48 Hours // l.t. [1]

Chapter 18

Dallas, Texas was no different than the other bus stations. Louis and I filled up on vending machine food, both of us went to the bathroom, and patiently waited thirty minutes for the bus to Phoenix, Arizona to start boarding. It was the same routine from the other bus stations. Nothing new changed.

It wasn't long before exhaustion started to hit me and my eyelids became heavier and heavier until I couldn't keep them open any longer. Sliding low in my seat, I leaned my head against the cool window – with the hood of Louis' sweater up, of course – and passed out.

Senseless images filled my head, images I couldn't quite make out. It was all one big blur.

Eventually, when I woke up, everything was quite. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up, stretching my muscles the best I could without hitting Louis. But when I glanced over at him, I saw he was fast asleep, his head resting on his shoulder.

Not wanting to disturb him, I took out my book, headphones and phone. I turned on my music, selecting a random song, and plugged in my headphones.

For the longest time, I was reading while listening to music. My phone didn't buzz with messages or phone calls until I was nearly finished with the book. I was in a middle of a paragraph when I received a text from Tammy.

Tammy: Hey girl, where you at now?

Me: Texas. We left Dallas a while ago

Tammy: Awesome. So I kind of have some big news to tell you, by the way. Nothing too big but I really, really like this guy.

If I was chewing something or drinking something the moment I read the text, I would have choked or spit that water out in an instant. But no, I wasn't eating or drinking anything. My breath just got caught in my throat and it was hard to breathe for a moment.

My fingers flew across my keyboard, sending her a message back quickly. Maybe my quickest time yet. A record maybe.

Me: What do you mean you like someone?! Explain, missy!

Tammy liking someone romantically – definitely not lustfully – was a bit of a big deal with her. It was rare for her to like someone romantically. She wasn't that type of girl to go around dating and having boyfriends. Flings and one-night stands were more her thing – not dates, love and long-lasting relationships. Her last one was in junior year of high school and they broke up because he became a tool and started cheating on her.

She really hasn't bothered to date since.

Tammy: He's actually really nice. He's an art major and really cute. I met him while I was getting food a couple weeks ago, at two am. He's long, red hair and amazing eyes. His name is Tobias but he usually likes to be called Toby.

Tammy: I told him we were going out this Friday and he wants to meet you. He also wants to make sure I'm safe so he's going with to be the designated driver. He is so sweet, Morgan, oh my gosh.

I couldn't help my grin after reading her messages. After seeing her talk about flings and one-night stands for years, it was a nice change to hear her talking about someone she liked. It made me that much more excited to see this "Tobias".

Me: He sounds amazing, Tammy. Can't wait to meet him :)

Tammy and I messaged back and forth for a while until she had to go do a couple errands. And then, I was left with charging my nearly-dead phone and reading in silence.

It wasn't long until Louis woke up, rubbing his eyes while he mumbled words under his breath groggily. A smile automatically appeared on my face as I watched him out of the corner of my eye.

"Good afternoon," I said, grinning from ear to ear.

Louis grinned back. When he spoke, his voice was low and a little rough. Add in his accent, and his voice was swoon-worthy. "Good afternoon, Morgan." He glanced around, taking in his surroundings, before asked me, "What time is it?"

I glanced at my phone. "It's a little bit after three."

"Fantastic."

My cheeks warmed considerably, and I felt my heart beat increasingly fast. Though I already had a feeling this would have happened, I knew at that moment when Louis was smiling at me. I was beginning to like him.

Shit. 

This feels a lot shorter than normal but oh well. I updated because earlier I took a three to four hour nap PLUS sleeping like nine hours the previous night so I'm pretty well rested right now. So I thought, "Hey why not update?" Yeah, so vote, comment and tell me what you think! <3

PS this book is coming to a close soon. :)