It was finally the day I got out of the hospital. But, it was also the day my dad was leaving and only one day away from when Louis, my mom, and the boys were leaving. Boo, I just can't win. Louis had brought me some clothes and one of his beanies before the doctor helped sign me out. Once I was free to go, I slipped the beanie on my head and Louis helped me out of bed. It took quite a while to get all the wires off, but the doctors had done it earlier this morning, so it was quicker now. Once out of the room we headed towards the elevator in which we stepped in and pressed the main level button. Louis grabbed my hand and squeezed it softly; I squeezed back and smiled at him. The doors opened to reveal the hospital lobby. Outside we're tons of paps and fans, so the nurse at the desk helped us get to the back entrance. Finally we made it outside without having to be photographed. Louis brought my car over and I hopped in the passenger seat. We drove home listening to a new playlist he helped me make. It was pretty much all The Fray, Imagine Dragons, and the Beatles: my favorites right now. We sang along until the car pulled up to the gate in front of the house. I told Louis the gate code and he punched it in, the gate opening up immediately after. He pulled into the driveway and ran over to my side of the car to help me out. We then made our way to the door where he opened it. Inside stood my father, the boys, but no sign of mom. Where was she? Everyone turned to look at us and quickly ran over when they saw me, pretty much making me the center of a giant group hug.
"Bo! We missed you!" Liam said while we all broke apart.
"Yeah, good thing you came home today or else I wouldn't get to say goodbye!" my dad said.
"Right! How long are you going to be gone? And when are you leaving exactly?" I asked, still confused on the subject.
"Well, I leave at around noon and its eleven now. I'll only be gone for about three months this time, then I'll be back for two entire months!" my dad said and I smiled. Six months was way to long.
"Okay, I can definitely handle that." I nodded.
"Great. I have to go get the rest of my stuff together, but I'll be done soon so we can say goodbye. Louis, would you mind helping me?" he asked. Why would he want Louis' help? Didn't he hate Louis?
"Uh.. sure, sir." Louis said, following my dad upstairs. He turned back to look at me and I gave him a confused look. He sent one back, implying that he also had no idea what was going on. Hopefully my dad won't yell at him for something stupid again.
(Louis' POV)
I followed Mr. Styles up to his guest room and stood in the doorway as he put the last few things in his suitcase. I was curious as to why he wanted me up here.
"Sir, anything I can help with?" I asked.
"Well, I have everything packed up now. But I do need to talk to you about something." he said, zipping up his duffle bag. I nodded and he gestured me to come in. I sat down on the bed next to him and waited for him to speak.
"Louis, I owe you a huge apology. Everything I said to you in the hospital the other day was unacceptable and I just want to tell you that looking back on it, it was all wrong. Seeing you and Ashley together, well, it's just good to see her happy again. You seem to be a good young man."
"Thank you sir. But, I'm just wondering, where is all of this coming from, if you don't mind my asking." I said politely.
"Not at all. I guess the reason that I'm telling you this is because you make my daughter happy. And that's all I want, is for her to be happy. Son, I'm giving you my blessing, on one condition."
"And what is that?"
"You take care of her. You never hurt her. And you love her. If not, I will 'take care' of you." I quickly figured out what he meant and gulped silently.
"Of course sir. I wouldn't ever hurt her. And because I love her, I will look after her. No matter what. She's my world."
"Good. I'm happy for you both. Thank you for coming up here to talk to me, Louis."
"Thank you, sir, for your blessing." I stood up and we walked out of the room, ready to go back downstairs, we stopped at the top of the stairs.
"Call me Dave." he smiled at me. It was nice knowing that Mr. Styles- I mean Dave, had a good, nice-guy side behind his military side. But the angry, fighter-pilot dad side still scared me to death. We walked back downstairs and saw that everyone, including Ashley's mum, was now gathered around the island in the kitchen, most likely waiting to say goodbye. Everyone walked over and stood in from of me and Mr. Styles. Ashley and Harry both gave him a big hug and Anne had also said a polite goodbye. I hope things have gotten less tense between them since a few days ago. The boys and I all shook his hand before he got in his car and waved to us all. Driving out of the driveway, I heard Ashley come up from behind me. I turned and saw her watching her dad drive away, a sad look on her face.
