When we arrived home, Zayn and Liam were in the kitchen cooking something that smelled amazing.
Since when was everyone a cook? Maybe I need to learn how to cook. Ooh, maybe Harry should teach me.
"What are you guys cooking?" I ask as I take in a huge sniff of the wonderful aroma.
"Liam's making hash browns and scrambled eggs, and I have waffles in the toaster and I'm making pancakes and sausages." Zayn announces.
"Wow, you boys are precious." Anne says as she walks over to Zayn and puts her arms around him.
"Someone wake Niall up, the food's almost done."
Harry and I immediately lock eye contact and give each other the most devious smiles.
"We will!" We both say in unison.
We rush up stairs and quickly come to a silent halt once we're right outside my old room. We quietly creak the door open and peer in at a sleeping Niall. We tip toe in, staying as silent as possible, and once we're both on either side of the bed, I signal to Harry to get a grip on the comforter. Once we're both holding tightly onto the comforter, I mouth "3...2...1" and we both strip it right off of Niall, then jump right on top of the bed screaming "Nialler! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" at the top of our lungs.
He retracts his body into a ball and loudly expresses his anger by shooting a fist right into Harry's balls. Oof, careful Niall, I want those in perfect shape for when they're mine.
Harry winces from the pain and immediately falls to the ground, curling into a ball and grabbing his area trying to soothe the pain. I watch as his face breaths in and out trying to cope with the pain. I mean what can you do but laugh at that.
I continue jumping on Niall, with my hands over my area for protection of course.
"Get up Niall! Food's ready!"
He immediately shoots up and jumps out of bed, almost stepping on poor Harry still trying to breathe.
He looks at me, points, and says "I'm coming for you Tomlinson, but first, I'm coming for that food." And he marches out of the room and down the stairs.
I walk over to Harry still curled in a ball on the ground and lower myself onto my knees. I put a hand on his shoulder, trying my best not to laugh at his pain.
"Aw poor Hazza, are they feeling any better?"
He can't say anything, he only looks up to me and breathes heavily.
"Wow that boy can punch." He finally gets out as he's finally getting over the pain. I reach my hand out to help him up as he begins to uncurl himself from his tight ball.
"Thanks Lubba." He says once he's standing, still obviously in pain.
"So let me ask you this, was that worse or less painful than when I hit you in the balls during the X-Factor?"
"Honestly, worse. Niall's got some strength to him when he's mad."
I huff and cross my arms angrily. "I guess I'll just have to hit you harder." I smirk as I look down at his area.
"Don't you dare, Tomlinson." He says quickly covering where I'm looking with his hands.
We walk out of my old room and back downstairs to find the table set and the food all out and ready for us to eat.
"I can't believe you boys did this. You're lovely." My mom says, kissing Liam's cheek.
We all dig in and just like Harry and I had a few nights ago, all of our faces lit up with delight. It was delicious. I was half expecting it to be inedible but I guess I didn't give Liam and Zayn enough credit.
As we're all sitting around the table, holding a conversation through each of our bites, I realize how truly happy I am. Watching as the people I love so much eat and talk about the plans for the day makes me realize how lucky I am to have this. So many people in the world cannot experience these kinds of moments and it makes me appreciate them that much more. It's such an overlooked juncture and we don't realize how lucky we are to experience it until it's gone. I hope I never forget how lucky I am.
"What do you want to do today Louis?" I hear in the distance.
I lose track of my thoughts as I realize they're asking for my opinion.
"Oh um, I'm not sure. How about we start off by going into town, maybe do some shopping, and have lunch in town, then we can go mini golfing, and once we're done with that we could go bowling, and then have dinner somewhere nice, then maybe go out for ice cream, and then come home and get some sleep."
Everyone looked shocked. To be honest, I really did just pull that out of my ass.
"Oh you 'don't know' huh?" Liam says, making sarcastic quotation marks with his hands.
I shrug, "Just an idea."
"Well I think it's a perfect one." Anne says. I smile at her approval.
"Well let's go then. Where was the first stop?"
"The town." Harry says before I can. I turn to him and smile realizing he was listening to what I had been saying. Not an unusual thing, but for some reason it makes me smile just thinking about it.
We all go back to our rooms to change into our clothes. I go into Harry's room because Niall's changing in mine. As I close the door behind me I hear Harry let out a sigh.
"What's up Hazza?"
"I can't believe the boys are leaving tomorrow."
"Yeah, but we'll see them again in a week."
