but the wait will be worth it

chapter five

'I had all,
and then most of you,
Some,
And now none of you,
Take me back
To the night we met,' the other phone line's radio sang quietly from my phone speaker.

"Louis, what are you listening to? I can call you back later, you know."

"No Harry, stay on!"

"My line is getting fuzzy. I'll call you back later!"

"Harry! We can't let a fuzzy cell phone line separate us! Stay on the phone!"

"Harry? Hazza? Where'd you go?"

* * *

Present Day
February 9th, 2012

The chair was so cold against my thighs, making me freezing. Were there no indoor heaters in this room?

Louis was sitting beside me, in a chair just like mine. Metal armrests, hard wooden seats. I sure hoped he wasn't as cold as I was. There was a desk in front of us, although MacHeath was absent. Why did we have to wait around if he was just taking his time getting here?

Louis's fingers tapped against the arm rest. My leg bounced up and down against the floor. The nerves in this room were insanely overwhelming.

The same security guard stood at the door, separating Louis and I from the outdoor hallway. Louis looked anxious as his eyes moved around from each object in the room. The security guard was on his phone, laughing to himself every so often. Maybe if we got up now we could make a run for it.

I looked to my right at Louis. He was looking down and picking at a fingernail. He looked up at me and gave a half smile. Louis quickly squeezed my thigh, and then turned around to face the door.

"Um, excuse me sir, do you have any idea of when Mr. MacHeath will be here? Harry's been getting over a cold and I'd like him to rest a bit before tomorrow's show." I cheekily smiled at him.

The security guard laughed and sarcastically said, "sure."

Louis rolled his eyes and turned back to his fingernails. I bit my lip and quietly tapped my fingers. This unbearable silence was so painful.

Just when I was going to lightheartedly help the situation by starting a conversation with Louis, the guard received a message on his Walki Talki.

"Johnson! Johnson are you there? We need you here at Deck C. Where are you?"

He glared at us before slowly turning around and picking up the device to speak. "Yeah, I'm here. In with two of the boys waiting for MacHeath to arrive."

Another response quickly came through.

"Oh, the MacHeath meeting. You'll be in there for a while. It's okay, we'll replace you." Distant laughing could be heard from the other end.

I looked at Louis and he slightly shook his head to reassure me that it was nothing. I nervously bit down on my lip again before the security guard had received another message.

"Johnson? Johnson, MacHeath is on his way to the office."

"Got it." He said before pressing the button and stuffing the Walki Talki into his pocket. He pointed at us and Louis stood up, so I did as well.

I quickly leaned over and softly grabbed the back of his neck. I whispered in his ear, "Louis, what does MacHeath even look like?"