Only The Brave ⟨⟨ʟᴏᴜɪs ᴛᴏᴍʟɪɴsᴏɴ⟩⟩

⟨⟨ ᴍᴏʀᴀʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ ⟩⟩

She groaned, resting her head against the cushioned backrest and staring up at the grey ceiling. It was a finicky situation which made it nearly impossible to acutely express her standpoint but she grappled with the words tangled in her mind, attempting to explain herself. 
"So when Louis and I first became friends, right, I was very aware of the ephemeral nature of that relationship in my life. I was certain that he would be there one moment and gone the next so I tried by best to remain objective. The issue was that for all my logicality, I still grew to love him but it was easier then because I could pretend I hadn't until the façade broke. That point of acceptance happened to be when he stopped talking to me, which was unfortunate but my analytical approach to my emotions helped soften the blow of the rejection. 

"This time, though, we reconciled with the precedent on my part of having unresolved feelings, so our friendship is now tainted with the danger of unrequited feelings which I cannot risk being engaged—"
"—Why can't you engage them?" Niall interrupted, his eyebrows furrowed in bafflement.
"Uhm, because they're unrequited, love," she continued despite Niall preparing to speak up, "Louis is in a happy relationship and while I might be sceptical of the healthiness of it, he is still in it and I'm very biased in my perception of it. We've promised each other to regard our friendship with the care and attention it deserves because we acknowledge the strain our past has had on it. We don't want that to prohibit it though and we've agreed that the role it played in our lives previously was monumental so we want to aim for that again. I believe we've reached that point and now it's growing beyond that considering I promised to be more open this time around. So there is no way I will allow pesky feelings to tarnish that possibility."

"Okay, okay," the Irishman conceded but still debated her logic, "but what if the further growth it can reach is you actually being in a relationship together?"
Her chuckle was drenched in disbelief, "Kinda cruel of you to encourage my hope like that."
"No, come on, you have to realise that it's a possibility."
"No, no I don't because it isn't," she rolled her eyes, "He's expressed multitudinally his appreciation for my friendship and that specific role in his life. I have been in one relationship in my life and that ended because of my feelings for Louis, can you imagine what would happen if that relationship would be with Louis?"
"Your logic makes no sense, Elora," Niall fought, "It would work out because your feelings are for Louis and you'd be with Louis."
"But what if it didn't?" she argued in turn, "Then I'd lose him completely once again when instead I could have been safe and perfectly content with keeping him in a platonic capacity."
"Except you're not content."
"I can be though, I just need to get used to it, is all," she relaxed her posture, forcing an exhale as she regained herself, "Look, I may not like Eleanor but at least she's perfect for the type of relationship Louis needs. I'm not experienced with the media and his lifestyle so we'd probably fail because I couldn't handle the pressure or his schedule grew too intense or our contrasting sides of society would never converge. At least if we're just friends, there isn't that expectation for us to combine lives so intensely."
"But you've basically addressed that already in this week. You've figured out how to navigate the difficulties better than most relationships, celebrity and non."
"It's only a week and it's precisely because we've approached it as friends."

Before the exasperated singer could refute her statement, adamant to lead her to the revelation that she should take that leap of faith, his phone rang. The volume jolted them from the intensity of their exchange as Niall spun to look at the device, surprised it hadn't been on silent. As he picked it up, he narrowed his eyes at Elora and promised that their conversation was definitely not over. 
Upon answering the call, regretfully realising he hadn't checked the contact, the voice on the other side was blessedly familiar, "Heya, mate. You doin' alright?"
Covering the speaker, he mimed to Elora 'speak of the devil', before responding, "Hey, Tommo. I'm doing great, thanks. What's up?"
"I just needed to talk to someone about something and knew I could go to you."
His raised eyebrows piqued Elora's interest but when he urged their aforementioned friend to tell him all about it, she got the memo that it would be a long call. She rose from the couch and gestured to the kitchen with the intention of making more tea while Niall nodded and listened to Louis.