Lastly (L.T.)

Chapter 23

So I decided to start writing longer chapters since I'm hopefully going to have a little more time to write soon so the chapters should be about double my usual short length from here on out.

And of course, congrats to Zayn and Gigi on their new addition!

_________________________________________

I woke up the next morning in my apartment, with a blinding headache and still wearing the clothes that Louis had given me. I shielded my eyes from the morning light streaming through the giant windows of my apartment, momentarily confused as to what had woken me. Then I heard a loud banging on the door.

I rolled off my bed, kicking off the heels that I hadn't bothered to take off the night before, I could feel my eyeliner was smeared and my mouth tasted horrible. I looked at the clock on the microwave as I walked through the kitchen towards the door, brushing my wild dark waves away from my face.

Who was knocking on my door at seven in the morning?

I opened the door with a frown to see Louis standing there, looking like an under-slept angel in sweats and tennis shoes, with just his fingers poking out of the bottoms of the sleeves. His hair was styled off to the side of his forehead again and I immediately wanted to shrink back and shut the door, considering I looked and probably smelled like I had just crawled out of a garbage can.

"Sorry to wake you, love, but Harry has our ID's and plane tickets and such, so we can leave today. Come meet us in the basement as soon as you're ready." He said politely.

I decided to refrain from opening my mouth and polluting the air between us, so I nodded. I could feel a flush crawling up my cheeks.

Why did he have such an effect on me? He'd literally only said one sentence and I wanted to fall down a rabbit hole and never come out. I shut the door as soon as he left, pressing my back against it and letting out the breath I'd been holing in a huff.

I already had my things packed in preparation for when he wanted to leave, but I needed to clean myself up.

I stood under the shower head for nearly an hour, scrubbing sweat from my skin and smiling when I recounted the events of last night. I had been sensible enough to not get fully drunk this time so I could remember everything just fine.

I was surprised to realize I already missed how much fun I had the night before. I missed dancing with Maya and Louis's laughter, and even Niall's horrid singing. It had been fascinating to watch Louis so loose for once, he always seemed so serious and in control, but it was like last night he had been a whole different person.

Like Tommo.

I still longed to know what he thought of me and why he had kissed me, or even slept with me in the first place. Had he known who I was at that point?

They were the same questions that had been eating at me for weeks now. Who really was Louis Tomlinson? Because it was starting to dawn on me that I had absolutely no idea.

I dressed in my usual leggings and tank top, with my red leather jacket, and headed out of my room to the basement. It felt strange going down the elevator without Louis there leaning against the wall in the same spot like he always did. He had walked me back to my apartment last night politely, he was more steady on his feet when tipsy than I was.

The basement was silent when I arrived. Three out of the four men were sat at the table, Niall was nowhere to be found, though from the look of him last night I guessed he very well might be still sleeping it off.

Liam was typing on his phone, Harry was shuffling through paperwork and Louis was glaring a hole on the wall behind Harry.

I cleared my throat as I stepped out of the elevator, all three them looked at me, though only Liam waved. Harry pretended I didn't exist, and Louis only pulled his glare away from Harry's direction after several moments.