Love's Not Allowed in the Trenches

6

"See you Harry. Enjoy your time off." Niall said.

"Thanks man. I'll see you soon." I said, hoisting my bag onto my back.

Louis was talking over something with Sergeant Payne and tracing something on a map with his finger, but his bag was by his feet and we were setting off any minute.

"Alright then Styles, that boat won't wait for us." he said after a few minutes.

"See you." someone said and then we were up and out of the bunk, walking towards the dock, where there was a boat to take us back to England.

"You excited?" Louis asked.

"Yeah, where are we going to stay?" I asked.

"Well, the boat will drop us at Ipswich, so I suppose we can stay there and then you can go north to go home and I'll get back down here to France." Louis said.

"Alright then, come on, we'd better hurry if we want to make that boat." I said and we jogged the last few miles to get to the docks.

We were welcomed on board and provided with tea and bread with jam.

"Can't wait until we can get a proper bloody meal." I said, helping myself to another piece of bread.

"How about we get fish and chips when we get to Ipswich?" Louis suggested.

"Wonderful." I replied, grinning.

After the few hours on the boat we landed back in England and followed the crowds of injured on stretchers and other soldiers away from the docks.

"Right then, fish and chips and then we'll find a place to stay." Louis said, walking smartly along the coast. We found a shop and bought some fish and chips, then took the wrapped parcels down to the beach.

"Can you pass me that newspaper please?" Louis asked once we'd settled down in the sand. I grabbed the rolled up newspaper we'd bought from my pocket and passed it to him, then unwrapped the greasy newspaper that the fish and chips were in.

We took our time eating our food and watching the iron-grey sea then got up to find a pub or inn that would keep us for the night. 

Around half past four once it started to get dark we came across a pub.

"Let's try in here." I said, pointing, so we went inside and approached the bar, where several men sat drinking pints of beer.

"What can I do for you?" the barman asked.

"We were wondering if you could put us up for the night? Do you have a spare room or two?" Louis asked.

"I don't know son, ask my wife, she should be in the room on the left at the top of those stairs." the barman said, pointing to some stairs beside the bar.

We climbed the creaky stairs and found the barman's wife in the room he mentioned, reading a book.

"Excuse me, your husband said you could put us up for the night?" I said, knocking softly on the door.

"Of course boys. I'm afraid there's only one room but there are two beds there, so you wouldn't mind sharing would you?" the lady asked, closing her book and getting up.

"Of course not, thank you very much." Louis replied.

She lead us down the narrow hallway to the last little room and unlocked the door with a key, showing us inside. It was cramped with two single beds on each side, a small bathroom in the next room and a grimy window that was difficult to see through.

"This will do well, thank you very much. How much?" I asked.

"Have you boys come from the front?" she asked.

"Yes, we have a few days leave and then it's back to France." Louis replied.

"In that case, stay here for free, it's the least I can do. There's a few keys on that table over there for you and dinner will be downstairs at seven o'clock." the lady said.

"Thank you very much." Louis said.

"Don't worry dear." she replied and she left, shutting the door behind her.

"That was nice of her." I said, dropping my bag to the floor and sitting down on the bed.

"Yeah. What now?" Louis asked, sitting down beside me.

"Well, what do you want to do?" I asked.

Louis didn't say anything but he moved closer to me and I moved forward to meet his lips, both of us kissing each other passionately in the privacy of the room.

"Shall we go down and get a drink before dinner?" Louis asked, pulling away after a few moments.

"Okay then." I replied, kissing him quickly again before we went downstairs.