Snapshot » l.t.

Chapter 24

Chapter 24


Renee's POV


"No, no, sweetheart," I told a little girl gently. "You're supposed to put the pink band in the middle, not the other side."

The little girl looked like she was about to cry she was so frustrated. So I just settled with doing it for her. That cheered her up quick.

"Renee!" a male voice barked, and I stopped what I was doing.

"Here," I told the girl. "I gave you a nice start on it. If you need any help, just ask Darla." I pointed to the other activities director.

The girl nodded and ran off to her table.

I looked up and walked over to my boss, Don. Don was a fair boss. He gave me good pay, and he appreciated what I contributed to Toys R Us. But sometimes he would give me little random jobs, such as this.

"A new shipment of board games came in," Don told me. "I need you to sort them out. They already have the price tagged on them." He showed me the twelve-plus boxes beside him.

I bit back a sigh. I had learned not to question Don. "Sure, boss," I said with a half-hearted smile. He nodded and went back to his office.

I picked up one of the thin boxes and opened it. I tossed away the cardboard carcass and took out the board game. It was called "The Farming Game of Life". Sounds fun.

I went down the aisle and skimmed my eyes across the shelves. Don had this weird way of sorting his games in both pricing and alphabetical order. This aisle was in alphabetical order, and I soon spotted the "F" section. I put the game away and went back to the many boxes waiting for me.

I was around half-done when I saw him. I picked up what I assumed was supposed to be a three-year old keyboard and went down the music aisle.

There was a figure in a hoodie standing in the middle of the aisle. His back was turned to me, but I would've recognized that bipolar hair anywhere.

"Louis?" I gasped.

The person jumped and spun around, all the while flattening his hair. "I think you've got the wrong guy," he started to say in a gruff voice, but stopped. Yep, it was definitely Louis. He couldn't fake his voice to save his life.

He was wearing sunglasses, but he was obviously staring at me. "What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I could ask you the same thing," I said. I gestured to my uniform. "Duh, I work here," I pointed out. "What are you doing here?"

Louis took off his sunglasses so I could see his bright eyes. They had a weird kind of fire in them.

"I'm kind of taking a trip down memory lane," he said. "I used to work here, at Toys R Us, I mean. What are the odds?" He grinned. I didn't smile back.

I glared at him for a moment, and he finally seemed to understand why I was pissed.

"Look, Renee," he said quickly. "I get that you're mad at me. But there is a perfectly good explanation for why I was gone so long."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Then go ahead," I said coolly.

"So I got back from your place and the boys and Paul were super pissed at me. I was grounded to staying in the flat for three days. I couldn't go anywhere. So that's why I haven't visited you." He said all that super quickly, but I caught it all.

I raised my eyebrows. Yeah, that did sound pretty reasonable. I sighed, about to forgive him. Then I paused.

"Wait," I said hesitantly. "You said you were grounded for three days, and I got this job on Saturday. Today's Monday. Did they let you go a day early?"

Louis got a guilty look on his face. "Not... really," he said slowly. I face-palmed. "Seriously, Louis?" I exclaimed. "You snuck out? How did you get here?" I suddenly realized. "Surely your friends would've noticed a missing car."

Louis got a terrified look on his face. "Let's just say I'm officially claustrophobic," he said.

My brow creased. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"I did take a car," he mumbled. "But it wasn't my car. Harry and Zayn decided to go to the mall, so I hitched a ride. In their trunk."

My jaw dropped. "What?" I nearly shouted, but managed to minimize it to a hoarse gasp. I thought about it. My eyes widened. "How did you get out?" I asked uncertainly.

Apparently that was the scariest part for Louis. "I kicked at the trunk lid while writing my own obituary," he said blankly. "I'm a sad person."

I sagged. Poor guy. I sighed again. "Don't do that again," I said, but my heart wasn't really into the scolding. "You nearly--"

Louis' head shot up to glare at me. Clearly he had realized he could've died.

"Sorry," I muttered. "But it's okay now."

I awkwardly reached over a hand and stroked his hair. Okay, he's obviously not a dog, I just didn't know how to comfort him. But he didn't complain, just stared at me weirdly.

"Sorry," I repeated, and my hand flicked to my side. We stood in silence for a moment, and it bothered me.

"I guess I have no choice but to give you my number now," I said.

That perked Louis right up. "Really?" he exclaimed. I nodded.

"Clearly we have to communicate as normal people," I said with a grimace. "Or things get out of hand."

"True that," he agreed.

We each somehow found a scrap of paper and wrote our numbers on them. We exchanged them and sent each other a text. Then I added Louis' number under my contacts.

I stared at the slip of paper Louis gave me as he did the same with his phone. "I could sell this on the Internet for a million dollars," I said in amusement.

"Please don't," Louis said pleadingly, and I laughed. "Of course not," I said and put the paper in my pocket. "I would never do that." He gave me a grateful look.

I don't know what compelled me to do this, but I took three steps forward and gave him a hug. He was big and cuddly, like a teddy bear.

I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to make this any more awkward then it already was. After a couple seconds, I decided enough was enough, and tried to move away. Key word: TRIED.