"He'll be back soon." I tried to make her feel better.
"I know. But after today I'll be all alone." she sighed.
"Yeah, you loner. So, lets take advantage of this fine day and do something fun!"
"Maybe. I need to shower first." she chuckled as she walked back in the house.
"Yeah, you definitely do." I joked and she slapped me before running quickly upstairs.
(Ashley's POV)
I quickly finished my shower and was now standing in my closet, looking for something to wear. Finally I found a comfy Jack Wills tee and a pair of regular-wash skinny jeans and slipped them both on over my body. To finish the outfit, I grabbed my white converse and a little bit of mascara on my lashes. I backed up and looked at myself in the mirror: it didn't even look like me. Having no hair made me look like some alien creature, but I was just going to have to get used to it. Maybe I could start a trend? Haha, what. A. Joke.
I went downstairs and noticed everyone sitting on the barstools in the kitchen as Mom prepared lunch or something. I sat in the empty one on the end and waited for what looked to be a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes. She set it on my plate and I picked it up, quickly eating the first half. I was too full for the second so, as usual, I gave the rest to Niall. We all sat around and talked for a while until we were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Since it was my house, I got up to see who it was. On the other side of the door was my friend Marlee. Her hair was dark brown and curly, her eyes a pretty brown. A big smile was plastered on her face and I wondered what she was doing here.
"Hey Marlee, what's up?" I asked her as she came inside.
"Oh, I got a text from Niall saying to come over because we were going to do something, you didn't know about this?" she said as we both sat down next to the boys at the counter.
"No, I did not. Niall, Louis, what's going on?" I asked them.
"Something fun!" Louis smirked and I remembered just forty-five minutes ago when he first spoke of doing something fun today.
"Okay... so what are we doing?" Marlee asked.
"We figured it would be fun if the four of us just spent a day in San Francisco. If you want to do it, we should go now." Niall said. I looked over at Marlee and she smiled.
"Let's go then!" I yelled and the two boys quickly got up. We raced out to the garage and jumped in my car. I decided that it was my turn to drive since I was feeling a little better. I drove into the city on the Golden Gate bridge, which looked beautiful today. We were all talking about random topics, most including David Beckham, until the ding of my iPhone sang. Marlee picked it up for me and read the text out-loud: it was from an unknown number.
HERE'S YOUR FIRST CLUE TO YOUR SCAVENGER HUNT ACROSS THE CITY:
"Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore." -Of Monsters and Men
"What does this mean?" Marlee said, reading the text again.
"I think it means we're on a scavenger hunt." Niall said and Marlee hit his head lightly.
"No, but where are we supposed to go? Help me, Ashley!"
"Okay... ship. I think it has to do with a ship, or the shore." I thought about it as I parked the car on the side of the road.
"Yeah... maybe it's.... Fisherman's Wharf?"
"By George, I think you've solved it Ms. Marlee." I said in my best British accent.
"By George, I believe she does!" Louis imitated me and we all laughed.
"Well then let's get to it, come on now, it's this way!" I got out of the car and we all walked outside. The wharf was only a few blocks away and we managed to reach it in about five minutes.
"Okay, what now?" I asked, looking around for something else.
"Now, we have fun!" Louis grabbed my hand and started running down the wharf.
"You knew about this?" I shouted at him.
"No, I just figured we could have fun until we get another clue." Hmm... something told me this boy was lying.
Marlee, Louis, Niall, and I ran around the wharf four probably about an hour. We did everything possible: take pictures in front of huge boats, go into some of the cheesy tourist shops and find our names on license plate key chains, even hang out with some very interesting mimes. Marlee and I were now watching some sea lions while the boys were in the bathroom.
