Chapter 35

I was awakened by my alarm clock the following morning, the sound ringing annoyingly in my ears. With a groan, I rolled over to the other side of the bed, not feeling like waking up. The disturbing part was that the ringing didn't stop, and I could still hear it when I pressed the pillow against my ear, so I let out another groan and reached over to grab my phone and turn it off.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered into my pillow.

After a while of getting used to the sunlight that was seeping through the blinds of the room, I reluctantly got out of bed to take a shower. It was only seven-thirty, way too early for someone who was not a morning person, but hopefully, the shower would help me wake up a little bit.

Once I was finished and had gotten dressed in a black, white and blue Rag & Bone tracksuit, I trudged down the stairs to give Clifford some food before snatching a granola bar myself, eating it on my way upstairs since I had to pack my bag for the next two days.

It was a good thing that I was a quick packer and only brought the most necessary stuff (unlike Harry), so I was finished in only ten minutes. I just had to fetch my toiletry bag from the bathroom and place it in my bigger bag with my other belongings.

"Cliff, are you ready to leave?" I called when I trudged down the stairs, bag slung over my shoulder. He was staying with Eleanor again, which I was sure he wouldn't mind since it had been almost two months since he had spent time with Bruce now.

He let out a loud bark as I passed his bed where he was sitting, his tail wagging from side to side. He followed me to the hallway, where I slipped on my white Adidas sneakers before snatching a white Adidas jacket in case I would get cold. I was pretty cold-blooded, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

After going on a short walk with Cliff to let him do his necessities, I put him into my black Audi along with my bag and baby blue pillow - which I almost forgot in all hurry - before driving off to Eleanor's place. Thankfully, she didn't live far away since I noticed that I didn't have more than ten minutes until I needed to be at the arena when turning on the engine.

"Be a good boy to El these next few days, alright?" I told Clifford when I dropped him off.

Eleanor told me to have fun in Manchester, being the nice girl she had always been since I got to know her. I thanked her before closing the door behind me and heading out to my Audi. I then drove off again, speeding along the streets to the arena, not being half as careful as I had been yesterday when I drove Harry around the city.

I arrived at the arena at nine o'clock on the dot, getting out of my car with a hammering heart due to stress. Harry, Nick and Perrie were already there, chatting at the black Range Rover parked in the lot. The weather was unusually nice for early October, which was probably why they weren't already in the car.

"Right on time, I see," Perrie joked with a smile on her face as I closed my trunk after getting out my stuff.

I walked over to them, tilting my head to the side. "Of course, did you expect anything else?"

She rolled her eyes as she walked over to get into the passenger seat. Once she had shut the car door, I turned to Harry, who was already looking at me. "I see you brought the famous pillow," he noted, looking down at the said item that was stuffed under my arm.

My lips stretched into a smile as I nodded. "Yeah, I can't deal with those horrible hotel pillows." I scrunched my nose, shaking my head.

He let out a chuckle as he ran a hand through his curls. "Not sure if horrible is the right word, but sure, they can be quite uncomfortable. I'm just surprised you haven't exchanged it for another one after so many years," he said, keeping his gaze on it.

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's still just as comfortable as it's always been, definitely a keeper."

He shook his head in amusement as he opened the trunk for me. It wasn't until then I noticed that Nick had also entered the car, leaving me alone with Harry. Even though Harry explained that he had told him to back off, I still found it weird. I never expected him to take it so easily, especially not if he did have feelings for Harry.

Shrugging it off, I placed my bag in the trunk next to the other ones before Harry closed it again. "So, we kind of already decided that Nick's driving because Perrie refuses to, and I bet you're still tired," he informed me.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sure. How come you don't want to, though?" I asked, biting back a knowing smile, remembering our conversation yesterday.

He looked away from me, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, probably to hide his smile as well. "You may have been a tad bit right. I can get a little distracted while driving... but only when it comes to long rides," he pointed out, making me let out a laugh.

"Whatever floats your boat, Harold," I smirked before getting into the backseat of the car behind Perrie.

Harry got inside too, taking the seat behind Nick. A feeling of déjà vu hit me as the older man started up the engine and backed out of the parking lot. Only a few months ago, we had been sitting in one of these cars as well, traveling the country with Patrick as a driver. However, the atmosphere between us now was a lot different from how it was back then, at least between me and Harry.

With this thought in my mind, I glanced to my right, studying his profile as he typed on his phone. I couldn't believe so much had happened in only five months. We hadn't even been able to talk to each other back then, and now things were almost as they had been when we were together, apart from the romantic stuff, of course.

