Chapter Thirty-Four
"Lou-Lou!" Kara yelled back as the two friends pulled away from each other. "God, I'd forgotten how tall you are!"
"You're just short." Louis snickered before taking in the sight of the person who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember.
Her brown eyes gleamed with happiness and excitement. Her brown curls were slightly askew because of the hug, though still sitting as they did in all the pictures Louis had of her. She was about a foot shorter than Louis, and it looked like she had been through his wardrobe, as the jumper she had on seemed a mile too big for her.
"What are you doing here? It's so late! And on the other side of the country!" Louis' voice seemed to have gone up an octave, though it wasn't in his control.
The happiness, confusion, and excitement rippling through his body seemed to have taken over the steering wheel.
"My dad took a big holiday from work, and I convinced him and my mum to come back here! I wanted to surprise you!" Kara yelled; her voice still laced with excitement. "And I'm here this late because I couldn't wait to see you! And your aunt let me in to wait for you. I didn't realise you'd be this long; where were you?!" The words rushed out of Kara's mouth, and Louis had to try his hardest to catch everything she was saying.
It had been so long since they had seen each other in person, and to Louis, it was a dream come true. He would give anything to have Kara move close to him again so that they could see each other more. He missed her. All the time. Seeing her in the flesh again seemed like a dream. As a matter of fact, the whole night had felt like a dream.
"I'm so happy you're here!" Louis whispered, and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes.
Thinking quickly, he moved to Kara and pulled her in for another hug, enjoying her company more and more with every passing second.
"You didn't answer my question." Kara smiled, and she pulled away from Louis for the second time. "Why are you in so late?"
"Well, my father, if you must know, I was hiding a body," Louis said, moving into the small kitchen, Kara sliding onto the chair at the tiny counter. "Sam got on my nerves."
"Is that a new shirt?" Kara asked, ignoring what Louis had said. "Louis... you seem different."
"I had a small funeral for him, also," Louis replied, grabbing a bag of chips from the cupboard and putting them between Kara and himself.
"You seem happier..."
"Maybe because my best friend is visiting?" Louis chuckled.
"Did you... meet someone?" Kara asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Define meet."
"Louis!' Kara yelled. 'Did you go on a date with someone? Don't you lie to me!"
"Actually... not really." Louis' voice slid to a higher note at the end of the sentence.
Technically, it wasn't a lie. Of course, Kara would still think it was a date, so Louis was trying to avoid the conversation altogether. He was failing.
"Stop dancing around the question." Kara raised her eyebrows.
"We both know that I can't dance." Louis grinned, swiftly dodging a slap from Kara.
"You're lucky I can't be bothered getting up," Kara warned, "or I would smack you in the face."
"Oh, yeah. Because you'd be able to reach," Louis mocked before dodging another slap.
"Answer the question, Stan."
"Using my last name like that just sounds like it isn't my last name." The words had barely left Louis mouth when Kara got up from her chair and death-stared him.
"I will beat your ass, Lou-Lou." Kara tried to keep a straight face, but Louis could see the hint of a smile playing on her lips, though he still threw his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay!" he said in defeat, and Kara sat back down while he leaned on the counter between them, watching his best friend grab some chips from the bag in front of her.
"It wasn't a date," Louis started and raised his hand as Kara was about to speak. "It was meant to be, but neither of us wanted to do it and were kind of forced into it."
"Okay, okay... what?" Kara let out a laugh, and Louis could see the confusion on her face; between the lines of excitement.
"His sister asked me out for him after work and Sam pretty much agreed to it for me. He organised the whole thing. Well, most of it."
"Why not cancel?"
"Because we both thought that the other person wanted to go and didn't want to hurt feelings, I guess?" Louis shrugged and chuckled lightly.
"What? You love hurting people's feelings!" Kara laughed again.
"Only people who deserve it." Louis joined in with her laughter. "And besides, it wasn't that bad. He's a great guy, and we both agreed it was just a friendly dinner."
"You're such a weirdo."
"You're the weird one! Staying in my apartment all by yourself." Louis snickered.
"Hey! I didn't want to leave the apartment unlocked and unattended! You should really be thanking me," Kara responded with a smug look.
"Aren't your parents going to be wondering where you are?" Louis asked, ignoring Kara's continued smugness.
"Nope," she responded without hesitation. "I told them I was staying with you."
"And they let you? Isn't a holiday meant to be spent with the family?" Louis shook his head, faking disapproval.
"You're not wrong, but my family loves you, so they don't care."
"True." Louis smiled. "I'm like the child they never had."
"They literally have two children." Kara let out a bark-like laugh before jumping up from her seat.
"Yeah, but I'm like the one they never had."
"That makes no sense. Has anyone ever told you your apartment is super small?" Kara asked suddenly.
"Yep, myself. Every day." Louis chuckled. "You should see my room."
"I love you, Louis, but that pickup line won't work." Kara winked at Louis.
"Don't flatter yourself, hon. You're not my type." Louis walked past Kara and into his bedroom, where she followed.
"Oh, right. I don't have a penis."
"That's rule one." Louis laughed before falling onto his bed.
"Holy crap," Kara exclaimed as she took in the surroundings of Louis' room. "How do you survive in here? There's barely any room to move around, and that bed is way too small for you."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Louis joked as his limbs hung loosely over the edges of his mattress.
"I didn't realise it was this bad..." Kara whispered to herself, but Louis heard it.
"Don't you start." Louis sat upright. "It's fine, and so am I. Don't put a damper on this, or I'll deck you, mate."
"Who are you, Russell Crowe?" Kara laughed and pushed Louis, so she had some space to sit next to him.
"God, no," Louis laughed and fell back down again.
He and Kara stayed in silence for a while, both just taking in each other's company. The last time they had hung out in person was the day before Kara and her family moved away. That was a sad day. They had gone to a park, near Kara's old house, and lay on the grass next to each other. They didn't talk much that day, trying to savour the moments they had together, as they knew they wouldn't see each other for a while.
They had known each other for such a long time, and Kara's family was like Louis' second family. They were always there for him when he needed somewhere to go, even more so after he moved in with his aunt. Louis spent most of his nights back then at Kara's place. He had felt safe there, and he had felt loved. He missed it more than he was able to admit, especially these moments. The silence between the two wasn't an ordinary silence. It had never been. There was something else about it that made Louis feel safe and at home.
"I hate that I had to move so far away," Kara whispered suddenly. Louis didn't take his eyes off the boring old ceiling as he hummed in agreement.
"It sucks." The words soon followed the hum, and he felt Kara move beside him before an arm draped around him.
The warmth Kara was emitting was something Louis wasn't used to, something he hasn't felt in a long time. He let out a sigh, though he didn't say any more. They lay unmoving before Kara shifted again and rose from the bed.
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A/N: ARGH! We're edging closer and closer to the end of the book! BUT THERE'S SO MUCH STILL TO HAPPEN!
The bad news is, we're more than halfway through... the good news? Well, if my calculations are correct, there's still, like, over 20 parts to go?
In the proper book, there are about 10 chapters, and usually, I split them in 2 for Wattpad, so about 20 parts left... ish.
Question Time:
What do you think of Kara? We didn't really see much of her earlier, but here she is! So, what do you think?