Harry

Our trip to the aquarium was absolutely incredible. I think I definitely enjoyed this aquarium more than the one we visited in Baltimore. It's pretty difficult to top whale sharks. I mean, come on, it's the only aquarium in America that has whale sharks. I would have been surprised if I didn't enjoy the place.

Lux and I had a great time, I know that for sure. She's grown up so much from the last time I've seen her. She was just a baby during my last visit and now she's walking and spitting out bits and pieces of sentences. I never really thought about how funny little kids are ... then again I never really made it a point to be around them. But I enjoyed walking around with Lux. She got excited by every fish that swam by, and seeing the look of amazement in her eyes as she watched them swim over her head made my day even better.

After our aquarium trip, we made our way to the Coca Cola Museum. It was right across the plaza that the aquarium was in, so we figured we might as well pay it a visit. I found it a lot more boring than watching fish. Actually, I found the entire museum to be boring. The only part I thought was interesting and fun was trying the different types of sodas from all around the world.

Felicity was fairly quiet after the aquarium. It was like she wasn't interested in talking with me, and during our entire trip to the museum, she stayed silent and only talked to Lou. I wanted to ask her if she was okay or if she was feeling well, but there was never a time that seemed right. She was invested in her phone almost the whole time, and I didn't know if she was purposely ignoring me or not. 

Somehow I felt concerned by the sudden drop in her mood. Where as I would normally not give a shit if someone was mad at me, I didn't like the thought of Felicity being upset with something I did, if I did anything. I didn't want her to be upset. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because there's a possibility that her negative mood could carry on into our car ride once we leave Atlanta. That would be the most miserable car ride ever. I didn't like thinking about it.

But just in case it was somehow my fault for her change in attitude, I bought Felicity a sweatshirt from the gift shop at the Coca Cola Museum. I haven't given it to her yet because I'm waiting for a moment that the two of us are alone to discuss whatever it is that's bothering her. And maybe she isn't the kind of girl that can be charmed with souvenir sweatshirts, but I think she can appreciate the effort I'm putting in to make her feel better. 

I finally saw Lou's husband, Tom, when we got home from the aquarium. He greeted me with a warm hug before I introduced him to Felicity. Of course she masked a smile and acted friendly as she spoke with him, but I knew that she was trying to cover up her unhappiness with that facade. Tom let us know he planned to barbecue for us tonight and that he needed to run to the store first. I informed him that both he and Lou could go out as Felicity and I watch Lux for a little while. Lux is passed out anyway, so babysitting should be easy. 

Now that the two of them are gone and Lux is fast asleep, this is probably the best moment to talk with Felicity. There aren't any distractions and the house is quiet, perfect for us to have a little conversation. I run up the stairs to the room we're staying in, finding her sprawled out on the bed with her phone in her hands. She doesn't even look up when I walk through the door, and it almost seems as if she doesn't notice my presence until I speak up. 

"Hey, babycakes."

She turns her head to look at me and rolls her eyes, hopefully at my nickname for her. "Hi."

I walk over to the edge of the bed and hesitantly sit down, being cautious not to make any sudden moves in case she decides to hit me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm doing just fine," she nods, a short clip in her voice that almost goes unnoticed. She's a horrible liar. 

"Why are you lying?"

Felicity sets her phone down and looks over at me as she sits up. "What?"

"You're lying. I can tell you're not fine."

"You can?"

Now it's me that rolls my eyes as I move closer to her on the bed. "Anyone with a brain could see that you're unhappy about something." She draws her brows together in an expression of confusion, as if I'm catching her off guard for not taking her words at face value. I dip my head lower in order to meet her eyes. "What's wrong?"

She lifts her chin up and shrugs her shoulders, not wanting to make eye contact with me. "Nothing. I just didn't think you could tell anything was off."

"Oh please," I scoff. "It's way too obvious."

"A lot of people wouldn't think so," she mumbles, making it barely audible for me to catch. 

I ignore her comment and move on. I'm sure there's more to her words, but that could possibly be a different conversation for another time. "So why are you upset?"

"Why did you talk about me to Lou?"

