Back To December

eighteen

I curled my body towards the door, staring out of the window and picking at the red varnish on my nails and hearing Harry sighed quietly beside me. We'd been driving in complete silence ever since we'd left Holmes Chapel, the only sounds coming from the radio or from my and occasionally from my phone, Taylor Swift filling the car every time Louis called.

And he's called approximately seven times in the past hour.

"Answer it," Harry mumbled when my phone rang loudly. I snapped my head round to stare at him, but he kept his attention on the road ahead. "If you keep avoiding him, he's going to know something's wrong. Just answer the damn phone, Cassidy." he demanded. I rolled my eyes at him but did as he said and accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi beautiful!"

"Hey, Lou," I smiled softly when I heard his voice. "I'll be home soon, we're about an hour outside of London."

"A whole hour?" Louis groaned. "Tell Harry it's no time to drive like a grandmother, it's about time he put his boy racer hat on and sped you right back here to me… I missed you last night, I woke up hugging my pillow."

"Awh babe!" I laughed quietly. "Did you really? That's… That's sort of adorable. I missed you too…" I told him, shooting Harry a glare when he scoffed. "I'm sorry I didn't call you, it's just that Harry was so drunk I thought he was going to punch his cousin, so I had to look after him."

"Yeah, I nearly punched my cousin because he was hitting on your girlfriend, Louis!" Harry called, loud enough for Louis to hear him. "And I didn't get much thanks for it, either!"

"He wasn't hitting on me," I lied. "He asked if I wanted to dance, I said no. Harry overreacted. Again. Louis, erm, do you want to come to mine tonight, instead of me staying at yours again?"

"I'd love to, but I can't… We're getting picked up early in the morning, we're on Daybreak."

"Oh," I frowned. "Oh, it's alright. I'll just see you tomorrow, then?"

"What, why? No! Come back here with Harry! You can hang out here tomorrow and watch us on Daybreak! What time are you in Uni?" he asked. "Or work? Because I'm pretty sure Harry will drop you off. OR! You could come with us to Daybreak! And our driver can drop you off at Uni or work or wherever you want to go!"

"I have a lecture at 3, but I'm off before then…" I paused. "I'll, erm, I'll see you in an hour, then? I'm gonna have to go, I think Harry's getting frustrated because I'm talking to loud and his delicate little head can't take the hangover."

"Okay," Louis chuckled. "I'll see you soon, I love you Cassie."

"I-I love you too, Louis," I whispered, pulling the phone away from my ear and hanging up quickly, stuffing my phone back into my bag and throwing it into the backseat. I sniffed, tears filling my eyes as I turned my head away from Harry.

"Cass…"

"Don't," I whispered. "I don't want to talk about it. I just want to see Louis."

"Cassidy-"

"I said don't, Harry," I snapped at him. "Just fucking drive, I want to go home to my boyfriend."

"Yeah, coz you were really concerned about him last night!" Harry snapped back, anger the only thing on his face. I ignored him, the guilt flooding me again as I wiped my eyes. Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair and switching lanes, pulling the onto the hard shoulder and shutting the engine off, a frown on his face. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising," I muttered.

"We need to talk about this, Cass."

"I don't want to talk about it, I just want to go home and eat my weight in ice cream, okay?" I picked at my nails. "I can't talk about this right now."