"Yeah, but I barely made it 4 days without them."
Okay that hurt a bit. Harry was that sad? Even though I was here? I was fine because I had Harry. I guess he didn't feel the same.
"Well I mean, at least I'm staying."
He looks at me and his face immediately turns sympathetic when he realizes how I felt. He walks towards me and hugs me.
"If it wasn't for you Lubba, I wouldn't have made it. You're the only reason I was able to get through those 4 days without crying. With you by my side, another week will be easy. I was just being dramatic before. Of course I'll miss the boys, but between you and me, I could be with all three of them but if you weren't there, I wouldn't be able to make it through one day, let alone four."
I smile, knowing Harry was able to read me like a novel with his name written all over it. I didn't even have to tell him it kind of hurt me and he knew automatically. It's a bit scary knowing I can't ever keep anything from him, but I think it's more comforting than anything.
We hug for a few seconds and I can feel him rubbing his hand up and down my back. Our hugs are becoming more often and more normalized and I love it. A good Hazza hug always brings me out of the darkness.
We release and start to head downstairs where we find everyone waiting and getting their shoes on. Once we're all packed into the minivan, the 7 of us, we turn on the radio and once again What Makes You Beautiful is on. It's like a tradition for one of our songs to be the first on the radio now.
My mom, who's driving, cranks the volume all the way up and Anne grabs her phone to record the five of us jamming loudly, once again singing our solos, unfortunately me not having any. I don't mind though, I get to listen to Harry sing. Plus, if I do say so myself, I believe I carry the chorus.
We drive down the main street that has the most stores and restaurants and search for a place to park. We park in front of a guys clothing store and decide to go in. The second we walk in, cologne fills all of our noses. I watch as my mom struggles to hold in her cough. I almost let out a slight laugh.
We all watch as Zayn immediately starts rummaging through the racks of clothes. Man can that boy shop. Five minutes into being in the store and Zayn already has a pile of clothes wrapped around his arm, ready for him to try on. Luckily, because this town is small and secluded, not many people are in town at this moment. There are probably only six other people in the store, so no one has recognized any of us yet.
I walk over to the rack of clothes that has jean jackets. I find a few that I think look pretty sick. Harry walks up behind me and taps my shoulder. I turn to see him holding up a pair of red cropped pants.
"Remember when these were the only things you used to wear? With that one striped shirt?" He says smiling, pretty much mocking my entire 2011 closet.
"Yes I do Harold, but do you remember what you used to wear in 2011? I wouldn't come after my style when yours was worse."
He huffs and sticks out his bottom lip. "I pulled it off."
"And I pulled those pants off."
He nods slightly, "I suppose you did. But I mean you pretty much pull everything off."
I blush slightly before saying, "Just like you."
We smile at each other for a short while before he turns around and continues shopping.
Once we've all tried on all the clothes we wanted to, we begin checking out. I found two pairs of really sick pants, a jean jacket, and I decided to buy a pack of underwear because you can never have too many.
Harry had found two sweatshirts, a crewneck and a hoodie, a pair of grey sweatpants, and since he was kind of going through what the fans call his "Frat Boy era" he had grabbed a few black T-Shirts and a few bandannas.
Zayn's finds were too numerous to name but let's just say he needed more than three bags to carry them all. Liam had found one pair of jeans and a pair of worker boots, and Niall had grabbed a few muscle tees, and a pair of sweatpants.
We loaded all of our stuff into the car and continued on. We passed a few women's clothing stores and waited outside while Harry's mom and my mom went in and looked around. As we continued exploring the town, we had a few people come up to us and ask for a picture, which was actually kind of nice being able to see some fans. We all love interacting with fans when it's nice and peaceful, but when we're completely outnumbered and need bodyguards to push us through crowds, it gets extremely stressful.
Our next stop was a merchandise shop with plain T-Shirts that you could pick a decal to be put on. We all pick out a T-Shirt and bring it up to the front to pick from the choices of decals. Harry and I picked the same decal, a wolf with the town's name circling it. They handed us the freshly finished shirt and the warmth left over from the machine gave me such comfort, I stood there hugging it. I would've thought I looked strange, except that everyone else was doing the same thing.
Our next stop was lunch. It was a cute pub where they sold what they advertised as "The Best Bratwursts Out There!" Of course that sign had caught Niall's attention and he had to test that theory. We walked in and picked out a booth by the window. My mom, Anne, me, and Harry squeezed into one side of the booth, and the other boys squeezed into the other side. Since it was four to a seat, I was pressed up against Harry with very little wiggle room.
