Felicity
I wake up in the morning buried underneath the duvet cover of the bed upstairs. I don't remember making my way up here last night because the last thing I can recall is sitting on the couch with Harry and Lou. Had I passed out from exhaustion? The thought of Harry carrying me up the stairs into this room after I've fallen asleep on the couch sends a wave of embarrassment through my body. Maybe he didn't carry me. I don't know why my mind instantly jumped to that conclusion because he could have certainly woken me up to leave the couch. Or maybe I walked up here and just don't remember.
It's a little after seven in the morning and as I look over at Harry snoozing on the trundle beside me, I almost don't want to disturb him. The thin white blanket that came with the trundle is barely up to his waist, showcasing the bare skin of his back as he sleeps on his stomach. His hair is a mess, sprawled across his forehead and over his eyes. From my spot on the bed, I watch the slow rising and falling of his back as he breathes.
Subconsciously, I reach out and push some of his hair away from his eyes, my fingers lingering across his soft skin. For the first time I notice a little stubble around his jawline and just how pink his lips appear to be. I feel mesmerized for a moment, so caught up in his looks that I don't realize I've woken him up. I'm suddenly met with his green eyes staring directly at me. A lazy smile begins to form across his lips before his hand gently sets on top of mine.
"Good morning," I quietly say as I laugh to try and mask the embarrassment I feel for having been caught this way.
He groans tiredly and rolls onto his side to face me, still holding onto my hand. "Good morning, babycakes. Is it time for us to leave?"
"Not right now. But I think it's probably best for you to wake up now and get your brain going," I gently slide my hand out from between his cheek and his own hand, earning a slight frown.
He shuts his eyes and buries his head into the pillow. "I like being woken up this way. Don't rip the covers off me like you did the other day. One day I might be naked underneath them ... unless you're into that kind of thing then go ahead."
I roll my eyes and shake my head. "I'm going to get ready. You should get up."
As I stand from the bed and walk over to my duffle, Harry props himself up on his elbows, turning his head to the side so that his hand can rub his eyes awake. "Can we just sleep here for a little bit longer? We don't need to be in a rush to see Niall in Nashville. I know the guy and he's going to keep us out drinking the whole night. I suggest we get all the rest we can." He pauses for a moment, his face twisting into a curious expression as if he's thinking of something. "Wait, how well can you hold your alcohol?"
"I don't know. Pretty well, I think," I shrug as I turn back to face my duffle. On nights that I go out with Sierra, I'm usually the one in charge so that we don't get ourselves into any real trouble, which leads me to not drink very much. I can feel the effects of alcohol after two drinks, but I've never gotten sick, so maybe that means I can hold my own.
"I know that look," Harry states as he shifts to sit on the edge of the trundle bed. "You're lying. You're not going to be able to handle a night with him."
"Says who?" I ask as I spin around to look at him, crossing my arms over my chest and feeling defensive. "You don't know me. I could probably drink more than you."
Harry bursts into a fit of laughter, rolling on his back and covering his face with his hands. I feel slightly embarrassed that he's laughing at me, so all I can do is scowl in his direction and wait for him to shut up.
"Oh god," he giggles, pretending to wipe away a nonexistent tear from his eye. "You definitely cannot drink more than me, which means you most certainly will not be able to handle a night at a bar with Niall. Babycakes, you're in for a surprise. But it's okay, I'll look out for you."
"Alright so maybe I'm not a big drinker," I grab some clothes and my little bag of toiletries as I walk towards the bathroom. "But there's always the possibility that I could surprise you."
As I shut the door to separate the two of us, I can still hear him laughing to himself, which irritates me to no surprise. It's the little things he does that get under my skin and I don't know why I let it. It's not even a big deal but the fact that he's laughing at me and causing my embarrassment to increase annoys me.
It doesn't take me long to get ready in the bathroom. I quickly wash my face and brush my teeth, trying to hurry so that I don't hog the bathroom too much. I run my hands through my hair and haphazardly pull it into a ponytail as I've forgotten my brush in my duffle. When I feel presentable, I step out of the bathroom to see Harry sitting on the floor. He doesn't notice me as I stand on the opposite side of the room, his head lowered and eyes trained to whatever it is that's in his hands. It takes me a couple seconds to realize that he's writing into the journal of his that I saw yesterday, which sparks my curiosity immediately.
"You keep a diary?" I ask, catching him off guard as I make my way over.
