Reunion

The morning of the reunion arrived and Louis hadn't slept at all the night before. And for the first time in a long time, it had nothing to do with alcohol or companionship. He had actually turned down an exclusive party with some friends because he felt jumpy and uncomfortable and wanted to shed his too tight skin. The night had sat upon him as he had lain in bed and waited for the sun to rise and for this whole escapade to begin. At six in the morning, he had finally slid out of bed and thrown on some clothes before grabbing the bag he had packed and heading down to his car.

The traffic was light that time of the morning as everyone else was heading into London instead of heading out like he was. He hummed along with the radio as the music distracted his mind from the thoughts that kept bubbling up. Thoughts that he forced down for four years. Thoughts that he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with but that he wouldn't have a chance to avoid now. The people associated with those thoughts would be occupying the same space as him for the next two weeks and he was willingly putting himself right inside of the situation.

The spaces outside of the car gradually began to grow more rural as he passed from London to the suburbs to the country roads off of the highway. He had written directions down from Niall, grabbed a map and printed off directions from Google. Everything to ensure that he would be able to find where he was supposed to go.

Way too long later, Louis nervously tapped the steering the wheel as he angrily stared at the map he had printed out from his laptop yet again. Niall had told him that the cottage was out of the way but this was bloody ridiculous. He had been driving in circles for three hours and looking for the elusive Bluestone Cottage that Niall had booked for the next two weeks. He took a deep sigh as he looked down at the gas gauge and saw that the empty light had just lit itself up. Even though he knew that he still had another sixty miles of gas in his SUV before he would be stranded on the side of the road, it didn't stop him from cursing out the blonde irishman as he planned his next route that he hoped would take him by a gas station and direct him to the magic house that was supposed to take them back six years and all sing kumbayah together.

Half an hour later and he had found the gas station much to his relief but still no house. After inspecting the map one more time, he decided that he was just going to call Niall and figure this out. He grabbed his phone from the seat beside him and stabbed at the glossy screen to dial his number. He put the phone to his ear and listened to it ring three times before he heard an irish accent come at him through it.

"Hey Louis," Niall said in a way too chipper voice. "Did you find the key okay? I am still in London so I won't be there to meet you but the owner swore it would be there."

Louis muttered under his breath before speaking. "I would be happy as hell if I was within a mile of that damn key. I've been driving around the wilds of Britain for the last four hours trying to find the house let alone the key to let me in. Where in the hell have you sent us for the next two weeks?"

Niall couldn't help but laugh. Louis always was horrible with directions and so it was no surprise that he had gotten lost when the directions were in now way clear and concise. He was in the middle of putting the last of his stuff in the car, the delay directly related to the fact that he was nervous about leaving Lisa behind. He put the bag in and closed the back of the car before leaning against it.

"Give me some landmarks and maybe I can help you find it." Niall had driven up to the cottage the week before to get a set of keys and ensure that it was exactly what he had wanted. It was perfect. It was quiet and serene and a place that they could breathe together for the first time in years without managers and photographers and producers hanging over top of them and needing something from the group.

"I'm at a petrol station named Mallard's beside a round-about. Where in the hell do I go from here?" Louis looked around again, hoping that Niall would be able to clear the very confusing path he was currently lost in.

Niall tried to remember where exactly Louis was talking about and after a moment he did. In fact, he was only about a two minute drive from the cottage but it could still take him another four hours to find it if he didn't have help.

"You're not that far." Niall waved at Lisa as she stood in the doorway and waited for him to leave. "Just turn right from the gas station and follow the highway until you see Bomley Road. It's going to be on your right. When you hit that, you'll follow it until the end and see the cottage. The sign is on the left."

Louis tried to think back and remember if he had seen that sign but they all flowed together in his head after so many hours of circling around. He nodded in the car as if Niall could actually see him before saying goodbye and turning back on to the road in the direction that he hoped would end the miserable drive.

After another fifteen minutes and only one more time turning around, he finally found his way down the mystical Bomley Road and turned down it. After turning on to the driveway that was down on the left hand side, the house that Niall had called a small cottage by the sea rose before him like a small castle. The house had been described to him as a wooden shack by the sea with a small private beach. What he actually saw was a large cedar two storey house with a bank of windows that opened up on the coast and a stretch of beach littered with comfortable wooden chairs, a fire pit near the middle of it.

There were no other cars in the parking area so Louis knew he was the first one to arrive. He already knew that Harry and Zayn would be coming in later that night since Harry had to do some quick press and Zayn had to work. He had expected Niall to have already arrived but he now knew that he would have at least a couple of hours to himself to investigate where he would be cooped up with them for the next two weeks.

He had to admit that the spot that Niall had picked was picturesque and remote, the perfect area for a reunion that they wanted to be private and hide away from the world. Even the driveway was hidden from the road by large trees. Louis parked his car and unbent his body as he got out of the car. He stretched his too lean body to try and get the kinks that had worked themselves into his muscles during his hours of driving. He grabbed his bag from the back and headed towards the front door. Niall had told him that the key would be tucked under a rock on the right hand side of it. He lifted a few round stones before finding one with a shiny silver key taped to the bottom. Peeling off the key, he slid it easily into the lock and opened the door.