We looked over the menu and shortly after placed our order. I had ordered the footlong hotdog with onions, ketchup, and mustard, with chips, or I guess more commonly known as fries, on the side. What an American meal.
As we were waiting for our food, I felt something press against my thigh. I slyly look down and see Harry pressing his pinky against me. I looked up at him and he was continuing to look forward and having a conversation with Zayn. I smiled at our little interaction and brought my pinky over to him. I rubbed his pinky with mine, sort of just playing along with his act, but then he moved his hand over even farther and wrapped his entire pinky around mine, like we were five-years-olds solidifying an agreement with a pinky promise. I smiled even bigger and Niall noticed.
"What's up Lou?"
"Oh," I shake off my smile but continue to squeeze Harry's pinky, "nothing, I'm just really excited for the food."
"That's my job. Leave the excitement to me, will ya lad?" He says, extremely snarky.
I nod, still playing with Harry's finger. I look over to him and he's still talking with Zayn, giving no hint that he realizes our pinkies are playing with each other. Does he even realize? How could he not?
I decide to test it out to see. I run my pinky up and into his palm, and massage it into his hand. I look up to his face and watch as a sly smile appears for a split second before it disappears.
Yup, he knows.
I bring my pinky back and connect it around his. What are we doing? Do best friends do this? Is this normal?
Ten minutes pass by and our food arrives. Unfortunately we have to unhook our pinkies to be able to eat, but we had waited until the last second to do so. I took a huge bite of the hotdog, and the same face from dinner and breakfast appeared.
We all weren't too hungry for this meal so it took us a while to finish, not Niall of course, he had finished before I had even gotten to my chips.
Once we were all finished, the moms had covered the meal as a thank you gift to Zayn and Liam for breakfast. We found our way out of the pub and began walking to the car.
"What was next on the agenda, Lou?" Niall asks.
Once again, Harry answers before I have a chance to even remember, "Mini golfing."
"Right, we'll have to look one up nearby, I haven't passed any yet." Anne says.
We find one only 15 minutes away so we all pack back into the minivan and get on our way. Once again, I'm next to Harry, pressed up in between his side and the door of the car. I spread my legs out, one could call it man spreading, so that our knees are touching, and like he had done to me not an hour ago, I look out the window and completely ignore his reaction to our touching.
I rest my head against the window and watch as the surroundings go by. It reminds me of being in the bus heading to the airport just one week ago, with Harry pressed up against me like he is now. I smile as I stare out at the road moving by. I can tell Harry's looking at me but I don't turn towards him. I'll let him admire me for a second, it can't hurt.
I feel him place his hand on my knee, growing my smile even more. Then I feel his entire body lay against me, his head resting on my shoulder and his arms wrapped around my right arm. I feel so at peace, I don't ever want to arrive.
Sadly, we do. As everyone starts to unload from the minivan, Harry lifts his head off of my shoulder but keeps his arms wrapped around me and pulls. He lifts me off of the window, slides his arms down so that his hand is enveloped in mine, and pulls me until I'm out of the car.
"Thanks for the help, but I could've gotten out myself."
"Oh sorry, you just seemed tired so I thought maybe you needed a hand." He looked kind of upset at what I had just said. Gosh he's soft.
"Harry, I was only joking, I loved that you helped me."
His smile reappeared. He kept his grip on me tight as he turned and started walking in the direction the others had gone. We were once again, holding hands. I think this was our third time doing this. I'm glad the number was increasing, it once again proves he's willing to initiate things between us.
I smile as I get closer to him, wrapping my other arm around his, forcing us to walk without our shoulders leaving contact with each other. I see him smile as I lean my head down on his shoulder. We had basically switched positions from when we were in the car.
God we're cute. Why can't you see this Styles. We would be so good together. Can't you just agree? I mean maybe you do... maybe the person you said you were in love with was me? But why would you be talking to the person who you're talking about. This is all so confusing. You're confusing me Styles, please just stop.
I watch as my mom's head turns back to see us. I give her a small smile before she looks forward, whispering something to Anne which then immediately provoked her to turn back and look at us. Does she know?
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A/N
Does Anne know!!??
Omg don't imagine Harry cuddled up under his blanket at night, on the phone with Anne, talking about how the X-Factor is going, and Harry ends up saying, "Well, there's this boy..."
Favorite song the boys covered on the X-Factor?
I think mine is 'Something About The Way You Look Tonight'