You're Still the One (Louis Tomlinson) (FINISHED!)

Chapter three: The magic continues

Louis and I walked out of the warm restaurant into the now completely dark night. The only source of light was the Christmas lights all through the street. I was stuffed, I haven’t been that full in weeks and after some convincing, Louis paid the bill – despite my insisting to pay half. All through dinner we just talked. We talked about who we were, what we wanted to be. I learned he is 20 years old, and his birthday is coming up in a few days – Christmas eve to be exact, and that he loves to sing. He is working at the book shop to put himself through drama school. I told him all about how my family is full of successful doctors and lawyers and how the expectations for me were always higher than I could reach. I told him how I’ve never felt good enough and how none of my friends supported me coming out to England. I told him things I never told anyone before – not because I was scared, but because no one I knew ever cared.

Louis cared.

He cared enough about some girl he just met, and knew nothing about, to take her out for a friendly night and listen to her.

“I’ve never met anyone like you before, Louis,” his hands were in his pockets, but he stuck his elbow out for me to take his arm. “Oh yeah? And what am I like exactly?”

I thought for a second, trying to find the right way to describe him. “I don’t know exactly. Different. Kind. Genuine. You see people with stories instead of just faces in a crowd,” He looked down and smiled a bit. “I know my life can be complicated, so why can’t others? Some people hide it well, and some,” he pushed into me a bit, “Wear it on their sleeve like a two year olds snot,” I laughed, but it got drowned out by a crowd of carolers that just turned the corner. They spotted us and stopped right in our path and continued singing Rockin’ around the Christmas tree.

                Before I knew it, I was being twirled and spun around by Louis. We danced and danced, not even paying attention to the beat of the song anymore, just having fun. Neither of us were really very good, but it didn’t matter. At one point towards the end of the song he took my hands and we leaned back spinning and spinning around until one of us lost balance and fell down, taking the other with them. The whole group of carolers rushed over to us to make sure we were okay, but we didn’t even pay attention to them we were laughing so hard.

It was one of those laughing fits that didn’t really make sense. Maybe it was because it was so cold out that laughing was one of the only things keeping us warm, or maybe it was because we just were in such a euphoric state of mind that laughing was the only way to express it. Either way, we weren’t stopping, and once the carolers realized we weren’t hurt, they left us with shouts of Merry Christmas’s and Happy New Year’s.

                After about three minutes of straight laughing we calmed down a bit and just laid there on the sidewalk. “Look, it’s starting to snow!” exclaimed Louis.

“My first England snow,” I said quietly with a smile. It was funny, when I pictured something magical happening when I moved here, I didn’t think it would involve lying on a stone cold sidewalk while my butt went numb. Louis stood up and stuck his hand out, and I took it. Snow was sticking easily to everything it touched, and the flakes were coming down fatter and faster by the minute. I brushed some flakes from Louis’ beanie, as he brushed some off my shoulders. We looked in each other’s eyes and before I had time to over think anything…

“RACE YOU TO THE END OF THE STREET!”

And Louis was off.

Slightly caught off guard, I yelled, “Hey! No fair, you got a head start!” He stopped and turned around, but his eyes widened and he started running again when he saw I was catching up fast. My joints were stiff from the cold, but I ran as fast as I could, trying to catch up. I couldn’t remember the last time I ran, and it felt good. It felt really good. I felt free. Louis was still a few yards ahead and when he got to the end of the block he turned the corner out of sight. I slowed down as I approached the spot, but I didn’t see him.