18.

2.

"Long before we both thought the same thing."
---
My phone started to vibrate on the table next to my bed. Looking on the screen, I saw none other than Richard Griffiths. (A.N: in case u didn't know, Richard Griffiths is the CEO of Modest!Management.)

I sighed, showed the screen to Louis, answered, and put him on speaker.

"What do you want?"
"Oh, Harry! That is no way to speak to your boss."
"Richard, just get on with it. Why are you calling me. I'm trying to prepare for this thing I do, called, uh, my job."
"Okay. Lose the sarcasm, please. But anyways, I do bring good news. I'm calling to tell you that you and the boys will get a short 5 day break! No rehearsals, no concerts, no interviews, nothing. Tomorrow morning will be the start of the break. Have fun! Stay out of the view of cameras, yeah?"

I smiled at Lou and quickly told Richard thank you, and hung up.

"Louis! This is fantastic!"
"Oh my god, this is amazing! Where should we go?"

After debating between Paris, LA, London, and possibly somewhere in Mexico, we decided on Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.

---

As I stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk outside of my mother's home, I breathed in the cool air that smelled like rain.

"I'M HOME!" I yelled into my childhood home. Louis stepped in beside me.

"SO AM I!" Louis exclaimed. Mum and Gemma ran into the den, arms wide open... Running straight to... my boyfriend, right past me.

"Louis! It's so good to see you!"
"You too, Anne."
"Uh, hi mum! I'm home! I haven't been home in, uh, 5 months?" I pouted.
"Oh yes, hello dear. Why don't you grab yours and Louis' stuff and take it upstairs to the guest bedroom?"

Louis looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows and whispered,
"I'm her favorite son." I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs.

It still seems the same. I remember when Louis first came to meet my family, during the X-Factor days. He was a hit, and my mum and Gem already wanted to start planning our wedding. At the time it seemed absurd, and we really hadn't come to terms as to what we were. But I think we both had the feeling, at least a small one, that we would end up together.

After putting everything down in the guest room, we all sat down for dinner.

"Harry, pass me the salt." Mum said.
"Hm, why don't you have your favorite son pass it to you?" I smiled, winking.
"Easy tiger..." Gem said.
"Oh hush, child."
"Harry, calm down. We were just messing with you. We are so proud of you and so happy you're home!" Mum said.
"You need to cut your hair, though." Gemma remarked.
"Harry, I think Gemma is the better Styles..." Louis said.
"Louis is right. Plus I graduated." She stated proudly.
"Well I'm the queer one, I get to travel the world with my best friends and my boyfriend, I get to do what I love, and I am pretty damn good at it. Soooo, I am the better Styles."
"Okay, fine. You win."
"Gemma is still my queen, though." Louis said, giggling.

---

"Louis."
"Hmm?"
"How... What... I'm..."
"Full sentences please, darling."
"How the fuck are we both supposed to fit on this?" I said, exasperated and dumbfounded.

We looked down at the twin sized bed in the middle of the guest room. It was literally the length of Louis. (He's not 5'9" by the way. No matter how many times he says he's 5'9", he's not. He's probably about 5'7", give or take an inch or two.)

"I guess we're just going to have to be extra close then." He said with a wink.

---

When the lights are off, that's our special place. In the dark, no one else is relevant, and anything we do or say is not real when the lights come back on.

We were laying down on the tiny bed, and my baby boy was on top of me. Nothing sexual, there's just no room to lay beside each other.

"I feel your heart beating against my head. It feels funny." He whispered. I quietly chuckled. After a minute or two of silence, he said,
"I don't want it to ever stop."

"It will one day, Lou, but not any time soon. You're stuck with me, babe." I said, petting his hair.

He looked up at me, batted his beautiful blue eyes, and planted a kiss on my bare chest. He looked at me again, as if asking for my permission to keep going. I nodded, and he began to start a trail of kisses down my chest, stomach.

I grabbed his hair and pulled; it's a major turn on for him. He started to play with the waistband of my boxers.  Now that was a major turn on for me.

The rest of the night, well, I think you can figure out what happened. *wink wink.*

---
Louis' POV:

The next morning I woke up and checked my phone. The usual texts from friends, family, tons of social media notifications, etc. But when I went onto Twitter, something really caught my eye. There were tons of news articles on my feed, saying things like,

"Louis Tomlinson... Gay?"
"Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles: Secret Relationship?"
"Louis Tomlinson May Say He's 'In Fact Straight', But We Think Otherwise."

Not that these news articles are untrue; I'm gay as fuck, and I had Harry's dick in my mouth about 8 hours ago. So it's not like they're reporting false data like they do 98% of the time. But still, it bothered me.

I opened up one of the news articles to see pictures of Harry and I here, in Holmes Chapel. Fucking paps. How the hell did they even know we're here?

Whatever, that's irrelevant. Harry was still asleep, so I put on a jacket and my shoes and walked outside. I needed a cigarette.

This will inevitably cause an argument between Harold and I. When big things like this happen, he brings it up, I get mad, so he gets mad, and then we start arguing.

I light my cigarette and stare into the cloud of smoke, thinking of better times and a happier life.

-
-
-

A.N:
hey guys!! thank you all for reading, i really really really appreciate it. 😊

but i wanted to make clear that everyone knows that there will only be 2 more chapters, then an IMPORTANT epilogue.
like. crazy important okay. so if you do read this whole book (which i really hope you do) then please, make sure you end up reading the epilogue.
i have this whole story planned out, and the epilogue is like, the most important part of the story.

ANYWAYSSSS.
please vote and comment!!
all the love. emily. ❤️