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Chapter 16

Chapter 16


Renee's POV


I starting humming something other than Kelly Clarkson. I didn't know what the name of the song was since I'd only heard it a couple times, but I had dubbed it, "Be My Baby" by Unknown.

I was happy, for once. Elise still wasn't visiting, but I was holding her to her promise. I left texts and voicemails on her phone frequently.

Louis hadn't shown up in days, and for that I was extremely grateful. I was so glad I didn't have to see his face anymore. He had finally moved on.

This didn't mean I'd forgiven him, though. No, I still resented him for what he did to me. I had resolved that if he ever showed his face around here again, I was going to finally use my crowbar hidden in my closet.

Ah, life was good.

"Ooh, ooh, be my baby," I sang and twirled in a circle. "I'll look after you."

My cellphone rang, making me jump. I sighed in relief. At least it wasn't a living human being. If someone had heard me singing, I'd probably die of embarrassment.

"Hello?" I chirped, answering.

"Hi, Renee! Wow, you sound cheerful!"

I smiled. It was Lacy again. Gosh, I missed her so much.

"I know!" I said enthusiastically, and spun around again. I couldn't help myself. "My friends are talking to me, Louis hasn't visited, and I'm listening to my favorite song. Life couldn't be better!" I was half-lying, mainly about the listening part. I was singing it, but technically I was also listening to it.

"That's great, Renee!" Lacy said, and I could literally hear her smile on the other end. She had a way of doing that. "I have to tell you something."

"Okay, what is it?"

She continued on like I hadn't said anything. "Something IM-POR-TENT." She said that in her Patrick Star voice. I smiled.

"Well, spit it out, woman. What is it?"

"Can you come to my twenty-first birthday party?"

I blinked. "That's it?" I exclaimed. "Of course!"

"Seriously, Renee," Lacy whined. "This is a big deal for me! Now I can finally go out in public and get drunk like you always do!"

I laughed. I never drank, but I knew Lacy desperately wanted to. I had no care for the taste, but she loved it. I don't even want to know how she already knew she liked it.

"So, can you make it?"

"Well, depends. I got fired from my job and have exactly two friends. I think I'm free."

"You got fired from Teen Tiger?" Lacy gasped, and I cursed myself mentally for my big mouth. Nice going, Renee.

"Enough about me," I said quickly. "This is about you. And of course I'm free. When is it?"

"Next month."

"Lacy!" I giggled. "Your party's next month and you're telling me now?"

"I'm preparing you! My daddy's renting an ENTIRE amusement park, plus the pub next door! It's going to be awesooome!" She sang the last word.

I sighed. "Thanks for the tip," I said, slightly sarcastic. "I'm looking forward to it. Just expect a gift card for your birthday present."

"AH!! Don't tell me!" she yelled, nearly deafening me. "It's supposed to be a surprise!"

I laughed again. "Okay, okay, sorry," I apologized quickly, a huge grin on my face.

"Oh, and one more thing: you need to bring a date."

My heart skipped a beat. I froze. "W-What?" I stammered.

"You. Need. To. Bring. A. Date," Lacy stated slowly, like she was talking to a preschooler.

"I heard you the first time!" I said sharply.

"Oh. Then what's so surprising about it?"

"Why do I need to bring a date?" I demanded.

"It's this stupid old tradition my family does," Lacy said, trying to sound annoyed, but I could hear her excitement. "My mother forced my dad to do it for me. Everyone's bringing a date."

"But I don't have one!" I cried.

"Chill, Renee. I don't either, but we have a month, remember? Besides, who wouldn't want to go out with the awesome, amazing, stunning, gorgeous Lacy... and Renee, of course."

I bit my lip to keep from giggling. "Oh, you're right," I said sarcastically. "Boys are just dying to go out with a colorblind, depressed crybaby."

"That's the spirit!" Lacy said cheerfully. "But seriously, Rainy. You are amazing, and awesome, and beautiful, and whatever other things I listed. You'll find a date in no time."

I held the phone away from me as I breathed, "I doubt that." Nobody would want to go out with me. I had a messed-up personality, and I wasn't even pretty. Who would want to date a colorblind goblin?

I put the phone back by my ear. "Thanks," I muttered. I sighed. "Maybe I will find someone. You definitely will," I said with a small grin. "Nobody can resist you, Lacy."

"You know it, girlie," she smirked, and I had to laugh. "Well, I'll call you later. Kisses, my girlfriend!"

"Kisses," I said, and hung up before she could yell at me for not calling her my girlfriend. I rolled my eyes. That crazy chick. Crazy, but lovable.

I breathed in and out slowly. A date. I had to find a date. Was she crazy? Was her whole family crazy? What a stupid tradition! No offense.

I bit my lip as I paced. I know I had a month, but I was stressing out anyway. I felt like I was running out of time, and I had only just found out about it ten seconds ago.