He snaps his head up, eyes wide as he shuts the leather-bound notebook. His cheeks turn a very pale pink as he shoves the book into his bag. "It's a journal. And yes, I do keep one. I just like to write random things in it."
"Like what?" I pry, flashing him a smirk as I try to take a peek inside his bag, seeing the leather cover filled with writings and doodles.
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" He scoffs and shakes his head.
"Well yeah. I asked for that specific reason."
He zips up his duffle bag and stands from the floor, dusting off his pants before placing his hands atop my shoulders. "Maybe some day you'll find out, but it's not today. There's nothing of importance to you written in there anyway."
"Would you actually let me look inside that journal?" My tone of voice lets him know that his statement has me genuinely surprised. Who lets other people read their diary?
Harry shrugs as he brings me in for a one armed hug. "Maybe. There's nothing super personal in it that I would be afraid of other people seeing. But that doesn't mean I'm okay with everyone reading it."
He picks up both of our bags and heads towards the door with me following close behind. We make our way downstairs as quietly as possible so as not to wake up Lux. As we reach the kitchen, Lou stands at the stove with a spatula in hand, cooking some sort of breakfast that smells really nice. Tom sits on the couch in the living room, flipping through the channels on the TV as he bites into an apple. When they notice us walk into the room, they both greet us with warm smiles.
"Good morning, you two! Did you sleep alright?" Lou asks as she places some of the food that's in the pan on the stove onto a tortilla before wrapping it up.
"I slept great," Harry grins as he drops our bags to the floor and walks over to Lou. "Thanks again for letting us stay with you."
"Well of course! It's not a big deal. It was so nice to see you and I know Lux really enjoyed your visit," she hands us paper plates with food on it and a few napkins. "I made you some little breakfast burritos for the road. There's no need to be spending your money on food that I can provide here."
"Thank you so much," I smile as I give her a quick hug. "You've been so kind to us."
"Don't worry about it, hun. Just make sure you come back and visit. It's been so lovely meeting you."
Tom walks over to us and says his goodbyes, helping Harry to stuff our bags in the car. The four of us exchange a few hugs before Lou runs upstairs to bring a sleepy Lux down to say goodbye. The little girl clings onto Harry, not wanting to let go even when Tom tries to bribe her with a television show.
After what feels like forever, Harry and I reluctantly get into the car and drive down the street. We sit in peaceful silence, eating our burritos and for once not arguing on where we're headed to next. Harry makes a quick stop at a gas station, wanting to top off the tank so we can make it to Nashville in one go. As we get back on the road, enjoying the peacefulness within the car, my phone obnoxiously rings to interrupt it.
I hold the phone to my ear, hesitant to say anything because I know exactly who it is on the other end of the line. I don't want to talk to them and I know that this upcoming conversation isn't going to go very well. Harry watches me curiously, wondering who is calling this early in the morning. His eyes still indicate how tired he is but he's very well alert of my phone conversation that is about to happen.
"Um. Hi, Colton. You're up early. Isn't it about 6AM where you are?"
"What do you mean, where I am? You should be in this timezone as well," he answers. His voice is so raspy that it makes me believe he either just got up or he's been out all night and hasn't gone to sleep yet. "What time are you getting here?"
"Right. Well, um. There's been a bit of a detour in our trip," I nervously reply to him.
I don't know why talking with Colton makes me feel so nervous right now. It usually isn't this way, at least not this intense. Maybe I feel this way because I know that what I have to say to him is going to disappoint him. He's going to be upset with me and I'm a little scared of how his reaction is going to make me feel. But aside from all of that, I need to let him know that I'm going to do what I want without him trying to guilt trip me into doing what he wants.
"What's that supposed to mean? This is the fourth day since you left. You should've come in by now. It only takes three days to drive at most."
His tone of voice is laced with annoyance and very slight anger. I almost just want to toss the idea of going to Nashville and start heading to LA now. I'm beginning to realize just how often Colton makes me feel this way. Somehow hearing that tone in his voice makes me want to scratch everything I want to do and just make him happy at the expense of my own happiness. Unfortunately this happens all the time with him. He's like a charmer but in the worst kind of way.
My eyes are shut tight as I pinch the bridge of my nose with my free hand. It's frustrating and confusing for me to deal with because one moment I want to fix Colton's anger towards me and the next moment I just want to say screw it and do what I want.
