Chapter 44 - LA, here we come!
"Oh, Rach! I found it! These were the shorts you were looking for right?" Ash held out a pair of denim shorts in front of her.
I sighed of relief. "Yes, thank you!"
"I still can't find my yellow tank-top! I am not leaving without it!" Nat shouted.
Ash and I both exchanged looks and then glared at Nat. "Yo, dumbass, you're wearing it." Ash pointed to the little bit of yellow sticking out from underneath her shirt.
Nat looked down at it, then blushed embarrassed. "Oh, right."
“I can never pack ahead of time and packing on the day, is just a riot for me!" I shoved a pile of clothes into my suitcase.
"Preach it sista." Ash sighed, zipping up her suitcase.
My house was nothing but chaos right now. We had all been up since six in the morning trying to pack stuff for our L.A. trip. We were slackers of course but there was also so much to get done in so little time, it just wasn’t fair.
"Man, there was no point in sleeping over! We should have seen this coming; there is no way we ever get anything done. We always get distracted somehow." Nat whined annoyingly.
I groaned and stopped packing for a second. "Nat, c'mon, you've got to stop complaining and get your butt packing. If we're late, it's all on you."
Nat rolled her eyes and she finally got up, lazily throwing her things into her bags.
I noticed Ali come into the room a while ago and I ignored her, but now she was going through all of my things and she was well aware that one of my biggest pet peeves. I really didn’t need any more distractions right now.
"ALI! GET OUT NOW! I DON'T NEED YOU ANNOYING ME MORE THAN I ALREADY AM!"
Ali backed away, looking terrified and ran out the door.
"Man, Rach you need to chill. She’s only a kid…" Ash mumbled quietly.
I knew I was a bit too harsh, but I needed every little distraction out of my way at the moment. I just needed to get everything done and out of the way and my grumpiness would disappear instantly.
After a long half an hour we had finally completed all of our packing. The three of us collapsed onto my bed exhausted. "Phew, thank god that's done." Nat said still panting. I glanced over on the opposite side of my room, to see Harry coming in, carrying Ali in his arms.
He was holding her tightly and I could even hear her whispering consoling words to her. I jumped up and fixed myself up to look presentable. "Oh, hey Harry, what brings you here?"
Harry smiled revealing his deep dimples, "Well, I came to drive you girls to the airport, because I knew the madness that would happen the day before the trip."
Nat cut in quickly, "Actually, THE DAY. We just started."
Harry's eyes widened. "Exactly, well, anyways, and then once your mum let me in, I noticed a cute little girl crying downstairs. I think 'somebody' made her quite upset, and 'somebody' should apologize." Harry eyed me sternly.
I raised my eyebrow at him. Gosh, he was so protective of Ali, it was like my mother scolding me about her again. But I had to admit, a part of me absolutely loved that he was like this. He really did develop a bond with Ali. I held Ali’s tiny hands and looked her directly in the eyes.
"I'm sorry about that Ali. l was just a little bit grumpy from all of the packing, I promise I didn't mean it."
Ali rubbed her eyes with her hand, looked at Harry first waiting for him to nod and then looked back at me. "It's okay, I'm sorry for bothering you."
I giggled. "You weren't bothering me kiddo, don’t worry. Just knock next time, alright kid?"
"Okay big kid." Ali replied and wrapped her arms around me. Harry let Ali down, as she skipped away, back to her own room. He smiled proudly. I stood there, observing him and moved side to side.
"What?" He asked confused.
"Nothing, I was just thinking. You really like Ali don’t you, you’re quite protective of her?” I smiled at him so he knew I was happy about it.
Harry shook his curls out of his face and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know, I guess...I just was always that way. I grew up with my mother and my sister so I guess being around mostly women turned me into that. I just want to make sure you’re all safe you know? Seems cheesy but it's true. Probably why I always happened to save you from those guys who always bothered you." Harry winked flirtingly.
I flushed with embarrassment. "Ouu well how lucky am I?" I nudged him, flirting back and we both giggled. I really missed this.
"Umm...I'm sorry to interrupt your whole moment but we really need to get going now." Harry and I broke away from our gaze at one another and faced Ash and Nat.
"Oh, yeah, we just have to wait for Lou and Niall to come. They're meeting with us here and Liam and Zayn are just going to meet us at the airport. They're driving Danielle as well."
Harry backed away from me excitedly. "Wait what did you say? Louis is meeting up with us here?" He held his hands up in the air in excitement.
I just stared at him confused. "Okay Harry is there something you're not telling me? You’re really into Louis now aren’t you?"
"Yes, Rachel, you got it. Yes I am gay." He said with obvious sarcasm in his voice.
I laughed, and walked out her bedroom door to go downstairs. "Well if that's the case, if you love Louis, I love you more."
I turned back, kissing him lightly on his lips, then rushed downstairs. I saw him grin at the corner of my eye Harry and he followed right behind me.