"Do you think they have something to do with all of this?" I asked her finally.
"Definitely. Next clue that comes, we need to get it out of them." she smirked and I laughed. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate and I pulled it out to see another text from the unknown number.
HERE'S YOUR SECOND CLUE:
"Tell me did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded and that heaven is overrated?" - Train
I was starting to think that the clues were all song lyrics. I recognized these from one of my favorite songs, Drops of Jupiter. If we had a rocket, I would suggest the next place being Jupiter, but no where in San Francisco. I showed it to Marlee and we both continued to think until I heard the boys behind us.
"Guys, we got another clue, think you can help?" we asked.
"I don't know, we don't know too much about the city." I showed them both the text and they pretended to not know the answer. I looked over at Marlee and she nodded her head, time to put the plan into action.
"Niall.... can't you please help! I know that you are really smart, can't you do this, for me?" she used her charm by grabbing his hands and pulling him close. I saw Niall's cheeks get red as this happen and he looked over at Louis in panic. Louis laughed and I turned to face him.
"Are you sure you don't know? If you do know, all you have to do is tell me. That way we can finish this up, go home, and do something else... fun." I whispered in his ear and heard his breath get heavy. I looked up and saw him biting his lip while looking down at me. So dang hot.
"Well... it might be at the planetarium." Louis said, wrapping his arms around me and beginning to lean in.
"...but we aren't sure." Niall said, doing the same to Marlee. Less than a second later, both Marlee and I pulled out of the boys’ grasps and started running away from the wharf. I looked back and saw them both standing in confusion. Finally they caught up with us and we were all making our way to the planetarium just a few streets away. We arrived at the entrance and opened the doors. Inside was a man at a desk typing on a computer.
"Sorry, we're closed." he said, barely looking up at us.
"I believe we made a reservation. It should be under Tomlinson." Louis voice sounded behind me.
"Oh, right. Sorry. Right this way now." the man stood from the desk and lead us over to a set of doors on the right side of the room. He opened them to reveal a large empty circular room. The floor consisted of only chairs, but the ceiling was a projection of space: thousands of stars and planets covering wall to wall. I sat down in a chair in the front row and watched as the stars slowly moved across the image.
"Hey, look, Parallax, at the north star." Louis, sitting beside me, pointed up to the north star.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" I asked him.
"Remember the night we were stuck out in the backyard and you told me about the stars?"
"Oh yeah, I can't believe you remember that." I giggled, remembering the fun night.
"Course I do. It was when I started falling for you." he whispered in my ear and my heart fluttered.
We stayed in the Planetarium for about half an hour: watching a presentation on the stars, space, the big bang, and black holes. I had always loved science. Maybe one day I'll get to go to school and study it for a major. I got up from my seat as the lights turned on and felt my phone once again vibrate. I took it out and read the text to everyone.
HERE IS YOUR THIRD CLUE:
"So I put my faith in something unknown, I'm living on such sweet nothing." -Calvin Harris.
"Okay. Sweet Nothing. I'm thinking sweet is key here." Marlee said and I nodded. We didn't try anything on the boys this time only cause they would probably realize what we were doing.
"How about Ghirardelli Square? Sweet like chocolate?" I said.
"That's it!" Niall said. We ran out of the building and turned a corner on to the street where Ghirardelli Square was perched. The square was always decorated so nicely: it was like a cute shopping center all dedicated to chocolate. We went into the first store, which of course, was all chocolate. I didn't bring any money but Louis and Niall bought probably enough candy to feed all of Uganda. The next place we went in was the factory. The factory room was pretty big and it had large windows so you could see the chocolate being made. We all gathered around the windows and watched the chocolate being pressed into square shaped, filled with a yummy filling, and packaged in a small gold wrapping. At the end of the room were a few tables filled with samples of the chocolate in almost every flavor that they sold. Louis picked up a caramel and handed it to me, knowing how much I love anything chocolate and caramel. I opened it and stuck the square in my mouth. It tasted so good. Soon enough we all had one in our mouths; everyone smiling as they enjoyed the sweets.
