Truly, Madly, Deeply: A Dark Louis Tomlinson Fan Fiction

Chapter 20: I Would

I had never felt so completely and utterly exhausted in my entire life as I did when I woke up the next morning. Not only did my entire body ache from being shoved against various rock hard surfaces, but my heart ached from all the emotional trauma it had experienced in the last 24 hours. All in all, I was an absolute wreck. The only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of spending the afternoon with Louis and his family.

I dressed simply in a navy blue skater skirt with a cashmere Ralph Lauren turtleneck  and my favorite Isabel Marant wedge sneakers, twisting my hair into a ballerina bun. Wearily, I packed my things into my bag, not looking forward to the school day ahead. Queen Eleanor having a boyfriend, especially one as handsome and popular as Niall was bound to be the biggest news since Louis’ arrival. Everyone in school would be talking about it, and it was probably going to be impossible to escape.

Carelessly throwing my calfskin Givenchy Antigona bag into the passenger seat, I drove noiselessly to school, actually arriving early enough to find a place to park. I didn’t normally get to school this early, but there was several people already there taking advantage of their free time, sitting in the grassy quad enjoying the breezy September afternoon. The popular kids minus Louis were holding court under an oak tree, laughing at something one of them just said. Eleanor had her head in Niall’s lap and he was absentmindedly stroking her hair with one hand, the other entwined with her fingers. Just the sight of them looking so in love, genuine or not was almost enough to make me want to just lay down and die. Was I really that easy to get over? Or was Niall just like everyone else in believing that Eleanor was the end all be all of the universe?

“Stella!” I heard someone call, dragging me out of my depressing thoughts. It was Perrie, who had been sitting next to Zayn coloring in one of his tattoos with a highlighter.  “Come sit with us!”

The last thing I wanted to do was go bask in the glow of Nialeanor, but Perrie was going out of her way to be nice to me and I was in no position to deny her kindness. Forcing a smile, I walked over to where they were sitting, plopping down next to Danielle, who grinned when she saw me. “Hey Stella!”

“Hi Dani.” I said, still surprised that after all these years she was suddenly acting as if nothing had ever happened. “How are you?”

“I’m okay.” She said softly, her tone dropping ever so slightly. “Look, we never got a chance to finish talking yesterday, but I just wanted to make sure you’re okay with Niall dating Eleanor? I know it probably can’t be easy for you.”

I was taken aback, but I didn’t let it show. “Of course!” I replied with false confidence. “It’s been so long, I could care less who Niall dates.”

“Oh, good.” She said, a hint of relief in her voice. “For so long i’ve wanted things to go back to how they were before, but I wasn’t sure how. I really hope now we can go back to being friends again.”

All of a sudden, I realized why everyone was being so welcoming all of a sudden. All these years Eleanor had conducted a reign of terror against me because of Niall, something we all knew but wouldn’t dare say out loud. Now that they were finally dating, everyone assumed that they could be nice to me without facing her wrath. Little did they know that the cycle was repeating itself all over again. If Eleanor was doing all of this just to make Louis jealous, I didn’t want to think what she would do if she knew about me going out with him. It was probably best to tread lightly.