Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 23

“I’m gonna go” she mouths, pointing further into the store and before I have a chance to protest, she’s disappeared. Shit. I look around for store security or a salesman for help and when one finally notices the crowd, they make their way over and begin clearing out the people. It takes maybe 10 more minutes before I’m finally free. I give a quick shake of my head, trying to clear the questions they’d thrown at me out of my mind.

“Did you and Eleanor break up?”

“Is that Hunter’s sister?”

“Are you two dating?”

“Did you cheat on Eleanor with her?”

 

I knew there’d have to be some kind of formal acknowledgement of our breakup or else these rumors would never be put to rest. “Thanks” I tell the salesman before looking around for Lauren. My eyes land on her in the back and I walk over to her. She’s plucking at a silky top with a look of distaste on her face.

“Don’t see anything you like?” I ask seeing her empty hands. She forces out a laugh, looking at me with a mix of surprise and tiredness.

“Does this place really look like my kind of style?” she asks gesturing her arm at the clothes around us and I realize I’d made an even bigger mistake than I’d thought. This was the type of place Eleanor had liked, but it was quite obviously not her style. “Can we just… can we just go home,” she says tiredly and I feel my stomach sink. Today was supposed to be a good day.

“No please, just… we can do something else. Let’s go to a movie. We can go in after the lights are already out. Nobody will see us” I say, a hint of begging in my voice.

“Can I get a popcorn?” she asks after a moment of consideration.

“Anything you want,” I tell her, a smile flickering on my lips.

“And M&M’s?”

An hour later, we’re seated in the dark theater, a tub of popcorn between us and a bag of M&M’s in her hand as we watch Iron Man get his face smashed. 

“Ohh” Lauren winces after a particularly painful looking right hook. We had seats fairly far in the back because we’d come in late. Luckily, the theater wasn’t crowded enough where we’d had to sit in one of the front rows close to the screen. Those seats always left my neck hurting. Glancing over at her, I can’t help but to smile seeing how invested she is in the movie. My eyes take a mischievous tint as I let out a huge yawn, stretching my arms above my head then letting it land over her shoulders, pulling the oldest move in the book. She rolls her eyes, keeping them trained on the screen, but a smile appears on her face. I peek around her before reaching into her bag of M&M’s, trying to grab a few.

“Hey” she laughs, pulling the M&M’s out of my reach, realizing my intent.

 I reach across her with my other arm, trying to grab them and accidentally knocking the popcorn over onto the ground. She tries to squirm out of my grip with a laugh but I soon have her pinned against me.

“Shhh” someone around us whispers angrily and the two of us freeze, looking at each other and trying not to laugh. She maneuvers her arms and manages to reach into the bag of candy she had pressed against her and plucks out an M&M. She holds it in front of my lips and when I open my mouth, she drops it in. I smile, closing my mouth and loosening my hold on her, letting the candy dissolve on my tongue. She relaxes against me, laying her head against my chest and looking back at the movie while I look down at her in surprise. I’d expected her to pull away when I’d loosened my grip. A minute or so later, she pulls back and lifts the arm rest up, removing the barrier and making it more comfortable before returning to her position resting against me. Her hands rested lightly on top of my forearms, which were wrapped around her stomach. Breathing in, I can smell the sweet scent of peaches from her shampoo.  She absentmindedly began rubbing her thumb against my arm and as much as I try to concentrate on the movie, I’m aware of each jump of surprise or vibration from her laugh. When the movie ends, I’m too comfortable to move. I reluctantly release her as she pulls away to stand up when the lights go on.