Niall’s POV
We were on own way to find Isla. Harry was driving with Louis in the front and me, Liam and a sleeping Zayn in the back. After asking Kara the name of the coffee shop that she saw Isla in, we put it in to Google Maps and headed to Presteigne.
We were about half an hour away and I was growing more and more anxious, nervous, excited, happy and worried all at the same time as we drove closer to our destination. I was biting my nails and tapping my foot on the floor of the car. I was mostly nervous compared to everything else I was feeling.
“Hey, you mind if we stop for some gas? We’re almost out,” Harry said from the driver’s seat.
“Sure,” I replied. He pulled into the next gas station that we passed by and he parked beside a vacant gas pump and turned off the car.
“Hey, Lou, you mind filling up the car while I clean the windshield? It’s covered in dead bugs,” he asked, while getting out of the car.
A second after Harry asked him, Louis dropped his head back and pretended to sleep, snoring obnoxiously for extra effect.
I laughed, as Harry looked annoyed. He then turned to Liam.
“Liam?”
Liam suddenly cried out in pain.
“Ow! My knee. I seemed to have hurt it.”
“From sitting?” Harry retorted, raising an eyebrow at him. I laughed once again as Liam nodded while pouting and holding onto his knee.
Harry rolled his eyes and then looked at me.
“Niall? Pretty please,” he looked at me with puppy dog eyes.
I rolled my eyes at him and then smiled.
“You know I will. Cause I’m a good friend. Better than these idiots,” I joked, getting out of the car, smacking Liam against his head as I hopped over him.
“Hey! My knee does really hurt!” Liam said, holding onto his knee again.
“Really?” I said, raising an eyebrow at him, “cause I swear I remember you holding onto your other knee the last time.”
He looked away and then down to his knee, switching his hands back to his other knee. “Oh, um…yeah, well…you know, I wanted to be fair to my other knee, it would’ve felt bad that I was only worried about my other one.”
“Uh-huh,” I said sarcastically, closing the door and looking at Liam through the open window.
“And I really am sleeping,” I heard Louis say; I looked into the car and saw him still pretending to sleep. I couldn’t help but laugh.
I grabbed the pump and started filling up the car with gas as Harry grabbed the squeegee and started cleaning the front window. I looked into the car as I waited for the gas tank to fill up. I saw Liam grab a potato chip and slowly brought it up to Louis’ open mouth, who was still pretending to sleep. The second Liam put the chip into his mouth, Louis’ eyes shot open and he turned around and smacked Liam in the head.
“Ow! What’s with everyone hitting me on the head today?” Liam said, wincing and rubbing the side of his head.
“Well, I wanted it to be fair for your head. It would’ve felt bad that you’re only worried about your aching knees,” Louis mocked Liam’s tone from a moment ago and putting air quotes when he said ‘aching’. Me and Harry laughed. Harry had finished cleaning the window and was now leaning against door watching the two boys fight.
The gas stopped pumping and I pulled it out and put it back in the proper place.
“Since you guys were incapable of helping me, Niall gets to choose the snacks in the store,” Harry said, teasing the boys.
“Hey! I want to come! I want to choose the snacks!” Louis whined.
“No! I want to! Look! My knees are feeling better!” he said, pretending to be surprised while moving his knees up and down.
“Will. You. Two. Shut. Up.” We all turned to Zayn who was still in the same position he was in while he was asleep, only his lips were moving as he was scolding the two other boys in the car.
“No, you can’t come,” Harry ordered, “you two stay here and watch over Zayn. If you guys come, someone might steal the car and Zayn wouldn’t even notice.”
Louis and Liam narrowed their eyes at Zayn, who had gone back to sleep.
“What if we carry him inside?” Louis said with anticipation.
“No,” I said, laughing, “Zayn will kill you.”
I watched in amazement as Louis and Liam both crossed their arms and plopped back in their seats looking upset.
“Aww, don’t be upset,” Harry said, smiling, “I’ll let you guys come next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Liam said, turning his head away from us, “we’re never talking to you again.”
Me and Harry exchanged amused faces and looked back to Liam.
“How about we get you a box of cookies?” Harry cooed.
Liam was about to whip his head towards us but stopped himself and looked away again.
“Make it two boxes,” Liam said.
We laughed at Liam and then we turned to Louis.
“What would you like, Boo Bear?” I asked him.
“Unless you can find carrots in there, you won’t be hearing my sexy voice for the rest of the day,” he said.
“Hm, then hopefully there aren’t any carrots in there,” Harry joked. I laughed.
Louis whipped his face towards Harry. “Hey! That’s mean!”
Harry laughed. “I’m just joking. You know I always want to hear your sexy voice but I highly doubt they have carrots in there.”
Louis looked like he agreed with Harry and was sitting there with a frown.
“Surprise me,” he said with a smile. Jolly Louis was back.
“Okay, Louis, we’ll try and find something that will satisfy your expectations,” Harry said, pushing himself off of the car. “We’ll be real quick.” I followed Harry as we headed to the convenience store. We walked in and we headed to the cookie aisle to get Liam’s cookies. Then we looked around to find something for Louis. We were at the candy section and a bag of gummies caught my eyes.
Specifically a bag of gummies in the shape of carrots.
“A-ha! He'll love this!” I exclaimed. Harry was smiling as he grabbed another bag.
“Maybe we should get him two, also. Wouldn’t want him to get jealous that we got Liam two boxes of cookies,” he suggested. I nodded, agreeing with him. We grabbed some Curly Wurly’s for Zayn and I went to the crisps aisle and grabbed 5 small bags. We still had half an hour; this will hold me until we get to Presteigne. I saw Harry grab one bag of crisps and a pack of gum. Then we took our haul and brought it to the counter to pay along with the gas.
