I Promise // l.p.

Chapter 23

2 years later

"Finally." I whisper, gently cradling a now sleeping Darcy in my arms.

I hear footsteps behind me and turn around to see who it is.

"Well, come right in, Harry." I joke and stand up from the couch.

"Hi, love." He half-hugs me and I carefully hand his 1 year old baby to him.

"You're late. Like, 2 hours later than you said." I raise my eyebrows and fold my arms.

"Sorry, I had to pick up a few friends on the way." Harry smirks and then 3 familiar faces walk in from the hallway.

I gasp.

"You all look so old." I joke, studying Niall, Louis, and Zayn. "What's the occasion?"

"We missed you." Louis chimes in and looks down at the floor.

"Where's Liam?" Niall asks.

"He's locked himself upstairs for the past few hours." I shrug. I decided to leave him alone. Liam seemed really on edge about something and I had to watch Darcy anyways.

Zayn laughs and shakes his head, "I'll go talk to him. He's probably just nervous."

"About what?"

Zayn dodges the question and heads upstairs. Niall makes his way to the kitchen and Harry leaves to help Caitlyn inside, leaving me and Louis by ourselves.

"Hey." My eyes flicker from his to the ground.

"Hey." He weakly smiles.

"How've you been?"

Louis shrugs. "It has been a little weird with this 'break' the band is taking. But it's nice to get away from it for awhile."

I feel really guilty facing him. I haven't seen this man for 2 years and never kept in contact. He apologized and everything, and I have been completely ignoring him. "I've really missed you. More than you think I have."

His eyes lighten up.

"I never called or texted and that's terrible of me. You're my best friend and I-"

"It's okay, Katie. I- I didn't either." Louis meets my eyes.

"I missed you so much." I pull him into a really tight hug. He laughs into my neck and we stand like this for a few moments, swaying back and forth a bit.

I pull apart and study his face. He has this terrible look of sadness spread across his face that won't seem to go away. But, I can tell he's trying to hide it. "Cheer up, Louis."

"It's kinda hard to at the moment." He stares downward. I give him a light kiss on the cheek, earning a smile from him.

Right after, I hear the doorbell ring. I smile, excusing myself, and make my way to the door.

"Dad?" I glance behind him and see Karen and Geoff. "What are you doing here?" I try to sound as polite as possible.

"Liam invited us for dinner." He informs me. This is all a surprise to me.

I bite my bottom lip and glance behind me at the 7 extra guests. I hesitate before answering. "Well, okay."

I shut the door behind them before anymore fall breeze comes inside.

"I haven't seen your flat yet. This thing looks even bigger on the inside." My Dad pats the wall.

Liam and I have been living here for a little over a year. We moved to a neighborhood in London that's about a mile away from Harry and Caitlyn's flat, which is why we've been able to stay close with them.