Love Will Tell Us Where To Go

We arrived at our destination an hour and ten minutes later. With our luggage in tow and a strong feeling of hope, we made our way to the car rental place next door. (Luckily it only costs $25 for a one day rental.) After that, we were on our way to Chloe’s house. We arrived in Minneapolis ten minutes after seven, but by the time we were at Chloe’s house, it was eight fifteen.

As soon as we pulled in her driveway Chloe ran outside to see us. I barely got out of the car when she hugged me. “Aaah! Don’t knock me down!” I laughed as I tried getting my balance back.

“I’m so happy you guys made it here.”

“You have no idea how happy we are to be here.”

“If I could get some help, that’d be great…”

“Harry!” she exclaimed while running over to him. She gave him a quick hug before grabbing a bag. Once I got one as well, we headed inside her house. Her parents held the door open for us.

Her parents were so excited to see me. Like, majorly. Especially her mom. I felt awful as soon as I realized this, but this is the first time I even thought about how long it had been since I had seen her mom.

She hugged me tightly and thanked me for coming. She told me how surprised but thankful she was that my mother finally let me visit them. I awkwardly laughed and agreed. Lying to her is harder than lying to my own mother.

After we got the rest of our luggage, we took it all to the guest room. “So, have you guys decided who is going to sleep in here?” Chloe asked.

“I am.” Harry replied. “She is so stubborn.” He playfully bumped my arm with his.

“I promise I don’t mind sleeping on an air mattress. Besides, I get to be with my best friend.”

“Aww.” they said in unison.

“Yes, yes, how adorable is our friendship. Now can we please eat?”

“Wow, you just get here and you’re demanding food? So rude.”

“I’m sorry.” I said. “May we please have some food?”

“Better.” she replied. “And yes, of course. Mom ordered pizza about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Awesome! Let’s see the rest of the house while we wait!”

“Yes! You have to see the game room in the basement!”

Despite her bedroom being upstairs and therefore closer, we first saw the basement. It’s pretty big. There’s a sitting area in front of the television including a couch and bean bags. She has some video game consoles and Netflix.

On the other side of the room is a mini kitchen. Near it is a pool table that I am determined to play before the night is over.

Her bedroom fits her personality perfectly. The walls are pale pink and she has cute inspirational quotes on them along with a few band posters. Her twin sized bed is covered in a frilly white bedspread. She has a matching bedroom set (bed frame, dresser, and nightstand) all in white. She has a tv hanging on the wall and a cute little bench at the end of her bed.

By the time we finished looking at her room, the pizza arrived. We quickly got our food and drinks before heading downstairs. Of course Harry and I thanked her parents for the pizza first.

“We have to watch a movie.” she said as she searched through Netxflix.

“Definitely!” I replied. I’m sitting in the middle of the couch with Harry to my left and Chloe to my right; there isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.

By the time the movie was over, it was already after eleven. “I don’t want to go to sleep yet!” Chloe said along with a very dramatic sigh.

“We don’t have to yet.” I told her.

“Yeah….but I wish we could just stay here like, all night.” There was a pause, but it didn’t last long. “Wait, maybe we could! Yeah, we could stay up like, all night, or almost. We just have to be in our beds by umm…9:30? Yeah, my parents will be up then. You’re air mattress is already in my room so - “

“Slow down!” I laughed and she blushed a little. “Sorry…I tend to get a bit over excited.” she said to us, but mainly to Harry. “I mean, she’s pretty much used to me.”

“It’s fine.” Harry told her. “Excitement is always good.”

“Yeah, he’s right. And that’s why I think he should keep that in mind when he gets beat by us at pool.”

“Us?” he asked. “Wait, how is it fair that I have to play against two people?”

“I never said it was!” I got off the couch and they followed me.

“We should make the stakes a bit higher…what do you think, Megan?”

“Most definitely, Chloe.” I closed the space between Harry and I and got really serious. “But how?” I smirked to keep from fully smiling.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“I’m liking our odds.”

“I bet you do.”

“I mean, we don’t have to. I understand if you’re like, scared or something.”

“Ooooh.” Chloe chimed dramatically.

“Alright, enough of being dramatic. What happens when - I’m sorry, I mean if you guys lose?”

