Two Roads ≫ l.s

11

"You've changed, Louis. You never talk to me like you used to. You always go off over to them." She pointed towards Zayn and Perrie, obviously objectifying them as well as me.

Maybe they forgot the contract too.

"And I do this to deliberately spite you, do I?" Louis suddenly snapped. "Not because they're my friends of 10 years, or anything. Actually, nearer 20 years than 10." He self-corrected.

Kylie tried to protest. "No, that's-"

"There are other people in the world other than you, Kylie." Louis began. "I think you have yet to realize that you're not the only person I interact with, nor are you to make any kinds of decisions over who I interact with, however you may feel about that." His eyes flickered over to me. "But if you dare blame your own abnormally possessive behaviour on anyone other than yourself, especially Harry, then you'll have me to answer to."

I never actually realized how defensive Louis could become in situations like this, and in all honesty, I was beginning to enjoy it.

"I don't care about who you 'interact' with." She muttered although she knew she was fighting a losing battle. "All I was saying is that things used to be different before he came along and took you away from us."

"His name is Harry." Louis hissed. "And if you don't care about who I interact with, you wouldn't have even made that statement in the first place. So..." He shrugged, slowly edging towards our tent. "I think I pretty much hold the cup when it comes to deciding where I want to sleep. And I want to sleep here." He pointed to the space beside me.

Kylie looked as if she was about to cry. Or murder me. Or mass murder everyone else on the campsite apart from her and Louis. Or do all three.

"Well." She sniffed huffily. "I guess if you have that opinion, then..." She tossed her hair, giving him one last hateful glance. "You don't know what you're missing out on." She whispered in a spiteful snarl, before sauntering off to her own tent, her minions of other girls scuttling closely behind her, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed. Louis turned back to us three sitting in the tent, also silenced by what had actually happened.

Although I hadn't exactly been there for Louis and Kylie's history, I had a feeling this was the moment that everything had slowly been building up to.

Louis stared at a stone in the gravel, his eyes stunned by what he had found the courage to do.

"Come in." Zayn beckoned in a soft voice, budging his sleeping bag over to make enough room for Louis to crawl in.

I shuffled into my own sleeping bag, discreetly slipping into my pyjamas as I used it as coverage. I didn't know how late it was, but judging by everyone else's behaviour, I figured it was probably nearing the early hours of the morning.

"Did that actually just happen or am I about to wake up...?" Perrie questioned, her voice filled with pretty much the same amount of disbelief.

"I... well, I think it happened..." Louis lowered himself into his sleeping bag next to me, assumedly changing himself as I unintentionally noticed the amount if effort he was putting into not letting a single inch of skin expose itself to the eyes of anyone in the tent, although I knew Zayn knew about it. But whether Perrie knew was questionable, and as far as Louis knew, I had no idea about anything.

"I... don't really know what to say..." Perrie frowned at the ceiling of the tent. "But I have a strong feeling we probably won't make it all the way through the next day."

"If this is our last night together guys, I love you all. Tell my mother I love her. And er- Louis... I used your toothbrush once on the Year 6 trip to London for a week." Zayn confessed in a satirically dramatic voice.