His Bandmate

I open my eyes to the bright light outside, it's sunny today which feels ironic. I stretch as I lay on my back and my muscles feel stiff. I could use a long hot bath by now, but my dad doesn't have a bathtub. I long for my apartment back in England where I can bathe whenever I want to. It's such a luxury.

I hear the front door close and look over at the watch beside my bed and see that it's eight already, so I guess that it should be my dad going to pick up my cousins at the airport.

I pull myself out of bed and don't bother to throw anything on, I'm already wearing a huge t-shirt. I take light steps over the hall and open Louis door without knocking. I get shocked when I hear his voice as I get in, I would have thought that he would be sleeping, but he's not. He's half sitting against the bed frame and is talking on his phone.

He smiles big as he sees me and look me up and down, stopping an extra second on my bare legs. I stand there feeling a little self conscious, closing one leg over the other and twisting my hands over and over. He holds his free arm open as an invitation and I walk over and climb into bed beside him and lay down. I snuggle into his chest as he puts his arm around me.

“Yeah, I know.” He say to whomever he's talking to. His hand I lightly stroking my arm and a shiver goes through me. “I promise that I will.” I feel the rubble coming from his chest as he talks. My hand is making small circles on his bare chest and my eyes is closed as I feel his lovely smell in every breath I take. I hear a hum on the other side of phone, but can't tell what they are saying.

“Okey, I'll call you when I know. Bye!” Louis say and hang up the phone. He embrace me with both arms and I nuzzle closer to his chest. “Good morning!” He mumble into my hair.

“Hello.” I say with a smile.

“I'm gonna miss these mornings.” He say and sound sad, making me frown. What does he mean by that? It sure has been nice waking up in the morning and sneaking into Louis's room, which I've done these last couple of days. But why would he miss them, it's not over yet.

“What do you mean?” I bring my head up to look at him. He look my face over before answering.

“I have to go back, we have some work we need to do and I have to be there.” He say and stroke some hair from my face. I knew this was going to end some day, but I had thought he would go back with me. That way we would at least have a couple more mornings left.

“When are you leaving?” I say, trying not to sound too whiny.

“Tonight.” He whisper and look me deep in the eyes. I groan and put my head down on his chest.

“I didn't think this day could get any worse.” I say and feel like crying. Louis holds me tighter and we lay there quiet for a while.

“I should go get a shower before the others get here.” I say after a while, realizing that we have to get ready. Soon our home will be invaded by my cousins and then it's off to the church. I can't believe that this day is here already. It's just over a week ago my aunt passed away and I've been home for about a week. The time has flown away quickly, a lot thanks to Louis. He's been distracting me in a good way. It seems to have had an good affect on my dad too. He has actually smiled a couple of times in the last few days. Not a full hearty smile, but close.

“Yeah, tell me when you're done and then I can take one.” Louis say and we start to sit up. “If you don't want to share one?” He ask and I look over at his one raised eye brown and push him back onto the bed. He laughs loud and I can't keep the snickering coming from my mouth. I stand up and walk out of the room and pick up some clean underwear from my room before heading to the bathroom.



I pull the black dress over my head and look myself in the mirror, it's an simple dress which is tight against my body, ending right under my knees and doesn't show too much chest. We went out and bought it on friday when I realized that I didn't have anything to wear that would suit the occasion. It's about one of the few times when me and Louis went out together here in Philadelphia. He's been laying low, not wanting too many people to know that he's here. The guys know that he's in Philly, but they think he's visiting one of his old friends. They saw an picture of him in a gossip magazine and he had to tell them something. Thankfully I wasn't in that picture, so he could tell them that he didn't even remember that it was here that I went. They bought it.

It's a bit weird and I hate lying, but I think it's the best that I should tell Harry about us, that's only fair. What ever we are. We haven't talked about it and I'm not about to today. The rest of this day is going to be concentrated to taking care of my dad, he's going to need it.

I pull my hair up and put a couple of pins in to hold my locks into a nice bun, letting a few hang loose. I put on my black pumps and a pair of simple earrings. A simple black cardigan goes over my shoulders before I stop in front of the mirror again and flatten a few wrinkles on the dress with my hand. I look presentable.

I walk out of my room and stop dead at the stairs as Louis steps out of his room. He's wearing a nice black suit with a white shirt under and a black tie. He looks so handsome that it hurts in my stomach. His hair is styled a little less messy and he looks so good. He smiles as he sees me and look at me with hungry eyes.

“You look amazing.” He says as he puts and arm on my back and kisses my cheek.

“And you look very nice.” I say and pull on his tie a little. He chuckles quietly and the sound makes me relax a little.

“What if someone recognizes you?” I ask and is afraid that he will think about it and decide not to come. Why did I even ask?

“Let them.” He say and I hear the car doors close outside and sigh. My cousins are here. They aren't really my cousins, I'm not even sure if they are related to us somehow, but they have always been part of our family. I haven't seen them though in almost five years, so I don't really know them anymore. We used to spend every summer together when we were kids.

“I forgot my wallet, I'll see you down there.” Louis say and walk back into his room.

