like dandelions in the wind (l.s.)

Day one

this is written in Louis' POV :))

I put my bag into the trunk of my dad's old campervan, put some boxes with food and the camping stove inside as well before adding some blankets and a sleeping bag on top.

I walk around the car, sit down on the driver's seat and place my phone in the phone holder attached to the front window before scrolling through Spotify, trying to find the playlist I made just for this trip.

Then I switch to the app that already has this perfect route suggested and sigh heavily. This is hopefully going to be more fun than Zayn's partying.

Plus, I'll get some time for myself, what I haven't had in forever, see some nature and cities and bring dad back the car I borrowed for the last trip Zayn, Liam and me did.

I lean back on my seat and pretend to play the piano on the steering wheel. I've never played piano before; I don't even know if this is how you play it. I think about learning to play the piano for a bit until the map finally downloaded fully and roll my eyes. If everything will take this long, I won't make the whole road trip within the next three weeks for sure.

It'd really bug me if I didn't make it to the family meeting in time because everyone is going to be there. Mum and dad and my sisters and aunts and grandparents and I haven't seen them in a long time, it has been hard to manage meeting them regularly with uni going on but since it was dad's birthday a week ago, we'll celebrate it all together once I'm there.

Before I waste anymore time staring out of the window, I start the engine, try not to crash the car into the one parking behind me and sing along to 'Human' by the Killers quietly while still trying to concentrate on the road. I usually use the metro so I'm not really used to driving a car anyone, especially not since this is a rather old van.

The more that I think about it, the more I realize that I'm actually pretty excited for this trip. It'll be the first time I get to spend this long for myself in ages. In forever, probably.

Ever since I moved out at nineteen, I've shared a flat close to university with Zayn so I never spent more than a week, when he went to visit his parents, alone. I feel like I'll really need this. I've had too many social contacts in my twenty-three year long life and I'm craving some alone time.

Sleeping in, having an unhealthy breakfast, going swimming, dozing of to sleep in the warm summer heat and then getting dinner before falling asleep again. All of it alone, without any yelling sisters or a drunken Zayn around. Sounds pretty good, if you ask me.

Maybe I wished for too much though, because my singing along to the playlist is interrupted by an incoming call from Zayn a few minutes later and I try hard to press the green symbol without my phone falling out of its holder.

"Hi?" I ask, trying to turn the music down that didn't stop when I took the call for some reason while still not wanting to crash the car.

"Louis?", Zayn shouts so loud that the whole road must've heard, "You forgot your toothbrush. I accidentally used it." He laughs so loud that I know he must be drunk already and it's only five in the afternoon.

Zayn likes to use his holidays differently than me. I quickly turn down the volume of my speaker before my ears get seriously hurt.

"Fuck", I mutter, "Not that bad. Gonna buy a new one."

"Great idea", he babbles, "I really wanted to suggest that too." He giggles. "You know what I thought, Lou. It's pretty funny. It's almost as if we kissed now because your toothbrush totally touched your tongue, at least if you're one of those people who brush their tongues. I would do it honestly. It makes your mouth smell less bad. Anyways, it touched your tongue and then it touched mine so we basically tongue kissed. Fucking gross."

I roll my eyes and try not to freak out because his tongue kiss theory really is the most disgusting thing someone ever told me.

"Zayn", I say, "Don't get too wasted, hear me?"

"Did hear. I don't see you though", he says and laughs over his own joke and I want to drive my car into a tree. How did I end up being best friends with him? I'm so happy I decided not to stay home in that moment.

"Alright, Z, I'm just gonna leave now. The signal is getting super bad I'm driving straight into a tunnel right now. Bye, mate", I say as quickly as possible and hang up, nearly dying of a heart attack because the music suddenly starts playing again extremely loudly. I try not to get into an accident after just two hours into my road trip.

When I look back at the map, I want to slam my head against the steering wheel. "Fucking hell", I mutter. Because of Zayn's unnecessary call, I totally forgot to look at the map and had to stare at his ugly profile picture instead and now I missed at least two exits.

It takes me at least half an hour longer than the originally intended four hours before I arrive at some parking lot that looks like I could stay over night. It's not like I'll book a hotel, I surely do not have the money. The seats of the van are able to be folded easily and it makes a rather comfortable mattress. Better than sleeping in a tent anyways.

Now I only have to hope I won't get robbed or killed by some crazy serial killer, but there's a few truck drivers around so I suppose I'll be fine.

After getting comfortable on the seats and eating a cold burger I got from McDonald's earlier, I lay down and text with Lottie and Liam for a bit. I also try to ask Zayn whether he's okay but given he's only replying with a snowboarder emoji, he's probably not.

I reply with a middle finger emoji and turn of my phone before this first day gets any weirder than it already was. I wonder if this was a good idea already now, hoping the night will go by okay.

I slip into my sleeping bag and cover myself with an extra blanket because it suddenly doesn't feel like summer that much anymore. It's pretty freezing cold, actually.

I try not to think about how my teeth feel because I didn't brush them and turn on some boring podcast that always makes me fall asleep on the spot before closing my eyes.
I drift of to sleep quickly, dreaming of flying snowboarders that miss their exits.

~~~

hi<3

thank you for reading:)

I'm nearly done writing this book so I'll try to keep updates very regular (probably 1-3 updates a week at the start, it might get more later on)

please excuse any mistakes, English isn't my first language

leave some feedback/ thoughts/ expectations if you want

you can also find the polish translation for this on imessaround_with_him page :)