Louis' POV
Time passes different depending on your situation. One second you're happy, enjoying your time not feeling the vibration of something bad about to happen the next second. I surely didn't see it coming neither did anyone I guess. Isn't it ironic how everyone is making up New Years revelations thinking that they're going to be a new person just because they think something is starting over. Everyone gets a weird feeling at the sight of fireworks thinking that everything is going to get better and if you asked me maybe one week ago I would be that kind of person as well.
I enjoyed New Years in the past I liked to spend time with my family, playing board games counting the minutes until the new year starts promising a fresh start and new adventures.
Now I'm sitting on our front porch looking at the dark sky of London a few minutes until midnight. My mom and dad are standing at our front yard happy smiles on their faces while they talk to our neighbors.
Millie is already preparing our firework rockets as she puts them carefully into the glass bottles.
The sky in London is so different than in Paris. You can't see the stars like you could there and even though the temperatures are the same it seems much colder here.
Maybe it's the fact that I'm sitting alone replaying Christmas Eve over and over in my head.
"Hey." Issie steps out of the house warm jacket wrapped around her shoulders while she sits down beside me.
She didn't ask me why I came back earlier just like I expected her not to.
My silence said enough but I still can see the questions in her eyes.
The same questions my parents asked me when I stood in front of the door a day after Christmas.
I give her a tight lipped smile while she pushes her shoulder against mine gently.
"Not going to help Millie?" She asks and I shake my head looking down at my hands. I'm holding her book in my hands as if it would give me the answers to my questions. As if it could fix everything that happened.
Timothée said she is fine and that she'd spend New Years with her dad. That's the only thing holding me off from going to her and asking her what's wrong.
35 messages and 20 calls she didn't answer anything and I lost hope that she will just turn up at my house and tell me that everything was a dream.
"You're not going to tell us what happened aren't you?" Issie whispers beside me making me sigh as my heart clenches.
"It's okay. Just know that I'm here if you want to talk." She says putting her hand in mine squeezing it lightly. I give her a thankful smile but I don't think that she can help me with this.
She gives me a smile back before standing up and rushing over to help Millie with the fireworks.
Millie chuckles while Issie slips on the iced ground on her way towards her.
My parents watch them laughing as well as suddenly the dark sky is filled with colorful lights.
Our rackets make the familiar loud sound before shooting into the sky disappearing before exploding into beautiful patterns.
"Happy new year Louis." I mumble to myself pathetically because no one else will.
How could this year start so amazingly going on happily and end in a bloody disaster?
I grab my phone out of my jeans and open Melody and I's chat. Every message is read by her but she never answered.
I type in a message for her even though I know she won't answer but I want her to know that I think of her and that I will never stop thinking about her.
Timothée warned me about her he told me that she just lets people in until a certain point. I was foolish enough to think that I was different that she was really with me all of her. Instead of accepting that she just wasn't that into me I let her grasp my heart and pull into her soul making me fall in love with her in an instant.
I put the book down placing my phone on it before standing up and walking over to my family.
My mom notices me approaching as she holds her arm out for me giving me a hug.
"Happy new year darling." She says kissing my hair.
I close my eyes soaking up every ounce of love my still heart can get as I hug her back.
"Happy new year mom." I whisper.
She looks at me with her wise eyes as she pushes a strand of my hair out of my face.
"Whatever happened it's going to be fine. Sometimes life gives us challenges just to let us notice that we should appreciate things more." I give her a sad smile while our eyes move to Issie and Millie fooling around in the front yard.
"I hope you're right. Because I appreciated what I got in life very much but something took it from me anyways." I say an image of Melody's face flashing in front of my eyes.
"You did but maybe she didn't. I have trust in her that she uses the time to change her life and you should be there for her in the end because she's going to need you." She talks like she knows what happened even though she can't.
I guess moms just feel if something is wrong.
"I just don't want her to give people or things up that are important to her..or I thought were important to her." I say kicking a small stone in front of my shoes while I slowly start to freeze at the low temperatures.
The fireworks are still going even though midnight is over and it's making me angry that everyone is happy besides me.
"She's a smart girl Louis. But even smart people can do dumb things sometimes. You're young life has so much to offer you still." She says smiling lightly and I sigh nodding even though I don't want anymore offers from life.
I want Melody by my side drawing in her sketchbook her tongue poking out slightly as her brows are furrowed in concentration.
I want to travel back to the days in Paris as I travelled the foreign streets with the most beautiful and kind hearted soul beside me.
I want to go back before everything went down hill..
*Flashback*
"Now who's next?" Timothée asks as we all sit on the ground in a small circle.
There's a short moment of silence before Melody hops up beside me walking over to the small Christmas tree.
"You never told us what you did the last days Cherie." Lilly speaks up while Melody searches around for her present.
I notice that Lilly's eyes are trained on me a curious look in them as she gives me a smile.
"It was alright. Really cold we watched a few movies went to the art supplies shop." I answer her while I feel Timothées eyes on me. He's looking at me suspiciously since he came back and it's making me bloody nervous.
"Oh. That's good." Lilly sounds a bit disappointed making me and Timothée look at her confused.
"So everything normal nothing..special happening?" Timothée asks now and I shake my head no stiffly as I shrug my shoulders.
