Escaped

5

The drivers name was Daniel. He shut the glass between the backseat and front seat, leaving Louis and I to ourselves.

We sit quietly during the first couple minutes, when Louis finally pipes up. "So how'd you like the show?"

"It was cool. You're actually a good singer. I liked your set."

"Thanks, what-" suddenly his phone rang. He rolled his eye's and looked down at it. "Oh!" He said, excitedly. "Hey!" ... "I know it's been so long"

I squirmed in my seat, and looked out the window, feeling weird listening to his conversation.

"Hey, Joelle, you wanna make a quick friend?" Louis asked me. I shrugged one shoulder, nodding.

"Sure." I replied.

"Okay, I'm putting you on speaker." Louis said excitedly

"Why, Who's with you?" Another British guy asked.

"Her names Joelle, and you'll never believe her story."

"Oh really? Okay."

"Say something," Louis said, looking at me.

"Um, hi."

"Hello, this is Joelle?"

"Yeah.. that's me." I said, shyly.

"Hi Joelle, I'm Harry."

"Hi Harry. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, so Louis tell me you have quite the story?"

I explained the last 24 hours, feeling like I had repeated myself so many times, even though this was probably only my second time explaining the whole story.

"Blimey, Louis! You weren't kidding."

"Right?!?"

"Alright, now for the reason I called. How are you holding up Louis?"

"Oh... You heard?"

"Yeah, a Larry fan told me. They were wondering if that meant you and I were gonna come out."

"Of course... I should've seen that coming."

"Yeah, I told em not to hold their breath."

"Who's Larry?" I asked.

"Cue my exit," Harry said promptly. "Text me, alright Lou?"

"Aright Hazz, later."

"Joelle. You know what shipping people means, yeah?"

"Nope."

"Well... You know what a relationship is?"

"Yeah..."

He explained the terms to me with pretty good detail. Even explained what a Larry fan was. By the end, I couldn't help but laugh.

"So wait. You were in a band with him?"

"Oh, yeah. We were called One Direction."

"Wow, so you haven't always been a solo artist."

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Not at all. That just means you have a more broad experience."

"Oh, I'm glad you see it that way."

Louis was fun to talk to. He was kind, and careful to make sure he didn't say anything or do anything to upset or trigger me. He made me smile, and he helped me to see that not all guys were bad. Preston did that too, but something was different about Louis... He made me feel something. But I wasn't quite sure what it was yet.