LOUIS’ P.O.V.
“Louis, we’ve been driving west for hours! I give up. Where are we going?”
I roll my eyes because Harry has been trying to guess where we are going for the past three hours. We’re only about an hour out of Pembroke and then we take a ferry from there to Rosslare, Ireland. After that, we’re only a short cab ride away from the cabin we’ll call home for the weekend. I like to think of it as a pre-engagement honeymoon. Assuming that he says yes, that is. I would feel strange to be so presumptuous. No, if anything, I’m more afraid he’ll say no. What if he thinks the timing isn’t right? I hope he understands that me proposing doesn’t mean that we must rush wedding plans. I just want to give him something to look forward to; to remind him of why we deal with so much shit: because our love is real. So real, in fact, that I’m willing to make a fool of myself in front of every last one of our friends and family members.
“Louuuu, please tell me!”
I reach over and squeeze his thigh so that he flinches in surprise.
“I’m not telling, babe. Just take a nap or something. We’ll be there before you know it.”
He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. He’s reminding me of myself as a little boy whenever my mum would take us on road trips. ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’ That’s what Harry sounds like. It’s sort of adorable, though, so I could never actually chastise him for it. He curls his knees up to his chest and obviously finds that uncomfortable since his legs go on for miles. He turns his body toward me and stretches his legs back out. I face the road, keeping my focus as the sun starts to set. I can feel Harry’s eyes on me, though, and I reach my hand over, tracing little circles on his arm as he continues to stare at me. When I glance over at him, he closes his eyes tightly and moves his arm so that he can clutch my hand in his. He pulls my hand close to his chest and cuddles against it like a little puppy. More like an awkward, over-sized puppy; but, you get the picture. I can feel his body slowly start to relax as he begins to fall asleep.
“Love you a lot, Lou.”
He slurs his words together in a soft, content sigh as he drifts off.
“Love you more, Haz.”
Harry sleeps restlessly in the car and after about twenty minutes of him laying on my arm, it goes entirely numb, but I can’t bring myself to move it. We’re only about a half an hour from our destination and even though I don’t have any actually feeling in my hand, it feels nice to have him so close to me. I can feel the steady beating of his heart through his thin, grey t-shirt and it’s almost a comfort to know that it belongs to me. Well, obviously not his physical heart, but; fuck, I’m getting sentimental and sappy again.
The rest of the drive goes by quickly since it’s only the final stretch of a four hour drive. The sun has set completely and the moon shines brightly above us. I can actually sees the stars over here and it’s stunning. I pull the car up to the short line of people signing in. I put the car in park and stare at Harry for a few moments. His soft skin is slightly flushed along his cheeks and his mouth is parted, gentle breaths coming and going. I grin to myself at his perfect, relaxed features before checking the time. We only have twenty minutes to get to the ferry and these old folks are taking forever to show their tickets and papers. I suppose they won’t leave with a line of cars like this.
Finally, I pull up to the security gate and roll down the window, hoping Harry doesn’t wake up. It’s sort of exciting to think that he’ll wake up and we’ll be on a boat. An older gentleman approaches my open window and begins a loud greeting, until I widen my eyes in motion toward my snoring boyfriend.