Feeling happy about this fact, I could feel my lips curl, and it was as if Harry could sense it because the next second, he looked up to meet my gaze with a smile of his own. It lasted for about five seconds until he looked down again, but the butterflies in my stomach remained.

Snuggling into my pillow that was placed behind my head, I closed my eyes, my lips still twitched as I tried to fall asleep. But before I could do so, I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my pants.

Contemplating whether to check it or not, I eventually decided to take it out and light up the screen.

Simon: Don't do anything stupid.

Feeling my heart drop in my chest, I swallowed hard and was sure all color drained from my face. The worst part was that I had no idea why he was saying this to me now. Did he know I was going to Manchester?

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I turned my head to Harry abruptly, noticing that he was looking at me with concern written on his features. "I... It's nothing," I replied, furrowing my brows. "I'm probably just overreacting."

He squinted his eyes, still suspicious. "Can I see?" He asked gently, and I couldn't possibly say no to him even if I wanted to.

So I handed him my phone hesitantly, watching as he knitted his eyebrows when he read the message. Once he was finished, he gave it back to me, his jaw clenched. "Just ignore him, Louis. He's just trying to get to you. Don't let him succeed," he mumbled.

Nibbling on my lip, I looked down at the device. "Do you think he knows we're heading to Manchester?" I couldn't help but ask.

He shrugged his shoulders, looking at Nick's seat. "I don't know. Maybe it's just in general. I mean, why would it matter that we're going to Manchester? It's not like that makes any difference."

He was right. There were plenty of things I could do in London that he would find stupid too. It didn't have to do with us going to Manchester. It was most likely just a coincidence that he had sent me this message now. But no matter what, I found it uncomfortable. It made chills run down my spine, especially since it was from Simon out of all people.

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Perrie asked, turning around to flick her gaze between me and Harry.

Looking up to meet her eyes, I shook my head in dismissal. "We're just talking about what to do when we arrive at the hotel," I lied, making her narrow her eyes in suspicion.

She didn't say anything about it, though, and turned back around in her seat to pick up her phone from her lap. Meanwhile, Nick turned up the volume on the radio, blasting music from Radio One. Rolling my eyes, I nuzzled the side of my face into my pillow, closing my eyes once again after glancing one last time at Harry, who was now leaning against the door.

-----

After a stop at the gas station to get some breakfast and fill up the car with fuel, and then another stop to use the toilet, we finally arrived at Britannia Hotel in Manchester. It was nearing two in the afternoon, and we were all getting hungry again, which became obvious when we were trying to find the hotel's parking lot and started snapping at each other.

Thankfully, Perrie caught sight of it eventually, and we could finally exit the car and enter the hotel, our bags in our hands or slung over our shoulders. It wasn't the first time Harry and I were staying at this hotel. We had been here plenty of times with One Direction, but also just the two of us when we wanted somewhere to stay while visiting our families. Manchester was located between Doncaster and Holmes Chapel, so instead of invading our family homes for too long, we usually stayed here, primarily when we celebrated Christmas and had to be at both places.

Once we had received the cards for our rooms, we went to the elevator to get to our floor. It was a pretty small elevator, at least for four people with one bag each, so the ride felt longer than it probably was.

The second it dinged and the doors opened, I inhaled a deep breath before exiting the elevator with the other guys.

Our rooms were located pretty far down the corridor, and it didn't surprise me that my and Harry's rooms were next to each other. It seemed like Patrick was never going to let this go. Not that I minded anymore. I rather felt the opposite about it now.

As Perrie and Nick entered their rooms, and Harry and I were about to do the same, I lingered with my hand on the door handle, looking over at the curly-haired man who was trying to keep his bag on his shoulder while struggling to unlock his door.

"Oi, Harold," I called, earning his attention immediately, his green eyes snapping up to meet mine. "If you sing in the shower again, I won't hesitate to blast music when you've gone to sleep."

A smile formed on his lips, his dimples popping. "I'm pretty sure you didn't mind me singing in the shower, though," he said knowingly, raising his eyebrows at me.

I shook my head, my lips curling as well. "As if, Styles."

"You love my voice," he implied with a winning grin before opening the door of his room and disappearing into it, leaving me to smile to myself, my stomach filled with fluttering butterflies. Because of course I did.

