Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 17

Louis' POV

Days passed and I began to get a feel of the routine around here. The dad would get up early and go to work, the mom would generally stay around the house, while Hunter and Lauren would go out with friends. It almost seemed like they had a schedule for who took me when. I’d have preferred to just stay with Lauren, but I understood that her and Blake wanted time together before he went back. It didn’t bother me how close Blake and her were, now that I knew he was gay. Not that it should have bothered me even if they were together. I was only here to get her to accept my apology and to help her adjust to this life I’d thrown her into. She’d seemed to warm up to me for the most part, and I figured she’d accepted my apology. Her dad had stopped bringing his gun to the table at least. Now it was just a matter of trying to get her back out into the real world. This small town country thing was a lot different then what she’d have to face back out in the city. Even I was remaining fairly well hidden here. I’d taken a long time to think of how to get her to face everyone again, and I think I finally struck on an idea. I just wanted to run it by her brother, to get what he thought of it. When I finally track her brother down, I find him at the ice cream shop in town with some girl he knew. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was a date.

“Hey” I say, approaching the table. Hunter looks up before glancing back at the girl quickly.

“Hey man, this is Paisley, Paisley this is Louis” he quickly introduces. I nod a quick hello to her, which she returns, before I look back at Hunter.

“I need to talk to you quickly, if you don’t mind.” I say. After a nod of consent from Paisley, Hunter stands up and follows me a couple feet away.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I’ve got an idea. About Lauren.”

“What about her?” he asks, a trace of defense in his voice.

“Well you know this place won’t prepare her for what she’ll face when she finally stops hiding out” I begin. “Well I was thinking. Maybe she could come back to London with me. And I can show her the ropes.”

“Well I could do that in LA” he says. I pause for a second as I study his reaction, trying to determine whether he was just being difficult because I’d interrupted his date or because he was trying to be a good brother.

“Well this is my fault, so I thought that I should. Besides, it’d be a great chance for her to see London and also, you’ll probably be busy when you get back” I say, reaching for reasons why she should come back with me.

“I’m never too busy for my sister” he says defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No that’s not what I meant” I say hastily, realizing I’d said the wrong thing. “I just… I want to do this. It’s my fault, let me fix it.” He sighs, running his fingers through his hair, glancing back at where Paisley was waiting.

“Look” he says, turning back to me. “If you hurt her, I will hunt you down,” he warns. My eyes widen slightly.

“I thought we were friends?” I say surprised at his harsh words.

“We are, but if I’m going to let my sister go off with some guy, then I better damn well be sure he’s not going to hurt her” he acknowledges. I nod my head quickly while Hunter watches me. “I can’t believe my dad ok’ed this” he mutters.

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused. His expression turns to one of amusement.

“You didn’t ask our dad?” he asks and I shake my head no. He lets out a loud laugh. “You were going to take Daddy’s angel out of the country without even telling him?” It dawns on me that, with a dad like her’s, asking for permission is something I should’ve done. “Good luck with that” he says with a laugh, before returning to his table.