Desire

five

Tuesday March 3rd

*Thanks for last night, I had a good time :)* Louis hit send after typing out the tenth draft of a text to Harry, hoping it sounded casual and nice. 

He put his phone back in his pocket as he walked up the driveway of his parents large, modern house that sat back from the road, hidden by large trees that provided shade in the warm months. 

Louis reread the words of the text over and over in his head, panicking that it was too soon to text. Or maybe he should have called like Harry asked last night. That seemed too forward. Or was it? Louis took a deep breath, calming his nerves and reminding himself that it was now too late anyway.

He stepped up to the large, dark red door to his parents home, noticing a small figurine of Santa still sitting on the small windowsill beside it. He smiled; his family never managed to find every single Christmas decoration so there was always one or two that could be found during the year. He knocked on the door and after only a few seconds could hear feet on the floorboard, running towards the door. The door opened to reveal Cassie's beaming face, her brown curly hair messy around her face, her bright yellow dress stained down the front with what looked like some sort of chocolate mixture. 

"Louis!" She yelled, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

"Hey kiddo, how are you?" Louis said as he ruffled her hair and followed her into the house. 

"I'm good! Mum is making your favourite dessert, even though I asked for ice cream cake". She replied, frowning and pouting her lips in anger but stifling a laugh.

"Ah well I guess I am the favourite child then." Louis replied matter-of-factly, before smirking at Cassie.

"No you're not!" Cassie said loudly.

"Are you two already fighting?"

Louis walked into the bright, open kitchen to see his mum Denise standing at the stove, stirring something in a large pot. She had her body turned towards Louis, a smile growing on her lips. She was wearing a long skirt and a lacy top, her hair, which was the same colour as Louis', in a messy bun right on top of her head. She stopped stirring and walked over to Louis, her arms wrapping around him.

"Lovely to see you darling. You hungry?" She asked as she held Louis' face in her hands, studying his face.

"Always." Louis beamed, his stomach growling right on queue. 

"We thought we would sit at the dining table tonight instead of just at the kitchen table, is that alright?"

Denise walked back over to the oven, bending down to take out a large pan. 

"Yeah of course, great idea." Louis answered.

He walked past the kitchen and the table where Cassie sat drawing a picture with intense concentration on her face, into the large lounge room. The evening sun shining through the large glass doors that led straight out into the back garden. Louis could see his Dad, Jeff standing on the balcony with a beer in one hand; the look of pure serenity.

Louis slid open the glass door and stepped outside, feeling the warm evening sun on the face, a slight breeze ruffling his hair.

"Hey Lou! Good to see ya mate!" Jeff turned to see his son, his eyes crinkling with a smile just like Louis' does.

"Hey Dad, how's it going?" Louis joined him to stand and watch the sun slowly set.

"All good with me buddy, same old. How's everything going since we last saw you?" Jeff placed his bottle on the picnic table to his right that was only ever used in summer when it was warm enough to eat tea outside.