After that, I entered my own room, dropping my bag on the floor next to the door as I took in my surroundings. This was probably the biggest hotel room I'd had during this journey. It was almost like a suite, but not entirely, although the large window that covered the entire wall next to the bed and the massive flatscreen set up on the wall in front of the bed said something different. But it wasn't quite as big as a suite, and it didn't have a couch and a kitchen table that most of them did. I was definitely not complaining, though.

Walking into the room, I didn't hesitate to throw myself onto the king-sized bed, spreading my arms out with my blue pillow in my hand. I stayed there for a while, just letting myself relax and take in the silence until I was reminded of how hungry I was when my stomach started grumbling.

With a heavy sigh, I reached over to the hotel phone, dialing the number for room service since there was no way I was getting out of this bed anytime soon. We had all agreed that we should make ourselves feel at home before going out to do stuff anyway.

Once I had ordered something (I didn't care what, only that it was food), I turned on the flatscreen to find something to watch while waiting for the food to arrive. It didn't take more than a few minutes until I could hear the sound of someone whistling on the other side of the wall, though.

Immediately knowing who it was, I closed my eyes and let out a groan. "Harold, I'm only going to warn you once!" I called out.

The reply came only a few moments later. "You didn't mention anything about whistling! Besides, you can just turn up the volume on your TV if you don't want to hear it!"

Letting out a huff, I grabbed the remote and did as told, turning up the volume until I couldn't hear his annoying whistling anymore. I had no idea how I had managed to listen to it every day when we lived together because whistling was something Harry did whenever he was doing chores, and he did them at least five times a week. It wasn't that I was lazy. He was just an unusually neat person who wanted everything to be organized.

My food arrived shortly after that, and I could finally satisfy my grumbling stomach. Once I was finished, I rested for a while, letting the food settle before doing anything too dramatic. By the time I started thinking about what to do next, I could feel my phone vibrate in the pocket of my pants. Fishing it up, I noticed that I had received a message from Perrie.

Perrie: Will you join me to do some shopping? Please, please, please, Louis.

I wasn't sure if she hadn't realized that I didn't like shopping after that awful time when I needed swim trunks back in Leeds, but it didn't feel like it right now.

Louis: I thought we had already established that I don't go very well with shopping?

My phone vibrates only a second later, notifying me of a new message.

Perrie: You are no fun, Louis. I swear to God. I'm gonna ask Harry because at least he knows the beauty of shopping. You disappoint me big time. Again.

I shook my head with an amused smile as I read her text. She was just something else, and I loved her for it, even if she could be a pain in the ass sometimes. No matter what, she was someone you wanted to have in your life because she made you happy just by having her in your presence.

After a while of contemplating, I got up from the bed to exit my hotel room. I figured I shouldn't stay in here all day, not when we had gotten the opportunity to be here for a couple of days. So I thought I might as well take a walk through the city to enjoy myself and maybe meet some fans.

When I entered the lobby, I quickly noticed what Patrick meant when he said there were going to be guards here because I hadn't even gotten past the reception before three bulky men walked up to me, their hands crossed over their chests with black shades covering their eyes.

They were about to start following me when I stopped in my tracks, keeping my eyes on them. "You don't have to follow me. I'm just going out for a walk. It's not like I'm going to get murdered," I huffed.

The three men exchanged a look, seeming unconvinced. It made me let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Please, most people don't even know we're here yet. As long as there's no mob outside the hotel, there shouldn't be a reason for you guys to follow me. I mean, it's not like I've never wandered the streets alone before."

One of the bulky men finally let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, but call us if you get in trouble, alright? We'll be there in the blink of an eye." He reached his hand out to give me his card, his phone number impossible to miss.

I nodded, giving him an appreciating smile. "Of course, thank you."

As I continued walking towards the exits, I couldn't help but sigh of relief. I never really liked having guards following me, even if I knew it was for my own best. It just felt like someone was stalking me - which wasn't false, but sometimes it could be worse than having fans following me around.

Once I stepped out into the Sunday evening, I inhaled a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs. The weather was still pretty nice with no clouds in sight, although it was getting quite chilly. It turned out it was good that I had brought my jacket after all.

After successfully wandering the streets for almost two hours, meeting some fans, and exploring places I had never been to before, I got a text from Perrie, saying we were all meeting up at a restaurant a street away from the hotel to have some dinner together. It wasn't until then I realized that it was getting late. The sun was almost down, and the street lamps and shop signs were lightening up the city instead.