Who were all the guys I knew around my age? Leo? No way. We weren't entirely speaking anymore. Besides, he was a jerk at heart, no matter how hot and sweet he came off as.

Mark? Erm... no. Just no.

I growled under my breath as another boy came to mind. Louis. He was my age, but he was stupid and reckless. He would just destroy everything.

Stay happy, stay happy, I told myself quickly. I took deep breaths again, and focused on something pleasant. Clowns! No, those are kind of creepy. Animals? Uh, sure.

Channel your inner mammal, Renee!

That didn't make much sense at all. I laughed. I crack myself up.

Oh gosh, I sound insane.

I went back to singing my song. "If I don't say this now," I sang. "I will surely break. As I'm leaving, the one I want to take. Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait. My heart has started to separate."

I sang the song twice, and soon I forgot the urgent matter of finding a date. I was too caught up.

I heard a knock on my door, and I stopped singing abruptly, flushing a bright red color. Maybe the person heard me! I crossed my fingers that it was Elise. She would understand, and I needed to talk to her.

"Coming!" I called joyfully, and quite literally skipped over to the door. I didn't look in the peephole, I just swung the door open.

I blinked. My face reddened again. I scowled. "What do you want?" I demanded. "And don't make me get my crowbar."


*~*~*~*


Louis' POV


I hadn't gone over to Renee's place in a few days, and to tell you the truth, those few days were heavenly.

Nobody was yapping at me to feel guilty and to apologize, and nobody was shrieking at me that I'd ruined their life. S'all good.

I ate some Doritos while staring at the television screen. I didn't let anybody know this, but Pretty Little Liars was my guilty pleasure. I couldn't help it, those girls captivated me.

Someone stood in front of the screen. "Hey!" I yelped and looked up. Harry stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at me. "I was so not totally watching that," I added quickly, looking away. I somehow managed to find the pause button and stop it.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Stop sounding gay," he said. "We can talk about your weird...." He glanced behind him. "Urges later," he decided.

I rolled my eyes back at him. "What?" I asked.

"Why are you just sitting around?" Harry demanded.

"Well, because I find it quite relaxing. You should try it sometime. We should make this a national holiday."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation. "You haven't apologized to Renee yet," he exclaimed. "How do you think she feels?"

"Oh my gosh I am finally free of that life-ruiner?"

"No." Harry grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Pull yourself together! Now's the perfect time to go over there!"

I pushed him off. "I don't see why you won't just let me give up," I protested. "Renee obviously hates me. End of story."

Harry muttered something under his breath, along the lines of: "That's not how you feel."

"Excuse me?" I demanded.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just do it. For me." He pouted and pulled the puppy dog eyes. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't be tempted and shook my head. "Nope," I said. "Not a good enough reason."

Silence. I still didn't open my eyes.

"If you don't go I'll tell the entire world about your 'secret' obsession for Pretty Little Liars," Harry said flatly. I could hear the quotation marks in his voice around the word "secret".

"What!" I spluttered, my eyes shooting open. "I don't have an obsession! It was just on so I watched it!"

Harry smirked at me. "Oh, please," he snorted. "You left your phone unlocked one day so I decided to spam your twitter. Only it wasn't on @Louis_Tomlinson, it was on @PrettyLittleLover." He started to cackle evilly, and I grimaced.

"You're wrong," I snapped, and jumped to my feet. "But just so you don't start spreading rumors, I'll go. This doesn't mean she'll forgive me though."

"Then keep trying," Harry replied. "Or @PrettyLittleLover is gonna be exposed."

"That's not my account!" I shouted at him as he laughed. He patted my shoulder. "Sure, it isn't," he exaggerated. I stormed out the door.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket as soon as I was out of sight. "Delete, delete, delete!" I hissed under my breath as I frantically tried to deactivate my twitter account.


.....


I stomped up the stairs to Renee's flat, still grumbling under my breath about Harry's blackmail. That guy could be a real dick sometimes.

I stood outside her door. Maybe she wasn't home. I hoped so.

Screw it. Harry had no evidence that I liked Pretty Little Liars. My twitter was deleted.

Then I remembered that once something was on the Internet, it stayed on the Internet. I stomped my foot in frustration and cursed Harry under my breath. Stupid prick.

I sighed and pressed my ear against the door. I couldn't hear anything. Maybe Renee wasn't home after all. Ha! I couldn't believe my luck.

Then I heard soft murmurs, and I cursed again. I was about to knock when the whispers turned to singing:


"If I don't say this now, I will surely break.

"As I'm leaving, the one I want to take.

"Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait.

"My heart has started to separate."


I hesitated for a moment. I knew that song. It was one of my favorites, "Look After You" by The Fray. It'd been a long time since I listened to that song.

I made myself comfortable leaning against the door, without losing the contact between my ear and the door. I listened until the song was over, accidentally listening to it more than once. A small smile crept up on my face without me even knowing it.

