Back To December

twenty-seven

"Direct me to the floor and turn it up some more, I'mma get it on, on, on, on…

SHE MAKES ME WANNA OH, OH, OH, OH, OH, OH! MAKES ME WANNA- MORNING GORGEOUS!"

"What are you doing?" I yawned, shuffling sleepily into the kitchen, the duck slippers Niall had bought me a couple of Christmases ago quacking as I walked.

"I can't believe you still have those… Actually, yes I can. I just can't believe you still wear them," Louis smirked, turning round and eyeing my fluffy yellow footwear, pointing the spatula he held at them. "The left one's missing an eye."

"I know…" I shrugged my shoulders. "Why are you singing JLS songs at 8 in the morning?"

"I'm making breakfast!"

"Okay…" I paused, taking a seat at the kitchen table and fiddling the sleeve of my pyjama top. "What exactly are you making? My kitchen looks like it's exploded, this is why I don't let you cook."

"I'm ignoring that," he tutted at me. "And I'm making pancakes! And bacon, too. I was gonna do sausages but you only have those Quorn ones and-"

"Because they're nicer than normal sausages."

"No they're not. I've done scrambled eggs, too. I've made some for Polly in case she's hungry! POLLY! BREAKFAST!" he called.

"LOUIS. SLEEPING!" Polly's called back, her voice muffled.

"UNGRATEFUL!" Louis shouted.

"ANNOYING!" Polly shouted back at him, making me laugh. Louis scoffed in reply and turned back to the pan. I eyed him curiously, watching him as he whistled to himself.

It had been three weeks since we'd decided to give things another go. He'd been right, of course. We had to work at it, but we were getting there.

I hadn't seen or spoken to Harry since he'd left the bar that night.

I'd tried, though. I'd tried to talk to him when I'd been at their flat, until eventually he just locked himself in his room. That's why, for the last week and a half, Louis had taken to coming round to mine instead.

"…Lou?" I started quietly.

"Hmmm?" he hummed, turning to look at me with a small smile on his face.

"I, uhm," I chewed on my bottom lip. "You know… I- It's just…" I sighed heavily, running a hand through my messy hair, the curls having stayed in from two days ago. "You know you can stay here whenever, right? It's just… This is Polly's place too and I kinda feel like we're… invading her space, y'know? Are things… Is there a reason we don't spend time at yours anymore…?"

"No," he frowned. "After tomorrow we can spend as much time there as we want."

"Why? Is Har… Is he going home for the weekend or something?"

"No," Louis sighed, shaking his head and tipping some pancakes and bacon on to a plate before placing it in front of me. "Tomorrow… He's moving out. He's found his own place." he shrugged his shoulders. I looked up at him quickly, my fork clattering on the plate as I dropped it.

"What did you just say?" I breathed.

"…Harry's moving out," Louis spoke slowly, looking at me like I was mad, his eyes widening as he realised what I was thinking. "Oh… No! No, Cassie, it's not because- it isn't your fault, it's not like that I promise. It's- he's 19 now, he has more than enough money, we can't live together forever, babe… Now just seemed like the right time for him to find a place."

"Oh my God I'm going to forever be known as the slut who split up Larry Stylinson!" I cried, my head dropping hands.

"Hey, hey," Louis reached forward, his fingers wrapping round my wrists as he pulled my hands away from my face. "Don't you ever say that, okay? You're not a… You're not. Besides… The fans still have Zarry? Let them ship that from now on!"