately.
I sit up and squint my eyes open as I watch Harry get out of the car and practically run inside the gas station. I take a look around, I'm not sure where we are but it's a major exit for sure. There's multiple gas stations, various fast food chains and motels lining the road for the cars entering and exiting the highway.
I look to my left and see Cole's back against the car, staring out aimlessly towards the coming and going vehicles. I slide over to where Harry was once sitting and open the door. The cool breeze feels refreshing as I stretch almost obnoxiously, being cramped up in a car for who knows how long really takes a toll.
"Hey," I say to Cole.
He whips his head around, "Good morning sleepy head."
I smile sarcastically as he chuckles, "Where's Lils?"
"Inside getting snacks and drinks, you might need to help her because we both know Haze won't."
Haze? I have never heard anyone call Harry that. That must be a nickname strictly given from Cole. Harry is the only one in this group who doesn't really have a nickname all of us use on him, sometimes I will call him 'H' but it never really sticks. His name is kind of difficult to shorten.
I nod my head and grab my sandals from the floor of the car before making my way inside. I open the door and smile at the cashier before flickering my eyes to the messy blonde bun and sunglasses.
She's staring at the chips with her arms crossed, she looks like she's been crying because her lips are swollen and red and her eyes are glossy.
"Lili, are you okay?" I ask timidly.
She looks at me and something flashes across her face before she answers, "What? Yeah, I think I'm just cranky because I'm hungry."
I stare at her not really sure if I believe the answer she's giving me.
"Okay, my period is also due any day so everything is just making me really emotional." She adds.
I click my tongue and nod my head, "Fair enough."
"What do you think Harry would eat? I don't think I have ever seen him snack on literally anything so I'm guessing big time right now," she states.
"Pretzels? Fuck, I don't know," I laugh.
I look up towards the bathroom and see him, we make eye contact as I call out for him. He walks over towards us in a few long strides.
"We need you to pick your snack," I say.
"Do you even snack, in all seriousness?" Lili asks while stifling back a laugh.
"I like sour gummy worms," he shrugs.
"Huh, interesting."
Harry looks at me and I shrug before walking off and finding peanut M&M's. Harry walks back out to the car while I get all of us drinks and Lili gathers everyone's snacks. We set them up on the counter and the cashier chuckles at all the sweets.
"Road trip?" The man, who looks like he's in his early forties, asks.
"Yeah, headed down to Seattle," Lili smiles at him.
We pay and he wishes us safe travels as we walk out the door. Cole and Harry and talking against the car. Or maybe they're arguing because Cole has a frown on his face as he closes his eyes and Harry shakes his head as his fingers play with his bottom lip.
Cole smiles at Lili when she hands him his drink and we all pile back into his Malibu.
"How much further?" I ask curiously.
"About two more hours, we passed through Seattle an hour ago," he says.
What?
"I thought we were going to Seattle, too?"
"We are, on the way back though. I would rather break up the trip on the way home than the way there."
I nod my head.
It makes sense, I guess. Staying a day in Seattle before having to leave back to campus is probably better than driving straight back.
Cole takes off down the road again and I'm staring out the window, watching the buildings fade and turn into trees. I can't help but wonder what the boys were arguing about.
I twist in my seat, putting my back against the door and place my feet on Harry's lap. He arches his brow as he looks at my fuzzy socks and then to me. I stare at him before pulling my phone out of my pocket and pull his name up. I can feel his hand fall to the top of my leg, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting it rest there.
Me: why were you and cole arguing?
My eyes flicker back up to look at him when he looks at his phone. His eyebrows furrow reading the message.
Harry: We weren't arguing.
Me: yes you were, i could tell.
what's going on? something feels off.
Harry: Nothing, angel. We're like brothers so we bicker.
Nothing to worry about.
Me: okay but lili was crying, you and cole are "bickering" aka fighting. something is for sure off and none of you are telling me.
Harry: If something was going on, I would tell you. Everything is fine.
I roll my eyes as I laid my phone back on my lap and watched the cars passing by outside Harry's window. It doesn't last long though because my phone vibrates.
Harry: Roll your eyes at me again like that and see what happens.
I look up at him making a 'are you kidding me' face.
Me: what are you going to do about it?
Harry: Keep it up and you'll find out.
Me: i'm not scared of you.
I shake my head. I look at Lili in the front seat who's sleeping against the window, soft music coming from the radio. Cole's left hand is on the steering wheel and his right is resting on his girlfriends thigh, his thumb moving back and forth like he's soothing her to sleep. I smile at the interaction, he cares so much for her and I am so happy for her.
I don't know what over comes me but I find myself laying my head back down in Harry's lap, but this time I lay on my left side so I'm facing him. I wrap my arm around his and smile as he looks down at me in confusion.
What I was not expecting is when he grabs me to sit up, spreading his legs a little so my ass is sitting between his legs and the top of my back is touching the car door. He laces his right arm behind my head, pushing it so it rests on his shoulder and his left hand rests on my leg, running up and down.
I nuzzle my face into his neck and let out a breath that fans across his throat. He squeezes my leg as I drift back off to sleep. I am in for a long four day trip.