Open Road (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 4

A loud purr interrupted the silence as Harry turned the key in the car. The engine revved, almost as if they were in a movie. If they'd been in a movie, however, the engine wouldn't have stuttered out and Louis wouldn't have banged his head against the window in impatience.

When Harry turned the key one last time, some of his desperation must have payed off because the engine stuck and the car slowly rumbled to life.

"Thank God," muttered Louis as Harry backed out of the parking space and turned onto the traffic filled road. "I thought we'd be here all day,"

"That's what you get for a rental car," laughed Harry as they chugged along the busy city streets.

Sky peeked through the trees and buildings as Louis gazed fondly around him at the beautiful New York City. He loved to travel, that was probably his favourite part of his job - being able to see so many places he never would've seen otherwise.

"Harry," he said questioningly. "What's your favourite part of this?"

Turning his head towards Louis and earning a cuff on the ear to return his attention to the road, Harry answered. "What d'ya mean? My favourite part of what?"

"Our job, you know?" Louis said. "Like, I love to travel. Never on Earth would I be here, in New York, if it weren't for the band."

Harry thought for a moment, there were a lot of things he loved about the band. The traveling was great, but he'd always been more of a homebody.

"The fans," he said quietly, looking at the people wandering the streets around them, all these people not knowing who was behind the tinted windows of their car. "The fact that no matter how much we screw up, there will still be people out there who admire us and care for us."

Nodding in agreement, Louis leaned his head back against the window, listening to the music playing softly through the car speakers and pretending he was in a music video. To his surprise, Harry started up their conversation again.

"What's your least favourite part?" Harry asked, causing butterflies to stir in the pit of Louis' stomach at the sound of his deep voice. He shivered. Fuck, Louis thought. I can't spend five days straight with him, I'm not that good at hiding things.

Harry turned to look at Louis, waiting for his answer.

"Lou?" He asked, tearing Louis away from his thoughts.

"Oh, right, sorry," he breathed out quickly and composed himself. "Probably the constant attention, I can't do anything without the whole world knowing. Sometimes that's just so frustrating, like, the fans can't let me have any privacy anymore. I love them, but a break would just be so nice."

"We're on a break right now, you know. No one knows where we are, I feel so disconnected from everything, it's such a lovely feeling."

"Yeah," Louis whispered. "Yeah you're right, and there's nowhere I'd rather be."

-

"I'm hungry," Louis whined from the passenger seat. Grumbles emitted from Louis' stomach had been filling the car every few minutes in the past mile.

"I know, I'll stop when we see a McDonalds." Harry replied frustratedly. Hunger made him irritable, and Harry was starved.

Louis groaned and bashed his head into the window angrily, shitting his eyes tightly. When he opened again, he literally squealed in delight.

"There, Harry! Look!" Louis shouted, pointing his finger towards the next turn off, no place other than McDonalds. "I thought I was going to die!" He cried.

Harry pulled two floppy hats out from the backseat of their car and two pairs of sunglasses from the centre console.

"Put these on," he instructed Louis as they pulled up to order their lunch. The older boy was really craving a Big Mac.

As Harry sidled up to pay for their meal, he tilted his hat downwards, covering up as much of his face as possible. Louis copied him and they received their food.

The next exit was to a park, so Harry turned figuring that it would be nicer than eating in their car. Both boys hopped out with their meals and made a beeline for the only picnic table there.

Moaning, Louis greedily dug into his burger - he couldn't help it, it was just so good. Harry laughed at the boy seated across from him as he idly nibbled at his own burger.

With their hunger sated, Harry and Louis disposed of the wrapping that came with their meals and returned to their car.

Louis grinned, dialling up the volume knob. He smirked shamelessly at Harry as he began to sing along to the music.

"Gotta kiss myself I'm so pretty!" He sang, winking at Harry. The boy in the driver's seat laughed at Louis. "I'm too hot," Louis chanted, then turned to look at Harry expectantly. Quickly, Harry gave in.

"Hot damn!" He cried, rolling down their windows as they sang at the top of their lungs, speeding down the empty freeway in the middle of the day.

[e d i t e d   9 . 2 3 . 1 5]

[there won't be an update next week, sorry :( this one's a little short too. pretty similar to the original one. i'm not proud of it but it's been busy with school]