but the wait will be worth it

chapter sixty

The next day
February 23th, 2013

I woke up gradually to the sound of a mumbling Louis.

"And then for the chorus, I added in kind of like a....'nother guitar riff but this time it's like not consistent. And then it fades back to the 'think of how much.... blah blah blah' part."

I opened my eyes slightly to see him through an almond-sized range of view, before yawning tiredly. I rubbed my puffy eyelids.

"Who are you talking to?" I laughed. Louis gazed down at me with a soft smile. I could see weariness in his face as well, as he sat up on the bed above me.

"You," he giggled. "I was telling you about a song a wrote for the album."

I yawned again and sat up to face him. "I was asleep!"

"I know," Louis mumbled shyly before looking down to his song journal. I smirked and questioned his expression.

"Do you always talk to me while I'm asleep?" I asked.

Louis shrugged. "Sometimes. 'S only stuff I'm too nervous to say in person."

I beamed at him, but let out a playful scoff. "You? Nervous to talk to me? What, you think I'll judge your ideas or something?"

He shook his head, a small smile creeping at his lips. "No— well, sometimes." I furrowed my eyebrows with a frown. "I don't write much," he mumbled under his breath.

I let out a gentle sigh, halfway breaking into a quick laugh. I could hear Louis's chest moving as we sat in silence, this being the only sound in my quiet room. Light snow flurried down outside.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around Louis, limply letting myself collapse onto him. "Ughhh," I groaned, still tired as I buried my face into his neck.

"What?" Louis laughed.

"I'm tired," I said, leaning deeper into him. Louis held me loosely in his arms, placing his chin onto the top of my curls.

We laid there for a while, just listening to the sounds outside and downstairs. I could hear my mum preparing something in the kitchen, and wondered what time it was. Hopefully Louis had not let me sleep in too late. I had stuff to do today, stuff to help prepare.

After a while of muffled white noise, Louis sighed and snaked a hand up the back of my shirt.

"Hey, Harry?" He asked.

"Mhm?" I mumbled against his shirt.

He didn't say another word. I eventually looked up at him, waiting for a response. I distractingly blew a raspberry onto his shoulder before gazing up at him once more.

He stared blankly at the wall and took a breath. "Can we just...can we just forget about that whole marriage thing from Wednesday? Because it was stupid on my part to—"

"No," I said shortly, still watching his eyes.

"What?" He looked down at me.

"No," I mumbled and placed myself back into the crevice of his shoulder.

"Why not. I was stupid and impulsive."

I shook my head. "No. You weren't. Have you been stressing about this for the past few days?"

Louis shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Just forget it, okay?"

I rolled my eyes and sat myself off of him. "No, I won't. I do want to marry you."

Louis frowned. "Please don't say that just to make me feel less embarrassed—"

"I'm not. I'm serious. I mean, soon enough we'll be able to handle that responsibility."