I also realized that I was starting to get hungry again, so I didn't think twice before heading in the restaurant's direction. Luckily, I wasn't that far from the place, but people had slowly but surely started catching up on the fact that the judges of The X Factor were visiting the city, so there were a lot more people surrounding this area than the hotel earlier, despite it getting darker outside.

As I got closer to the restaurant, I realized that I wouldn't be able to enter the place without being recognized. I was pretty sure they had been informed somehow that we would be here tonight. That, or Perrie, Nick and Harry had already arrived.

Cussing under my breath, I decided to fuck it and walked right into the mob, the thought of calling the guards not even crossing my mind. Squeals were instantly heard, and a few seconds later, I could feel hands grabbing at my shirt as I tried to make my way through the crowd of people.

"Oh my God, Louis is here!"

"Please, can I have a picture with you, Louis?"

"Louis, can you please sign this?"

"What are you guys doing in Manchester?"

The questions didn't stop, and it suddenly felt like I was taking one step forward and two steps back, the restaurant's entrance not getting particularly closer. But with a lot of willpower and effort, I managed to work my way through the crowd, prying the hands off my shirt and body as I kept excusing myself to the people. I felt awful for not staying and taking pictures, but it wasn't exactly possible when they were swarming me like this.

After what felt like half an hour, but was probably only ten minutes, I finally pulled open the restaurant's door, where one of the workers was standing to check who tried to enter instantly let me in.

"Jesus Christ," I breathed out, running a hand through my hair as I tried to regain my breath.

After collecting myself, I started searching the area for my colleagues. Since the restaurant was pretty small, it didn't take longer than a few seconds until I saw them sitting at a table in one of the corners. As I walked over to them, I flattened out my clothes, smoothening the material of my shirt out.

Harry and Nick were sitting next to each other, their backs facing me, so the only one who noticed me approaching them was Perrie, her eyes widening upon seeing my appearance. "Oh God, what happened to you?"

I grimaced at the look on her face, realizing that I must look worse than I first thought after what I had just been through. Harry and Nick's eyes fell on me as well as I stopped next to the table, concern instantly filling Harry's eyes while a bored expression appeared on Nick's. Ignoring the older man, I gave Harry a reassuring smile before sitting down next to Perrie.

I could feel both her and Harry's gazes on me as I picked up the menu from the table in front of me, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip. "Is that a hole in your shirt?" Perrie suddenly asked, reaching out to touch a spot underneath my right arm, and I realized I couldn't postpone this conversation any longer.

Placing my elbows on the surface of the table, I buried my face in my hands. "You morons decided to come here before I even got a chance to join you, so the place is swarmed with fans and journalists, and I kinda tried to make my way inside on my own, which ended up in a lot of shirt-pulling and a lot less nice conversations with a few fans," I explained.

When I dropped my hands from my face, the first thing I saw was Harry's green eyes staring at me, still with concern written all over his features. "You should have called someone to help you get inside," he mumbled.

Shrugging my shoulders, I averted my gaze from him. "I didn't want to be a bother. Besides, I made it out alive, didn't I? It was honestly not even that bad."

I could see Perrie raising her eyebrows at me through the corner of my eye. "Not that bad? Louis, your shirt is practically ripped, and your hair looks like it hasn't been taken care of for days," she pointed out.

I rolled my eyes, shrugging off her comment while turning my gaze to the menu again. "So, what are you all having?"

Thankfully, they decided to drop the topic then, probably sensing that I didn't want to talk about it. Despite that, the concerned look didn't leave Harry's face, and he kept sending me glances when he thought I wasn't looking, probably to check that I was doing alright. I didn't see a reason for him to be so worried when I was nothing but okay, but at the same time, I couldn't help but find it endearing.

Once the food arrived, Nick decided to break the silence that had been hanging in the air the last few minutes. "Harry and I were thinking about going out tonight," he announced, and when I looked up from my plate, I could see that his gaze was stuck on me.

Harry cleared his throat. "To a club. Are you guys joining us?" He continued, flicking his gaze between me and Perrie as Nick looked down, his hands fiddling with his cutlery.

As much as I wanted to spend time with Harry and not leave him with Nick, I couldn't deny that I wasn't feeling up for it after the incident that had taken place outside the restaurant earlier. Besides, it had been a long day, and the only thing I could picture myself doing after having dinner here was going back to the hotel and going to sleep.

"Sorry, guys, but I have to decline. It's been a long day, and I'm tired as hell," I grimaced, seeing how a crease formed between Harry's eyebrows.

Perrie nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, I feel the same. Maybe tomorrow, though?"

