I was saved anymore embarrassment by my boss. He wanted the mess cleaned up and me back at the register. Harry waved at me as he left and that was the last I saw of him for a couple of weeks. I kept expecting to see him somewhere at school and even purposely made myself late a couple times to see if he would be sitting on the stairs again. He never was, I guess he took what I said about it being dangerous sitting out of view on the stairs seriously.
~~~
When I was walking out of class that second week I bumped shoulders with another member of his band. “Oh sorry.” He looked at me and I was pretty sure that this was Louis. “Oh hey, the girl from the diner. I think Harry said your name was Emerson?” I blushed, Harry had told them my name. That made me somewhat significant, right? “Yea, some people call me Emmy.” I almost wanted to hit myself. Nobody has called me Emmy since I was six. “Well Emmy,” he winked at me, “I’m Louis, but I guess you can call me Lou.” I had to look away when he winked, there was no way I have talked to this many cute guys in the past few weeks. “A nickname for a nickname, huh?” Ew, what was wrong with me? When did I become socially inept? I guess it was easier for me to talk to a guy when I was mad. He laughed anyways, “I suppose so. But hey, do you work tonight?” I had to think. Usually I got Wednesdays off, but I told Karli I would work for her today. Oh well, I deserve a day off, right? Besides why did he want to know? “I don’t actually, why?” “We’re practicing today at my house. Well mine and Harry’s. Think you might want to come hang out?” I was almost speechless, this was the first time I had been invited anywhere in a long time. “Sure, that would be great.” Before we had to part to go to our classes he wrote his address on my hand, which I had memorized before I went home. Was it possible to like two guys before you really know them? Not that I believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in lust at first sight.
~~~
When I was finally at home and in my own room, I called Karli and told her a family thing came up and that I couldn’t make her shift. Then I changed outfits a dozen different times. It felt like high school all over again, except then I usually had a friend over helping me pick. I decided that maybe Louis would think it was weird that I took the time to change just to come over and hang out. Besides, who could go wrong with jeans and a cute tank top? So I just put them back on and ran downstairs to grab a granola bar and go to the address that is forever imprinted on my brain.
~~~
When I drove up to the small house I was shaking and the butterflies in my stomach felt like they wanted to implode. I noticed a few different cars in the driveway and hoped that this wasn’t like a huge get together. I’ve become to socially awkward to deal with huge crowds. I tripped over my own feet a few times walking up to their door and had to fight with the voice in my head that was chanting over and over again, this is a bad idea, this is a bad idea,TURN AROUND AND GO HOME! I lightly knocked on the door and Louis answered, “Emmy! You made it, come on in.” He ushered me into what had to be the living room, except there was a dozen people sitting together. Oh voice, I should have listened to you, this was a bad idea. They all seemed to know each other very well, which just made this twice as worse on me. “Hey guys, this is Emerson. Make her feel welcome.” Everybody looked at me like I had intruded on some secret ritual. That was when the rest of the boys sauntered in. My eyes went right to Harry who seemed to spot me right away, too. He looked confused at first, but then smiled and made his way toward me. “Emerson, what are you doing here?” “Well, Lou invited me.” Harry seemed taken aback. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you guys knew each other.” “We didn’t, me and Emmy ran into each other today at school, she’s pretty cool, so I invited her over.” He smiled down at me and my heart leaped. “Emmy? Lou? Sounds like you’ve been friends for awhile.” Harry sounded more confused than mad, but I could hear just a tiny bit of anger that I couldn’t place what was causing it. “Emmy is just one of those people you instantly click with.” Louis seemed oblivious to Harry’s reaction. “I already know how cool she is, I met her a couple weeks ago, remember?” Then Harry turned his full attention to me, “I’ve been looking around for you at school. We must be going opposite directions all day long, because I never saw you once. I didn’t want to sit on the stairs anymore for fear of you yelling at me again.” “I’ve been keeping an eye out for you, too.” He beamed at me and my heart leaped just like it did with Louis. Oh boy.
