See You Again

Chapter 16: You're My Anchor

 Louis kept his word and came over after school the next day. I had slept most of the day, but I had been awake for about three hours and I was bored out of my mind. An hour before I knew school would be over, I pulled out my notebooks from my side drawer and opened them all. Over the years, I had written way too many letters to Louis, but they had all been in different notebooks, basically, whichever one I grabbed first, and they were all out of order. I hauled myself up against my pillows and spread them out in front of me, ripping pages out carefully and placing them in order next to me. I wanted this to be perfect for Louis in a few weeks when I read them all to him. It was kind of a super sappy gift, but that was all I could think of, and I thought he would like them a lot.That and another set of tattoos. I figured we would each get a little swallow over our heart, to remind each other that we were always there, no matter what. Again with the cheesy stuff.

I didn't realize how long it had take, because all of a sudden I heard a door open downstairs and my mum telling Louis that I was still upstairs. I panicked, threw the notebooks aside, and shoved the papers under my pillow just as Louis opened the door.

"Hazza!" He said happily, leaning over to peck me on the cheek. His smile was huge and his eyes were crinkling like they always did when he was super happy. It was infectious and soon I was grinning as well. He put his bag down and crawled into bed next to me, cupping my face gently and kissing me. I almost melted at his touch and kissed him back eagerly, feeling the heat rising to my cheeks.

"How was school...you're OK, right?" I asked. Maybe he had forgotten, but I had not, and I wanted to make sure that he hadn't gotten hurt again. Louis frowned slightly but his eyes still sparkled.

"Niall and Liam were like my own personal bodyguards today...the footie team got nowhere near me, I promise. How about you, are you OK?" He looked me carefully up and down, and I smirked.

"That was just an excuse to check me out, wasn't it?"

"Damn it, Haz, you caught me," He replied, nuzzling my neck and kissing it gently. I giggled a little and pulled Louis into my arms, placing my chin on the top of his head, wincing only slightly at the pulling around my chest.

"You sure you're alright?" Louis asked, looking up at me. I pressed my lips to his forehead and nodded.

"I'm alright. Bored out of my mind, but I'm good. It doesn't hurt as bad today." I explained. Louis nodded and hugged me a bit more before prying himself from my arms and going to get his books.

"I brought your work with me. I thought we could do it together, so that you don't get behind." He suggested, looking at me through his lashes as he bent over towards his bag.

"Umm...yeah,sure. I want to graduate with good grades, so I can't get behind," I said in a fake lofty voice, and Louis winked at me, sitting down on the bed next to me and handing me books and a notebook.

"Wow, Haz. We're graduating this year...can you believe it?" Louis' voice sounded far away, like he was trying to imagine the future, and I put a hand on his arm to bring him back.

"Are they letting you graduate?"

"Yeah, during the last year I was in the US, they let me do online school, so I got all caught up to come back for senior year. I wouldn't want to bear the thought of high school without my Hazza."

I blushed and opened my book, trying not to concentrate on how Louis' hand was resting on my upper thigh or how close his face was to mine. He moved closer and tickled my chin with his hair, poking lightly at my dimples.

"Lou..." I laughed, poking him back. "We have to get this work done, and then we can cuddle...promise."

Louis sighed but opened his book as well, and we began to work. It was almost 9 before we finished, and my mum came up at that time with pizza.