After my grandfather's passing, I moved out of my flat and back in with my grandma. With a degree and job experience, I got a better-paying job at a more popular chain restaurant, and helped my grandma with paying bills. She tried to tell me that her retirement fund would cover it, but I wouldn't let myself get lazy. She often told me how much she appreciated me, and I found myself feeling obligated to stay with her on the weekends, even though she insisted that I go out with my friends.

Often Louis and Liam would visit, and I would make us all tea or coffee and we would have a nice chat. My grandmother took them in like they were her own grandchildren as well, and they didn't complain. I was lucky to have friends who understood and cooperated with my situation. One night, though, cooperation wasn't accepted.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you three need to go out and have fun for yourselves. Every weekend you all come and pay attention to little old me. Before you know it, I'll be gone and you'll be too old to go and party. Enjoy your time while you can, kids. Off you go." she shooed us out the door, and before we could really protest, the door was shut. A bit shocked by her urgency, we decided she meant business, so we hurried out to Louis' van (the same one since highschool, surprisingly) to find a place to go.

We decided on paying a visit back to the old diner that Liam and I had worked at, but were shocked to find out it was closed. It looked like it had been out of business for a while. Liam said that his aunt had sold it to another business man, but that's the last he knew of it.

Then, we thought it would be nice to go back to the highschool and watch a game. Thankfully, we found spots and watched the different teams score goal after goal. It was fun to cheer on my school, even though I didn't recognize anyone there. We had a good time.

~~

Things didn't really act up again until around the fall of that year. Louis got an email from Natalie one day, saying that she had found things little by little that he had left at both her parents' house and their flat. She offered to ship it out, but Louis said that some of the things seemed a little expensive to ship out. He bought a flight out and said he'd be back in a day or two.

Well, it had been the third day of his absence when both Liam and I realized that he made no effort to contact us. We both agreed we'd give him another day, maybe he just got caught up in America. But when another two days had passed, I started to worry.

"Do you think he lost his phone? What if he was robbed, oh my gosh what if he was kidnapped?!" I panicked.

"Em, he's fine. I'm about to call him right now." Liam assured me, and as he talked to the voice on the other end, he gave me signals of positivity. When he hung up, he went to explain.

"He left his phone charger at home, and couldn't find a store that sold the proper charger. His phone was still being charged when he picked up. He said that reason he's taking so long is because he decided to watch a game at his college, and met up with some buddies. He just thought he'd spend some time with them before he left for forever, again." he rolled his eyes.

"Oh. Well I'm glad he's ok." I sighed, reminding myself not to be so paranoid.

Little did I know, a little worrying is pretty healthy.

~~

It was some time later, a little less than a year, I would guess when Louis came pounding at my door on a random day of the week, unexpected.

"Hi there Lou, what's-"

"I have an offer!" he exclaimed, louder than probably intended.

"An offer?"

"Yeah! For one of my writings! I write some things that display my writing style, send it out to some authors, and they contact you if their interested in working with you or helping you out. I got one back!" he jumped for joy, nearly toppling me over in a hug.

"That's great, Lou!" I smiled and rejoiced with him. Even if it wasn't a huge author, this was a huge thing for him and his career, so I was happy for him.

"There's just one thing." he stopped, spirit dampened.

"What?"

"He's an American writer... he wants to see me too often for me to stay here. We would be having multiple meetings a month, and I can't afford to fly back and forth that much. I'd have to be there for at most, a year."

"Really?" I asked, sad that he was leaving again.

"Yeah, that's the only part I'm not ecstatic about."

"Well, you should still go for it. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and I'll always be here." I smiled, trtying to convince him.

"You think so?"

"Of course. You've been there for a long time once, why not try it again?"

"But I'm gonna miss home, and you and Liam..."

"We're not going anywhere! We'll wait. Right here. I won't move a muscle." I froze, earning a chuckle from him.

"Thanks. You're the best."

It was two weeks later at the airport when I started to wish my mouth wasn't so big. Louis' flight had just been called, and he was saying his goodbyes before boarding.

He and Liam hugged, mumbling some things here and there to make the other one laugh. I tried to find the happiness in it, but it was real hard.

When they were done, he came over to me, and I was sobbing before he even hugged me. But when he did, he squeezed me tight, whispering over and over that he would be back as soon as he possibly could, and that I could call him whenever I needed him, and he'd fly right back. I knew it wouldn't be necessary, but the dedication only made me cry harder. I felt him suddenly tense up when his flight was called for the last time, and was scared to let him go.

"I'm going to miss you so much." I sniffled, slowly releasing my grip.

"I'll miss you too. But I promise to call every night, and if I don't, you just pick up your phone and yell at me for not doing it. Ok?"

"Ok." I wiped my eyes, trying to build up the strength to stop my whimpers.

"I love you. You're the best friend I've ever had. See you soon." he gave the both of us another quick hug before gripping his luggage and jogging towards the entrance.

I stared out the window for what seemed like hours, waiting for the plane to start up and fly. And when it started down the runway, Liam's arm wrapped around my shoulder as we watched Louis and all of his dreams take flight.