Misadventure

49

Louis' POV

It was a quiet afternoon in April. My legs were starting to cramp from sitting in the same position for so long. I shifted, stretching out my sore knees and trying to get comfortable. It was no use. I needed to hurry up and get this thing done, so I could get back to my dorm and the comfort of my bed.

By my bed, I really meant both Harry and I's bed. It consisted of our two twin sized mattresses and frames pushed together, and a god awful amount of duct-tape under our sheets, so that neither of us could roll into the crack while we slept.

I wondered if Harry would already be in our dorm by now, waiting for me. I glanced at the time in the corner of my computer screen. It was almost 2:30pm. I made a mental note to text him if I still wasn't done by 3:00pm.

That was something I did now, texting him my whereabouts. In most relationships, that probably would be a red flag, but our situation was unique. Firstly, because he didn't require me to tell him everywhere I went. It was something I chose to do, both to easy his worries and to hold myself accountable.

It prevented me from doing anything too sketchy that might put my recovery at risk, because if I ever had the urge to go out and do something that I didn't feel like telling Harry about, it made me think twice about whether I should be doing it at all.

So far, that hasn't happened. The closest I'd come to not wanting to tell him about something I was doing, was actually today. He knew I was at the library, but he didn't know why I was at the library.

"You've been working on that thing for hours." Zayn plopped down in a beanbag chair next to mine, gesturing to my notebook and laptop. "What class is it for?"

"It's not." I said. The reason I came to the library wasn't to study (shocking, I know). I just needed a quiet place where Harry wouldn't see what I was doing. "It's for our trip. I'm planning."

"Oh?"

My tuition was covered by the scholarship, so in the past I'd always been able to spend my own money a bit more frivolously.

I didn't currently have a job, which meant I was essentially living off saved up birthday and Christmas money I'd accumulated throughout high school. Once that ran out, I would be a bit fucked, because my parents and I were still on questionable terms. This meant I couldn't actually afford to take Harry for that weekend getaway (the one Zayn so rudely spoiled the surprise about).

I was still determined to take him on a trip to Ireland, even if it wasn't the trip I'd planned on.

"I'm figuring out how to make this trip as affordable as possible," I explained. "If you have any ideas, I'm all ears."

Zayn glanced at my screen, which was open to Amazon. "How is buying a bunch of shit supposed to make your trip any cheaper?"

I clicked on my shopping cart to show him. It was full of the most inexpensive camping gear available. "All of this stuff combined costs less than a single night at the most affordable hotel."

"I think this is a really sweet thing to do for him," Zayn told me.

"Yeah, well now I'm sort of obligated to, since you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"What are you talking about?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm talking about you reading that bloody pamphlet out loud. You know, the one about the trip to Ireland."

"Oh. That." He blushed. "Oops?"

Something I'd come to realize about Zayn, was that things like secrets and privacy were a lost concept on him. It pissed me off sometimes, like when he would go through my belongings, or blabber my personal information to Liam and Niall. But to be fair, him having his nose all up in my business was probably a huge reason I was still alive today. I couldn't stay too mad at him.