Rivals (or nah)

xiii | thirteen

    "Hiya," I greeted Louis while entering his car.

    "Hey, babe," he pecked my lips for the shortest moment but butterflies still erupted at my belly as I bit my lip, trying to contain my smile.

    "I heard from Brooks" - it had come down to me calling Luke, Brooks, seeing as how there were now two Luke's - "that there's a meeting tomorrow at noon," my eyes glanced at Louis'.

    "And you want to go," he sighed, turning left at the light.

    "You lot are probably hopeless without me."

    "Come off it, Jade, we're not that shit," he grinned at me, briefly sparing me a glance.

    "Why is it that your gang and Danny's had to team up then?"

    His blue eyes squinted at my own, "We're vastly outnumbered." Waving him off I offered him a smile.

    "I'm going," I stated, messing with the buttons of his stereo.

    Louis knew he had no way of convincing me otherwise, so he nodded in defeat. "Just make sure you stay away from Danny, yeah?"

    I sighed, I missed Danny. I didn't necessarily want to see him so soon, but we'd been best pals for years. It was only a mistake, he'd realised what he was doing and was about to back off when Louis barged in. Still, I know Louis cared for me, only looking out for me, he wanted to protect me. And as much as I tried to convince others and myself lavishly that I could do it on my own, maybe I could let someone else help me out. God knows that even if I refused, Louis would be there for me anyway, sneaking behind bushes and such.

    So I nodded, but not before sneaking a sarcastic comment. "I'll be sure never to let go of your hand, mama Lou."

_

    Louis and I had gone to the theatre, but the inside one. It was practically freezing, the snow was sure to come down soon, so they were closed until next year when it would be slightly warmer.

    Before walking out, I stuffed the bag of crisps I'd brought along from home inside my bag. Movie snacks were far too expensive, a few pounds too many. I absolutely refused to buy such food at theatres, and Louis chuckled and thought I was silly, since he had more than enough to buy measly, buttery popcorn and whatever else we happened to crave. He let it be, however.

    We walked hand in hand, chatting about the action movie we'd just seen when a familiar lad spotted my eye, and he'd spotted us too.

    "Jade!" he shouted, grabbing a few strangers attention. "Hey, Tommy," he approached us, a tall girl in step with him. I'd never seen her, but she was pretty.

    "Please don't call me that," Louis stared at him uninterested in his choice of nickname.

    "This is Beth, she's-"

    "She's your girlfriend! Aw, little Ashy's growing up, aren't ya?" I smiled at Beth, offering my hand to shake. Do people still shake hands? "I'm Jade, I've heard a bit about you, Ash is completely whipped." I tried to be nice to her, since she was most likely going to be around for a while (they'd already been going out for 8 months), it wouldn't hurt to have two friends. I could just hate the rest of the world.

    She blushed, as Ashton rolled his eyes. "Good, those whip cracking, lasso lessons weren't for nothing." Yesssssss, I like her, she must be my friend.

    Regaining himself, Louis and I still snickering, Ashton spoke up, clutching his girl to his side as close as possible, "I flew her in, I missed her too much."