Under The Willow Tree • Louis Tomlinson

xxx.

xxx. back to basics

— • —

"Goodbye bus." I whispered. All four buses were back behind the building where this all began two months ago. I felt dead tired and my makeup was probably smudged but I had not had time to get it properly fixed. I had been woken up at 8am by Louis gently shaking me. I had tried to avoid waking up after less than four hours sleep but it was no use. Louis had ended up dragging me out of his bunk so we could all start packing. By now it was 10am and clouds loomed over the sky. Even Mother Nature was sad that this tour was ending.

"If I have any say in it it won't be the last time you get to come with us." Louis' warm breath tickled my neck, he was standing behind me, arms draped around my waist.

"Well tell Michelle to make the next tour in somewhere exotic like Australia." I smiled and leaned into Louis. "The past eight weeks were great. Thank you for making me come."

"No problem Rose I knew you wouldn't regret it." He pecked my cheek lightly, "Now we better get you home so you can get freshened up and have some proper sleep."

"Sounds like a plan." I sighed and walked out of the tour bus that had become my home that I shared with five amazing people.

— • —

It was always great to be home and sleep in your own bed but my small apartment did not feel like home to me anymore. It felt like a motel room that I had been staying in for six months. Clothes I had left behind still sat on the floor and my fridge was empty with not even a bottle of water or the forgotten leftovers that always appeared in people's fridges. I placed my suitcase on my bedroom floor and leaned my violin case in its usual spot next to the chair in the corner of my room. I felt bad about only practising it a few times in the past few months but once I settled back into normal routine I would definitely pick it back up again. I rummaged around my suitcase for a pair of pyjamas and I entered the bathroom. I did not bother scrutinising my appearance in the mirror because I knew from the drive here that I did not suit panda eyes no matter how slight the smudges were. I turned on the shower and stood under it only to be welcomed by freezing cold water. What was I expecting? The pipes had been unused for two months of course they were not going to be ideal. After I was sorted and refreshed, I climbed into my bed and fell back asleep. It was harder to fall asleep since the bed did not vibrate from movement or there was not a dull snore or five other bodies in the same room as me. It was far from ideal but sleep is sleep. If you don't take it you'll become one of the walking dead.

— • —

Buzzing. 

It is always buzzing that wakes me from the most peaceful dreams. My eyes slowly flickered open and I reached my hand out to the bedside table so I could feel for my phone. When I found it I turned on the screen to see what time it was. 6:48pm was what my phone said. I didn't feel alarmed at the time because I still felt tired. I then scrolled down my notifications to see many blue birds next to most messages. "I'm going to kill whoever mentioned me." I scowled at my phone and opened up the messages. I had a missed call from both Louis and Harry and text messages from a few people. I was surprised when Megan's name popped up in the unread messages. I'm guessing I gave my number to her last night though my mind was not fully functioning so I couldn't remember. I then opened up Twitter and scrolled down my mentions until I found three blue ticks. One of them came from Sugarscape mentioning me as a mystery girl. I ignored that one with a scowl. I then saw Harry's tweet. He had mentioned that I was the best formal dressmaker in London and that I had a great taste in style.

"Thanks." I hissed at the phone. A few dozen mentions above Harry's was Louis' mention. "Had a great 2 months thanks to @Harry_Styles, @NiallOfficial, @Real_Liam_Payne, @ZaynMalik, and @RoseRedwood !" It would have been a normal tweet if he hadn't of put my name on the end.

"You are amazing." I muttered sarcastically to the phone. I ignored the rest of my mentions and tweeted, "Petals on the Wind opens again from tomorrow :)". A professional tweet seemed only right after Harry's tweet about my career. I then closed twitter and searched my contacts for the local Chinese number. Some Chinese food sounded great right about now.

I ordered Chinese and then scrolled through my messages. 'Are you alive?' Louis had sent that to me an hour ago. 'No thanks to Twitter :)' I replied and then went to look at other messages. Harry's were useless. He just sent 'Rosy' to me a few dozen times a bit after midday. He probably thought I would have woken me up. I then opened up Megan's message. 'I know we only properly met yesterday but when you have some free time do you want to catch up for coffee?' I smiled. It had been ages since I had a friend the same gender as me. When I left home for London I gave up trying to socialise. Megan also seemed nice so I guess a catch up in a few days wouldn't hurt. I replied to her message and heard the doorbell ring downstairs. I jumped to my feet and ran out of the apartment and through the shop. I opened up the door to find Louis with my Chinese.

"I already ordered." I grabbed the white plastic bag from him and savoured the smell of it.

"I just pulled up when the delivery guy showed up. He didn't do his job properly because I could have been any random person on the street needing food."

"As long as you pay them I don't think they care." I chuckled and walked back inside.

"Are you inviting me in?" I turned around and Louis was standing in the doorway, his pupils were enlarged. Oh gosh his puppy dog eyes would make anyone melt. Especially me.

"Of course. There's too much food for one person anyway." I smiled and he bounded into my shop and up the stairs. I quickly followed him "My apartment is pretty empty at the moment. I only woke up twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah sorry for that Rose" Louis rushed over to the lounge and flopped onto  it. I followed him and placed the plastic bag on the table.

"Now none of us are confused. It's the fans that are the confused ones." I smirked, grabbing one of the cartons and a pair of chopsticks. "If you want water you'll have to get it from the tap or make do until I go shopping."

"Oh I actually came to take you shopping. All of us have empty fridges so I thought we could do a group activity together. The supermarket is open until 9pm." Louis grabbed another carton and chopsticks, "I didn't know Harry tweeted. Or Sugarscape for that matter until my mentions went über crazy."

"Sounds like fun." I smiled, "You have millions of followers. Isn't it always crazy?"

"Yeah but when you have fans shouting at you via the internet asking who you are. That's classed as über crazy." Louis chuckled and dug into the free meal.

"Paparazzi is going to be on you like a hawk now. They don't know about us Louis. They don't know that you brought a plus one on tour. Until Michelle says so all of you have to make me hidden." I stirred my chopsticks around a few times before choosing my desired bunch of noodles.

Louis smiled and pointed his chopsticks at me. "We'll work on that plan after we all go grocery shopping like a dysfunctional happy family"