Once in a Lifetime

Thirty-Two.

"And then there were two," Harry commented, looking over his shoulder to see Louis still stood in the same spot he was before. "What do you want to drink, Lou?"

"Uh, vodka lemonade, please?" Harry nodded, his finger running over the tops of the row of bottles until he came across the one that he needed. After filling the cup with the fizzy lemonade, he handed it to Louis, the two of them touching their cups together before taking a sip.

"Here's to our future, and a life away from textbooks, lectures and professors," Harry cheered, drinking some more of his cider. They made their way into the living room where the party was in full swing. Harry was greeted by a few of his friends, so Louis stood awkwardly to the side, wanting Harry to socialise without him getting in the way. A few minutes later, Harry started to frantically look around him, but when his eyes landed on Louis stood against the wall, he smiled, saying goodbye to his friends and walking over to him. "Hey, what are you doing over here?" he spoke into his ear so he could be heard over the music.

"Just didn't want to get in the way, sorry, who were they?"

"Sarah, Callie and Jordan, we'd sometimes meet up at the gym and workout together." Louis nodded, sipping his drink as the music changed to the next song. "I love this song, want to dance?"

"Oh no, I don't dance!" Louis laughed, shaking his head at Harry's pout.

"Please? I know you dance at the club, and I remember you dancing on a table at one of your house parties once, please?" After a bit of persuading, Louis reluctantly agreed, following his boyfriend into the sea of people jumping like lunatics to the beat. It didn't take long for Louis to relax, and maybe downing his drink helped, so after a few songs he found himself grinding against Harry, the taller boy gripping his waist as they moved. After an hour of "dancing", Harry said he was going to refill their drinks again, so Louis sat on the arm of the sofa at the side of the room. There was a couple making out on one side and two girls in deep conversation on the other, so Louis perched on the arm and waited for Harry to return. Niall arrived first though, swaying towards Louis with an outstretched hand.

"Just the person I wanted to see!" he shouted, attacking Louis in a hug, his breathe already smelling of alcohol. "I love you, Louis Tomlinson!"

"I love you too, Ni," Louis laughed, standing up and holding Niall in place. "How much have you had to drink?"

"I don't know," Niall shrugged, using his fingers to count. "Maybe one, two, four, three!" he exclaimed, shoving his hand in Louis' face. "Where's your boyfriend, anyway?"

"Harry's getting the drinks, where's Liam?" Niall pointed to the ceiling, winking comically just as Harry returned, passing Louis his cup and taking a look at Niall.

"Woah look at the drunk little leprechaun!" he laughed, patting Niall's shoulder as he did so.

"Oh, shut up, you long-haired giraffe!"

"Seriously, you two, just stop bickering like brothers for one night!" Louis pleaded, smiling fondly when Niall stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Harry's torso. "I love my giraffe," he sighed, Harry putting his arms around Niall, too.

"And I love my leprechaun."

By the time Liam found the group in the garden, it was long past midnight, and the party goers were beginning to disperse. They had all had too much to drink, each of them very aware that it would hurt like hell when they woke up, but they also knew that it was a night out that they all needed. It had been incredibly stressful the last few months, so being able to let their hair down and let go of themselves for a couple hours was definitely needed.

"Right," Liam slurred, pulling himself off the grass and pointing at his friends, "we need to go home."

"I don't want to go home," Harry pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as Louis laughed.

"You can come back to our home?" Liam suggested, hiccupping when he got to the end of his sentence. Harry thought about it for a moment, before eventually nodding and offering his hands to Liam to help him stand.

"I'm tired," Niall yawned, standing up and stumbling as he lost his balance.

"I'm sleeping here," Louis announced, laying back on the grass and looking up to the sky. He could see the stars shining back at him, his eyes landing on each light. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven-"

"What are you doing, Louis?" Liam asked, looking up at the sky to get a better idea.

"I'm counting stars," he replied as if it was obvious. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen-"

"There's so many stars!" Harry gasped, his right hand pointing up to the sky as if he had never realised it had existed before, "it's so pretty!"

"Yeah," Niall agreed, his eyes sparkling as he looked up too. By now, all four boys were staring at the sky, Louis' counting the only thing breaking the comfortable silence.

"How many nights would it take to count the stars?" Harry wondered, not taking his eyes off the twinkling lights above him.

"An infinity," Louis whispered, smiling as he thought about Zayn being the brightest star of them all.