"Ugh," Louis whined as he plopped down onto couch, jostling me on my side of it. "How much longer until our stop?"
I turned over my shoulder and gazed out the window, looking for some kind of road sign that would give me any answer to as where we were. All I could see was passing cars and trees. "I don't know, Lou," I answered as I put my cell phone on the table beside me and turned all my attention to him. A little pout formed on his face and he whined again about how tired he was. "Well then take a nap," I suggested.
Louis scrunched up his face and shook his head. "Liam is in his bunk, he and Danielle are fighting over the phone. I don't feel like listening to that."
"Oh, no," I said with a frown. "I hope they work it out."
Louis didn't seem to even be registering the words I was saying, his eyelids heavily drooping as his head swayed to the side a little. I laughed and the sound seemed to jerk him to alertness. He began to lean to the side until his head found it's way into my lap, pulling his feet up unto the couch and snuggling into me. He left out a satisfied sound of approval. "I think I'll just sleep here," he muttered sleepily.
I smiled down at him, my fingers finding their way into his tousled hair, raking through it in a slow pattern. It wasn't long before his breathing evened out and I could tell he had drifted into a slumber. I couldn't help but smile down at him, afraid to move and wake him. Louis was always moving so quickly, being so loud, while he was awake. It was a nice change, seeing him so sweet and angelic.
I looked up just as Harry was passing by. He smirked at the sight of Louis then it softened to a friendly smile as he met my eye. I returned it.
"Want me to get you anything? Drink or something? Looks like you're kind of stuck there," He joked.
I laughed with a nod. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks though, Harry."
He shrugged. "No problem. Well I'm going to go call my mom from my bunk. I was supposed too yesterday."
"Shocking, Harold," I teased. "Just a warning, Liam is fighting over the phone with Danielle."
Harry frowned. "Noted. Thanks, Stell," he said before continuing down the bus to the back area.
I smiled as I watched his retreating back, happy that any sense of awkwardness between us had quickly faded.
It had been three weeks since my date with Harry. Three weeks since Louis and Harry's fight. And three weeks since Louis had over heard my phone call with Max. At first everything was a complete and utter mess. Louis and Harry weren't talking, except to act civil with one another at concerts. Harry and I could hardly string a sentence along when we were left alone, without awkward tension filling the air. And Louis was completely ignoring me, knowing that I had been considering getting back together with Max. I hated hurting Louis, and it was clear that he was hurt. But more than that I had hated knowing that I had screwed up all my progress again.
It took three days for Louis to even acknowledge my presence. That day he kind of half smiled at me, then said hello. An hour later he texted me and asked if I wanted to go grab something to eat, from room service. He never brought up what happened, and I was happy to ignore the whole matter as well. So we joked and carried on and watched Never Say Never, the Justin Bieber movie on pay per view and discussed how much better This Is Us would be. Within twenty four hours, we had returned to our normal, flirty selves.
About a week later, Harry came to me one night, asking if he could speak to me alone. Louis had stiffened on the couch next to me, but I followed Harry into the other room. He had basically told me that he had a date that night, and he wanted to tell me first. We talked everything through and agreed that we were much better off being friends, and just because of one date (a semi perfect one, in my books) we shouldn't let everything be awkward between us.