I blinked out of my trance when whoever-it-was stopped singing. It could be Renee, but I doubted it. The person singing had sounded much too cheerful to be Renee.

I knocked. "Coming!" a happy female voice called. Okay, that definitely sounded like Renee, but why was she HAPPY?!

The door swung open, and Renee blinked, like she hadn't been expecting me. Her face reddened, and she scowled. She looked rather cute when she blushed.

"What do you want?" she demanded. "And don't make me get my crowbar."

I stared at her. "You have a crowbar?" I exclaimed, and took a step back.

Her hands slapped over her mouth, like she hadn't meant to say that. "What? No," she lied. "I was just saying that to scare you. Now begone!" She waved her hands at me.

I ignored her. "What was that song you were singing?" I asked. No one else seemed to be in the flat, so it had to be Renee. Weird.

Her eyes widened and she blushed even redder. "You heard me?" she squeaked. I grinned. "It wasn't bad," I said. "What was the song?"

"No clue," she said, and I gave her an odd look. "I mean, I've heard the song before, I just don't remember the name. So, I call it, 'Be My Baby' by Unknown."

I chuckled. That was understandable. "It's actually called 'Look After You' by The Fray," I corrected her.

"Great, thanks--Wait, how do you know that?"

"It's one of my favorite songs. I had kind of forgotten about it, so thanks for reminding me."

"It's my favorite song," she said wistfully. "But I haven't heard it on the radio lately. And also because I didn't know the name of it and who sung it, I couldn't look it up."

This is good, I thought. Maybe we're actually getting somewhere. Don't mess anything up this time.

"Here, I can look it up," I said, and took out my phone again. I didn't know what the WiFi-access password was, but my phone was 4G. The Apple people spoke my language.

I pulled up YouTube and typed in the name. I tapped on a lyric video, since those always had the best quality other than VEVO.

"See," I said, but I watched the video on the other side of Renee. She crossed over to stand by me and I felt her small frame lean against me. I tried not to notice. I turned up the volume.

Renee broke the replay button, but I didn't mind. She would close her eyes as she listened to the song, her full lips pulled back into a smile, her reddish hair framing her face. I noticed her clothes weren't clashing today. She must've guessed the right stuff.

After a while, she stopped. "Wow," she breathed. "I feel like a little girl again."

"Good song, isn't it?" I grinned.

"Definitely," she agreed. She went back to standing on her doorstep. "Now leave." She tried to slam the door, but I put my foot between the door and the wall. It hurt like hell, but I didn't remove it.

"What?" I protested. "But I thought we were actually getting somewhere. At least you weren't trying to bite my head off. What happened?"

"I woke up to reality," she retorted, and I think she rather enjoyed causing my foot severe pain. "I still don't like you. Just because we have one thing common doesn't make us best buds."

"Why not?" I complained. She glared at me, so I revised my explanation. "Okay, I understand that. But could you at least say you forgive me? You wouldn't have to see me ever again!"

"I have principles," she said, and tried shutting the door again. I thanked myself for drinking out of the milk carton earlier that day. Uh, just forget I said that.

"What kind of principles?"

"As much as I would like not seeing your face everyday," she replied. "I do not want to become a known liar."

"What will it take for you to forgive me?"

"Give me my life back, then we'll talk," she hissed.

She gave the door one final slam, and I had to pull my foot back. I swear she smirked as I hopped around on one foot, biting my lip to keep my cussing thoughts from turning into a reality.

I shook out my foot and gingerly put it back on the ground. All the while I was pissed at everything: Renee, the song, Harry, myself, Pretty Little Liars. Getting your foot smashed to a pulp does that to you.

I went out with a bang, like I always did. "Mark my words, Renee!" I yelled, shaking my fist. "You will forgive me, or I'll make you!"

She retorted something that involved sucking on something not meant for little children's ears.

"Not nice," I huffed, and limped away.

Renee hated me, my own best friend was blackmailing me, my foot throbbed, and I had missed the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars. Could my life get any better?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Author's Note:


Am I the only one who isn't in school yet? Geez, there's nothing to read anymore! I go back to school on September 3rd. HAHA, SUCKERS!! Jk, jk.

I had this ignition day at my new high school to get used to the place. It seems pretty cool, and honestly I'm pretty excited.

Wattpad actually made my grades IMPROVE ever since I joined (no lie) so I'll try to update as often as I do, if not more.

I cannot thank you guys enough for reading this, even voting and commenting. Please check out my other stories by clicking on my picture or searching my name on the Discover.

Oh, I'm also starting this new thing (hopefully it'll stick): I'm dedicating the next chapter to anyone who can comment something hilarious. Make me laugh out loud! Good luck! :)


Stay Beautiful,
-Sammi <3


PS, I love this new bold/italic addition to the Wattpad app! It makes my author's notes stand out again.