Willow

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven - The kiss

My head was still a little fuzzy from the mornings events, but the fudge stick Rose shared with me was helping to clear it. The seven of us were back in the café which had become our designated spot. Zayn and Liam had hunted down some paper and a few pens and they were playing hangman with Harry and Rose who were terrible at it.

“Ostrich,” Harry said.

“How the hell did you get that? There’s no O in the word,” Rose said, smacking Harry’s arm.

“Okay, so that’s another lose to team Hose. Niall, do you want to play?” Zayn asked.

“Sure, I’ll join team Hose and help them out, they obviously are in need of a handsome Irishman,” Niall said with a big smile.

I laughed and sat up a little straighter in my seat. Things could get interesting now. Zayn and Liam whispered to each other for a few seconds before deciding on the word and drawing the dashes on one of the slips of paper.

“A,” Niall guessed, and Liam put two A’s in the word.

“Yeah buddy!” Niall grinned, giving himself a high five.

“P,” Harry said.

Zayn shook his head and Rose coughed out a laugh which made me and Louis laugh. There was a sudden buzzing in my head, it wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t quiet either. It was irritating, and it made my head ache.

“You okay Willow?” Louis asked, noticing there was something off.

“I’m fine,” I lied, nodding my head which hurt it more.

“I want to talk to you, walk with me?” Louis said, rising to his feet and holding out his hand.

I looked over at Rose who grinned and nodded encouragingly at me. I took Louis’s hand and we walked out of the café, the other boys wolf whistling at us. We wandered through the lodge for a little while, Louis humming an unfamiliar tune.

“I fancy you, a lot,” he finally said.

I felt my hands getting clammy and was at a loss for words. He fancied me?

“You’re beautiful, and there’s this innocence and pureness to you that’s so captivating. You’re so interesting, I can actually carry out a conversation with you, and I want to. I really admire you Willow, and I fancy you a lot.”

Louis stopped walking and looked down at me. His eyes were burning with an intensity that made me weak at the knees. I knew I should say something but my mouth wouldn’t open to let the words out.

“Sorry to interrupt, but stay here for a little bit while we round up the others, I’ve got good news,” the owner or manager or whoever he was told Louis and I, cutting into our deeply personal conversation.

“Killed the mood mate, but sure,” Louis said, clearly annoyed.

The guy awkwardly apologized and hurried off, leaving us alone again. I gave Louis’s hand a gentle squeeze and took a deep breath.

“I really fancy you too,” I whispered.

A smile stretched across Louis’s face and I couldn’t help but smile back. He brought his free hand up to my face and softly caressed my cheek, his touch sending shivers through my body. Louis leaned closer and brushed his nose against mine, then he closed his beautiful eyes and brought his lips down on mine.

*Louis’s point of view*

Her lips were softer than silk and moved with mine with a rhythm that seemed so natural and comfortable. I couldn’t believe she fancied me, it was the happiest moment I’d had in a long time when she’s shyly whispered those words.

“They’re KISSING!” I heard Niall screech.

Willow and I broke apart and I glared at Niall who just laughed. The others were heading our way too, along with the elderly people and the staff.

“Good for you man,” Niall said, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

“Can I have everybody’s attention! The weather has died down and a rescue helicopter is coming to get us. They’re going to come through the skylight somehow and get us out, because the snow is so thick around the lodge itself that it would take days for them to break through it,” the guy who’d made all the announcements to us so far said loudly.

“They’ll be here in a half hour at the most,” he added with a big smile.

A flood of relief washed over me, but it was tinged with sadness. Getting rescued would mean leaving Willow and Rose and I didn’t want to leave her, not now, not after everything that had happened.

I felt a forceful tug on my hand and looked over at Willow who had collapsed.

“Oh my God, Willow!” I yelped, dropping to my knees and shaking her.

I noticed that her chest wasn’t moving. She wasn’t breathing. I checked her pulse and it was thudding slowly under my fingers. My stomach got heavy and I felt like I’d swallowed a ton of bricks.

“She’s not breathing,” Rose said, cradling Willow’s head in her hands.

“No, this is not happening, you’re not doing this to us Willow,” I growled, pinching her nose and blowing air into her mouth.

The other boys crouched down beside me as I tried to make her breathe again. I needed her to breathe, she couldn’t do this, she couldn’t die on me.