Given a Chance (Larry Stylinson)

Part Eleven

Over the course of the next three weeks, between Niall's engagement and Louis and Harry's flight back to the UK, time seemed to go by in a blur. Instead of dwelling on all the time lost over the last eight years, Louis instead tried to commit every single moment to his memory, filling all of the empty spaces with every tiny detail he could remember.

August had turned into September, but that didn't stop another heat wave from rolling through town, turning the conditions outside from hot, to hell, in just a matter of days. Looking back now, Louis will use that as a perfectly reasonable excuse as to why they spent so much time in bed.

But it wasn't like they spent the entire three weeks in bed!

They did plenty of other things!

Like:

When They Went To The Fair:

Louis and Harry were standing in the checkout line at the Pig Wig one sunny afternoon, glad to be away from the heat even if only momentarily, and Louis was absentmindedly flipping through a gossip magazine while Mrs. B took her sweet time ringing up the customer ahead of them.

"What's this?" Harry spoke up, causing Louis to stop mid-turn of a page to glance over at him.

Louis squinted at the blue flyer in Harry's hand, working it out in his head before realization hit him. "Ah. The fair is back," Louis replied casually, his eyes flicking back down to his magazine as he continued flipping through it.

"What fair?"

"I don't know, mate. It's just some county fair that happens at the end of every summer." Louis shrugged, not taking his eyes off the story he was now reading. Rihanna did WHAT at a Vegas Nightclub? The only way to find out was to keep reading, obviously. Louis loved reading magazines that didn't have pictures of him in them.

"Like... a carnival? Like The Notebook?!" Harry asked.

Louis chuckled, flicking his eyes up to meet Harry's as he shook his head, noting the way Harry was biting down on his bottom lip to contain his smirk. "Yes, Harold, just like The Notebook. Except people aren't allowed to climb the ferris wheel."

Harry just rolled his eyes. "Noah wasn't allowed to climb the ferris wheel. He did it to prove a point."

Louis laughed, muttering a sarcastic, "My bad," before looking back down at the magazine.

A few moments of silence passed before Harry spoke up again, still curious. "So what else do they have at the fair?"

"Umm... I don't know. Rides, food, baby pigs. I went the first year I lived here, and it was exactly what you'd expect an American fair to be like," Louis chuckled, finally setting Rihanna back in the magazine rack before turning to look at Harry. "You know. The Notebook-ish," he said, using Harry's own description against him.

Harry ignored Louis though, focusing solely on: "Baby pigs?! Like baby pigs you can hold?" Harry's eyes were growing wider and wetter at the thought.

Louis laughed loudly, shaking his head fondly at him. "Harry," he began, already knowing the answer to his impending question. "Do you want to go to the fair?"

"Yes, please!"

And that was how they found themselves making their way onto the large fairgrounds just outside of Chance later that night. It was evening, around seven or so, as they hoped it wouldn't be too hot if the sun was going to be setting soon. But the air was still sticky humid, making the smell of funnel cakes and fresh-cut grass seem to stick right to their skin.

"Oh my god, this really is straight out of The Notebook!" Harry beamed, turning to smile brightly at Louis.

"I told ya." Louis grinned happily, glad that something as simple as Chance's low-budget end of the summer carnival was enough to please Harry. Louis finally tore his eyes away from Harry to take a good look around him, feeling excited on the inside because he really did love these stupid town events.