I start to walk down the stairs when the front door opens. That is when I remember Red. That is one of my cousins, he's one year older than me and was always a pain in my butt, always bullying me. I don't really know what his problem was with me, but I was the main focus for his mean words and hard shoves. My heart kicks up a notch when I take the last step down the stairs and see my dad walks through the door. He give me a sweet smile before the others rumble through. First is Claire, a girl with sparkling red hair and freckles, she's six years older than me, very sweet and was always the mother of the group. Then in comes Hunter and Austin, the twins who are five years older than me and always had too much energy. After them comes beautiful Maya which is a year younger than me, me and Maya had always been close, since we were so close in age, but also because we were very similar in personality. She has a little darker skin than the others and brown curly hair. And lastly comes Red.

They are all adopted by a couple called Annabeth and Roy, which is somehow the family to us. I've asked both my dad and aunt how we are related, but nether could answer me. They are all very different, both in appearance and personality. Annabeth and Roy couldn't come today, but sent the horde of kids instead.

I hug then all until Red comes forward. I can't really tell why I react the way I do, but I get scared of him. I shouldn't, because I'm an adult now and he can't hurt me. What can he do? Call me a sissy and push me down on the floor? But still there is some weakness in me. My dad shows the others into the living room, but I can't move.

“You have grown into a sexy little thing.” Red say and eyes me up and down, his eyes eating me up. I feel sick. He's tall, with messy long hair and have grown a gut since the last time I saw him. He takes a step forward and I freeze.

“Hi, I'm Louis.” I hear the sweet voice of Louis beside me as he stretch his hand out to Red. Red seems to be taken aback but recover quick.

“Hello there.” Red say and his eyebrow raise in surprise. Louis put a hand on the small of my back and I relax, leaning into him a little. I had totally forgotten about Red, it's been so long, but I'm so grateful to have Louis here now. Even more than before.

“Nice to meet you mate.” Louis say in his beautiful british accent. Red gives some mumble to an answer before he turns and walk into the living room to the others. Louis strokes his hand on my back and I take a deep breath.

“Don't ever leave me alone with him.” I whisper stern.

Louis lean in and whisper close to my ear. “I wont.” Making the hair on my arms rise.

“So lets get to the church.” My dad comes out into the hall where we are standing, he eyes us suspiciously but doesn't say anything. “You two can take the Toyota.” My dad say and throw the car keys to Louis and he catch them mid air. I watch in surprise, he's letting Louis drive the Toyota? Wow. He really likes Louis. The Toyota is his little baby.

“Come on.” I say and we walk to the garage and get into the car. “You want me to drive?” I ask as we sit down in our seats and Louis tries to find the keyhole.

“What? No.” He say and smile when he finds it and can start the car.

“You do know that you need to drive on the right side of the road?” I ask in a mocking voice. He just rolls his eyes and starts to back the car out of the driveway.

“You underestimate me little girl.” Louis say as we're on the way to the church. His driving is really calm and good.

“I guess I do.” I mumble and look over at the smiling boy beside me. “But you do realize that you should have turned there?” I say and point my thumb behind us.

“Shit!” Louis exclaim, looking frantically around himself and I snicker. He makes an u-turn at the next crossing and we're on the right path again. I take a deep breath as he stops the car outside of the church, I see a couple of people walking inside. This is probably one of the hardest things that I've ever had to do. I've never really been to many funerals and definitely to anyone that I cared so much for.

We step out of the car when my dad stops the other car beside us. I hook my arm through my dad's as we walk up towards the huge church. I can feel that my dad is stiff and nervous. This can't be easy on him at all. I squeeze his arm a little as we walk inside and he pats my hand. The church is filled with people. I'm a little shocked at how many showed up, even though my aunt's been a popular person, I didn't think they would show. Especially since I organized the funeral, feels like I should have forgotten to invite people or something else big. I sigh in relief though. My aunt was a very outgoing and chatty person, so even the guy from the bakery is here to say his last goodbye to her. That's kind of sweet.

We sit down on the front bench with my cousins behind us. My dad sits by the aisle and I sit down beside him. I see Louis hesitate, wondering if he should sit beside me or sit behind us with my cousins, he isn't really family. I nod for him to join me. I really need him beside me. He sits down and I smile small at him. It have to be a little weird to be at a funeral for someone that you've never met. I'm very grateful that he's here though.

The priest starts the service and the choir sings a beautiful song. I see in the corner of my eye that dad dries his eyes with the handkerchief that I made him bring. I look forward and try not to think about it, it's so hard to see my dad be this hurt. I can't even imagine what he's going through.

When the priest starts to talk about my aunt and the wonderful things she did and how loved she was, I can feel my breathing hitch and the tears that I've tried to keep back starts to fall down my cheeks. I can't believe that she's gone. She's been such a constant in my life. We haven't always had the best relationship, but she's always been there to help me. When I got my first period, my dad wasn't really ready for that one, when I had my first heartbreak, or at least what I thought was love at that time. She's been such a good rock to lean back on and now she's not here anymore. What will I do now? What will my dad do? He's left all alone.

Louis reach over and takes my hand, braiding our fingers, even though my dad is sitting just a couple of inches beside me. I don't care though, because the feeling is relieving and I can let go somehow of everything. I let the tears fall freely. Louis's thump stroke my hand over and over, trying to comfort me. It's a very nice comfort when my heart is breaking from the loss of my aunt.

Notes

Sorry guys for the delay...again! I had my birthday last week and there was festivities all weekend and a lot of other work.

Besides this chapter was harder to write. So sad. I'm not sure that it was any good.

Hope you keep reading though! :)

Thank you for all the support! It means the world!

xx.