Stuck (Louis Tomlinson Love Story)

Chapter 17

Samantha's POV

My finals were approaching and they were approaching rapidly. Something my teachers never forgot to mention. Not one class passed without them reminding the students of how important these finals were and how we needed to do our best and study our hardest to pass. I was majoring in fashion and design, so I had to focus on creating a final piece of clothing that would determine 50% of my grade. To say that I was stressed would be an understatement. I was panicking.
My week passed pretty quickly, I spent most of my time in Niall's apartment, which happened to be the cleanest, studying on my own. Exiting? No. Not at all.
It had been six days since I last saw Louis, five days since I realized just how important he was to me, four days since Brian accused me of being in love with my best friend, three days since I decided that whatever I felt for Louis had to stop, two days since I stopped pretending I was happy and one day since Liam, Niall, Zayn and Harry got in a huge fight with Louis.
All in all, not one of my best weeks. So that left me here, in Niall's apartment on my own. Oh joy.

Louis' POV

'You're hurting her!'
'Why are you doing this?'
'Just get over yourself and tell her already!'
'She loves you, you idiot! Maybe not the way you want her to, but she does. Stop being so damn selfish!'
The angry voices of my four best friends echoed in my head, driving me insane. I had tried tuning them out, ignoring them, but it was no good. Their words had a way of popping up in my head when I least expected it. Sneaking up on me and taking me by surprise every single time.
I growled, didn't they realize I was hurting too? Staying away from Samantha was the hardest thing I had ever done. It hurt, not seeing her first thing in the morning. It hurt to think of her, having a good time without me, crying on someone else's shoulder whilst watching a movie, hugging someone else. Yes, I knew it was my own fault. I had been the one that walked away, I had ignored her texts and phone calls, I had locked myself in my bedroom and refused to talk to anyone. At night I went to a club or a bar, drowning my pain in girls and alcohol. I felt numbed for a while, but the pain didn't go away. I was hurting and I wasn't handling it well, but this pain was nothing compared to the pain of seeing her with Brian. At least now I didn't need to hide my feelings. I could be as miserable as I wanted. It was nice for a change, but in the end, it only made me even more miserable. I didn't had to pretend, so I couldn't really bother doing anything.
'You're a zombie.' Harry told me when he came to see me, three days after the kiss. I hadn't responded with anything but a nod. I knew it was true, but couldn't be bothered to tell him so. Harry groaned, threw his hands up in frustration and left.
'Get over yourself Louis!' He yelled before slamming the door shut.
It wasn't often the five of us fought. If we did it was mostly Harry, Liam or Zayn. Niall didn't take sides and I was all over the place, too careless to bother with their bickering. It was weird, fighting with the others. Zayn had gotten really mad and so had Harry. Both of them, but Zayn especially, were so fond of Sam, seeing her hurting hurt them as well. Liam didn't lose his temper, he only told me he was wrong for recommending me to give Samantha space. He told me she was a absolute mess right now, barely smiling.
Niall was strangely enough quite supportive. 'She loves you Louis,' He told me when all the others had left. He was the only one who hadn't stormed out. Choosing to stay with me and his half finished meal. 'We all know it and I think she might start to realize it as well. It's in her eyes, you know, every time she looks at you her eyes sparkle, every time she hears your voice she smiles. You can't force it, but it's there. She is in love with you. You'll just have to be patient.'
A smile appeared on my face as he said this and for a moment I looked like my old self. Happy, smiling and totally in love.
'I have to talk to her, don't I?' I asked him. Niall looked up for a minute and nodded.
'Yes, you should. But don't hurt her this time, okay? I hate seeing her unhappy, I love her too you know. Not the way you do, but I do love her. She's like my little sister only not as annoying.'
I shook my head at Niall in disbelieve, he was one special kid.
'You're weird.' I told him as I got up from the couch and started pacing around in my room. What was I going to tell her? How could I explain my sudden absence? Would she be mad? No, of course not. She would be sad, disappointed maybe, but not mad. I couldn't even imagine her getting mad. It would be pretty hot though..
'Yeah. I'll go talk to her.' I hadn't realized I said it out loud until Niall mumbled something that sounded like 'go get her' in response.
Scoffing slightly I crossed the hallway and paused in front of Niall's door. 'Here goes nothing.' I mumbled

