Young & Beautiful

eyes of sleep and resting his feet on the nearest one.
“I’m terrible at making jack-o-lanterns,” Louis yawns, scratching his tufty hair, but he can’t deny
the fact that it sounds fun. At least, more fun than his and Niall’s usual Saturdays which consist of
watching tellie, eating, hanging about with the lads, and drinking too much. Which, to be honest,
gets pretty old after awhile.
“It’s going to be part of our Halloween activities. Got to keep up tradition, don’t we?” Niall
boasts, thumping Louis.
Louis glances up at him witheringly. “We never carved pumpkins at my house. So, no. Not a
tradition.”
“You what? Never?”
He shakes his head. “Never. Mum didn’t like the smell. Said she hated pumpkin guts.”
Niall stares solidly. “Right. I’m going to have to talk to Jo about that. That’s unacceptable. Don’t
you have younger sisters?”
“Five of them,” Louis yawns, and Niall scoffs, outraged.
“No, that’s not gonna work. That’s childhood, Louis, childhood!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Rory hauls in yet another massive pumpkin, his knees noticeably quivering.
The morning light glows through the endless windows lining their flat, and even just the saturation
of it feels like autumn. There’s a distinct burnt leaf smell permeating the cool air that escapes past
the windows, the students just beyond their walls, the ones milling about and flirting and texting
and talking animatedly about their plans for the night, are bundled in thick sweaters and luxurious
shades or orange.
Louis’ only been awake for about five minutes, yet this is the most festive he’s felt in years,
probably. It’s nice.
“So you treating us to brekkie then?” Louis asks innocently, fluttering his eyelashes up at Niall.
“On account of it being Halloween and all.”
“I was thinking sweets for breakfast. Since I don’t get to fuckin’ go trick-or-treating anymore.
Load of shite.”
“We probably could, though. What’re they gonna do? Call the police? Start a big investigation?”
He shrugs. “Suppose I feel a bit creepy, though. Who knows, maybe later. We’ll see. Point is, I
want sweets for breakfast. So we’re going to the nearest Tesco, loading up, then off to that bakery
on Main. Sound good?”
Oh, yes it does. Louis’ usually not a sweets person, but he can make an exception for one day of
the year. And he deserves it after the year he’s had.
“Sounds marvelous, Ireland. Take me away.”
“Excellent,” Niall grins, and he places his hands on his hips, looking over to Rory who’s just
about to leave for, presumably, another pumpkin run. “Oi, mate. Come with us to breakfast.”