Fireproof [l.t]

Chapter 25

We have one more outfit change, or at least I do, and then another quick drive before we get to the afterparty. Everyone's excited. The boys can't wait to finally drink and relax, and stop being on their best behaviour. Gemma and Ruby are excited to dance and rub elbows with the Hollywood elite. And I am still waiting for the chance to talk to Louis.

I had followed through with my promise and avoided looking at my phone for the rest of the night, so I never replied to Louis, but that didn't mean I wasn't still thinking about him. Does that sound creepy? Maybe a little.

We enter the party, giddy and nervous, and it takes us all a second to truly register where we are and all the people that are surrounding us. It's beyond surreal. It feels like I'm not even here, like I'm watching someone else's life from the outside.

When that moment ends though, our first stop is the bar. I'm flushed and tired, feeling like the night has gone on for days, but when we get to the bar and I lean against it and look around, the heaviness disappears from my legs, and my eyelids no longer feel weighed down by sleep. Because I see Louis, smiling and laughing with some other singer just across the room.

I haven't decided if I should go up to him right now, or leave it for a bit, when his eyes roam the room and land on me. I smile at him, unsure what else to do now that I'm caught looking at him. He grins back and waves, before turning back to his friend.

I think that he turns back to continue the conversation, that he's busy right now and I'll keep an eye on him and go up to him when he's finished. But then, I watch as he taps his friend on the arm, and then turns away after saying something, and next thing I know he's coming toward me, and my breath is hitching in my throat, and I can't seem to remember what I want to say to him.

It feels like I blink, and then the next thing I know Louis is right in front of me, hands in his pockets as he smiles at me softly.

"Hey." He says, coming to a stop a few steps away from me and not moving.

Without giving myself a chance to overthink it, I step forward and wrap my arms around his neck. I must've moved quickly because Louis stumbles backwards when I reach him. For a second, he doesn't react in any other way, but before I can panic about it, he removes his hands from his pockets, and they snake their way around my waist.

He holds me softly, like he doesn't want to overstep, but his hand resting on my lower back isn't something that I can easily ignore. Even the way that my head seems to perfectly fit in the crook of his neck, makes me want to smile giddily and the subtle smell of his cologne, makes me want to pull him closer, and make sure he never lets me go.

It's not long before Louis steps back though, only a split second later, and my heart would have dropped at how quickly he moved away from me if it weren't for the lopsided smile on his face, and the way that his hands trail from my back and down my arms, before they drop away.

"Uh, hi." I manage breathlessly when I realise that I haven't said anything to him yet. I stare at him for another moment, only half aware of the way my mouth is parted as I take in his face, as if I've never seen it before. My mind is trying to think of something to say and I finally manage to stutter out a simple question that somehow has me blushing. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Louis says, too polite to laugh at the way that I'm fumbling over my words. "How about you? How have you been?"

"Good. Really good." I don't know what else to say. It's not like we have a lot to catch up on, we talk almost every day and there's not much that we haven't already discussed.

"How about the boys? And Gemma and Ruby?"

"They're good. They're actually just over there. Ruby's my date for the night, and Gemma came with Michael. They're engaged now." I wave behind me vaguely as I ramble on. I don't know why I can't seem to edit myself, why I'm telling him the most mundane things, that I know he already knows.