“We’ll talk later.” I said. I looked over at the other boys and then back at Louis. It was so visible the change in him in just a day. He was shining from a light burning deep inside him again. I suddenly realized how much I missed this Louis. The Louis that first invited me to his band’s rehearsal, the one that would touch my shoulder and rub my arm without even thinking about it. The Louis that could never stop smiling for longer than a few minutes, and didn’t take serious conversations as serious as he should. The one that went missing when he became quieter, smiled less, and always looked like he was in some kind of pain. I started to wonder what Harry thought about all of this. Did he really approve? I looked over to where he was now, he hadn’t even noticed we had separated from the group, as he was busy ogling a Gibson Les Paul with the other boys. I shook my head at how serious they took the instrument, it was adorable seeing them all drool over it. I looked back at Louis who was smiling brightly down at me. What if it doesn’t work out with him like it didn’t work out with Harry? If it’s just as awkward? Or what if Harry has been putting on a brave face and will be just as hurt as Louis has been and he becomes distant? Ahh, there was the voice that has been missing for so long. It spoke the truth though. All those “what if” questions quickly started filling my head as Louis looked down at me. I could tell when he noticed the change. His smile started to slip away even as he tried to keep it in place, “What’s wrong?” I shook my head, “We’ll talk about everything later.” I smiled, more for him, than for myself. He knew something was up, but he didn’t comment on it. I looked back at the other boys and saw Harry smiling at us, maybe with approval? I didn’t let myself hope too much. It seems like nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
~~~
As the boys started the show that night I stood behind the stage with a bunch of people I didn’t know. They didn’t pay much attention to me though as they hustled around checking to make sure everything was going smoothly as the show progressed. I smiled as the boys ran around on stage, poking and prodding each other. Trying to make each other mess up during their solos. I peeked around at the audience. They didn’t notice the girl who looked from behind the stage at them, too engrossed with the five on stage. This was the biggest show yet with about 600 in attendance. I could see them getting huge though, with thousands trying to get tickets to their concerts instead. I wondered how fame would affect my relationship with them. I watched as Louis stopped and looked out at the crowd in awe, he was content with this small fandom. I knew he wouldn’t mind if they got any bigger or not. Harry was different though, he wanted to be huge, not in a selfish “I’ll be rich and everybody will love me” kind of way, but because there was nothing he loved more than being on a stage in front of people. The adrenaline rush was his favorite high. I smiled when Louis’ eyes found mine. He threw me a quick wave and I waved back. Many curious fans turned to see what he had waved at and saw me where I was still partly looking out from around the corner of the stage. I blushed deeply and stepped back, causing Louis to beam. They easily flowed back into their next song, but some of the fans kept trying to get another peek of me again, wondering who I was. Some of the ones who have been following them from show to show might recognize me, but I wasn’t sure. I smiled proudly as Louis and Harry started messing with each other and ruffling each other’s hair, their strong friendship back to how it was before I came into the picture. I felt my heart swell, I guess I didn’t do as much damage as I thought I did. There was a meet and greet afterwards, if you want to call it that. It wasn’t like typical ones. They just stood in the center of an empty room with a few chair pushed to the walls and let their fans come up and take pictures with them and sign autographs they couldn’t even believe people wanted. I stood further in the background, close enough that if any of the boys meant to talk to me I could hear them, but far enough that I wasn’t in the way. I was slowly pushed further away from them, but I didn’t mind. They hadn’t noticed me for quite a few minutes, and plus this was their moment with their small group of fans. I hadn’t been paying much attention until a group of girls wearing almost nothing stepped up to them. I felt my face blush at how much skin was showing. They leaned in and whispered softly, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and I was a terrible lip reader, but it looked like they said something with the words “come” and “my house”. They were all being fairly flirty and it wasn’t until one leaned forward and ran her finger down Louis’ chest that I started to get mad. I saw his back straighten up and get rigid, from being uncomfortable or lustful, I couldn’t be sure. I stayed back though. We were not a couple and I wouldn’t act like a jealous girlfriend. It was then that I saw Louis look around the room, quick sweeps of the people crowded in there. He started to look panicky until he turned around and found what he was looking for. His eyes connected with mine and flooded with relief, he started pushing through the girls to reach me and take my hand, he pulled me up beside him, between himself and Liam, where I heard the boys sweetly declining the girls in front of them, and where the one in particular, from before with Louis, shot a look at our hands clasped together and started to walk away. Saying I was relieved that Louis hadn’t accepted and looked for me instead didn’t even almost describe how I felt. He was still holding my hand when the next group reached them. The girl in front, she looked quite young but I wasn’t sure, recognized me almost immediately. Her voice was quite low when she held a notepad up for Louis to sign, and spoke to him, “Is that your girlfriend?” It was hard to hear her over everybody talking and trying to get the boys attention, but it was obvious what she had said from the way she kept giving me quick glances. Louis leaned down and glanced at me, whispering almost theatrically, “I hope she will be soon.” Which made the small girl smile. He squeezed my fingers quickly, but he never let go.
~~~
The next stop was close to the beach. So the next morning we all got up early, this time I wasn’t suffocated by Lou and Harry when I woke up, and headed to the beach. It was freezing outside, but that didn’t stop us from loading up with clothes just so we could go and see the ocean. We had only been there for a few minutes, curled up in our various jackets when Louis asked me if we could talk. The others quickly understood, and gave us our privacy. We walked closer to the water and I curled further into my jacket. “Emmy, I think you know by now that I like you a lot.” I rolled my eyes at the silly nickname I had blurted out when we barely knew each other. He didn’t notice and instead continued. “I think it’s been pretty obvious. Harry understands, he won’t be mad or even upset. So, I would really like to give us a chance. It’s your decision though. I’ll respect whatever you want.” I listened to his words carefully, wondering what I really thought about them. The mention of his feeling had butterflies destroying my stomach, but how long would those butterflies last? What if in a week we decided it wasn’t as great as we thought it would be? I had been quiet for a few minutes and Louis’ smile disappeared and pain slowly started to etch across his face at the silence. “Emerson, say something please. Will you be my girlfriend?” He breathed and it sounded like his voice was part of the wind that was weaving through my hair. I finally knew what I needed to do, when I opened my mouth to speak I saw hope gather on his features again, but not as strong as before. “No.” I hadn’t meant for that one word to slip out by itself, but my mouth blurted it out. I saw the hope in Louis’ eyes crash and break and he turned his face away from me, “I understand.” “Wait, I’m not done.” He turned back to me, pain and hurt clear in his eyes, he had been so sure of my answer, I continued, willing him to listen and understand, “Not yet Louis. I thought I really liked Harry, too, but well you see how that turned out? We couldn’t even have a conversation over dinner. I want something more than that with you. I have realized that I still barely know you. Let me get to know you Lou. Let me find out everything about you. We have all the time in the world.” His smile had slowly came back, “Everything? Are you sure? You might not like it all.” “Everything Louis. I don’t want us to ruin this.” He wrapped me in his arms then, taking away some of the cold. “I think I like that idea. I’m still pretty sure about how I feel, I wasn’t lying when I told Harry I loved you, but I can wait forever for you. Let’s get to know each other, Emerson.” He pulled back and stuck his hand out at me, fighting the laugh that was trying to come out, “Hi, I’m Louis Tomlinson. I’m really excited to get to know you better Emerson.” I couldn’t hold my laugh in like he could, I was giggling wildly while I took his hand in mine, rolling my eyes, “Me, too Louis. Me, too.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~So One more part to go I really hope you guys enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed having all of you read it!
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