the traveller // louis tomlinson

chapter twenty-three // the tip of my tongue.

Niall's POV

We all sit in our bunks, relaxing as the tour bus travels across the state of Florida. This is the quietest I think our bus has been this entire tour. We've been going non-stop this entire time, it's nice to have a day where we don't have to get out of our pajamas.

Louis' snores can be heard all over the bus, becoming a routine background noise when we have downtime on the bus. A soft snore comes from Zayn's bunk as well, which is no surprise either...

I wish I could fall asleep. My mind is still all foggy with confusion that I haven't had the opportunity to discuss with anyone. But with Louis fast asleep at the moment...

"Hey Harry," I hiss, knowing very well who the best person to turn to when it comes to Louis. He pokes his head out from his bunk, below Louis'.

"Yeah?" He asks, speaking softly so not to wake up the others.

"You know yesterday at the beach when we were all skinny dipping and stuff..." I start to ramble, feeling rather awkward about the whole situation.

"Uh... yes? That was only last night," Harry gives me an amused expression, propping his head up with his elbow.

I hear rustling across from me as Liam turns over to give me a confused look, obviously hearing the hesitation in my tone. He sits up a bit, giving me his undivided attention.

"Did you see... Was I the only one who saw... Did you notice anything..." I fumble with my words, not really knowing the best way to come out with it.

"Niall, you're talking out of your ass. Spit it out," Harry tells me with a laugh, but I can tell he's getting rather frustrated, wanting to know exactly what the hell I'm going on about.

I let out a loud sigh, feeling rather frustrated myself.

"Did anyone else see Louis and Mia about to kiss before I jumped in and stopped them?" I blurt it out, speaking softly so Louis doesn't hear me, because I know that would just be a train wreck.

Liam sits up with a jolt, knocking his head against the bottom of Harry's bunk, which sends him lying down again with a groan. But by the look on Harry's face, I wasn't the only one who caught that.

What the hell is going on between the two of them? Here I thought Louis was just being a flirt this whole time, since he's the only one without a girlfriend. I never thought they actually... Doesn't she have a boyfriend? Isn't that why she's here in the first place?

Now that I know it wasn't just my imagination, my mind floods even worse, making me let out a small groan.

"You're not serious," Liam hisses, his eyes wide and full of shock.

"They're not..." I look up to Harry, wondering if he knows anything about this.

Harry peeks out and checks to make sure Louis is still dead asleep, then he leans further over so he can talk even more privately with us.

"Louis declines all claims I try to make," He lets out a sigh, "And I want to believe him, but I don't know anymore..."

I can tell I'm not the only one who's been caught up in this entire situation. It's obviously driving Harry mad, which is understandable as Louis' best mate. If Mia and Louis are... associating with one another, why wouldn't Louis tell any of us? We're practically his brothers.

"I highly doubt Louis is stupid enough to involve himself with a girl who already has a boyfriend," Liam tells us, crinkling his forehead as he's deep within his own thoughts, "But I wouldn't doubt that he's just as concerned with his feelings as we are."