Only The Brave ⟨⟨ʟᴏᴜɪs ᴛᴏᴍʟɪɴsᴏɴ⟩⟩

⟨⟨ sᴛᴇᴀʟ ᴍʏ ɢɪʀʟ ⟩⟩

Her room mate scoffed before looking at her and whining in complaint that there was no coffee for him. She shook her head and pushed him out of the way with the explanation that some people consume tea.
He gagged and opened the fridge before pouring himself a glass of water and slurping it whilst staring calculatingly at Louis - who hadn't said anything since receiving the fright of his life. Many thoughts circulated his head: Does he know who I am? He looks like he hates me. Are they a thing? No, she said she doesn't have a boyfriend. Does he like her? Does she like him? Will he ever stop staring into my soul?

"It's rude to not introduce your guests, Elora," the oddly intense man jested, "Honestly, your hospitality heritage is sobbing."
"Yeah, well," she began shoving him out of the kitchen, "there's a reason Keira followed my dad's footsteps and not me."
Eventually, with the full use of her body pushed against his broad back, Elora managed to rid the small kitchen of the man who towered over Louis in a way that was annoyingly resemblant of Harry.

"I'm so sorry, Louis," she apologized earnestly, "I promise he genuinely doesn't know who you are."
The somewhat frazzled man couldn't help but laugh, "In any other situation, that would have been somewhat insulting."
Cringing slightly, she started to wipe the spilt tea off the counter and apologized again, "I'm not really sure what to do in these situations. Being discrete about who you are has been one of my main priorities, which has involved me quite literally running away from Simon's questions."

Louis laughed at her words and shook his head before finishing the bare remnants of his tea.
"Elora, it's really fine. I don't care if you, like, tell your friends about me," she grimaced and he rolled his eyes, "I don't expect you to, like, parade me around your home town - you have never given me the impression that you would do that."
"I guess I just don't want to lead you to believe that I'm here for your fame or to boast that I know you," she shrugged, "because that's definitely not it. You've grown to mean a lot to me, Louis, and I don't want to damage that."
He grinned brightly as she blushed, his eyes sparkling like a Disney character, before wrapping her smaller frame in his toned arms. Rocking her slightly as he held her, Louis whispered, "You mean quite a lot to me as well, you know? I don't care if the whole world finds out that you're in my life, I only really care that you stay in it."

Elora let out a soft laugh and vaguely hit his chest, weakly whining, "Stop, you're going to make me sentimental."
An endeared chuckle tumbled out of his lips as he gently released her and washed his mug to busy himself so as to ignore the fluttering warmth in his chest.
"You didn't tell me if there was a reason for your visit," she spoke up as she grabbed the cleaned mug and handed him her own.
"Can I not just visit my dear friend?" he remarked with a cheeky smirk, "Besides, I haven't seen you much over the past couple of days - I missed your South African twang."
Rolling her eyes, she moved him out of the way with a hip manuveour and sauntered over to the large couch.

Following her lead, Louis collapsed onto the furniture so that she could throw her legs over his as he explained, "I think I forgot how hectic releasing an album is. It feels like my life has been swallowed up by meetings, interviews and briefs on where we're going from here and I just, like, I miss spending days with you exploring the city. Which is weird, because we haven't even known each other for a month yet you're like a sanctuary in this swirling vortex of façades and practiced lines."
Smiling sympathetically, Elora encouraged him to continue.
"It's like, as we finish things up I understand more and more why we're going on a hiatus - which I'm sure the other lads appreciate - but understanding why is just really sad because it means I need to acknowledge that I'm too tired to enjoy this stuff anymore. Like, when did I start prefering to spend a day inside doing nothing instead of making music, a passion I have always had?