Eighteen

Lights

Not long after Casey left Louis was knocking on my door. I was not happy at all to see him but it was December and was getting pretty late, I couldn't have just let him freeze to death.

"Aria please talk to me." As you can see, I was giving him the silent treatment. He wasn't just going to get all pissed off at me and make me get out of his car in the cold air and scream at me while I had no clue what I had done, and then act like he did absolutely nothing wrong.

"Aria, get some warm clothes on. We're going out." Louis said sternly. I didn't want to make him mad again by ignoring him and not doing what he says, so I got up from the couch and went to my room. It was getting really late and my parents still weren't home, but this happens a lot. They usually don't come home until ten-thirty-ish.

I came back downstairs in leggings and a hoodie. Louis was standing by the door looking at his phone.

I walked up to him and mumbled, "I'm ready. Let's go."

"What the hell Aria? I know you are still mad about earlier but come on! We can't even go five minutes without getting in a stupid argument!"

"I don't know Louis! Can we just go wherever you are taking me and get this over with."

He mumbled a string of curses and shook his head. He walked out the door and lead me to the passenger side to open my door.

"Thanks." I said, not really meaning it or caring if he heard me or not.

He shut my door and walked to his side. I could clearly see how tired and stressed out he was. He had deep purple bags under his eyes. His crystal blue eyes were dull and droopy. He looked like he hasn't slept in days. Even though I was still really pissed off at him, I was worried.

"Aria," Louis says calmly, which actually scared me a bit. "Do you remember where our first date was?" He gave me a half smile.

I smiled back and nodded quietly saying, "The lights,"

He nodded and glanced at me, stopping at a red light.

"I really am sorry Aria. A lot has been going on lately with my family." I understood where he was coming from. Louis used to come crying to me about his parents fighting. He doesn't cry much anymore, well I wouldn't know since he doesn't show emotion towards me like he used to.

"I'm sorry too, Lou. I just- I," I couldn't even say a whole sentence without my bottom lip trembling.

"Aria, don't cry, don't cry, baby. I'm right here." He reached his hand over to me. I held it against my face and leaned into his warm touch.

"Aria, babe, look outside." He pointed to the houses decorated with Christmas lights. I smiled and looked back to Louis. I was still holding his hand, I hadn't even noticed him locking and unlocking our fingers. I smiled brighter as I watched him play with my hands.

"I love you, and I am so so so sorry for what I did. Now come on, let's go walk around the neighborhood.

This was the exact neighborhood as the one where Louis and I had our first date. We were swinging our hands back in forth and occasionally pointing at things we liked differently at each house.

"Louis," I stopped him from walking.

"Yes?" He said smiling. His eyes looked brighter than earlier.

"I love you," I mumbled.

"I love you, Aria." He leaned down and kissed my nose. He then kissed my lips but not for long since other people were shoving past us, not liking the fact that two teenagers stopped walking to make out.

We walked around to a few more house before deciding to go home. Louis held my hand over the middle console the whole way home.

Louis walked me up to my door step. I thought he was going to leave and go to his own home but he came in with me.

"Is it okay if I stay the night? I don't want to go home to my parents arguing over who gets to watch their favorite show."

"Course." I knew that Louis was stressed enough and he obviously doesn't get much sleep at his home. My parents really like Louis. They like my whole group of friends though. I'm not sure if it's just because they have been my best friends since seventh grade and they figured out that they had to get used to them at some point.

We walked up the stairs and into my room. Louis and I have already cuddled and slept in the same bed before so it doesn't faze me that he stripped into boxers and wrapped himself in the covers. I followed his lead and changed into a tee shirt and track shorts, not really caring that Louis was probably staring at me the whole time. I walked into my bathroom and brushed my teeth and threw my hair into a bun. I washed off my makeup and walked back to my room. Louis was staring at my ceiling. I turned off my light and flicked on my fan since Louis liked it to be cold so he had an excuse to cuddle really close to me.

I climbed into bed and Louis spooned me from behind. I rested my head in front of his chest, and his head was sitting on top of my head.

I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat and him mumbling, "I love you."

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HEY ITS CASEY.
SO GUYES I WANNA ASK YA SOME QUESTIONS.

do you like where this story is going?
do you ship laria??
are you excited about more friends being introduced???
HAHA I AM
OKAY SOOO
VOTE AND COMMENT AND YEP BYE LOVE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT