Barred (nh au)

XXI. Happy New Year

HALEY'S POV:

Days passed by pretty quickly and now it was New Year's Eve. And like every year, all of us were going to drive to London to celebrate. This time, there were some new additions to our usual group. Niall, Liam, Adeline and Kelsey too, were going to join us, and I was super excited for it.

The drive from Manchester to London takes roughly four hours, pit stops included, so we had decided to leave at exactly noon so that we could be in London by evening. We were all meeting up in my house, since one of the cars being used was mine. The other car was Liam's as he has graciously offered to drive us up there.

It was sort of a New Years tradition that we had started. We always drove to London to bring in the New Years. The last time, we had gone and explored various places in London. This time, we were going to visit the London Eye (once again on popular demand) and then go to an ice skating rink.

Soon enough, everyone had arrived and we all were ready to leave. The first person who had arrived was Niall, and now that I am conscious about my feelings for him, I started paying a lot more attention to the little things about him. How he always fidgets with his hands when he has nothing to do, the freckles that he has, how his eyes light up when something catches his fancy to name a few. And every time he directed even a simple smile towards me, I would find my heart fluttering at the gesture.

Soon enough, when everyone had arrived, we were piling into the cars. Me, Niall, Louis, Eleanor, Alyssa, Luke (his hair was back to its original jet black colour) and Connor in my car while Liam, Adeline, Harry, Kelsey, Logan, Mia and Danielle went in Liam's car.

After everyone was finally settled (Louis kept stalling us, unable to decide which car he wanted to go in, just when we were about to drive), we began our journey to London. I was driving and Niall had claimed shotgun. While the rest of the people had settled behind comfortably.

I was glad to have Connor driving with us, since he was such a good sport, always ready to have a laugh. He was one of the funniest in our lot, second to Louis, maybe. On our way there, we blasted songs on the radio, sometimes singing along if we came across a favourite.

We made a stop at McDonalds because Connor and Louis kept whining about how hungry they were. There was a disadvantage to have Connor and Louis in the same car, though. Both of them together results in a whole lot of pranks and mischief. They both together is like a dynamite waiting to explode, mainly because together they can brainstorm the craziest ideas to trouble everyone.

Once we stopped at McDonalds, Louis and Connor both said they don't want to eat anything, and I was about to lose my shit by then.

"Listen, you two, my patience is running out, and I am this close," I gestured with my index finger and thumb, making them almost touch,"to be throwing you out of this goddamn car. So if you would kindly shut up and come with us to order food, it'll be amazing." I practically growled at them and they immediately shut up and quietly made their way out of the car.

"Much better," I mumbled, getting out of the car as well.

Niall was chuckling from behind me and I too, smiled to myself. It's funny how Connor and Louis were so scared of me.

Once inside, after I had walked around a bit, tired of having sat in the car, we had ordered our food. I went up to Louis, slinging one arm around his shoulder and one arm around Connor, and just like that, all was good.

After we'd all had our lunches, we set off again. This time, Niall was behind the wheel while I had shotgun. He had pulled me back just when I was about to enter the driver's seat and then went to sit there instead, directing me to sit where was before. Me being too tired to argue, just went to sit in my designated seat.