Impudent ➳ l.t [au]

Chapter 30: "Harold and Neil are outsiders."

It's been two days since Louis has avoided me for unknown reasons.

Maybe it was because he didn't want to deal with the conflict that would come between us because of how disappointed and somewhat upset I was when he lied about complimenting me. Perhaps I shouldn't be upset for that reason - I already was expecting something like that from him because of how he is. But there was a part of me that wished he'd just change, because it seemed like he did around me anyway.

It was Thursday now, and it was beyond annoying how many times I heard about Louis' party in the hallway alone. The thought of not being invited - even though I thought we were finally making progress - made me feel excluded. It was like the whole school, with an exception of Harry and Niall, was invited except me. But even that was odd because I knew the most about him.

I sighed and shut my locker, avoiding the lunchroom at all costs - it was currently lunchtime - and walked towards the bathrooms. Startling me, a random door flew open and a hand tugged me inside. At first, I panicked and almost screamed. That was, until I saw Louis trying to calm me down.

I furrowed my eyebrows and shoved at his chest, making his back collide with the cleaning products that were placed on the shelves. This was the janitor's closet, I noticed. Maybe I shouldn't have shoved him, but I didn't really care because of how mad I was at this point.

Louis rubbed his spine and groaned, "Calm down, Glimmer. I just wanted to talk to you privately."

"Ever heard of responding to a text message?" I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway," he excused me, "I wanted to apologize about lying in class the other day. You are beautiful without trying, and I meant that."

I sighed, heavily avoiding eye contact. "It's too late now. You've already embarrassed me in front of the classroom."

Louis opened his mouth to speak, but something inside of me cut him off completely.

"Do you know how much of a difficult human being you are? At first, you were a fucking jerk; impolite, dishonest, egotistical. But slowly I saw you starting to open up to me. I was literally thinking that you were changing, that you were becoming into a better person - that I finally got this project in the right direction. But then you do shit like this, and it confuses the hell out of me. You never want to be seen with me, you purposely embarrass me, and you don't inv -" I'm not able to finish my speech because Louis mashed his lips against mine, shutting off my words.

Any other time, I would have desperately kissed him back. Right now, however, i'm angry so I shove at his chest until he backs away.

"Glimmer?" Louis whispers, looking hurt and making my heart ache.

"Louis," I say harshly. "I wasn't even done. And besides, you can't just kiss me randomly and always expect me to be okay with it."

He doesn't say anything while he stares at the floor.

"I really don't want to give up on this project, but you give me no choice," I huff in frustration. Honestly, there were multiple moments where I sincerely forgot about the project. I imagined that Louis and I were actually getting along as friends, that we were maybe even growing into something more. But currently, I just wanted to take the Zero as my grade.

"Are you serious? You would want to give up on me already? I thought we were doing fine -"

"Fine?" I dryly laughed, "What is your definition of fine, Louis?"

He wriggled his eyebrows, "Your backside."

"Not the time for jokes," I snapped.

Louis sighed and tapped his foot while he crossed his arms against his chest. "Okay, but there's another reason I brought you in here. I'm pretty damn sure you've heard all the random chatter about my party, yeah?"