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"Oh my gosh, can you two stop being so touchy feely with each other for a little bit and help us load the bags into the car?" Nat complained to Louis and Harry who were cuddling with each other on the couch, while looking at Lou’s iPhone.
Harry got up quickly. "Oh, right, I'm on it."
Nat and I turned back to walk out and load our bags into the car.
"You sure Harry's not really gay?” Nat whispered into my ear. I turned to look at her, she was clearly serious about her delusional question.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm positive. Now can you please go put your bag in the car?"
"Yeah, I am, geez woman." Nat marched away.
Alright, that's the last of it all!" Niall announced shutting the trunk.
"Okay then, let's get in the car!" I announced as everyone jumped inside Harry's SUV.
Harry blared the music as we all enjoyed the ride, partying in our car all the way to the airport.
*Zayn’s POV*
"Liam, calm down. I'm sure they'll get here soon enough. Stop stressing out so much." I heard Danielle remind Liam for about the hundredth time since we had been here.
"They're never going to get here in time, we’re leaving in ten minutes, and I bet they haven't even left yet! Niall texted me a while ago saying they hadn’t even left yet. No way are they going to make it back in time!" Liam complained, facing the floor.
"Well, dude all I can say is that you fail at predicting. Here they come now!" I pointed out the entire gang rushing towards us, dragging their suitcases and bags along behind them.
"We're here! We're here!" Niall shouted panting; finally taking a rest, and stopped running once they reached the rest of the class.
"Woah, I can't believe you guys made it back in time! But I was sure you guys would make it in the end don’t worry.” Liam assured them.
I rolled my eyes and felt Liam nudge me. I looked up looking over to see Rachel and Harry coming in last together holding hands. They were both wearing matching sunglasses, and Harry was carrying Rachel's bags for him. At least the guy had the decency to do that much. I wasn’t jealous…the guy just pissed me off.
"Hey guys!" Rachel exclaimed with a cheerful voice.
"What kept you two so behind?" I mumbled hoping it wasn’t loud enough for them to hear but they did.
"We were just getting the last couple of bags that were left..." Harry replied back, with his posh accent.
I stared him, wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. But Harry didn't look uncomfortable at all. Instead he had on this irritating smile the entire time that I just wanted to slap off of his face. The tension between us was quite visible to everyone else. Thankfully, our teacher interrupted before things got to a whole other level.
"Okay, now that finally all the students are here, and Miss. Late is here as well..." Mrs. eyed Rachel, "We can now board the plane, get your passports ready everyone."
We all headed off, following Mrs. dragging our luggage behind us. Rachel and Harry walked together, standing in line linking arms. I was trying my best not to stare but my stupid eyes just didn’t want to look away. I found myself looking over every few minutes wanted to just pull Rachel away from that loser. This time when I looked over, I noticed Rachel looking over at me. Shit. She clearly knew I was watching them. I sighed and walked up over to Danielle and Liam. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me tagging along around them for the rest of the trip. They were the only ones I could really stand around here.
*Rachel’s POV*
"Harry, look over there." I whispered into Harry’s ear. He looked over searching to where I was pointing at.
"She just keeps staring at us.” I whispered about Kate. I had noticed for the past few minutes that we had been standing in line, Kate on one hand would not look away and continued giving me deathly glares, while on the other hand I was sure Zayn was looking over as well. He had made it pretty clear that whatever happened between us at my house the other day was just playful fun and didn’t mean anything more. Maybe I was just over thinking it, but I was sure I wasn’t overthinking anything about Kate. “That girl really has some issues." I mumbled quietly with a low chuckle.
"Hey, cut her some slack alright. I'm sure she hates seeing us together after what happened. But yourself in her shoes, what if that was you?" Harry said sternly, handing the lady over the counter his passport. I felt a little embarrassed and awkwardly looked away, releasing my hand from Harry's grasp. He did have a point. I was being a tad childish there. But I could never feel bad for a person like Kate. After the stuff Kate had done to me, feeling bad for her was never an option.
"Hey, slow pokes! We’re heading off to the plane now, get your bums moving!" Niall shouted from across the airport.
Harry and I nodded, after retrieving our passports and we ran to catch up with the rest of the class.
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"Passengers please fasten your seatbelts; we are ready for takeoff." The pilot announced. Harry and I did as we were told.
"Wow, I'm actually so excited for this trip, I can't believe we’re really going!” I beamed with excitement. Harry giggled. "I can tell you're excited! You've been talking about it all week! I'm pretty excited as well if I do say so myself. And being able to spend two weeks with you after we lost so much time together? I couldn't ask for anything better." He pulled my chin up slightly, pecking me softly on the lips.
I smiled and rested my head gently on Harry's shoulder. I was ready for a nice long nap, after waking up so early to pack. Just as I was about to get some shut eye, Mrs. appeared right beside us, looking worried.