"I kind of talk to her about everything," I sheepishly admit. Is this what the big deal is? Did Lou say something to her about what I said? "Are you mad at me because of that?"

Felicity inhales a breath and exhales a groan. "I'm not really mad. I'm just annoyed. Why would you say that I don't do things for myself or that I only do things to make other people happy? You don't know anything about me."

"Didn't we just have this conversation in Hershey? I thought we established that what I said about you was true? Why is it a big deal for me to say something to Lou about it?" I'm still confused why she's so upset about this, but I guess I should have known that on a topic as such, Louise was definitely going to say something to her. 

"It's not a big deal!" Felicity groans in frustration. Her cheeks turn pink as she tries to think of the next thing to say. "It was just weird, okay? I didn't know you said something to her about me, and I certainly was not expecting her to come up to me while we sat at the aquarium to tell me to be an airplane."

"A passenger or a pilot."

"What?"

"I think you mean that she said you should choose whether you're a passenger or a pilot."

"Whatever."

"Okay, well I am sorry," I apologize as I set my hand on top of hers. "Maybe it wasn't any of my business to be talking to her about you like that, but I just want you to know it was done with the best intentions. I didn't mean for you to get upset."

She pauses for a moment before she pulls her hand away from mine. I'm starting to think that the contact of our hands makes her uncomfortable. "It's fine. Maybe I overreacted."

I smile at her and nod my head. "So are we good now? Have we cleared the air?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she shrugs before tilting her head to the side. "But can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Lou told me that you used to be like me. What did she mean by it? You said something just like that ... about how we have a lot in common."

I freeze for a moment and take in a deep breath, silently cursing Louise for bringing it up to her. I did mention it to Felicity before, but I was kind of hoping she would forget it until I was ready to bring it up again.

"Um. You know what, we can talk about that later. It's not exactly a subject I enjoy talking about, and we aren't talking about me right now. We're focusing on you and I want you to be happy," I ramble rather quickly, my words running together like one long train. Trying to change the topic before any more questions are asked, I grab the Coca Cola git bag from beside the bed and hand it to Felicity. "Here. I bought you a sweatshirt at the museum." 

"Why?" She asks, trying not to laugh as she pulls it out of the bag and tears off the tags.

"Because at the time you looked upset and I wanted to find a way to cheer you up. Do you like it?"

She holds up the red sweatshirt, reading the white printed letters of Coca Cola. "Yeah, it looks comfy."

"Well put it on."

"You're pushy."

"It's cold outside and I paid good money for that. It should be worn."

Felicity rolls her eyes at me before taking off the jacket she's currently wearing and pulling the sweatshirt over her head. Her arms slide through the sleeves but don't quite make it to the ends, and the hem of the sweatshirt is a lot longer than I thought it would be. It actually looks huge on her slim frame.

"What size is this?" She laughs as the hood completely falls over her face, making it difficult for her to see me. 

"I don't remember. It looked like it would fit me perfectly."

"You? We don't wear the same size, you know that right?"

She stands up from the bed and lets the sweatshirt hang from her body. The sleeves are entirely too long and the bottom of the sweatshirt ends right below her ass. It's so big on her, if it were a live creature it would swallow her whole. 

"Well maybe I can borrow it sometime," I joke as she tries to pull the sleeves up. "We can send it back and forth to each other after having it for about a week. Maybe it will become good luck at some point. Wasn't there a movie like this with jeans?"

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. What do we call this? Friendship of the traveling hoodie?"

"It's a good idea," I grin, looking up at her from my seat on the bed as she stands in front of me.

I slip my fingers into the front pocket of the sweatshirt and pull her closer. She stands in between my legs, her sweater-covered hands fiddling with the material. My eyes travel from my own hands up to her face. She stares down at me, hesitation in her eyes as she looks like she's holding her breath. 

I'm not really sure why I pulled her closer. Maybe it was out of habit. I do have a few bad habits I should kick. It could have also been because I might feel some kind of attraction towards her. Although, I'm not sure about that one. I don't want to believe that I have real feelings for a girl that has a boyfriend. I just think she's hot. It's harmless, right?