After getting kicked out of the factory room for eating too many samples we decided to hang out in the center of the square where a large fountain sat in the middle. Marlee and Niall both threw coins into the fountain and then walked away hand in hand. Aw, how cute. We talked for a while and explored more of the square until I felt my phone vibrate once again.
FOURTH CLUE:
"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket." -Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
"Okay well I know this one. It's obviously Union Square." Marlee said and I agreed. We all walked for about fifteen minutes until we came across the large shopping center known as Union Square. The boys decided to go check out Abercrombie & Fitch while Marlee and I went into BCBG a few stores down. Looking through the racks, I had no luck. Marlee, however, had her hands full of tops, jackets, skirts, and dresses. I laughed as she went into to try them on. An assistant came in the room and helped her set up.
"Oh, why don't you two come with me to the back room." she said. We followed her to the back room, unsure of why we were going there. She opened the door and inside was a large room full of dresses. She ran over to one of the racks on the wall and pulled off a coral colored dress and a purple one on the other side of the room.
"This one is yours" she handed me the coral one, "and this one is yours, unless you like one of those better." she pointed to Marlee's large pile of clothes.
"Okay. What do you mean they're ours?" I asked very confused.
"Well you are Ashley Styles, correct? I had specific instructions to give these to you two and have you wear them out of the store."
"But, we really can't afford these. This one alone is already $300." I looked at the tag. It was a gorgeous dress, but I simply could not afford it with all the money I've been spending on treatments.
"Oh don't worry about that, they've already been paid for. You can also take any pair of shoes on the top rack. Call me if you need any help with anything." she said, walking out of the room. I looked over at Marlee and she shrugged her shoulders before running over to the shelves of shoes, grabbing a pair of black pumps. I finally found some pretty gold strappy-heels that looked nice with the dress and headed back over to where the dress was hanging on a hook. I looked over and saw that Marlee had already put the dress on.
"Marlee that looks so pretty! Whoever picked that knew exactly what looks good on you!" I smiled as she twirled around the room.
"Thanks, I know! Now it's your turn!" she squealed and I took my shirt and pants off, slipping the dress on. I looked in the mirror and studied the reflection. The dress was pretty, the problem was me. I couldn't be anywhere near pretty anymore.
"Ohmygosh Ashley that's gorgeous!" Marlee smiled at me from behind the mirror.
"It's okay." I sighed, looking down at my gold heels.
"Are you kidding? You look amazing. I wonder what this is all for. OMG maybe we're going out to some fancy celebrity thing! Or dinner! OMG what if Louis proposes!!!!"
"Okay, whatever this is for, he is not proposing."
"Fine, but I'll be there to say I told you so when it happens!" she laughed as we grabbed our clothes and left the back room. Up at the front the assistant who helped us originally cut the tags off our dresses and put our clothes in bags so we could carry them. We thanked her and headed outside. We looked for the boys for quite a while, but we couldn't seem to find them. I felt my phone vibrate in my hand and held it up so we could both read it.
HERE IS YOUR FINAL CLUE (THE BOYS WILL NOT BE JOINING YOU):
"Find another friend and you discard as you loose the argument in a cable car. Hanging above as the canyon comes" -The Fray
"Okay no way are we going to a canyon in these heels!" Marlee shouted and I tried to concentrate on the clue. The lyrics was from one of my favorite songs, Over My Head.
"Wait Marlee, this song is called Over My Head, but it was also nicknamed Cable Car. I think we need to get on a cable car!" I grabbed her shoulders and she nodded. We slowly ran (keep in mind that we are in heels) to the end of the square where the cable cars were parked. Only one was on a track, but no one was on it but the driver.