“Ha ha ha. So funny. Well, for that, I think that when you lose, you should…” I whispered in Chloe’s ear for her approval first. She did, so I finished my sentence. “make breakfast for us tomorrow.”

“Is that the best you could come up with?”

“You think you could do better? Come on then, tell us your brilliant idea.”

“I thought of something you would never choose to do in any other circumstance. And you will find out what that is…when you guys lose. Now, let’s play!”

“But that’s not - you know what, fine. Let’s do this, Chloe.”

Five games later, and we had won three of them. “Yes!” we exclaimed as we high-fived each other for the millionth time.

“I’ll have my eggs scrambled.” Chloe told him.

“Love, you know I like mine sunny side up, right?” we continued laughing until my stomach hurt.

“You guys…are mean.” is all he could muster.

“So, please, tell us what you were going to make us do.”

“I was going to make you sleep in the guest room.”

“Wait a second…you’re telling me that my loss would make me sleep in a better bed?”

“How would that be bad for me?” Chloe asked.

“You would be separated from her.”

“And that was the worst you could come up with?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Chloe gave me a fake serious look as she said, “Never let him go.”
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We stayed up a little more and watched some television. By one in the morning, we had given up on staying up all night.

“I can’t.” I yawned before I could finish my sentence. “I can’t stay up anymore. I long for my lovely air mattress.”

“You could still have the bed.” Harry suggested. We were making our way upstairs as carefully as possible. Her parents had been asleep for hours now, and I really don’t want to wake them up.

“Seriously sweetie, I don’t mind.”

“I know that. But…tomorrow night. You could sleep in the bed then. We could even rotate to make it fair. Okay?”

“Okay.” I said reluctantly. “Oh my - Harry! I hate you so much.”

“What did he do?” Chloe asked.

“Read The Fault in Our Stars, then you’ll understand.”
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“Are you sure you’re comfortable? Do you need another blanket or pillow?”

“No Chloe, I am quite comfortable.” That was a bit of a lie. Although I am finding this mattress more comfortable than normal out of pure exhaustion.

“You could sleep in my bed if you want. Like, even in the middle of the night we could switch.”

“I’m loving all of the attention and concern, really I am - ” I said with a laugh. “But I really am fine.” I yawned once again. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Megan.”

Despite how tired I am, I managed to think about how this is the first night in months that I’ve slept by myself. I suddenly felt alone as I tossed and turned a bit. I did fall asleep soon, though. But I ended up waking up at four.

I got up to go to the bathroom down the hall. After that, I decided to stop by to see Harry. I knew he wouldn’t be awake, but I just want to see him for a second.

I carefully opened the door that had squeaked the last time it had been opened and hoped it wouldn’t do it again. It did, not as badly, but it didn’t matter anyway because he was sitting on the side of the bed looking right at me.

“Oh, you’re awake. Hello.” I sat down next to him. He rubbed his eyes as he talked. “I’ve been awake for like, five minutes. I need something to drink. Ironically enough, I also need to go to the toilet.”

“I just went.” I told him as I stood up. “Come on, my love. Let us venture off to the kitchen.”

“The kitchen kitchen or the basement kitchen?”

“Basement kitchen. Less of a chance of waking anyone up.”

We held hands as we walked through the dark house, guided only by the flashlight from Harry’s iPhone. Which by the way, should not be looked directly into. Especially in pitch black darkness. No, seriously, you could go blind for at least a minute.

“Isn’t it weird how good water tastes sometimes?” I asked as we continued standing in the basement even though we no longer had a reason to.

“Isn’t it weird how two weeks ago we were in London?”

“Isn’t it weird how yesterday we were in North Carolina?” I countered as we both closed the space between us.

“Isn’t it weird how we’re all alone right now and aren’t kissing?” His smirk turned into a full smile as my lips reached his.

“We really did it, babe. We made it here.” He said between kisses.

“I’m so glad I have you with me.” I leaned back enough to look at him. I could barely see him now with the iPhone light mostly covered, but I could see he was still smiling.

“I don’t know if I’ve told you before but…thanks for noticing me when I was invisible.”

“You were never invisible to me.” He brushed some of my hair behind my ear and caressed my face. There he goes again, looking at me like I’m the most precious thing on earth.

“Exactly.”

Notes