I soon found out that Louis was hugging me back. Tightly. Uncomfortably. But in a way, I was alright with it. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either.

"Um, Louis," I said, struggling a little. "You can let go now."

"Oh, sorry," he said, and I could breathe normally again. Louis' face was dark grey, and I stifled a grin.

"Tell you what," I said pleasantly. "Why don't you help me with these boxes, and we can hang out today?" I pointed to the few boxes that were left.
Louis raised his eyebrows. "You can do that?" he asked. "Just leave?"

I shrugged. "Sort of," I said. "I can take the rest of the day off and use this as one of my vacation days. Right, Don?" I yelled at the air.

"Sure, sure," he said absently, in his office somewhere. I smiled. I loved it when he did that.

Louis was practically in awe. "I wish my boss had been like that," he said.

I clapped my hands together. "Okay!" I declared. "Let's sort these boxes out!"

Louis picked up a cardboard box and ripped it open. He took out the game.

"This aisle is sorted alphabetically," I informed him. "So if the name of the game starts with 'O', find the 'O' section and put the game there. Easy enough."

"Yep," Louis agreed and put the game in the 'A' section.

"Oh, and if you mess up in anyway I'm fired," I added nonchalantly.

Louis froze a moment, and I laughed at his expression. "I'm just kidding," I said. "I probably won't get fired. Still, don't mess up."

Louis scowled at me playfully and nudged me. I pushed him back.

In under five minutes we were done. I put my name badge in my tiny mailbox, and flipped my hat backwards.

"Gangsta employee," Louis joked as I straightened up.

"Got that right," I said, though I had no idea how a gangster acted. Mark would know.

We left the Toys R Us without telling Don. He wouldn't care. Darla could work by herself.

"Where to first?" I asked Louis as we walked.

We probably looked like an odd couple: a guy dressed as a molester and a girl dressed in a Toys R Us uniform. But we didn't really care. And I didn't mean "couple" in the way that you think.

"I dunno," he replied.

"Starbucks!" I shouted and dragged him along with me.

I ordered my usual: large mocha chocolate chip frappechino with the chocolate whipped cream. It tasted delicious. Louis got a latte of some sort.

"Okay, now what?" he asked.

"Do you have a way of getting back to your flat?" I asked randomly.

He tensed. "If you mean use the trunk again, no way," he said.

I frowned. "That's not what I meant," I said, slightly uncomfortable. "I mean, you can't exactly hitch a ride with your friends without getting caught, and you don't have a mode of transportation. Either way, you're dead meat."

Louis threw his head back and groaned. "Why does everything involve me getting killed?" he asked rhetorically. His head suddenly snapped back up. He stared at me.

"What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that, Tomlinson?"

"Can you drive me?" he finally pleaded.

I stared at him like he grew a second head. "No way!" I cried. "I'm not going to drive you anywhere."

"Why not? I drive you places. Besides, you said it yourself, if I get caught again, I might not be able to see you again. Ever."

I bit my lip and looked away. "Fine," I finally sighed. "I'll drive you. But you owe me."

I figured he stopped listening after "fine". "Thank you so much, Renee!" he cried and snatched me up in another bone-crushing hug. I think he was overreacting.

"Okay, I get it," I rasped. "Let go of me before you choke me." He dropped me.

"We might have to leave early, then," Louis said, suddenly serious. "Harry and Zayn are here somewhere, and they aren't really shoppers. Plus, someone in the One Direction residence will notice that I'm gone soon enough."

"You're weird," I stated randomly and shook my head. "But yeah, you're probably right. So we better make the most of it."

Louis grinned and nodded.

We travelled around but didn't really do anything. We didn't shop or buy anything. We just talked and joked around. And that was enough for me.

But there was this one time we didn't talk or joke. In fact, there was complete silence from Louis. I did all the talking. This is what happened:

"So then, Niall wouldn't talk to me for about an hour," Louis complained as I laughed. "You should've known better," I scolded him lightly. "That boy loves his food."

Louis glanced away from me for a second. He stopped in his tracks. "Hide me!" he suddenly shouted. I gave him an odd look. Well, if he wanted to hide, screaming his lungs out probably wouldn't help.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "Hide you from what?"

He pointed.

A couple of boys were advancing towards us. One of them was laden with shopping bags, the other was swinging a satchel around and around on one finger. They were pathetically disguised, but still no one recognized them. Harry and Zayn.

"Oh," I said, nodding. "Yeah, you probably want to hide."

"Where?" Louis asked nervously. "There's nowhere for me to hide!"

I looked around, and my eyes fell on the store we were standing next to. I retrieved some oranges from a nearby stand and handed them to Louis.

He frowned at them, then at me. "What--" he started to ask, but I interrupted.

"Trust me," I said, struggling to talk through my huge grin. "You're going to need those."


.....


"Hey, boys," I said nonchalantly, leaning against the glass window of the store.

Harry and Zayn stopped, spun around, and stared at me.

No doubt Louis was going to hate me for this, but I just had to. I wanted to torture him for as long as possible.

"Renee?" Harry exclaimed. I nodded, and they took off their sunglasses.