It's not like I want to set my hands on her hips or her waist and pull her in even closer. It's not like I want to hold her hands or have her sit on my lap. It's not like I want to feel her breath on my neck or feel her lips on mine. I don't want any of that. Obviously that will make things awkward because she might expect more from me ... or I might expect more from her. And nothing is going to come from that because I don't have feelings for her. She's just hot. And she has a boyfriend.

All of this nonsense that's running through my head makes me wonder what's going through hers. Does she hate it when I call her babycakes? Of course. Does she find it annoying when I reach out to grab her hands? I don't know. If my actions really bothered her, wouldn't she tell me to stop? I would think so, but maybe she's different. Do I have to be straightforward with her and ask? Maybe I'm just going crazy. Maybe my brain is on overload from driving so much. 

Felicity clears her throat and awkwardly takes a step back as she cautiously pats me on the shoulder, all the while looking anywhere but at me.

"Um. Well thanks for the sweatshirt. It's a lot better than the blanket in your car."

"Right. Yeah, no problem."

As if on cue, I hear a faint cry from down the hall and that's when I know that Lux has woken up from her nap. Felicity is quick to react and I don't know if it's because this cry has snapped her back to reality, seeing how close the two of us were might have freaked her out. She hurriedly walks out of the room to tend to Lux. It takes me a few seconds to shake my head of this semi-decent moment we just shared before I follow her down the hallway.

Lux sits upright in her bed with a less than pleasant expression on her face. There are tears streaming down her cheeks, and I'm not sure if she's crying because of a bad dream or because she wants Lou. Maybe it's a female thing, but when she sees the two of us walk in, she reaches her arms right out to Felicity. Even though I have known the little bugger much longer than Felicity has been around, Lux ignores me like chopped liver. I have to admit I'm kind of offended, so I stand there with my arms crossed and my bottom lip pouting. She rests her head on Felicity's shoulder as her arms are wrapped around her neck. Somehow seeing the two of them together makes me smile.

"Why are you staring like that?" Felicity asks, catching me off guard as I was not aware I had been blatantly staring at her. 

I shake my head and gather my composure. "No reason. I was just surprised to see her go to you instead of me. She doesn't even know you."

"Are you jealous?"

"Maybe."

"Well suck it up, loser," she walks by me and sticks out her tongue. "Girls rule and boys drool."

I roll my eyes and scoff, seeing Lux watch me intently. "Don't act like a child."

"That's ironic coming from you."

The two of us walk downstairs and into the living room, sitting down on the couch and turning on the television. Lux cuddles up in Felicity's chest, and no matter how hard I try to coax Lux into sitting with me, she just ignores me and sucks on her pacifier. 

About twenty minutes later is when Lou and Tom get back from the store with a bunch of groceries. Tom starts up the grill outside in the cold winter weather as Lou begins to set up the kitchen to prepare the dinner. It isn't until Felicity gets up from the couch to help out that Lux finally crawls over to sit with me. If anyone was still around me, I know they'd be laughing at the stupid smile on my face. 

Before I know it, dinner is ready to eat on the table. Tom grilled some gourmet burgers that I had no idea he knew how to make, and Felicity and Lou had made some side dishes such as a salad and more veggies. Usually I would feel bad about not having helped to make dinner, but I was entertaining the little one so I would like to count that as babysitting.

We make some small talk as Tom gets to know Felicity and to my displeasure, Lou begins to tell a couple of embarrassing stories about me. It's nice to be around this family again, it always has been. I can't recall a time in which I didn't enjoy their presence. What is even better, to my own surprise, is the fact that seeing Felicity fit right in with them makes me feel happy. I think it's just the instance of introducing two friends and seeing them get along that makes me feel this way. I would feel very awkward if Lou or Tom did not like her. 

At the end of our dinner, the ladies clean up all the dishes as I sit down on the couch with Tom and Lux. I've somehow skipped out on doing anything helpful for the entire dinner, and as much as I should feel bad about it, I'm kind of proud of myself. Tom and I joke around for a little while and he tells me of all the new tattoos he's collected on his arms since I had seen him last. The moment Lux falls asleep with her head rested in his lap, he excuses himself and leaves to put her in her own bed. 

