Happy Hope (Book Two)

Chapter 5:

            “Hey Mr Hottie is at the door,” Amelia said smirking as she walked into my room. She hadn’t noticed my state yet; I was still blocking back tears as I thought about how unreachable he was. “Hope … what’s wrong?” she finally realised.

            “Oh nothing Connor just asked about his dad again,” I mumbled.

            “Oh Hope,” she said quietly. “Do you want me to tell Louis that you literally just threw up?”

            “No, no I’ll go just keep him entertained for another ten minutes so I can clean up,” I said. “It’s been three years. I need to move on. I can’t have a relationship with an empty bed and a ghost.”

            “That’s the spirit. Don’t forget to get dressed,” she added. Amelia never liked my dress sense.

            “This is what I’m wearing dim wit,” I told her rolling my eyes. She forced a smile, “oh that’s, that is, uh, lovely.”

            “You hate it. I get it now go entertain him!” I shooed her out the door.

            “But what if he likes my fashion sense better?” she asked seriously and I just shoved her out the door. “No more crying, you’re going to have fun,” she added seriously and I nodded in understanding. “I want all the gossip tomorrow at work or at breakfast. Either way.”

            “Alright can you go already before he turns eighty!” I shouted at her.

            “Is he seventy nine?” Amelia asked, wide eyed. “Man he ages really well!”

            “Amelia,” I scolded and she ran off down the hallway giggling and smirking like a child who’d just pulled a prank on the teacher.

            “By the way sweetie,” she said poking her head back in, “mourning and grieving don’t have a time period. You’re ready when you’re ready.”

I breathed in heavily and shakily, shaking my hands in an attempt to calm myself down. I stood abruptly and paced, backwards and forwards, back and forth.

Come on pull yourself together, I thought stopping at my reflection in the mirror. I could do this. Louis was a fun guy and that’s what I needed: fun.

It wasn’t cheating. It was simply moving on from something that was long gone. Like Spencer Johnson said “life moves on and so should we.”

So with that in mind I pulled my broken pieces together creating a cracked, fragile shell around my heart that would hold me together until I could come home and ball my eyes out and made my way downstairs to greet my date with a smile, to pretend everything was okay.

I grabbed my bag and phone on the way and plastered my smile on. Louis didn’t see me at first so I observed him from a far as he laughed with my sister.

I noticed that one eye was smaller than the other when he smiled, he placed his hand on his stomach when he laughed, his smile made me want to smile, it was contagious. He was wearing casual chinos, a plain tee shirt with vans and pulled off the casual look quite handsomely. It suited him endlessly.

            “Hi,” I breathed out making my presence known. Louis smiled happily. “Hey.”

            “Okay now you two go have fun and Mr Tomlinson no later than eleven! She has a curfew,” Amelia joked and I laughed.

            “No need to rush me out the door. You know the rules,” I told her sternly. “In bed by eight.”

            “Me?” she asked shocked.