Leonard Cohen

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"Is that it?" Harry asked as he loaded the last bag into the hatchback.

"I think so" I hummed, shutting the door.

"Alright. You hungry? Need to pee? Anything else before we're on the road for 14 hours?" he asked.

"I'm good for now. I've got snacks and drinks packed. We're all ready!" I responded.

"Let's roll," he said, spinning the keys around his finger.

We took our places in the car. Harry in the drivers seat and I in the passenger, at least for now.

"Play me a good song, baby" he hummed, placing his hand on my thigh as he began to drive and I scrolled through my music library to find some music to listen to.

"You know I will," I said back to him. I reached to turn up the volume after I turned on 'Sunday' by The Cranberries.

We had been driving for maybe half an hour when Harry insisted on playing a song.

"If you love me you will listen to this song," he spoke, playing the song he chose as we entered the on ramp.

I could tell he was serious so I didn't tell him he was driving the wrong way on the interstate until the song was done.

Once the song was over I spoke up, "Harry, honey, you're going the wrong way."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" he huffed.

"You said if I loved you I'd listen to the song and I could tell you were serious and I do love you so I listened," I explained. He shook his head at me although I could see a smirk appearing on his lips.

"I feel like and idiot," he mumbled.

"You're not I'm supposed to be giving directions," I squeezed his hand that was on my thigh.

"One time, when I was in high school and I first learned to drive, I was on the interstate going to a concert with my friends and I took the wrong exit and ended up missing the first 15 minutes of the concert," I told him. "I've still haven't lived that down. My friends love to randomly be like 'hey, remember that time' ugh I felt so bad."

"I don't blamed them. I would've been pissed," he retorted, earning a playful slap from me.

"I might like you less, now that you know me so well. Feel like you can be mean to me," I shook my head with a giggle.

"I'm only teasing you 'cuz I love you so much," Harry said back to me.

Silence settled over us for a moment.

"I can drive if you're getting tired," I said.

"I'm not. I could drive all night," he responded.

"One of my favorite artists, I don't know if you know of him, Harry Styles? He has a song that's like "can we just keep driving" and you reminded me of it just now," I smiled.

I had a thing where I'd quote song lyrics after someone unknowingly spoke them in conversation, or tell people to listen to a song when it perfectly fit situations they were dealing with, which Harry liked to tease me about.

"Mhm, think I've heard of him," he joked.

I turned in the passenger seat so I was facing Harry. I leaned my head against the seat, letting my drowsiness consume me as I traced his delicate features with my gaze.

The radio was softly humming a song, the sun had fully disappeared into the night sky and I was tired. My eyelids were heavy as I fought sleep, not wanting to make Harry stay awake and drive while I slept. It would be unfair.

"You can go to sleep, baby. I'll be ok," he whispered to me.

"Mmm, don't want you to get sleepy too, though. I can stay up and we can talk. I—" A yawn cut me off. "I promise," I finished my sentence.

"It's ok, really. If I get tired we'll find a hotel. Get some rest," he assured me and shortly after I was drifting to sleep.

I woke up to a pair of arms reaching over me.

"Harry?" I questioned groggily. His mop of hair was in my line of vision as he unbuckled me from the car.

"Hi, sleepy head. I got us a hotel room, let's go inside," he guided me out of the car and handed me one of my bags with my necessary over night stuff in it.

We walked up to our room. Immediately, when we stepped inside we were peeling off our car clothes and changing into our pajamas. Harry flopped onto the bed first, looking up at me expectantly. I followed his lead and flipped onto the bed. We snuggled under the covers having a slow, sleepy conversation.

"You're perfect," I murmured to Harry, tucking one of his curls behind his ear.

" 'S not true," he hummed. "Im not perfect I got cracks and breaks."

"Leonard Cohen once said 'There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." I spoke softly to him.

"Well, I'm not an old man at a Buddhist monastery, writing honey poetry but, I agree," he giggled sleepily.

"I'm sorry I added an hour to the drive," he spoke.

"It gave me more time to embarrass myself. I told you stories today that I wouldn't tell anyone else," I responded.

"I'm glad I get to hear all your embarrassing stories," he smiled gently.

The soft expression of his tired eyes, the light giggles escaping him, the love I felt for him at the moment felt overwhelming.

I reached up and stroked his cheek with my thumb as I took him in.

"I never thought this would happen to me," I whispered. His eyes stayed close and a small smile graced his lips as he hummed back to me in appreciation. His arms around my waisted pulled me closer to his chest and we went to sleep.
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Leonard Cohen - boygenius

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