"Ashley and Marlee?" he asked and we both nodded. He motioned for us to come aboard and we stepped on, taking our seats on one of the benches. The car began to move and I watched the city pass by. It was getting dark now and many people were out, most likely getting dinner. We rode around the city for about ten minutes until we stopped at the Aquarium. We both turned to the driver.
"Marlee, this is your stop. Follow the man in the suit." he pointed to a man in a suit waiting outside the entrance. Marlee thanked the driver and waved goodbye to me. The car started up and now I was alone. What was going on? Soon enough, we stopped in front of Gary Danko, one of the most expensive restaurants in town. I got off the car and said goodbye to the driver. At the door stood a man in a suit, just like at the aquarium, he opened the door for me and ushered me into the dining room. The room was completely empty: except for one table. At that one table were two plates, a few roses, and a candle at the center. To the side of the table stood a man in a tuxedo with chocolate brown hair and bright blue eyes. I smiled and walked over to the table where he helped me sit down.
"This is amazing. All of this. The trip. The dress. The dinner. Why'd you do it?" I asked him.
"I did it because I love you. And I want to make sure you know it. And you needed some cheering up too." I giggled. Our menus were brought over and the waiter filled our glasses with a red wine. I took a very small sip, not wanting a repeat of a few nights ago. Louis ordered for both of us and soon the waiter was gone again.
"So, what did my dad talk to you about this morning?" I asked him, curious about the event.
"Well, he just wanted to apologize for the other day." he said.
"Oh, that's good."
"Yeah, I think you're dad might actually somewhat like me. Maybe." he smiled. Gahh, adorable.
"Maybe. That'd be a first for boyfriends of mine." I smiled and we both burst out into a light chuckle.
Our food finally came and we ate it silently. My pasta was really delicious and I couldn't imagine how much Louis had paid for all of this. But trust me, I had tried to talk him into letting me pay once, and it didn't end well. So basically, I wasn't going to try again. I finished as much food as I possibly could and the waiter took our plates away. The entire room was silent now, except for the music being played by the band in the next room. It sounded like they were playing Moon River, which is one of my favorite slow songs.
"Dance with me." Louis said as he stood up from his chair and stuck his hand out to me.
"What, is dancing like our thing or something?" I smirked.
"It can be if you want it to." I smiled and took his hand. We stepped away from the table and walked over to a clear area of the room. I wrapped my arms around his neck, he doing the same but around my waist. I stared up into his eyes before laying my head on his chest, listening to his slow and calming heartbeat.
"By the way, you look absolutely stunning." he whispered and I blushed.
"Well you did pick out the dress."
"With or without the dress, you'd still be stunning. Maybe a little more without it." he smirked and I playfully slapped his head at his perverted comment.
"I love you. Thank you." I said to him as the song started to come to a close.
"I love you too. I'll miss you." he said, reminding me of the fact that he was leaving tomorrow.
"I'll miss you too. But we can skype, or call, or text. Just not a repeat of this summer."
"Yeah that kind of failed. But I guarantee it won't happen, especially since I'm so in love with you."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a cheeseball?" I laughed and he chucked as we pulled apart, ending the dance. We walked back over to the table and I grabbed my bag filled with clothes. Louis pulled something out from under the table too: a box wrapped in light blue paper, topped with a white bow.
"What's this?" I asked him as he handed it to me.
"It's a box. Now open it." he said and I slowly ripped the paper off the box. Under the paper was a clear plastic layer. Under the plastic was a Barbie doll. But this Barbie doll was different; she had no hair.
"See? You're so beautiful they even had a doll made after you." he said and I looked up at him tears starting to well in my eyes.
"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you Lou." I through my arms around him, the doll still in my left hand.
"Me too, my beautiful girl." he said before pulling me in for a long wonderful kiss.
(A/N: HOW ADORABLE?!??!?!!!!! xoxo -Katie)