As the cashier was ringing in our food, I turned to Harry. He was looking at a magazine on the stand beside the counter.
I cleared my throat, nervousness growing inside me. “Hey, Harry?”
He turned his head towards me. “Hm?”
I looked down, avoiding his gaze. “What if…what if Isla…doesn’t want to come home?”
I looked up at him when he didn’t answer. He was looking away, sadness filling his eyes.
Finally, he spoke, putting on a small smile. “We have to stay positive. And I’m pretty positive that Isla will come home, I just have a feeling. I think she just needed some time away from…everything. But she’ll realize that we still love her and that we miss her.” He paused, his smile disappearing. “If Isla doesn’t want to come home, then we have to respect her decision. If she wants to stay, then we have to let her stay.”
My stomach turned but I nodded. What Harry said reassured me but the last part tore at my heart. I didn’t want that to happen but that thought had been gnawing at my brain since the second we left to find her. But, like Harry said, we had to stay positive.
“Or we can kidnap her and bring her home against her will if she doesn’t.”
We turned around and saw a bright-eyed Louis smiling at us. We grinned back at the goofball. He always knew how to lighten the mood.
“That could work, too,” Harry said, grabbing the bags filled with our food that the cashier passed to him. Harry paid for the food and gas and we headed out the door.
Suddenly, Harry whipped his around to face Louis while we were walking back to the car. “Hey. I thought we told you to stay in the car. Liam won’t be able to fend of carjackers by himself while trying to protect the car and Zayn.”
“I got bored,” Louis shrugged but then an annoyed look spread on his face, “and then Liam started singing Barbie Girl. The boy and the girl parts. The whole thing. I had to get out of there. He wouldn’t stop!”
Me and Harry just laughed as we reached the car and sure enough, we heard Liam screeching.
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Yeah!” he shrieked. And then a loud “OW!”
“SHUT! UP!” we heard Zayn’s tired but angry voice.
“Everyone has got to stop hitting me in the head!”
We reached the car, Louis and Harry hopping into the front and me opening the front door, setting my sights on an angry-looking Zayn looking out the window and Liam rubbing his head, pouting. I shoved Liam and hopped into the car. Harry started the car and pulled out of the gas station and turned onto the road and continued our road trip.
I looked at Liam and saw him pouting and crossing his arms. I suddenly felt bad for hitting him. I reached into one of the plastic bags and pulled out his two boxes of cookies.
I held it out for him and he just looked at it for a split of a second and looked away again.
I sighed. “I’m sorry for hitting you, Liam.”
His face softened a bit. “I accept your apology, Niall.” Emphasizing my name. Louis turned around with an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, too, Liam,” Louis said, looking at him with puppy dog eyes, “please, forgive me.”
I hint of a smile appeared on his face. “I accept your apology, Louis.” Again, emphasizing his name. Louis faced the front again, a smile splattered on his face.
Liam was pouting again, looking at Zayn in the corner of his eyes for a second. I looked at Zayn and saw him roll his eyes and then continuing to look out the window again. We’ve learned from many experiences that you never wake up a sleeping Zayn. This is proof of what happens when you do. You get a grumpy, and slightly violent, Zayn. I did not look like he was going to apologize like Liam was expecting him to.
“Zayn,” I scolded.
“What?” he grumbled, not looking at me.
“Apologize to Liam for hitting him,” I answered.
“He deserved it.”
“Zayn,” I repeated.
“He woke me up.”
“I bet he was just lonely since I left and he wanted to see your beautiful eyes and hear your alluring voice,” Louis said from the front.
“He could have woken me up without shrieking like that and singing that horrid song,” Zayn snapped.
“I’m sorry.”
We all whipped our heads towards the owner of the voice, Liam; Harry looking at him through the rearview mirror. Even Zayn looked at him with wide eyes. Liam and Zayn just looked at each other, Zayn with a surprised look on his face and Liam with an apologetic one.
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to annoy Louis and then I really got into the song when he left,” Liam explained. “I promise it won’t happen again.”
Zayn’s face softened as he looked at Liam.
“It’s okay,” he said. “And I’m sorry for hitting you. It’s just…I love my sleep.”
Liam grinned him. “I accept your apology, Zayn.” And then Liam lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Zayn, almost crushing him against the side of the car.
“Okay, Liam,” Zayn’s voiced muffled under Liam’s shoulder. Liam finally got off of Zayn and then turned his attention to me.
“Now pass me my cookies!” he said with a voice that sounded like a crazy person. I laughed as I passed him his cookies.
“I’ll share with you, Zaynie-poo,” Liam said. Zayn grimaced at his nickname but quickly stopped when he saw Liam passing him a cookie. I reached into the bag again and got out Zayn’s chocolate and tossed it to him. He caught it with ease, stuffing the whole cookie into his mouth and then opening up the candy. I just shook my head, grinning to myself.
I reached into the other bag and got out Louis’ gummies. I held it out in front of him to catch his attention. He looked down at it and his eyes grew big.
“Gummy carrots!” he shouted.
Harry laughed from the front. “They were the closest thing to carrots we could find. Hope that’s okay with you.”
“I’m totally okay with it. Carrots. In gummy form. It’s the best of both worlds.” He paused and then took a deep breath. Oh no. “You get the best of both worlds. Chillin' out, take it slow. Then you rock out the show,” he finished by singing the Hannah Montana song.
We all groaned as we listened to his obnoxious singing. I took out one of my bags of chips and started to eat it. I stared out my window trying to drown out the singing with my thoughts. But I soon regretted it as my thoughts were bombarded with thoughts of Isla.
How much I miss her.
How much I love her.
How much I wish that she’ll come home with us.
With me.
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