I'll admit, my heart pounded in my chest a little. Not just because they were famous celebrities, but also because they were the sexy ones from the band.

"What are you doing here?" Zayn asked me.

I frowned. "I'm a girl, is it wrong for me to shop?" I asked.

They shook their heads, and I smirked. My eyes flickered down to the shopping bags in Zayn's hands. "And it isn't wrong for a pretty boy to shop, either," I added. Zayn's face flushed and he moved the bags away from me.

"Has Louis made any progress with you?" Harry asked eagerly. "He keeps saying no, but I suspect different."

I raised an eyebrow, but then I realized that reaction wasn't good enough. I was supposed to spitting hate his guts. So, if they wanted a show, they could have one.

Louis was probably going to hate me for this, too.

"Don't mention that name to me!" I cried loudly. So loudly, in fact, customers and vendors turned to look at us.

Harry and Zayn scrambled to put their sunglasses back on, but I wasn't done yet.

"He ruined me!" I shouted, struggling not to grin. I was totally enjoying this. "He ripped away everything that was dear to me! I hate him! I hate all of you!"

"Okay, okay," Harry hissed through gritted teeth. "We get it. Sorry that we mentioned that name."

"You better be sorry!" I proclaimed, but my voice was starting to fade away. I figured almost the whole mall was staring at us right now.

"She got spunk," Zayn commented.

I couldn't help but giggle at the compliment, but then my face reddened. I could have ruined the plan!

But neither Harry nor Zayn looked like they suspected anything, so I relaxed. "You best be off," I said breezily, suddenly calm. "I have some shopping to do."

They raced away like a herd of giant spiders was chasing after them.

I burst out laughing as soon as they were out of sight. I pressed my hand against the glass window to keep my balance. That was awesome!

"Hey!" Louis yelled indignantly, and I faltered long enough to remember him.

I raced into Victoria's Secret.


*~*~*~*


"That was the most embarrassing hiding place of my life," Louis grumbled as we drove to his flat. "I would've taken the stupid trunk a million times over other than that."

I had to laugh again. "May I remind you that there wasn't a single car in sight," I said, biting my lip to keep from smiling too widely. "Your hiding place was perfect."

"I could've hidden among the bras and panties! But nooo, you just had to have me dressed up as--"

"Don't make me swerve into a ditch," I interrupted him as I cracked up. "You're killing me!"

Louis scowled for real this time and didn't look at me. He stared out the window.

"And this was supposed to be our little secret," he muttered.

I don't think he meant for me to hear that, but I did. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Our friendship, and my sneaking out. I saw you talking with them. You ratted me out, didn't you?"

I wanted to gape at him, but I was driving, so I didn't. "Of course I didn't!" I exclaimed. "Louis, I want to keep our friendship a secret as long as possible! And why would I rat you out while helping you hide?"

"Just to embarrass me?"

"Fair point," I conceded, and Louis swiveled around to glare at me. "But I didn't! I didn't tell them anything! I just screamed curses at them and you for a bit, and that was all!"

Louis didn't looked convinced. "But you didn't mean them, right?" he asked. When I gave him a confused look, he elaborated, "You didn't mean the curses?"

I struggled not to roll my eyes. I softened slightly. "No," I said. "I just--"

I broke off. I didn't want to continue my sentence. It would leave bitter feelings between us.

Louis looked at me suspiciously. "You just what?" he asked.

"I just... said that I hated you guys, and that was it."

I bit my lip. Not a complete lie, 99% of the truth. Okay, 98%. Don't make me push it.

We didn't talk for the rest of the way to Louis' flat. The laughter was gone. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air.

"There," Louis said, and I glanced at him. He pointed. "That's it. That's my flat."

I stopped just out of sight of it, so the boys inside nor Paul got suspicious. I settled back in my chair.

"You did good," Louis stated randomly.

I frowned, not looking at him. "Did good at what?"

"Driving. You didn't make a single mistake. You must've been practicing."

I gave a slight nod. I still didn't look at him. I heard the door open, but not close.

"Hey, Renee," Louis said, and I looked over against my better nature. "What did Harry and Zayn say to you?"

I frowned again as I tried to recall. "Harry just wanted to know if you made any progress with me," I said.

"Typical," Louis sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Of course I said no," I continued. "And Zayn just wanted to know why I was there. He also said I got spunk."

"You got what?" Louis echoed incredulously, and I allowed a small smile show.

"I got spunk. He said I got spunk."

Louis' expression darkened, but he wasn't embarrassed this time. "Oh," he mumbled. "Well, see you later." He shut the door. I rolled down the window.

"Hey, Tomlinson!" I shouted after him. He glanced back. I grinned. "Good luck."

I sped off before he could say anything.


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


Author's Note:


Oh my gosh, I am so grateful you guys don't hate me for the last chapter. If I sounded cruel in any way, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. After all, this story is FICTION, and Louis isn't that big of an idiot.

I had a lot of fun making this chapter. I make myself laugh ;)

SHOUTOUT to @hallieemariee for being an awesome reader. Check out her amazing story! :)


Stay Beautiful,
-Sammi <3