The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside. The furniture was large and comfortable and all positioned to take advantage of the view outside the many windows. The sun streaming in was high and bright and gave the room an instant welcoming tone. Louis set his bag down and went to the closest window and looked out. As he watched the water slowly slide by the beach, he felt his mind drifting to different memories of him and the boys he had spent so much time with. Laughs and joy and tears and frustrations all rolled over him. He was unable to capture specific ones as they passed by even though he wanted to. A chirping sound brought him back to the moment he was actually in and it took a moment for him to realize that it was his phone he carried in his pocket.

Louis looked at his phone as it rang beside him and saw that the call was from Damian. He was the one hosting the party that Louis had turned down and so he wasn't exactly surprised to see him calling to rub in just how much of a blowout he had missed. He wanted to skip the call altogether but he knew that Damian wouldn't give up easily. Louis slid the accept button over and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey Damian," he said as he continued to stare out towards the water outside. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Louis heard a sigh on the other end and a smile tugged at his lips as the picture of Damian crawling out of his bed with bleary eyes and messy hair. And he would still be the picture of sex.

"I may be feeling like shit but it is so worth it. Besides, I only need a pick me up to fix it." Louis heard something being swallowed and he was pretty sure that it would be in the form of a pill with an alcoholic chaser. "You missed an epic night."

"Yeah, I'm sure. But least the sun isn't burning my eyes this morning."

"Who needs sun before noon? Look Louis, Greg's having another party next week and this one's going to be even greater. You have to show up to this one if you're back in town early."

Louis sighed. He had told everyone he wouldn't be in London but that he was on a Vogue shoot in Tokyo for the next couple of weeks. There was no way he was going to tell them that he was going to reunite with the boy band that they had teased him about mercilessly when he had first begun to model and had desperately tried to put behind him.

"We'll have to see. If the shoot finishes early, I'll try to make it back in time." Greg's parties were exactly the type of environment that Louis drowned himself in these days. Flowing alcohol, clouds of drugs and deep bass music that helped him to sink into the oblivion that he existed in so much these days. Depending on how well things went with this whole bonding experiment, he may just have to cut out early and hit the party and sink into it again. "I had better get going. I have to go and do wardrobe before I go out and hit the clubs. There is a hot local who is going to take me to the best place."

"Have an awesome time and I hope you can come next week. You just can't be missing that one."

"Absolutely. I'll talk to you later."

Louis hung up then, tucking his phone back into the pocket of the jeans. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and put one to his mouth to light it before he took one more look along the shore and his eyes got stuck on the circle of chairs around the fire pit. And as he did, a memory finally stuck around long enough for him to be able to submerge himself into it. It was one of Harry, Liam, Zayn, Niall and Louis when they had been hanging around the backyard of Harry's house in Holmes Chapel twelve years earlier. They had been together for a year at that point and it seemed like together they would be able to conquer the world.

Pictures of waking the sleepy Harry and Zayn up much earlier than they had wanted. After eating a homemade breakfast around the large family table, hanging around and strumming on the guitar while singing Gotta Be You in such sweet simplicity. Running on the concrete and splashing in a too cold pool and quickly running back inside to get warm. Taking the time to building a warm fire at night and all them sitting around it in the random chairs that they had found in the shed.  And the easy conversation between them that never seemed to stop.

And a particular portion of the conversation that seemed to sum up so much of where they had been in their relationships at that point. And how they marvelled where they had been and where they were. And how they dreamed to take it as far as they possibly could.

Flashback -

Harry: Don't you all think it's weird to think that a year ago, we were sat right here and so much has changed but this feels like exactly the same.

Louis: The last time that we sat here around the fire and that at the bungalow we only knew each other a few weeks.

Zayn: If you actually think about it, we sat here talking just like we are now.

Niall: When we came here the first time, we'd just been put together and since then we've done a year's worth. We've done an arena tour, we've recorded an album, we've been to so many countries together.

Harry: And this time, when we were here last time, only one of us could legally drink!

Louis: Oh yeah, and that was me.

Harry: And now four of us can.

Liam: Just not you.

Niall: We've done so much stuff, right? But only us five feel the same. We've gone through the same emotions and we've done it all together. only we know what it's like to do these things.

Louis: I wonder what will be different, what we will have achieved then, if we come here again this time next year.

Harry: I wanna have a number one album.

Niall: And just like a tour we're really happy with. A show that we know we gave a real good show to the fans.

Louis: I'd love to come back and say we had a hit, not even a number one, in a foreign country.

Liam: What is the worst things thats happened this year? What was the hardest part?

Zayn: Steps got back together?

- End Flashback

Louis chuckled at the memory as he let the cigarette calm his shaking nerves. Even in the midst of the craziness that was their first year, they were still able to be just be friends for that time. Five young guys hanging out and enjoying the things that life brought them. They had always been able to bring each other back to that for the longest time. A pat on the shoulder, a thumbs up from across the room, a wink as they waited backstage. All of it was a quick sign for one of them to say to the other 'Do you believe this shit?'. He tried to remember when they had stopped doing that. When they had stopped reassuring each other that they were on the ride together and not separate?

Louis took a seat on one of the plush couches and put his feet up. His life was so loud that for this moment at least, his mind reslished the absence of distraction. He didn't realize how long he had sat there until the sky started to darken and the crystal dish he had been using as an ashtray began to fill. Smoke curled around him as Louis heard a crunch of gravel outside and he turned towards the front door. And as he took a deep smoky breath, he steeled himself to face his past and at least one of the three men who had been such a part of it right in the gut. Here goes nothing.