Ever After

Chapter 29

"Fancy running into you here, Louis! Right? Right! I'm just on my way, uh, out! I was just visiting a friend, you know, who lives in this building. I didn't come to see you; fancy running into you, right!"

The girl whom the laughter belonged to then walked out of his flat, shutting the door behind her. It was his sister.

"Oh, Lottie! Hi there. How's it going? It's been a while!" I rambled on. I wanted to shut up, but I couldn't stop awkwardly babbling.

So maybe now my worst nightmare hadn't come true? He wasn't really with another girl; it was just his sister! I could maybe, possibly still talk to Louis.

My hands were sweating and I was still lying on the ground. "Actually, Louis, could I please talk to you?"

"Go ahead," he answered in a harsh tone.

Why would he respond like that? He knew what I meant. I wanted to talk to him without his sister present and I wanted to talk to him about us. Sitting down, preferably. "I mean, like, uh, privately. Or not. Could we go in your apartment, maybe? Unless you don't want me to. That's okay too. I'll leave. I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll just get myself off the ground-"

Louis looked over at his sister. "Hey, Lott, can you go ahead on to the restaurant? I'll meet you there."

"Yeah, of course," she smiled. As she walked past us, I heard her whisper in his ear, "Don't fuck this up."

I bit my lip, looking up at Louis.

Louis's tone was still as harsh as before. "Maybe you should get off the ground."

"Yeah." He extended a hand out for me to grab onto. Could he feel my hand sweating?

I followed him into his apartment without another word. It was so awkward. It had never been this awkward between us... ever.

My mind was a mess. I had no clue what I was going to say. Usually when I spoke from my "heart" I screwed things up.

He closed the door behind us and led me to the couch, his hand barely touching my back. I was practically panting I was so nervous.

"Louis, I-" He cut me off.

"Rosie, listen, I'm going to spare you the trouble. If you're here to apologize or something, you don't need to. I get it, you're sorry. It doesn't change the fact that you don't want to be together."

"No, no, I'm not here to apologize, I mean- yeah I am, but," I gulped. "I also wanted to tell you that I, uh, love you."

"Wow, you sound so sure about that," he responded sarcastically.

"Please, Louis, you aren't making this easy." I wanted to break down in tears.

Why was apologizing always so difficult? It wasn't the part about being sorry for what you did, but more the part where you had to convince the other person that you were truly sorry. I wished Louis could just read my mind and forgive me and love me again, but wishing that made me feel like a six year old.

"Oh, because you made it so easy for me when I came to your door telling you that I loved you? Do you even know how much you hurt me that night?" Louis sounded so angry, and I couldn't blame him. I knew how much I screwed everything up.

"I do! And I would give anything to take it back!"

"Well you can't! I've been going through hell since you ran away, and you didn't even care to do anything about it! You had me worried sick, and when you finally came back you broke up with me! Who does that?"

I tried to control my voice. I didn't want to cry or scream. "Louis, I came here because I want to be with you. I want to be with you until the day that you no longer want to be with me. I don't care how complicated it's going to be because no matter what I would still want to be with you!"

"I don't know if I can do it, Rosie! You broke my heart; do you even realize that? Walking away from you that night was like getting stabbed in the chest, but you didn't care! You haven't cared for the past three weeks, and it was killing me. How am I supposed to know you won't do something like that to me again?"

"You have to trust me! Please," I begged. "I was just trying to make it so breaking up would hurt less, rather than breaking up in the future when it gets even more complicated." I recalled what he said on the day of Josh's funeral. Giving up was the easiest thing to do, but I needed to stay strong. I wasn't going to give up on Louis.

"How could you just assume that we would break up eventually? And why should I trust you?"

And then I blurted it out. "Because I love you! I love you, Louis, and I would never want to hurt you intentionally. That's the statement most deserving of your trust that I could say right now. I love you, and I know you still love me back or else you wouldn't be giving me a split second to talk right now."

"I do love you," he replied in a defeated voice.

My tone matched his. "Then if I love you and you love me, why can't we find a way to make this work?" I ignored the fact that the beginning part of my statement was also a Barney song.

Without even a second to think, I felt his lips pressed against mine, and his hands on either side of my face. I didn't fight it. Did this mean he forgave me?

I barely pulled away. "Is that your way of saying we can work this out?"

He kissed me once more.

I broke the kiss again. "Is that your way of saying yes?"

He smiled slightly. "Yes."

And then the worst thought came to my mind, and I hoped it wouldn't ruin everything. "Fuck. I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"When I ran away, after we broke up, I went to visit Penn. I made a friend there and she took me to a party and I had a few drinks and ended up dancing with and kissing another guy. But that's all that happened, I promise." I tried to say it as nonchalantly as possible, because it really wasn't important to me. It was so meaningless. I looked up into his eyes to find what he was thinking, but his eyes were just scanning my face.

"Did it mean anything to you?"

"No, I swear, I was drunk and I thought we were broken up and I wasn't being myself. I was really fucked up."

"Then it doesn't matter to me."

"It doesn't?" I inquired, surprised.

"No. It's in the past. You said it yourself, you weren't being yourself and it didn't mean anything. And technically we were broken up."

"You understand," I said, almost in a questioning tone. "That's it? Thank you."

"I love you, Rosie."

"I love you, too."

"And I want you to know that no matter what, I'm not going to give up easily. Promise you won't either?"

I looked straight into his bright eyes, something I rarely did with anyone. I hated making eye contact, but it didn't bother me with Louis. "I promise. But are you sure? Your life is already hectic enough, and I just add more hectic-ness, if that's a word."

"I don't care, as long as I get to be with you."

"Okay, real talk, is our life a Nicholas Sparks novel? I swear, this is one of the cheesiest conversations I've ever had."

"I was thinking the exact same thing."

We both laughed before he kissed me again, and this time I didn't pull away.

Maybe some princesses could get their happily ever after, after all.

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I hope I didn't screw this chapter up; comment what you thought?

There's only 2 chapters left in the story plus an epilogue!! I CANT WAIT TO HAVE A LITTLE GREEN CHECKMARK NEXT TO THE TITLE YAY

And as always, thanks for reading! :) xox