Love Can Conquer All

chapter 61

Chapter 61

I walked into the living room to find Louis waiting in black trousers and a white shirts. His hair was styled to perfection and his aftershave lingered in the wake of where he'd walked through the room. His eyes looked me up and down and smiled. 'You look beautiful! The shoes look incredible!'

'Thanks.' I dipped my head down to look at my shoes, but purely to avoid eye contact.

'C'mon baby you can't still be insecure like this.' Louis put his finger to my chin and tilted my head up so I was looking at him. 'How is it that every single aspect of your personality involves a crazy, loud, out-spoken, opinionative girl. But someone compliments you and suddenly you look like you'd rather the world swallow you up than accept the comment.' He shakes his head softly and I stay quiet. Louis leans his forehead to mine. 'Please try, try to see yourself as a beautiful- no, stunning woman. Because you are, you just don't believe it.' He pauses 'Just, tell me you'll try.' His eyes meet mine and I nod slowly, very aware that our lips were only millimetres from eachother. Louis smiles at my agreement, kisses me quickly on the lips and takes a step back.

'Okay, let's try this again.' He announces and I raise an eyebrow at him. He smirks and turns around so his back is to me. Suddenly he spins back around to face me and gasps. 'Oh my god, Aria. You look stunning!'

I laugh when I finally understand what he was doing.

I still blush, I can't seem to avoid it but after Louis' small speech just then, something clicked. Maybe I didn't particularily love myself, but that didn't mean that other people didn't. And surely I should at least attempt to understand what they see when they look at me rather than what I assume they do.

Louis loves me, he loves me. And as I remember all the smiles that have been brought to his face the moment I enter his vision, I feel something different in me. Confidence, love and happiness. And suddenly no ones opinions natter but the flawless boy standing in front of me.

I know he is still waiting for my reply but in this moment there is nothing I can do but kiss him. In appecriation and in love. I feel Louis smile around my lips, he knows he has succeeded.

...

I looked at the time on my phone before putting it into the bag that matched my outfit. After the events of the past twelve minutes I suddenly feel... Pretty in my black dress. It is fitted all the way down my body to where it ends at my knees. My silver earrings, clutch bag and necklace perfectly show off my new addition to my shoe collection and I've never felt better. 'Are we going to be late?' I asked.

'Nope, not yet, but we should leave now.' Louis slips his phone into his pocket before opening the door for me. We made our way down to the ground floor before getting in a taxi and heading off into London.

'Where are we going?' I asked, turning to face him. He grinned before speaking.

'Now why would I tell you that?'

'Urgh, I should have guessed.' I smiled, shaking my head.

We carried on driving through London before getting stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. 'Oh my god Lou, this is going to cost a fortune!' I whispered so the driver wouldn't hear. I was fully aware of the price slowly rising as the car sat still.

'It's okay, don't stress.' He whispered back. He got his phone out and started texting someone, so I checked my twitter mentions. Louis had convinced me to get it a few months after we started dating; he said it would be a good way for the fans to get to know me so they wouldn't send me hate or anything. I'd had the negative comments come and go but I tried not to let it affect me. Lots of people were wishing me a happy birthday.

Finally the car started moving again. We'd left the apartment at 5:15 and it was now 6:30. If Louis had booked somewhere we were definitely going to be late. The price of the taxi was at about $63 and we still weren't anywhere near anywhere I thought we might be going.

'Excuse me.' Louis said to the driver. 'We've missed our table now, could you just take us home please?'

'I'm so sorry.' Louis said to me. 'I can't believe this has all been messed up.'

'It's okay.' I smiled trying to reassure him, he looked so sad. 'You've done more than enough for me today.' I squeezed his hand and he finally smiled at me.

We eventually got back to the apartment. Louis had to pay $75, even though I tried forcing him to let me pay half.

'Fancy Chinese then?' He asked as we headed back to the apartment. 'Sorry, it's not very glamorous.'

'Any food sounds good. We worked up quite an appetite today.' I grinned and he poked me in the ribs playfully.

Louis unlocked the door and gestured for me to go first. I flicked on the light and nearly died on the spot when a room full of people jumped out and screamed 'SURPRISE!' at me. I stumbled back in shock, Louis caught me and laughed 'Surprise' in my ear, low enough for just me to hear. Before I knew it people were rushing towards me to wish me a happy birthday.

'Happy Birthday Aria!' Zayn called to me, before pulling me in for a tight hug.

'Thanks Zayn.' I mumbled into his chest. I was then hugged by each member of the band in turn.

'Did you have any clue we were throwing you a surprise birthday, Ri Ri?' Harry asked right before locking his arms around my waist and spinning me around. When he finally put me down and I stopped laughing I answered his question.

'I had no idea what-so-ever!' I told him honestly.

'Good.'

'Yeah.' Louis called over the sound of the music that had just started playing. 'This was Niall's idea.' I turned to face Niall who had a proud look on his face. I gave him another hug. 'Harry and Bo have been planning this all day.' Louis patted Harry on the back before placing his hand on the small of my back.

'Thank you guys so much, this is great.' I looked at the 5 most amazing boys in the world who were all looking at me.

I looked at Harry and knew what he was thinking before he said it.

'Group hug!' He called and I was suddenly getting squashed in the middle of Harry, Zayn, Liam, Louis and Niall.

We finally broke apart when I realised who was missing.

'Where is Bo? And Rose and Spence?'

'They'll be here soon.' Liam said, his deep voice carried over the music without him even trying.

'Now go and have fun!' Niall yelled. As if on queue the volume of the music increased and everyone started dancing. Louis led me to the middle of the room where everyone was gathered. The furniture had been pushed out to the dies to create an open space.

'I can't believe this.' I called to him. 'You totally fooled me. I had no idea.'

'Good.' He called back.

'You should have told me.'

'Let me tell you how surprises usually work...' He joked.

'I know I know and thank you!' I kept my eyes on him.

'Anything for you baby, now dance with me!' I laughed as he started going wild, letting the traffic through.

...

*A few hours later*

The lights dimmed and the music stopped. I looked at Louis who just smiled at me and winked. Great, he wasn't telling me anything again. An orange glow came through the kitchen door and lit up people's faces as it came closer. Suddenly everyone started singing Happy Birthday. I stood there grinning as One Direction and their girlfriends headed towards me with a huge, glowing birthday cake. They stopped singing just as they got to me. Rose was grinning over the top of the cake and mouthed 'blow them out'. I leant over, took a deep breath and blew them all out. The room plunged into darkness and erupted into cheers. I stood up straight again and felt Louis' mouth against my ear. 'Happy Birthday babe.' I grabbed the knife and cut the cake. Making sure to touch the bottom. I then spun around and kissed Louis.

The room burst into a big 'awww' and then laughter. Niall then shouted out 'Ok, can I have some cake now?'

The party went on into the early hours.