I come very close to giving up on this trip and declaring that we make our way to California right now until I feel Harry's hand on my thigh. I immediately snap my head up, looking over at him in surprise and confusion before I remove his hand from my leg. The sensation I felt at the contact instantly disappears, leaving me cold and almost wishing I hadn't reacted that fast.
Harry silently apologizes, a look of embarrassment taking over his face. There's a very quiet moment mixed with uncertainty in the air between us until he hesitantly reaches over, this time taking a hold of my hand. For a brief second I debate on pulling away. Talking on the phone with my boyfriend while holding another guy's hand just looks so wrong, but I know Harry doesn't mean anything more than a gesture of comfort. Holding his hand should feel wrong and maybe unacceptable to my situation, but I can't help that the contact of our hands makes me feel so calm and relaxed. No one has been able to do this to me. He gives my hand a light squeeze, sending me that reassurance I didn't know I needed in this moment.
"It means I won't be making it in today," I continue speaking to Colton, feeling a little more confident now that Harry sits beside me with support. "Like I said, we had a bit of a detour so we're still kind of on the east coast."
"The east coast? Are you kidding me right now?"
"No. Listen, I didn't realize Harry has a lot of errands to run, er, more like little pit stops to make on our way over there. I don't know when we're going to arrive," I sheepishly smile at Harry, trying to apologize for immediately blaming him.
"Oh so now you'd rather be on the road with him instead of spending the break with me? What the fuck is going on? I want you here with me. Just get over here. You've made me change all my plans for the break when you decided you were coming for a visit and now you're leaving me hanging while you're on some joy ride with a stranger."
"That's not how it is."
"Bullshit. That's exactly how it is. Are you sleeping with him or something?"
"What? No! Of course I'm not. We just have a few detours to make that have taken longer than I expected. I'm helpless at the moment because it's not my car."
There's a loud noise in the background, making it sound like Colton has just thrown something around. "You can't make anymore detours, Felicity. You have to be here with me."
"Says who?" I snap. It comes out a lot more harsh than I intended it to be and Harry looks over at me with concern. "You can't tell me what to do. I'm sorry this isn't working out how I planned it to be, but I don't have control over it. And maybe this is what I want to do, okay? Maybe I want to take the pit stops because I get to explore parts of the country I've never been to before. Is that so bad? I don't need you dictating my life. I'm a damn pilot."
Harry bursts out in laughter at my last sentence, and I can't help but laugh alongside him. He has this infectious smile and laughter, and if anyone could keep a straight face around him in a time like this they couldn't be human. His grip on my hand tightens before he raises it to his lips, kissing the backside of my hand. His action catches me off guard and stuns me so much from the sensation that runs through my body at the contact of his lips that I lose all train of thought.
"A pilot?" Colton's voice pierces through the phone, bringing me back to the reality of the situation. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You've been acting differently since you left for this trip, and I know it's all that guy's fault. You have to part ways with him right now and-"
"Stop telling me what to do! I'm a grown woman that can make her own decisions," I frustratedly shout as I let go of Harry's hand. "I'm doing the best I can to make it over there but some things come up that I can't do anything about. And you need to stop pestering me about Harry because you have to trust me enough to not do something stupid. It's too early in the morning to go on with this and quite honestly it's putting a damper on my day. We will talk later."
I hang up the phone without waiting for another word from him. I exhale a huge breath I was holding while speaking with Colton. I don't know how I feel right now. I've never done something that came off so brash and I've definitely never acted like that to Colton before. The thought of seeing him in person after that conversation almost terrifies me because I don't know how he's going to react to that. I hung up before I could find out.
On the other hand, a part of me feels liberated. As if telling off Colton lifts a weight off my chest that I didn't know was there. I feel lighter and free and I just want to have some fun at this point. Now that I've told him we're making pit stops on our way over, I think it's given me a little leeway to explore some of these cities we stop in.
I just want to have fun and live in the moment for once, which is something that seems to only happen when I'm around Harry. For as long as I have him, I want to take advantage of it.
"Well," Harry speaks up as he switches lanes just as another car flies by us. "That was an interesting call."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Is it weird that I feel like a new person?" I embarrassingly ask.
"Not at all. It sounded to me like you were standing up for yourself, so I wouldn't consider this a bad thing. It feels good to say it out loud, doesn't it? You know, saying what you want to do and how you really feel."
I nod my head at him and smile. "It does, actually. I like it."
"Good because that's how it should feel," he places his hand on top of mine once again and gives it a gentle squeeze. "Well, my lovely captain. Seems like you've got a plane to fly."