Louis POV
“Did you get the marshmallows Lou?” Harry asked me, as we gathered everything we needed for the perfect bonfire.
“Yeah, how could I forget!?” I responded. Kayleigh and Cara went to get blankets and pillows for us to chill around on. Everyone else was outside, helping with the fire and gathering sticks/leaves/etc. to keep the fire going. I heard a crash and laughing erupting from the back bedroom. The girls bedroom. Harry and I looked at each other and went to see what was up. Cara and Kayleigh were trapped under a massive pile of blankets and cushions.
“Here. Let us help you.” Harry said. We both jumped onto the pile, squashing them to the floor. They both let out groans and we all started laughing. We eventually did help them up and we joined the others around the fire. I sat down next to Bella. I was tired of dodging her and fighting with her. Honestly, I just really wanted to talk to her. Ever since that night at Sadie and Liam’s she’s ignored me or fought with me. That’s how we used to always be, but in more of a joking way. She wasn’t kidding this time when she called me stupid or rude. It hurt more. She looked over at me and I could tell she was just as exhausted with it as I was because she didn’t say anything or give me any looks, she just looked at me.
“Being civil are we?” Kayleigh asked politely as she and Cara sat down next to Liam and Harry on the other side of me.
“Yeah. For now.” Bella said without taking her eyes off me and with a hint of smile in her tone.
“Who’s got the marshmallows!?” Niall asked, excited. I tossed them to him as we all got our sticks ready to toast them. We were all laughing and carrying on.
“Loueh!”Zayn said to me in the weird accent he uses “Don’t do that again! Do you hear?” He said as I threw a marshmallow at him. This made everyone laugh. There was a second of silence and Kayleigh said-
“I’m really glad we decided to do this, guys.” She said picking the burnt bits off her marshmallow and making a mess.
“Me too.” Lucy and Harry said at the same time. Liam reached over to Kayleigh and pulled the mess of melted marshmallow off her fingers and wiping it on the log we were sitting on.
“Yeah I mean I know I’m not the ‘serious type’” I said putting air quotes on ‘serious type’ “But I think after all the…well…the shit some of us have been through this year” he paused looking around at all of us “it’s cool that we can come back, us ten. Just to be together.”
“That was beautiful, Lou” harry said smiling at me and rubbing my cheeks.
“It really was.” Cara said with a tear in her eye. Whoa. I didn’t know I had that effect with my words. I should do this more often. Kayleigh put her arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Sadie rested her chin on Zayn’s shoulder and he looked down at her. There was a second pause and he kissed her on the lips. She smiled back at him. I looked around to Liam who had a fist under his chin and looking straight into the fire with a look of pain on his face. Lucy was smiling a sympathetic smile winking at Bella from across the fire which caused me to look at her. She looked at me and smiled the saddest smile I had ever seen. I wanted to kiss her then. To tell her that whatever was wrong would be okay. I wanted to fix it for her. I wanted to…whoa. What was I saying? Did I really want this with her? I snapped out of it and looked around again at my friends. We really had gone through some messed up shit this year. Niall pulled out his guitar and started playing “Thinking of You” by Olly Murs. We all cheered up quickly and sang along. It was an extremely cheesy moment, but we all knew all the words to this song. When we all got too tired and full of marshmallows and bored of singing and laughing, we decided to go to sleep. Liam and Niall poured water and sand over the fire to put it out and we carried our blankets and cushions inside. I made quick eye contact with Bella and she looked away. Not again. I thought. I had just gotten her to-
She looked back at me and said-
“Good night, Louis.”
“Night.” I said back to her.
