Thunder sounds through the house. Lightening flashes between the cracks in the windows. The walls of the old house seem to creak and groan under the splattering of heavy rainfall and the strong winds pressing against it. The lights in each room flicker and pop, going out for moments on end.
Liam is kind of terrified, but that has nothing to do with the storm brewing outside.
"Come on," Louis hisses. "This is the perfect time to go. Everyone's sleeping, and no one will hear us leaving over the storm."
Liam rubs blurrily at his eyes. He just woke up, and everything is confusing him. "What?"
Louis throws clothes at him. It's such a contrast from when Zayn woke up him gently to go out, the way Louis had roughly shaken him and pulled him right out of bed, and now he's throwing things at Liam instead of letting Liam pick something out himself.
And, admittedly, he didn't think they'd actually go through with this. He figured Louis would change his mind, or someone else would catch on and stop them. It's been a week since Louis promised to take him out, and Liam sort of forgot about it. Now, he's a little frightened at the whole idea, not to mention the storm. His terror is punctuated by another, worryingly loud, clap of thunder.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Liam voices.
"It's a great idea," Louis argues. "Now get dressed. Hurry up."
Liam reluctantly pulls on the jeans and sweater Louis literally whipped at him, and then Louis is dragging him out of his room, tugging him as he stumbles down the stairs. They're soaked as soon as they pull open one of the heavy front doors. The wind fights against them, threatening to push the doors wide open, nearly slamming them against the wall before Louis catches it and heaves it shut behind them.
There's a garage not far from the door, one with a separate entrance to the house. They run towards it as rain continues to pour down beside them and lightening strikes far in the distance, illuminating the entire sky for just a moment.
There are four different cars in the garage. There's a huge, sturdy looking jeep, a sleek black Ferrari, a fire engine red convertible and the white car Zayn had driven him in. "Give me a moment to get the top up," Louis says, heading straight for the red car. Liam isn't surprised that that's the one that belongs to him. Not even a little.
"I still think this is a bad idea," Liam says, as Louis gets the beige cover of the convertible up. "Really bad idea. It's storming. That's the universe enforcing that this is a bad idea."
"Oh, calm down," Louis says. "It'll be fine. Get in."
Liam gets in, against his better judgement. Louis pulls down the visor, attempts to fix his soaking wet hair, and then he sticks the keys in the ignition and hits a button to open the garage door.
Before Liam can change his mind, or jump out of the car like the logical part of his brain is begging him to do, they're pulling away from the house, speeding down the driveway and zooming out past the wide-open gates as rain patters against the windshield, obscuring their view.
Louis lets out a held breath. "I was worried for a moment there," he admits. "If Zayn had woken up he would have torn me limb from limb."
"What's he going to do when we get back?" Liam asks.
Louis shrugs. "I figure he'll be grateful if I bring you back in one piece," he says, as trees blur by on either side of them, cropping up on both sides of the long, winding road. "And if you're not in one piece by the time this is over, I'm going to rent a cabin in Canada and pray that he never finds me."
That only makes the bad feeling in Liam's stomach grow a little bit stronger. "Great."
Louis pats his thigh consolingly. "Don't worry, Liam. If you die, you'll go out having fun. That's all I could ask for in life, really."
For some reason, that doesn't make Liam feel any better.
They drive for a long time. Louis reaches over, turning on the radio, cranking it much louder than Zayn had. He sings along, even when he clearly doesn't know any of the songs playing. The little green numbers on the analog screen says it's just after seven at night, but the storm makes it seem darker, later than it really is. And as they drive, Liam gets a sense of just how far they are from everything. Louis speeds dangerously down the road, whipping up water behind the tires, and they've been driving for at least fifteen, twenty minutes.
Finally the trees start to thin, and they pull onto a highway instead of a back road. Liam watches in fascination as the windshield wipers try to do their job, as car after car skates past them or falls behind, as the city in the distance rises and comes into view.
"Wow," Liam says. Wherever the fair had been, it was a smaller city. This one is — it's huge. Not that Liam doesn't know what cities are like. He'd visited bigger ones before, with his parents. He can vaguely remember museums and incredible shopping malls and toy stores that left him breathless. But it still feels foreign to him, all the buildings and people.