Nick's face suddenly brightened as he turned to Harry, his lips curled. "Seems like it's only you and me then, H," he grinned, nudging the curly-haired man in the side.

Harry nodded, smiling faintly as the frown remained on his features. "Yeah, I guess."

I kept my gaze on him for a while, seeing that he didn't seem very happy about this fact. It probably shouldn't make my heart expand in my chest, but I couldn't help it. I knew Harry didn't have feelings for Nick, but it didn't hurt to see it being confirmed right in front of me.

Once we had finished eating, we started getting up from our seats to go our separate ways, but before we did so, we made plans to eat dinner at a different restaurant tomorrow evening. Since Harry and I had been here plenty of times before, we suggested a place called 'Rosso'. It was the restaurant we had our first few dates at back in the days. I wasn't sure if it bothered him if we went there, but since he also suggested it, I figured it didn't.

Harry made sure to contact the security this time, so when we opened the restaurant's door, the three bulky men who had confronted me earlier were there, ready to pull us through the mob of people. It went a lot smoother than when I had done it by myself, but the same amount of questions, if not even more, were thrown at us, and I was pretty sure someone was even asking me and Harry if we were 'still together'. I decided to ignore them, though, even if that question stung a bit more than the other ones.

Although our hotel was located just a street away from where we were, we were pulled into a cab, Perrie following me while Harry and Nick went to another one since they were heading to a club. Before I bent my head to enter the car, I turned around just in time to see Harry about to enter the cab behind me as well. I couldn't help but send him a small smile as his eyes automatically turned to meet mine. He returned it quickly before entering the car, and I slumped down in the seat next to Perrie.

The ride back to the hotel was so short that we didn't have time to utter a single word until the car came to a halt again, and the guard in the front seat helped us to the entrance of the hotel even though there weren't even half as many people here.

After thanking the man, Perrie and I headed to the elevator, but it wasn't until the doors closed behind us that she opened her mouth to start talking. "So, what did you do when Harry and I were out shopping?" She wondered, looking at me curiously.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I was just out on a walk, exploring new places and stuff."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Exploring new places? Really?"

Furrowing my brows, I turned to meet her gaze. "What's so wrong about that?" I asked.

"I don't know? You're a celebrity, and you went out all by yourself in a city where about half a million people live. I thought you had learned what this industry includes by now," she blinked.

I rolled my eyes as the elevator dinged and the doors opened in front of us. "I do know what being famous includes, and I can't see anything wrong with what I did. I met some fans and went to some places. I was nothing but safe until you texted me and told me to join you at that restaurant. If you hadn't brought so much attention to you, I would've been fine," I disagreed.

She just shook her head with a smile on her face, probably knowing I wasn't going to give in. "Alright, Lou. Have a good night, and see you tomorrow."

I nodded, walking over to place my hand on the door handle of my room. "You too."

"Oh, and don't wait up for Harry and Nick to get back. I know it concerns you that they're out together," she added, making me halt in my movement of opening the door.

Turning around, I raised my eyebrows at her. "How would you know about that?"

She let out a snort, leaning her back against the wall across from me. "Please, your jealousy is on full show whenever you see the two of them together. It would be weird if I didn't know about it," she implied, making me blink at her.

After a few seconds, I collected myself, a scowl making its way to my face instead. "Whatever, and for your information, I won't have any trouble falling asleep. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty knackered," I huffed, making her chuckle.

"Okay, Louis. Sleep well then," she smirked, making me roll my eyes.

"You too," I muttered before turning around to enter my room.

I walked right over to the bed, falling face-first on the soft mattress, a sigh escaping my lips. I contemplated not stripping off my clothes, too tired to even move a muscle, but I figured I would get uncomfortable after a while if I didn't. So with a lot of effort, I pulled off my track pants and socks, throwing the clothes across the room before working my shirt over my head, almost getting stuck as my eyes fell shut in the middle of the process.

With one last pull, I got it off and tossed it across the room as well, reminding myself to discard it tomorrow since it was ruined. I then turned out the lights before getting under the white covers, pulling them up to my chin, letting the soft material of my blue pillow rest against my cheek.

I was pretty sure it didn't take more than a minute until I was out, darkness taking over my senses completely.

It could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours later, but at some point, I was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on my door. Opening my eyes in pure exhaustion, the first thing I noticed was that it was still dark outside, so I figured it couldn't be too long since I fell asleep.

"What the hell," I grumbled as the knocking didn't stop.

