Chapter 18
It's Halloween.
It's Halloween and Louis' just woken up to Niall brandishing pumpkin ale into his face.
"Happy Halloween, mate!! Drinks on me!!" Niall's thundering, his radiant smile invading Louis' space bubble, pressing cold bottles into his cheeks, and Louis thinks this might be the first time he's ever actively thought that he'd rather get woken by the piano any day.
"Fuck's sake, what's wrong with you?" he rasps as he attempts to orientate himself, registering that it's morning, it's Saturday, and Zayn's party is only a handful of hours away. Zayn's glorious, costume required, alcohol-is-supplied, very hot and expensive mess party.
Which is really the only reason Niall doesn't get one of those bottles that he's brandishing cracked over his head.
"You got your costume all prepared?" the golden ray of annoying fucking sunshine asks, eyes alight as he pops the cap off of one of the beers, before slinging it back effortlessly, swallowing half of its contents without a blink of the eye.
Louis stares, impressed, as he scrubs the sleep away from his eyelashes and crevices, sitting up properly.
"All prepared and ready to go, mate. How about you?" Louis considers for a moment. "What are you gonna be, anyway? You never did get round to telling me."
Niall grins, setting down the now empty bottle, lips moist. "It's a surprise." He wipes his mouth with his Styx t-shirt.
"Well that sounds promising," Louis concludes flatly, before groaning and flopping out of bed (why must he have energetic flatmates? Why?), pulling on trackies and stretching his arms above his head. "I dare say I'm actually quite excited for tonight though. It's been awhile since I've partied, proper like."
He waits for Niall's response as he steps outside of his bedroom and, oh.
Damn.
There is a pumpkin patch in their flat.
"We're carving pumpkins!" Niall suddenly bursts, hopping forward as Rory hauls in yet another huge pumpkin, struggling to set it down in the kitchen. Louis considers helping, wants to help-he loves Rory-but, no. No. Too early to haul pumpkins. So he sits down instead, rubbing his eyes of sleep and resting his feet on the nearest one.
"I'm terrible at making jack-o-lanterns," Louis yawns, scratching his tufty hair, but he can't deny the fact that it sounds fun. At least, more fun than his and Niall's usual Saturdays which consist of watching tellie, eating, hanging about with the lads, and drinking too much. Which, to be honest, gets pretty old after awhile.
"It's going to be part of our Halloween activities. Got to keep up tradition, don't we?" Niall boasts, thumping Louis.
Louis glances up at him witheringly. "We never carved pumpkins at my house. So, no. Not a tradition."
"You what? Never?"
He shakes his head. "Never. Mum didn't like the smell. Said she hated pumpkin guts."
Niall stares solidly. "Right. I'm going to have to talk to Jo about that. That's unacceptable. Don't you have younger sisters?"
"Five of them," Louis yawns, and Niall scoffs, outraged.
"No, that's not gonna work. That's childhood, Louis, childhood!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Rory hauls in yet another massive pumpkin, his knees noticeably quivering.
The morning light glows through the endless windows lining their flat, and even just the saturation of it feels like autumn. There's a distinct burnt leaf smell permeating the cool air that escapes past the windows, the students just beyond their walls, the ones milling about and flirting and texting and talking animatedly about their plans for the night, are bundled in thick sweaters and luxurious shades or orange.