Samantha's POV

'This is hopeless' I sighed as I let myself fall back into the couch, throwing away my textbook. Math really wasn't my thing. I had been trying to memorize several difficult formulas for hours, but I still couldn't solve any of the problems.
I was about to open my book again to start over again when the door opened. The boys came to check on me several times every day, so I figured it must be one of them. Not bothering to look up, I closed my eyes and brought my hands to my head as I tried to remember what I just read.
'You okay?'
I opened my eyes in shock as I recognized Louis' voice. He was standing there, in the door opening, watching me with a wary expression on his face. My breathing quickened and my heart started beating faster at the sight of him, but I tried to ignore this.
'Lou?' I asked frowning. 'Wha-what are you doing here?'
He sent me a small smile as he stepped closer. 'Do I need an excuse to come and see my best friend?'
'Well, considering you've been ignoring your 'best friend' for the last couple of days. Yeah, I think you do.' I replied. Louis' face fell, leaving me feeling guilty. 'Sorry about that.' He mumbled as he turned away a little to hide the pain. I could read him like a book and I understood how he felt. Lonely, insecure and guilty. Exactly how I felt when I wasn't with him. I hated seeing him this sad, so I took a few steps towards him and grabbed his hand, intertwining our fingers.
'Why did you do it?' I asked him softly. 'Did I do something wrong? Because if I did then I'm sorry, okay. I'm really sorry. Just don't leave me like that.' Tears started to make their way down my cheek as I realized just how much I had missed him.
'Hey.' Louis whispered as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warm chest. 'It wasn't your fault, okay? Don't think, even for a minute, that it was. I just needed some time on my own to figure things out. I'm sorry for ignoring you. I just needed some time away from..'
'From me.' I interrupted.
'That's not what I meant.'
'It is true though, isn't it?' I asked as I pulled away and looked up. Louis' face was turned up in confusion. 'Maybe a little.' He answered after a few seconds. 'But not in a bad way. I didn't need time away from you, just, from us. If you understand what I'm saying.'
I furrowed my brow for a moment as I tried to understand the meaning of his words, but when I didn't I just shook my head. I looked back at him, smiling for the first time in days. He came back, he wasn't mad at me. It felt good, smiling at Louis to see him smiling back. I had missed this.
'Don't ever do that to me again.' I told him as I pulled him close again. 'Don't leave me. Ever.' My voice came out as a whisper, but Louis heard me nonetheless.
'I promise.' He whispered, resting his chin on the top of my head. A warm feeling spread to the tip of my toes as I felt the familiar feeling of his strong arms around my waist, heard the sturdy beating of his heart and smelled his cologne. I had him back, my Louis.
'Pinky promise?' I asked, giggling. I could feel Louis smiling. 'Pinky promise.'

I pulled away for the second time and kissed him on the cheek.
'Come on.' I told him, dragging him out the door by his hand. 'Let's go do something fun.'
Louis followed me willingly, but I didn't let go of his hand. I wanted to make sure he stayed close to me and didn't take off without a warning. I was so focused on my own happy feelings that I didn't notice the tingling in my fingers or the smile on Louis face. It matched mine perfectly. It was a smile full of love.

Louis' POV

I looked at my beautiful best friend and smiled, I smiled a lot when she was near. I looked at our hands and wondered if she could feel the tingling as well. Usually I could feel a little spark whenever we touched, but I hadn't felt anything like this yet. This was so much stronger, almost like electricity. She looked so adorable, I could eat her. Not really, that would be cannibalism, but you know what I mean. She had looked better, dark bags were visible in her eyes and her hair was in a messy bun, but she had a smile on her face. A loving smile, the smile I had missed so badly these last days.
'Where do you want to go?' Samantha questioned as we left the complex.
I shrugged, 'Anywhere, as long as I'm with you.'
She giggled again. 'You're so cheesy.'
I grinned widely. It was true though, if anything, these last days taught me how much my life sucked without Sam. I was pretty lost without her.
'We can go to the movies,' Sam suggested. 'Or to the woods, or shopping.'
I scrounged up my face, trying to think of something fun to do.
'We can go skiing!' I yelled loudly and enthusiastically, interrupting Samantha's suggestions.
'Skiing?' She asked, a smile playing on her face. 'Louis, we're in England. There's no snow, how would you want to go skiing?'
I shrugged, I hadn't quite thought of that. 'We could leave England.' I told her. 'Go north, Scandinavia or something.'
Sam looked at me in awe for a few seconds, but shook it off and shrugged. 'Okay. Scandinavia it is.'