Without even thinking about who it could be, I got up and stumbled over to the door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. With my brows pinched together, I reached out to turn the handle. "What do you think you're doing, knocking on my door at- Oh."

In front of me, a man with a mop of dark curls and green eyes was standing with his arm on the wall next to my door, his eyes half-opened. "I thought... Um, wrong room," Harry apologized, pointing towards his own door.

I swallowed, feeling more awake than I had done the last twenty-four hours. "Oh," I repeated, getting awfully aware that I was only wearing a pair of boxers as Harry's gaze traveled down my body, not very subtly either. Clearing my throat, I looked over his shoulder to see if he was alone. "Where's Nick?"

He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes not leaving my body for a second. It felt like his green irises were burning holes into my skin, and I was pretty sure I had never felt so self-conscious before. "Still at the club, I think," he replied.

I nodded, inhaling a large breath. I studied his features for a while, trying to read what state he was in. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how drunk are you?" I asked since reading his features wasn't really working. He seemed pretty out of it, though.

He let out a raspy chuckle, his lips twitching into a smile. "I barely even had three drinks, so not drunk at all, I'd say."

Narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously, I looked him up and down, trying to get my head around what was going on inside his head. "Then why did you leave without Nick?"

"Because I'm tired," he explained as if it was obvious, placing a hand on his hip limply. He then looked over my shoulder, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip. "So, um... Can I sleep in here tonight?"

His words surprised me to the point where I could only stare at him in shock, seeing how a lazy smile formed on his lips in a questioning manner. I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. It took me at least ten seconds until I finally managed to get something past my lips. "I... Yeah, sure."

He didn't waste a second to walk by me, entering the room as if it was his own. Still too shocked to process what was happening, I found myself staring at the now empty spot in front of me, my eyes wide open.

Once I finally came to my senses, I turned around only to see him collapsed on top of my bed, fully clothed with his arms spread out. Smiling in pure fondness, I closed the door behind me and walked over to the bed myself, sitting down on the side of it. Lifting his lifeless arm in an attempt to move it off my side, I realized it wasn't going to be easy. He was already out like a light.

With a lot of effort, I eventually managed to get under the covers, his face only a few inches away from mine. I could only stare as he scrunched his nose up in his sleep cutely, his curls a tousled mess on top of his head. He was so breathtakingly beautiful that I couldn't make myself look away from him. Neither could I believe that he was lying here next to me. It had been more than three years since the last time we had shared a bed, and now here he was, looking so relaxed and at peace that my heart was racing in my chest.

Without being able to contain myself, I brought a hand to his curls to massage his scalp. I could see how he relaxed even more, his body going completely languid and his features softening. With a smile on my face, I continued stroking his hair fondly.

It was so hard to process that this was happening. Yet, at the same time, I was afraid that he would hate me for it in the morning, but I couldn't make myself care about that right now since I had missed everything this included so much.

When I was sure he was in deep slumber, he surprised me by moving closer to my body, getting onto his side so that he could scoot over and place his head on top of my chest, his cheek pressing against my skin as he wrapped his arm around my frame. I was pretty sure he could hear how fast my heart was beating and how my breath hitched in my throat.

This move was even more challenging to process than the fact that he was here in the first place. I had to blink at least ten times to register that he was lying with his face squished against my chest as his soft breath tickled my skin.

Feeling tears brim my eyes, I moved my fingers so that they were running along the almost invisible lines on his forehead so feathery light that I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to feel it even if he was awake. Continuing to stroke his skin and soft hair, I studied his features with a sad smile on my lips.

"Goodnight, love," I breathed into the quiet room.

Keeping my hand in his curls, I eventually closed my eyelids, trying to make my heart rate slow down so that I could go back to sleep. After a few minutes, I could feel my body relax, but that was when I remembered what we had talked about in the car two days ago, and I couldn't stop myself when I parted my lips to let the lyrics of that particular song escape my mouth.

"Oh, oh, be my baby, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh be my baby. I'll look after you... and I'll look after you..."

-----

Finally another chapter! I hope you liked this one (at least the ending). The next chapter will be even better, I promise!

This story won the best opening chapter in the One Direction Fanfic Awards! I was so happy when I found out <3

Honestly so sad that the Olympics are over, but at least it's only three years until the next one. And what was One Direction uploading a Rebecca Furgeson video all about? Something is definitely suspicious...

Thank you for reading, stay awesome.

Edited by: butterflies151

Pauline .xx