A Long December.

Louis Tomlinson died on a Friday.

It seemed like any usual Friday. Louis and his wife, April were going out for their usual monthly date, they called their usual babysitter and they decided on attending their usual restaurant. The only unusual thing about that night, was the trunk who ran the red light.

Louis Tomlinson was buried on a Monday.

As Lennox stood watching her two best friends be lowered into the ground, she felt as though a large part of her heart had been torn out and thrown into the caskets, being lowered down six feet under and she felt as though she’d never be able to function completely again.

Lennox and April had been best friends since they were eight when they were placed beside each other in their second grade class. Since then, they’d always been there for eachother. Lennox was there when Louis met April, Lennox was her maid of honor when April got married, and Lennox was there for those seventeen hours of labor when April gave birth to her baby girl, Emmy. April was there when Louis introduced Zayn to Lennox, April was there for the ups and downs of their complicated relationships, and April was there when Zayn and Lennox broke up.

And now Lennox was here for April’s funeral.

Lennox’s eyes shifted from the lowering caskets to the large group of people surrounding the space, some with tears in their eyes, the others with deep somber expression as they watched their friends, their family, get lowered into the ground for eternity. Lennox caught sight of Zayn’s familiar form and she watched as he ran a hand through his dark hair and closed his eyes tightly. It’d been almost a year since she’d seen him, and he still looked just as he had before, the only difference was that he looked tired, worn out almost, which was completely understandable; his best friend had just died, and it was clear that Lennox herself looked no better. Running a bakery and dealing with the death of two best friends was more than taking its toll on her.

Beside Zayn, Lennox took notice of a petite blonde standing close to his side, a napkin pressed to her lips with one hand, and the other firmly squeezed in Zayn’s. Lennox hadn’t realized he’d found a new girlfriend, but it wasn’t a surprise. He was an attractive man, with a more than average personality and a heart to match. The other reason was that everyone tended to avoid bringing up Zayn to Lennox; they assumed she was still hurting, but she didn’t like to think so anyways.

The group of people begins to disperse and everyone begins heading towards their own car and heading off to Louis’ mother’s home to give their condolences and proceed to shove their faces with food, in hopes of blocking out the hurt in their hearts. Lennox stood unmoving and continued to watch the bodies be lowered at an alarmingly slow pace. When they finally reached the bottom, a small machine was brought towards the open plots and it began dropping the dirt into the deep holes.

“Lennox,” Zayn calls.

“I want to be cremated.”

“What?” Zayn asked softly, thrown off by her words.

Lennox notices that the blonde isn’t with him anymore and instead shes heading off to her own car. Lennox wonders if they came together or if he came on his own. Whatever the answer, the blonde starts the car and wastes no time in heading out of the cemetery,

“I can’t stand the thought of paying all that money for a casket and a nice funeral when all my body is going to do is rot and deteriote down there.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Zayn tells her.

The cemetery is now cleared of all of the people now, just Lennox, Zayn and the two men working the machine that’s dropping the dirt into the plots. There’s a couple men a few feet away, standing outside of their car, but Lennox doesn’t count them; not now anyways.

“Lennox, it’s time to go.” Zayn places a hand gently on Lennox’s shoulder. He expects her to flinch, to shake his hand off, but instead, she’s still. “Unless you just want to go home, but you can’t just stand here.”

“God forbid I let my parent’s pay for my funeral, it’d be such a waste of money.”

“Lennox, you assume you’re going to die before your parents?” he asked with an incredulous tone to his voice.

“You never know.” Lennox simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Let’s go,” Zayn tries again, this time, his hand begins maneuvering her towards her car. She’s still driving the same car and even from where he stands, he can see the cherry air freshener he gave her hanging from the rearview mirror.

“Fine,” she mumbles and her feet sluggishly lead her towards the car.

“I’ll drive,” he tells her, and she sees no use in trying to put up a fight. Instead, she merely digs into her purse and hands over the keys.

When they reach her house, she expects him to leave, but instead, he follows her inside and sets her keys down in their usual spot; the fishbowl beside the front door.

Zayn follows her back to her room, but stops short when he realizes that she’s begun pulling at the zipper on the back of her dress and she’s getting undressed. He tries to focus his eyes on the apartment and take in any differences since the last time he was there, but he can’t seem to keep his eyes from returning to the open bedroom door and the petite body standing in her matching black set of underwear as she searches for something other than that uncomfortable dress to wear.

She’s still in perfect shape, just like Zayn remembers and he wonders how she finds time to keep up with running a bakery and working out daily. But it was Lennox, she always found a way to work anything out.

“You want a beer?” Lennox asks as she steps out of the bedroom. Zayn catches a glimpse of her belly button ring as she slips the rest of her shirt down, covering her navel.

The last thing Zayn wants at the moment is a beer, but seeing as it’s Lennox offering and he’s never been able to say no to Lennox, he nods and follows behind her to the kitchen where she pulls out a bottle and holds it underneath her shirt, twisting the cap off with the help of the fabric.

Seeing her like this, in her t shirt and shorts, popping open bottles of beers she had in her fridge, even though damn well, she didn’t drink it, it reminded him of the countless nights they’d spent together in this apartment. And the way she was looking now, even in this moment, which was less than acceptable, it was really making him miss those times.

His hazel eyes watched her lean body as she inched closer to him with each step, a smirk on her features the closer she got. Once she finally got within arm’s reach, he grasped her hips and pulled her into his lap, causing her to straddle him as her face came inches from his and her hair splashed around him.

“Can’t we just stay in tonight?” she purred.

Zayn’s hands found her hips and he smirked as he watched her pout. “You know Louis and April are waiting on us.”

Her green eyes took in the smooth features of his face and she rested her hands on his cheeks. “Yeah, but it would just be so much more fun to just stay in,”

Zayn watched his girlfriend as her lips inched closer and closer to his own and he was still shocked at how he was actually able to call her his. Her beauty was unlike any other, and her heart, well, it was bigger than anyone else’s in the world. Lennox was perfection to Zayn.

“Can you get that?” Lennox’s smooth voice asked him and he then realized that someone was knocking on the front door. Lennox made no attempt to move, so Zayn headed to the front door and opened it to reveal a man in a deep grey suit.

“Can I help you?” Zayn’s features were puzzled as he stared at the man.

“Yes, is Ms. Marshall here? I need to speak to her.”

Before Zayn could turn around and call for her, Lennox appeared beside him and asked the man what he was here for.

“It’s about Louis and April Tomlinson. They left you and a Mr. Zayn Malik as their daughter’s guardians.”