A Love, a Lie and a False Identity (Louis Tomlinson)

Charlie

Chapter 16

Charlie

          “So…you have five younger sisters?” I asked as I took a bite of my hot dog.

          “Half-sisters,” Louis corrected me with a smile, “yeah, they’re great. What about you, do you have any brothers and sisters?” he asked, taking his own hot dog off the man and paying him before turning away and leading me over to the bench a few metres away.

          “No, I’m an only child. I always wanted a sister though, or a brother, for as long as I remember,” he chuckled at my words.

          “Trust me, they can be a handful.”

          “Oh, I know, Katherine and Laura are like my sisters, and most of the time they make me want to rip my hair out and burst out laughing at the same time.” I smiled fondly as I thought about my two best friends, how amazing and annoying they could be. But they had been there, through thick and thin, supporting me through everything.

          “You guys seem to have a really strong friendship,” he commented, taking a bite of his food whilst looking across the park he had led me to after the London Eye trip.

          “We do, we’ve been through almost everything together. My mum and I, we went through a bit of a rough patch…they were there for me the entire time,” I said sadly, thankful that he didn’t ask what had happened. He just took my hand without looking at me, no words needing to be said. “So…what have you got planned for the rest of the day?” I asked, changing the subject. A grin spread across Louis’ face like a five year old, excitement flashing in his blue eyes. I couldn’t help but smile back, his laughter was infectious. I was having the best day I had had in a long time, just doing nothing special with Louis, yet at the same time everything felt extraordinary.

          “Fancy going for a bike ride?”

          “Sounds amazing.”

* * * *

We had spent the whole day together, the time flying past in the blink of an eye. I was surprised with how much we had in common; the same love of life and carefree attitude, though Louis seemed slightly more relaxed than I was.

But I was finding it hard, hard to keep the façade up and pretend constantly to be Veronica. It broke my heart as it swelled each time he looked at me, his eyes bright and so happy. He wasn’t with me today, but an image. It was a lie. And though it never crossed my mind to tell him the truth- I would lose everything if I did- I hated lying to him like this. It was crazy, the intensity of what I felt towards this guy, but I felt I knew him already. This was what happened with celebrities, you read what you thought would be every little aspect of their lives; you became familiar with their likes, their dislikes. You become accustom with how they act and behave, so it’s not odd when you meet them, because you feel like you already have.

But Louis was unique; he was different from anyone else I had ever met. I came from a pretty small, tight community, and the guys back home came in one variety. And it was a variety that wasn’t to my taste. I had had relationships before, but they never lasted very long and they never became anything serious. I never saw myself settling down with any of them, but with Louis…it was different. I had only known him three days, three short days, but I felt something stirring inside me that had never happened before. I wasn’t about to admit I was falling for him, but I could feel my heart racing when he looked at me, the butterflies knocking madly against the walls of my stomach whenever he stood close. I was getting in far too deep, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to get out quite yet.