"You need to get out more," Louis mutters as they drive down street after street, seemingly with no destination in mind, but Liam's sure Louis has one. "Alright. The concert starts at eight. If we were normal people, we'd have to wait in line, but since we're not I think we have about ten minutes before we have to get there. I'm going to give you a brief run through of what's about to happen."
"Okay," Liam says, nodding enthusiastically. He's trying not to seem so excited, but he really is. Now that they're so far from the house, and the threat of getting in trouble, he's thrumming with energy and a need to do something, anything. Everything.
"Calm down," Louis says. "You look like an excited puppy that's about to pee all over my leather seats. First of all, if you want to be seen with me, you have to act cool."
"Cool," Liam repeats. "Okay, I can do that."
Louis raises a single eyebrow. "Doubtful, but whatever. Second, don't leave my sight. I was joking earlier. Even if I moved to Canada, Zayn would find me if something happened to you."
"Stay with you," Liam says. "Got it."
"And lastly," Louis adds, pulling into a huge parking lot, "have fun."
They park, and Louis pauses to fix Liam's hair before nodding and getting out. The rain has let up a bit, now just a cold mist that sticks to every inch of Liam's bare skin, dampening his clothes as they make their way towards a large building.
There's what looks like hundreds of people lined up outside, some drenched, some smart enough to have brought umbrellas. Louis walks straight past them, sliding a pair of glasses onto his face even though it's nearly night time and it's raining, the sun nowhere to be found.
"Aren't we supposed to line-up there?" Liam asks.
Louis shakes his head, walking around to the other side of the building. "I don't do lines," Louis says.
There's another set of doors, these ones blocked by a crowd of large, muscular men. Louis puts a hand on Liam's chest, stopping him, and walks up to one of them. Liam has no idea what he says, or if he flashes them something, like a card maybe, but they instantly step aside, one of them holding open one of the glass doors.
"Him, too," Louis says, nodding his head at Liam. Liam scurries after him, happy to be inside, even if the building is air conditioned and cool. "We could sit up in the stands," Louis says, guiding Liam through the lobby. "But that's no fun. I'd rather be near the stage, wouldn't you?"
Liam nods quickly. "Yeah."
"But there's going to be a crowd," Louis muses, waving his hand at an employee, and this time Liam sees the card in his hand, but he doesn't have time to read what it says or figure out why it makes the employee nod him through without question. "Crowds could be dangerous, especially at a concert. You could get trampled, and then Zayn would decapitate me."
"Oh." Liam tries not to sound disappointed.
"That doesn't mean we're not going to," Louis assures him. "I just like to consider all the reasons why I shouldn't do something before I do it anyways."
If this weren't benefitting him, he'd probably call Louis crazy. As it is, he follows dutifully behind Louis as they enter the main part of the venue. There are hard cement floors, and bright florescent lighting, and two men at every entrance. There's the stage, where a drum set and three microphones are already set up. High, high above them, there are seats. Liam's glad they're on the ground instead. If he was going to be that far away, he might as well have just watched concert footage online.
"Now what?" Liam asks, as Louis heads near the stage.
"Now we wait."
Liam wraps his arms around his stomach. "That's a little boring."
"We could go backstage," Louis suggests. "Meet the band. But since I actually have no idea who's playing, I'm going to say that would be a bad idea. They might get offended when we ask who they are."
Liam gives him a look and turns on the spot as people start filtering in, coming right up to the stage. And then they're trapped, packed in tightly near a girl with too much perfume and a bored look on her face, and a guy that looks much happier to be here. It's so loud all of a sudden, what with the high ceilings and every sound bouncing back at him. Liam had been cold before, but now he's too hot.
It's not the most comfortable situation, by far. Liam isn't used to people, let alone this many pushed right up against him. But, like at the fair, there's an excited energy in the air that's too contagious not to feel. Louis grins up at him, waggling his eyes, and Liam forces out a chuckle that actually sounds partially real.