Felicity steps around the couch and sits down next to me. The space between us is big enough for another person to sit down and join us, but after a couple of awkwardly silent moments, she moves closer to sit at my side. 

"We're leaving tomorrow, right?" She hesitantly asks as I peel my attention off the television and onto her. If I were to guess, it almost sounded like she was upset to be getting back on the road. I nod my head in response to her question, so she continues to speak. "We should leave early. It's probably a good idea to get the most out of the day."

"Sure. Just wake me up whenever it's time to go," I look over at her and feel mesmerized with the way she stares at me. There's something about the look in her eyes, as if she's trying to convey a message that I unfortunately can't read. 

"Um. So, uh. Where are we going next?"

"I thought we'd head towards California," I shrug, snapping out of my mini trance. "Isn't that where you're wanting to get to?"

Felicity almost looks embarrassed, opening her mouth to speak but closing it right away. I'm not sure if she had somewhere else in mind, but I figured we would just start to drive west. At this point in time I don't know where else to go.

Before either of us are able to speak up and continue this conversation, Lou walks into the room eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. "Y'know, it was so nice to have the two of you here. It gets pretty lonely being in a new state away from your friends and family.  Harry, it's always great to see you, and Felicity, it was wonderful to meet you."

"Thanks for letting us stay here for a couple days," Felicity smiles, her body seemingly slowly leaning towards mine until I give in to my own desires and wrap an arm around her. Somehow it catches her by surprise and for a moment she looks to have an internal debate on whether or not she thinks it's okay. Eventually she gives in and rests against my body.

"Oh it's not a problem!" Lou smiles as she digs into the ice cream. She slips the spoon between her lips and starts to talk with a mouth full of dessert. "So, Harry, when was the last time you've seen that little blondie? The last I heard, he was doing well and having fun with his music. I think he's been playing in bars and stuff."

"I haven't talked to him in a while," I frown as I think about my friend. I can't believe it's been so long since we had a conversation. We were never like this before he moved. "I miss that guy."

"You should go see him if you have the time to spare," Lou nods her head as she points her spoon in my direction. "I know he would love to catch up with you. You know how he is."

As I look down at Felicity, I think I can see that she is thinking what I am thinking. Here is the answer to our previous question. It's safe to say she can read my mind because she nods her head and smiles.

"I think we can spare a day or two to see him," I respond to Lou. She looks down at my hand, raising a brow and watching as I slowly rub my hand up and down Felicity's arm. I wouldn't have even noticed my actions if she didn't make it a point to stare at me. "Do you know where he's at nowadays?"

"Well if I can remember correctly, I believe he's up in Nashville. That's not very far from here, you know. You should give him a call tonight. He plays music at bars so he's definitely going to be awake for a few more hours. He would love to show you around the city," Lou laughs and digs into her ice cream once more.

Nashville sounds like a great place to make our next pitstop on this road trip. I have never been there before, and Felicity has told me she hasn't been out of New York until now. This stop could be more than perfect. I'd get to see my best friend after all this time and Felicity and I get to explore a new city. She hasn't made any objections as of now, so I think this is a go. 

Slowly she looks over at me, exhaustion from today's events written all over her face. "Who's the guy in Nashville?"

Lou stands up from the couch to put away her pint of ice cream. "Oh he's Harry's best friend. The two of them were inseparable."

I smile, looking down at Felicity and enjoying the feeling of her being in my embrace.

"He's super cool. His name is Niall Horan."

A/N: Hiya! Just wanted to apologize, I know these updates are not as frequent as they were when I originally wrote the story. I'd like to update this more than I am currently, but editing and everything else going on in my life is a little chaotic. So I'm sorry if it takes a long time between chapters! You're more than welcome to check out my other stories while you wait ... ;)

I really hope you guys are enjoying this rewrite! I don't know how much of the changes you guys are noticing, but please let me know what you think of it so far! xx