if you want me to write a poem (about you) [e.c]

chapter 7

Ireland is very green, and the people are very nice, and Eleanor drinks a lot of beer in pubs, laughs a lot, and tries not to think about Louis.

She stays with Niall's family for a bit, listening to her mum tell stories of when Niall was a wee thing and asking all the right questions and laughing in all the right spots, and she goes to bed at night in Niall's old bedroom. In the darkness is the only time she'll let herself think about what Louis' face must have looked like when he realized she was actually gone this time.

Idiot, she'd called him, but he was never the one who was wrong. It was only a matter of time, and Louis had known that better than even she did.

For a moment, in between making Louis cups of tea and texting him about what they were going to have for dinner, Eleanor had forgotten that she couldn't let herself fall into domesticity, that she couldn't settle down and wait for Louis to frown and tell her that she needed to leave, that there wasn't a permanent place for her.

Really, she thinks, staring at where she knows there's a poster of the Spice Girls on Niall's wall, it was a good thing she'd remembered sooner rather than later. This way was better for everyone. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Liam Payne @liam_payne
@EleanorCalder misss youuuuu. when r u gona be backkkkk? needdddd to talkkkk to u
7:22 PM - 6 Sept 14

Eleanor runs into Louis at the Asda that's closest to his flat, which is not what she'd been thinking when she'd decided to go there to get milk for Liam, at least not consciously. If she had, she might have decided to go to Waitrose instead, but no, she's stuck standing at the end of the cereal aisle, staring at Louis. He hasn't noticed her yet, intent on looking at the shelves, and when he reaches out to grab a box, she can see a splash of red on the inside of his arm. A tattoo?

She could still leave before he sees her, but there are roots growing from her feet. She may never move again.

He looks up and she can tell the moment he sees her, because his face changes; his mouth sets in a line and a matching tiny vertical one appears between his eyebrows. She lifts a hand and waves. He doesn't wave back, but he does start walking toward her.

"Eleanor," he says when he reaches her. "I didn't know you were in town."Of course he didn't, because she didn't tell him. She shrugs. "Coco Pops?" she asks, gesturing to the box in Louis' hand. He lifts it, turning his hand a bit, and she can just about see the tattoo now.

She grabs his wrist without thinking, turning his arm the rest of the way and holding it where it is, and the sudden touch startles them both, looking up into each other's eyes and staring for a moment before Eleanor looks back at his arm. "A poppy," she says.

Louis pulls his arm away. Eleanor's hand closes into a fist. "Yeah."

There are things she could say, there must be, but Louis has one of her favourite flowers tattooed on him and she can't think of anything at all, let alone polite words that one exchanges with a friend they haven't seen in awhile.

"It was nice seeing you," Louis says, and then he's walking away again, and Eleanor can't follow him because the roots growing from her feet have curled and she can't uproot them. It's an odd feeling. She's usually more like a leaf in the wind. She wonders when that changed.

Eleanor Calder @EleanorCalder
Prague-licious.
instagram.com/x/hqULNhdL
3:02 PM - 13 Sept 14

zaynmalik @zaynmalik
@Harry_Styles that was horrible x
4:32 AM - 14 Sept 14

Eleanor Calder @EleanorCalder
@zaynmalik shhhhh .xx
11:03 AM - 14 Sept 14-

Eleanor Calder @EleanorCalder
it's so romantic on the borderline tonight .xx instagram.com/x/laKEnsSy
5:11 PM - 20 Sept 14-