A Different Way[Louis Tomlinson]

Chapter Three

The plans are made. I'm meeting him tomorrow at a little café in downtown LA. I fall asleep again at four with a smile on my face. I wake up to a knock on my door at seven. I groan and roll off the couch. Not a good place to sleep. I trudge over to the big oak door. It's Marlene. I open it and she runs inside. I lazily close the door saying 'good morning to you too.'

"Sorry! But did you watch the news this morning?" She questions me from my couch.

"Does it look like I watched the news this morning?" I say, pointing to my major bed-head. She sighs and starts tapping away on her phone. I sit next to her, looking over at her phone.

'Louis Tomlinson and Amber Loktae Grammy Awards' is typed into Google. I groan, putting my head in my hands. She wraps an arm around me.

"Your first major spotlight." She says sarcastically.

"Hey, it could be worse. At least I didn't fall out of my dress or anything." I laugh.

"Oh honey, you didn't see?" She says seriously, sitting up.

"What?!" I yelp.

"I'm just messing with you. As far as I know you didn't. It's not like I'm constantly checking you. Maybe you should ask Louis." She snickers.

"Screw you." I say playfully shoving her.

"Hey. Thats mean." She says pouting and crossing her arms.

"Omg Marie I do NOT have time for this." I giggle, getting up and running into the kitchen.

"What don't you have time for? And hey, you said you weren't doing anything tod.... OOOOOO!" She squeals running into the kitchen behind me.

"Marlene..." I hiss.

"Sorry sorry! So he asked you on a date?!?!" She squeals.

"Omg Marlene just leave me alone!" I laugh pushing her towards the door.

"Hell no honey you need Mama Marie's help! I mean, look at you. When are you meeting him?" She asks.

"Nine." Her eyes go wide.

"NINE?! Honey it's seven thirty! How are you going to be ready intime?!" She says franticly, waving her hands in the air.

"Marie, it's okay. He's meeting me at a café downtown. Nothing big."

"But you still gotta look nice! Honey come on we gotta get you in the shower!" She says hauling me out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She throws me in the bathroom and runs to get me clothes. I wait in the bathroom, sitting in the edge of the sink. She runs in seconds later with my strapless white sundress.

"Hell no, I'm not wearing that Marlene you know what that looks like on me!"

"You look perfect in it! And it shows you off a little!"

"Thats what I DON'T want, Marlene!"

"Well why not? God made them for a reason didn't he?" She says.

"Fine. I'll wear it. Now go make me breakfast. I'll be in the shower." I mumble grabbing the dress and pushing her out the door.

The sundress is smaller than I remember. It falls halfway down my thigh and I have to hike it up every fifteen seconds. Marlene curls my hair while I eat her 'famous family recipe' pancakes. She tops off my head with a crown of small yellow flowers. She steps back, taking me in.

"Perfect." She says putting her hands on her hips. "He'll love you."

"I think he already does." I giggle. It's eight forty and I still have to get to the café. Marlene offers to drive me in her expensive Porsche. We arrive there at nine fifteen. I grab my bag and hop out of the car, yelling thank you and goodbye. I run into the café. I don't see him at first, but then I see his hair. I'm about to run over to him when I remember I'm in public and I can't draw attention to myself. I calm myself down and walk over to him. Four feet before I reach him he dials a number on his phone. I stop when three seconds later my phone starts playing my ringtone. He turns around, phone still up to his ear. I shyly smile and dig my phone out of my purse. He stands up, hanging up the call. He smiles down at me. I feel the heat rising in my cheeks as his eyes take me in.

"You look nice today." He say's after a moment.

"Thank you. I should say the same but you probably already know you look nice today." I giggle. He laughs and puts a hand on my shoulder as he leads me over to my chair. I sit down and he walks back to his. He sits down His knee bumps mine. I try not to flinch or jerk away from him. He doesn't seem to notice. We don't order anything, turns out we both already ate. We talk quietly for a few minutes about the show last night. We fall silent and I pick at the hem of my dress under the table.

"You know, I was watching the news last night after the show..." He says. I look up at him, and he's staring out the café window to our right.

"Yeah, I saw it too." I say, letting a small 'haha' escape with it. He turns back to me, and it takes everything in me not to turn away.

"A lot of people don't like the idea... Of us. They think I'm too old for you... Or maybe they think you're too young for me... And I thought maybe they're right..." My breath catches in my throat. "And I thought that was why you didn't call... But then you did... And... I don't know, I guess I was just really surprised... I don't know..." He goes back to staring out the window.

"Luke came and talked to me about it last night... He kept telling me that you were trouble and that I could do better than you..." At that he turns back to me. I open my mouth to say more but I decide against it. He turns back to the window once again. I press my fingers to my forehead, this is not how I planned our first real conversation would go.

"What did Zayn and Harry say to you last night after the show?" The words come out of my mouth without my permission. I look up at him again and he's watching me.

"They told me it wasn't a good idea to chase after you. That I was going to get in a lot of trouble if I did. And they said you weren't worth it either. Niall and Liam are on their side too. They don't even know I'm here." He sighs, putting his face in his hands. I want to say something to comfort him, but I can't think of anything. We sit silent, he's still hanging his head in his hands. Then I hear it. It sounds like a camera click. Louis hear's it too, he picks is head up a little. Then it happens again, and he jerks his head all the way up. We stare at each other, waiting for the click to come again. And then it comes. Multiple click after click. I grab my bag and try to hide my face as Louis grab's my hand and pulls me away from the table. We crash through the café, the click's following close behind. I turn to look over my shoulder. There's four men with big camera's following us. Louis pulls me through the door and out onto the sidewalk. We turn and run along the side of the buildings, until Louis suddenly turns into an alleyway between two little stores. There is no way the camera men are going to fall for it... They'll find us. But they don't. They fly right past us. We stand there pressed up against the wall together, breathing heavy. He still has my hand in his. He looks down at me and I smile. We both start laughing at our little escape. Soon enough we're both leaning over, laughing so hard. His face is so cute when he's laughing it makes me laugh even more. After what seems like forever I can't laugh anymore it hurts so bad. He takes me hand again and looks out around the corner of the alleyway. He pulls me out and we head down the sidewalk again. He pulls me in close to his side and I keep my head down so no one can see me. We come to a stop in front of a white Lamborghini. God him and his fancy cars. He opens the passenger door for me and I smile and hop in. He closes the door and heads around to the other door. He gets in and starts the engine. We pull onto the road and we head even farther downtown. I don't ask where we're going and he doesn't tell me. I stare out the window thinking. We haven't been in the car long when he pulls into a private drive. He stops at a gate and gets out to talk to a man standing there. After a minute of Louis talking, the man nods and the gate opens. Louis thanks the man and gets back in the car.

"What are we doing?" I ask looking at him quizzically. He smiles and says, "We're having fun."