Reality

Sunday Happenings

Brooke

"It hurts!" Louis shouts as I help him rub aloe vera on his sunburned back. "Oh god, I'm going to die of skin cancer."

"No you won't," I laugh, closing the cap of the squeeze bottle. I toss it onto his bed and watch as it bounces off his pillow and onto the floor. "I told you yesterday that you've just got to keep it moisturized or something. Drink a lot of water and take Advil if it hurts so much."

He nods his head and sighs, pulling on the shirt he left on his bed. I feel bad for the guy. I know what it's like to have a really bad sunburn, and it's nothing pleasant. He doesn't even look like he's ever been sunburned in his life, so I can only imagine how he feels right now. 

Louis and I are one of the few housemates awake, even though it's nearly half past noon. I haven't heard from Zayn, so I assume he's still asleep. I thought I saw Liam earlier this morning swimming in the pool, but it could've been my imagination because I was so tired when I walked to the kitchen for water.

"Brooke?" I hear my name as I start to make my way out of the room. I turn around to see Louis sitting on his bed, an embarrassed expression etched on his face. He quickly glances over at the other bed in the room, as if he's double checking to make sure Niall is still fast asleep. "Can I ask you something? It's kind of ... personal. I guess."

"Yeah, sure," I nod my head and walk over to him, careful not to trip over anything and make a loud noise. I'd probably wake up Niall, and I don't think Louis wants that to happen. I sit down next to him and wait for him to talk.

"Well, you're a girl. You're probably the best person to ask," he pauses a moment and starts to pick at his nails. His shoulders are slumped and he refuses to look up at me, but he hesitates before continuing to speak. "And you're the only girl in the house I don't really have a lot of difficulty talking to. And you're pretty honest."

"Spit it out, Tomlinson," I laugh, causing him to make eye contact with me. "What's up?"

Louis inhales a deep breath, and I can actually see how nervous he is to talk to me. I have no idea what he wants to ask, and there's a small percentage of me that's starting to worry he's going to tell me some kind of ultra secret crime he committed, which would totally seem unrealistic coming from him. But people do say the quietest people hide a lot from others.

"You know how I said the other day at breakfast that I've never kissed anyone before?" He quietly asks, almost shielding his mouth in case Niall were to be awake and eavesdropping. I nod my head, remembering our IHOP breakfast in which Zayn, Harry, Louis, and I all mentioned something random about ourselves. "Well, do you ... do you think it's weird? Does that make me really pathetic or lame? Because I-I hear people talking sometimes, I catch pieces of conversations, and they always talk about people they've 'hooked up' with or whatever. And it makes me feel very ... loser-ish. I'm twenty-three, a virgin, and I haven't kissed anyone. That's lame, right?"

This isn't quite what I expected to come from him. I didn't think much about it when he mentioned it at breakfast, and I didn't know all of this bothered him so much. The way he holds his head low and fiddles with his fingers lets me know exactly how much he hates it.

"Not at all," I offer a reassuring smile but it doesn't seem to do much. "Listen, everyone is different. You don't have to kiss people or have sex with someone to be considered 'cool'. People that think otherwise need a reality check. The people that brag about it are probably lying through their teeth, just to boost their own ego. I think you're pretty cool already. You're definitely not a loser."

"You're just saying that, aren't you?"

"Nope," I shake my head. I set my hand on his shoulder and smile. "Louis Tomlinson is pretty cool, whether he wants to believe it or not. Being a virgin and not having kissed anyone, I think is kind of awesome. You can just save it for the right person. Believe me, sleeping around and kissing a bunch of people is not as glorious as some make it out to be."