Night Changes // l.s.

▰ 08 ▰

[i do believe it's been, as one would say, ages.]

Louis was just like any other twenty-two year old adult. He was, most of the time, bad at making decisions. He cried when he was really upset or frustrated. And he binged on Netflix and Ramen noodles. It was normal; he was normal.

And maybe to other people it wasn't right, but who are they? British Mafia? Louis would think.

"I'm happy," Louis suddenly says out loud as the plane is taking off.

"What?" Makayla questioned, rubbing her and yawning. "I'm hella tired, sorry."

"Okay, but listen," he smiled. "I'm happy." And then he laughed. "I'm fucking happy!"

The man behind Louis tapped his shoulder and told him to shut up, which Louis did. Not because the guy looked scary, but because he was polite (but really, it's because that man was fucking terrifying).

"Well, that's good, Lou. There a reason you're announcing it?"

"I don't know, it's just...all my life I felt wrong, and sad, but now. Now I feel new and fresh and -"

"Okay buddy, no more airplane peanuts for you," Makayla says as she reaches for the packet in his lap.

He laughed. "No, really. I mean it."

She smiled at him and rested her head against the seat. "I'm happy for you, Louis. You deserve to be happy."

He smiled wider, "thank you."

▰

"Yes, precisely. We plan to halve our troop numbers in Helmand province by the end of 2015, and moving into 2016 only have the minimum number of soldiers necessary, so that there can be a smooth transition and handover to the Afghan forces come the end of Operation Herrick."

"And that's something you can guarantee, Prime Minister?" The journalist presses, glancing at her notes.

He nods, assured. "Of course, absolutely."

Louis flicks the planes seat TV off and goes to sleep after that. Sleeping in the thought that maybe his boy would be home soon.

When the plane landed it was cold and everyone was tired and looked like shit. And also, very jetlag. Niall and Sophia decided that they were going to get everyone's bags from checking with the carts, so Louis and Makayla decided that they would got to McDonalds in the airport to get some breakfast. Perrie sat on the bench and looked over her calculus notes; and Louis was going to tell her off for not helping, but he remembers when he had to take that calculus exam so he let it go.

"You know," Louis says to Makayla as they walk away from Perrie, "when I was in college, I studied theatre and musical arts."

"What? So you were in theatre and band?"

"No, it's was a drama class that only features musicals, and an acting class."

"You wanted to be an actor," she asked.

"Yeah, at some point I guess. But when I graduated college, right before I went to university, I met this girl named Lorna. Apparently she had taken a gap year and it turned into a I'm-just-not-going-to-university thing, and she's doing good. She edits books for LIP. That's when I realised that I didn't have just one path. I had a million. Fashion must have been one of my top five."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked, taking her place in line.

"I'm telling you this because I don't want you to make the same mistake I did and limit yourself. Lorna showed me that there's different things in you, things you didn't even know you liked. And now I'm telling you. Don't wait too late, okay?"