wheels on the bus ➸ [larry au]

ღ chapter twenty-six ღ

harry's pov

"come with me."

what.

i found myself staring at the blue eyed twenty-year old. confusion takes over my face as he continued to wait for my answer.

"what?" i finally croaked out.

"christmas is coming, you should be with your mum!" he smiles (which still is something i'm getting used to), "i can add another flight with mine and we can go together."

i shake my head, refusing to let him pay for me. why would he even be offering to pay for me?

"i can't let you," i say shaking my head, "why waste your money on me?"

"just let me do this nice thing," louis begs, "i have money saved up and well...it wouldn't be a waste."

just say yes, harry, i think.

he's giving me a free ticket to get to see my mum and i'm over here debating whether i should take it or not. like what even. he stares at me waiting for my answer again and a smile starts to form on my lips yet i fight against it.

"do it for me?" he then continues, "consider it as my birthday present to you."

his birthday. i had forgotten his birthday was on christmas eve.

okay so i hadn't forgotten, i was simply avoiding it.

rolling my eyes, i give in with a nod and he shouts in triumph. who am i to turn down a free ticket?

"okay so pack up," he then says, "we leave on the twenty-second."

i nod mentally writing it down. i had five days. five days before i would be traveling with louis.

four year old me would have never imagined this.

it's been a few hours since louis' weird call. he had called me in the morning asking if i trusted him and i thought that after my honest answer he'd never want to see me again. yet here he was offering a trip back home.

it feels like i go back-and-forth with him sometimes but lately it's been more good than bad.

his little remarks have definitely died down now and he's no longer cautious as to what he's saying. it's as if he's now used to being a "good" person towards me and no longer used harmful words to me. i'm not praising him for it but i'm grateful for the change he's had in a short amount of time.

"are you sure about this?" i ask him watching as he takes a seat on my bed. he kept looking around my room, probably judging it but i tried to ignore that feeling. we were past that, he was probably just observing or something.

"yes, i'm sure," he replies, "this is the first time i'm in your room isn't it?"

i nod realizing that it was true. he had never been inside my dorm just like i had never been inside his. he gives me a short smile and he leans backwards to take a better look at my england flag and my breath hitches as i notice how sharp his jaw really was and how his muscles tightened when he leaned backward.

i continue to stare at him as he takes a look at the pictures i had beside my bed.

"hey," he then says breaking me out of my trance, "isn't this the photo i took?"

my eyes widened as he points to the certain picture he had taken during a sleepover we had when we were younger and i shake my head.

"no," i lie and he laughs before grabbing the photo from its place.