"Wait so what did he say?" Louis said, laughing.
"He just kept going 'uhh ummm uhhh' but like more than normal, and then he starts talking to me about how beautiful my hair looks and how he wishes I would die it red again like I apparently used to have it." I told him.
"Typical drunk Harry." Louis said back as our laughter died down, "He wasn't driving though right?"
"No, some girl was bringing him to his flat, thank God cause he was well wasted."
Louis turned down the street and I recognized it right away.
"Oh my God I remember that ice cream shop!" I said pointing to the little blue and white building with children all around it, "my mum's friend used to take me there all the time when I'd come here!"
I could just smell the mint chocolate chip ice cream I always used to get.
"Wait is the restaurant in this town?" Louis asked me.
"Yeah, this is Cross Hills, I think the restaurants like a couple streets down from here."
"Wow that only took like twenty minutes!"
"Yeah its really not that far from Bradford."
"When you said family and famiy friends reunion I thought we'd be traveling at least an hour away."
As soon as we had driven past the "Welcome To Cross Hills" sign that was still as gross and rain-damaged as it had always been, I became the 6 year old boy again.
For as long as I could remember, my family would drive up to Cross Hills almost every weekend to see my parents friends and family. The small town was in the middle of all of the different towns each family lived in, so although no one lived in Cross Hills, it was always the town for our get togethers.
The few times I had brought one of my school friends to Cross Hills, they had absolutely hated it, because honestly there really wasnt that much to do. Every time we went we always went to the same few restaurants, the same stores, the same ice cream shop, and the same playground.
Don't ask me what, but there was something about the town that just made me feel like the happiest kid in the world. Whenever I went there I just forgot any of the problems I was going through, and enjoyed life.
The town probably wouldn't have been as special if I didn't get to spend all of my time there with my family friends.
All of my parents friends, whether they went to Uni with one of my parents, lived in the same town as them growing up, or just met them at a pub or something, all of them had kids around my age. There was a lot of kids too, at least 20 of us all together I think, so there was always someone to play with.
Unfortunately once all of us started entering secondary school at age 11, everyone got busier and busier and the trips to Cross Hills slowly started to become less frequent, meaning not only did we stop going to the town, but we also stopped seeing each other.
The last time I ever went was probably when I was about 13, which was 6 years ago....
And to be honest, I don't even think I remember more than a few of my old friends' names....
"There's the restaurant right there!" I said pointing down the street.
"Wow that looks really nice!"
"Yeah it is." I said smiling, I hadn't been here in years, and it still looked the same.
"And you're sure that its okay that I'm here?"
"Yeah Lou! My mum told me that everyone was bringing friends and stuff, its fine."
"Okay," Louis said as he drove into the parking lot and pulled into literally the farthest spot from the door.
