Just Hold On // L.T. ✓

6

~‪The sun goes down and it comes back up,

‪The world it turns no matter what~

"Thanks for the coffee." Luke admitted shyly, wearing sweats and no shirt in the dim living room. Louis pushed himself into the corner of the couch, trying to protect himself.

"You're welcome."

"Perrie said that she'll tell you about the mission today. She's in the shower, but just wait a couple minutes." Louis smiled, and started texting Lottie his updates, since she was done with FaceTime. Such a teenager.

Lottie didn't text back, and Louis eventually started looking around the little apartment. There was the spacious kitchen and the dining room. Then, a couch and a television with a bunch of movies next to it. Then there was the desk, which had high-tech equipment next to it that shocked Louis, who just barely got his first IPhone.

"You're the getaway driver." Perrie said, moving towards the dining room as she came out of the bathroom. She moved towards the bomb that she was building there. "That means that you'll wait outside of the job for us, and then you'll drive away as fast as you can. They'll be decoys, do you know how that works?"

"Yes." I answered. "I've taken all of Simon's classes." He kept his attention focused on the swirlings in the table, and tried to ignore the itch for a cigarette.

"Well, you'll meet up with them. Luke knows most of the details, but it's all stuff that you could learn on the day of the job. But, we fly out to North Carolina on the 27th of this month, and the job takes place two days after that. We'll all take a cab over there, and you'll go pick up the car while we're inside, stealing everything."

"Where exactly are we stealing from?"

"The Charlotte Motor Speedway." She said. "Big money haul. You don't need to know what the rest of us will be doing, you just need to drive us out of there fast enough that we don't get caught."

"I got that." Louis smiled.

"I want to see your driving skills. Make sure that you're not defective and we don't have to send you back to the factory." Louis laughed, but Luke didn't have a joking tone. He was completely serious. "Tonight. Be here at eight. I'll have a car."

---

"Everyone get in." Luke said, motioning to the car. Palmer and Perrie got into the backseat, arguing about something, and Luke got into the passenger seat. The three of them appeared nervous, but Louis was calm.

After a couple of cigarettes, nothing could faze him. They basically served as anxiety medication for him, even though he was never diagnosed.

Louis got into the driver's seat, moving the seat so that he could reach the pedals and see over the dashboard. Perrie snickered at this, and Luke started giving the instructions to Louis. "Your test is to get to the wharf in ten minutes."

"That's a forty minute drive." Palmer said, suspicious. "With all the traffic, it's fourty. Even at this hour."

"I want clam chowder, and I don't want to wait. Can you do it?" Luke eyed Louis over his dark sunglasses.

"If you GPS it, I can do it." Louis smirked.

In the rearview mirror, Luke smiled at Perrie and Palmer, knowing that it was impossible. Soon, there was a phone showing where the wharf was on the dash, and Louis turned on the car.

"Ten minutes starts now."

Louis got the car up to 100 in less than a minute, and they were zipping along the coastline. Louis' eyes were not concentrated on the road, instead they focused on the phone, as he zipped through backroads instead of taking the most direct route.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked. "This is the wrong way."

"I'll get there in time this way. I'm not going through traffic."

"You'll get pulled over doing these speeds on city streets." Palmer yelled at him.

"Why have a getaway driver that can't evade the police?" Louis laughed. "Turn up the radio, Luke." With his terse instructions, they all knew that Louis knew their plan to fail him, but Louis didn't fail. He was going to show them that he was the best getaway driver they could have.

Louis used all of their time, down to the last second, pulling into a parking spot as the timer on Perrie's phone went off. Then Louis got out of the car, panting and he ran down to the water, taking everything out of his pockets. His jacket went onto the sand, and he threw himself into the waves to cool off.

The others went up to a restaurant, ordering some clam chowder to go. "He's good." Luke said, looking irritated.

"We need him." Perrie said angrily.

"We could do it." Palmer said. "It would just be tight."

"I hate him." Luke grumbled. "He's so cocky and arrogant. I hate him."

Perrie's eyes lit up as Palmer ordered their food. "I have a plan. But it involved invoking your gay side, Luke."

Luke rolled his eyes. "If it's necessary."

---

"Mum, your advice worked." Louis said, dancing around his room in a towel. "They like me now, or at least think that I'm necessary to the job."

"That's so good, Louis."

"Hey, Lottie hasn't been returning my texts or calls. Is she good?"

Jay sighed. "She's having a tough time with everything. I'll have her call you tonight, okay?"

Louis gave his agreement. "Looks like I'll be home around the second or third of June."

"That's wonderful, Louis. I can't wait to see you."

"Me either mum. Rest. Don't worry. Let everyone else take care of everything." Jay sighed, but agreed, and Louis hung up the phone, ready for an exciting new day tomorrow.