"Rachel, hun do you mind doing us a favor?"
I lifted my head up off of Harry's shoulder. "Sure Mrs, what's wrong?" I looked behind her, to see Kate standing there. She was holding on to her stomach, and had an exhausted look on her face. But just as she noticed me looking at her, she raised her eyebrow and smirked. What was she planning on doing now?
"Love, Kate keeps getting sick, and her seat is right beside the window as well. Everyone else is already asleep, and I thought maybe you could give up your seat and switch with her?"
Of course. Kate was planning on ruining every single second that Harry and I had together.
Harry moved up in his seat with a hesitating look. "Can't she just shut the blinds?" He suggested. Kate moved up from behind the teacher.
"I tried that, but it doesn't help. But I guess it’s okay, I'll probably just end up puking somewhere, who knows I might even feel better if I do."
“Yeah that’s why you pack some gravol.” I glared at her.
Mrs. Grabbed Kate’s hand and pulled her back. "Rachel? Please? This would be very generous of you to do."
I groaned, and unfastened her seatbelt. People always managed to take my kindness as an advantage didn't they?
"Fine." I forced a smile at Harry, shrugging, knowing that he had tried to let her stay. Igot up and whispered into Kate's ear. "Hope you’re happy, bitch."
"Oh, but I am." She winked slyly and took her seat beside Harry as fast as she could. She already began to snuggle up near him. I bit my tongue, to keep myself from bursting and making a scene on a plane, something which I never imagined myself doing.
"Thank you lovely, I'll lead you to Kate's seat." The teacher moved her hand along, signaling me to follow her. I sighed, and walked down the aisle between all of the seats. "Here you are love, this is your seat." I turned to look over at the person I was seated beside. I smiled of relief. Thank god. It was Zayn.
"Hey!" He cheerfully smiled at me. He looked oddly in a much better mood then he was in a few minutes back.
"Hey! Guess we’re plane buddies!" I smiled and took my seat beside Zayn. He shut his book of drawings that he had sketched before I could say anything. But obviously, I noticed.
"Do you ever show anyone your drawings?"
He took a double take and started to slowly shift away moving his book further away from me. “Nope.”
I raised my eyebrow and him and reached my arm over. “Let me see it!”
"Wait no Rach--" I snatched the book away from Zayn, and curiously opened it up to see all the beautiful things he had probably drawn.
My face went blank when I saw them. This was brilliant. All of the drawings....were of me. Each page had a sketch of me, sketched exactly the way I looked in some of the photos Zayn and I had taken together. I flipped to the very back that had a page with roses filled across the background. And a little note in the center that said; "For my Rach.” For my Rach.
I looked up at Zayn, who was biting lip over and over, and had his palms held together tightly. "Zayn, you-you made this for me?"
He batted his eyelashes a few times, looked around nervously and then slowly nodded. "Y-yes, it is."
"I-well I’m speechless. You really do have talent Zayn, this is amazing.”
"It's not quite finished yet, I thought I would gift it to you, someday. That’s the reason for all of the pictures being of you, don’t worry I’m not some creep.”
I laughed and moved back into my seat, resting my feet up on the seat in front of me. “Or maybe you are, how am I supposed to know you aren’t?”
He winked and moved closer to me. “Exactly, you don’t.”
I smiled and sighed, “But jokes aside Zayn, you know I've already told you, Harry-"
"I know. I already know. It’s not supposed to be like that. I draw sketches of many people but you’re, special to me so I wanted to make you a few. Of course if you don’t find it appropriate or something you can give it back to me if you want. I won’t do it anymore." He mumbled the last bit quietly and he held his hand out reaching for the book back.
"No, I didn't mean it like that. I love it. Would you mind if I kept it?" I felt bad that I had to mention it every time. I hated reminding Zayn all the time that I was with Harry, but it seemed as if he just always had hope of something actually happening between us. I never wanted him to have the wrong impression and now, I just felt like things were different between us. Every single time we had a moment together I was always paranoid that he thought it meant more than it was supposed to be. I knew that feeling because I started to feel it for him when I lost Harry. But now that I had him back in my life, that was it. I was with Harry and that was all.
"Of course you can keep it. It's for you anyways." He smiled crookedly. Sometimes, I really wondered. There was something really big Kate must have done to Stephanie to make her leave a perfect guy like Zayn.
"Thank you Zayn. This is really special."
He smiled and he rested his head back, slowly closing his eyes. I did the same, I was just as exhausted. I held the book close to my chest, and every few minutes my eyes would shoot open because my head would keep slipping and falling on Zayn’s shoulder. I eventually gave up and slowly put my head on his shoulder. He didn’t move so I kept it there. I closed my eyes again, and it-it felt nice. I felt him slowly lower his head, resting it on top of mine and we both drifted off to sleep.
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END OF CHAPTER 44
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