No nothing special, not Melody having a total panic attack making me realize that I don't want her to go through anything like this again, a total douche flirting with her while her kind hearted soul doesn't notice anything and me realizing that I'm absolutely and devotedly in love with her that it makes me look like I'm a complete moron.
"Stop questioning him Timmy and enjoy the evening for gods sake." Melody says as she sits down beside me her knee brushing mine making me flinch slightly but no one notices.
I'm hyper sensitive to her touch since the attack but I try to play it down so no one notices.
She pushes a small wrapped package into my hands as she nods encouraging me to open it up.
I smile slightly and grab the package tearing the paper carefully apart.
My brows furrow first as I try to recognize the dark blue material until a book reveals itself out of the paper.
My mouth opens in surprise as I look up at her a beautiful smile on her lips as her cheeks get that beautiful rosy color when she's embarrassed.
"Open the First Page." She says holding out her hand as she already opens the book for me.
I can't even get my eyes away from her because I didn't expect this present for me.
She looks up from the page to me when she doesn't get a response from me and I quickly look down feeling my cheeks heat up as well.
I hear Lilly sigh happily in the background and I don't dare to look at Timothée in this moment.
My eyes widen even more and my heart swells when I see the imprinted sentence on the page.
The book is a first edition and she let it be engraved with a message for me.
'And what is the use of a book without pictures and conversation?
You're my Story Louis and I hope it never ends, your library girl.'
"Thank you." I mumble looking at her overwhelmed. If I weren't so in love with her I probably find this totally cheesy but this is the book that got me to meet her and I probably would've never got to know her without it.
"I just wanted you..to tell you.." she trails off and I smile as I pull her in for a hug.
"I know..I do too." I whisper in her ear.
I meet Timothées eyes over her shoulder and to my surprise he doesn't look mad.
Lilly has her hands over heart as she smiles and I have to suppress a chuckle at the look she's giving us.
Melody and I part and I wish we would be alone so I could kiss her and tell her how much I really love her.
"Okay now stop with the cheesy stuff it's my turn." Timothée says and he stands up but we get interrupted by a hard knock against the house door.
My brows furrow in confusion as I look over to the others to see if they know who this is or if they expected someone to show up.
When no one reacts the aggressive knock returns again and a voice booms from the other side.
"Timothée I know you're there. Open the door now!" Melody stiffens up at the voice and I look at her alarmed.
The door suddenly gets smashed open making the handle smash against the wall.
I stand up protectively in front of Melody making Timothée do the same thing as a tall man rushes into the apartment a ballistic look in his face.
Melody lets out a choked breath behind me and the big force of protectiveness that rushes inside of my veins doesn't surprise me.
The mans eyes are bloodshot as he lays them on the glimpse he can catch of Melody behind us.
"I called you Melody a hundred times. I let you stay here under the condition that you call me."
"Alexis maybe you should calm a bit down so we can discuss this like adults." Timothée speaks calmly holding up his hands defensively.
This seems to make the man even more angry as he takes a threatening step forwards.
"We don't need to discuss anything this is my daughter and you know the rules Timothée. Melody!" He orders and to my surprise Timothée sighs as he moves out of the way.
"What are you doing?" I ask him my brows furrowing.
"I told you. He is her legal guardian he decides." He says disappointed and I look at him like he's nuts.
This man looks like he's one step away from killing his own daughter and Melody looks like she's scared to death.
"Look at her! She's scared. I'm not going to let you take her!" I scream at the man who lays his angry eyes on me in an instant.
"Listen to me boy I would be careful I can-" he stops talking when Melody steps up in front of me as she grabs my arm softly and pushes me behind her.
"It's okay Louis." She says softly and I don't see any fear in her eyes anymore.
"What are you doing?" I ask her but she just looks up at me smiling.
"I'm coming with you dad but please don't think Louis, Timmy or anyone in this room is at fault okay?"
A smug look forms on the mans face as he crosses his arms.
I glare at him disgusted by his behavior.
Melody moves over to her father and I have to stop every cell in my body to not walk over and pull her back towards me.
"Can you wait in the hall? I'm going to pack my bag and be with you in five minutes." She says softly to her dad and he lets his eyes wander over all of us before nodding and stepping out into the hall.
Melody rushes to her room without a word and I want to follow her but Timothée grabs my arm stopping me.
I turn around aggressively pulling my arm out of his grasp.
"What the fuck are you doing? You can't just let her go?"
"You need to chill Louis this happened several times before. He's just in a bad mood and wants her back home it's not that bad." He says but I hear every lie in his words. I look over to Lilly desperate for support but she just looks as lost as I do.
"He's not good for her you know that! Why won't you do anything about it? Screw that he's her legal guardian she can't have a good life with him god knows what he's going to do-" I get interrupted when someone clears their throat behind me.
I turn around to see Melody standing behind me her bag in her hands a soft smile on her lips.
"Louis everything's fine. I'm gonna call you when I land okay? I'm sorry that he turned up but that's just how he is. I can come up for your ticket."
I let out a laugh but it's not filled with humor.
"Do you think I care about the goddamn ticket? Stay Melody please." I say as I step in front of her grabbing her hands in mine.
She gives me a reassuring smile but I know this is not a normal situation.
Something is up and when her hands slip out of mine I get a bad feeling in my gut.
She gets on her tippy toes and gives me a soft kiss against my cheek.
I close my eyes my jaw clenching because this feels more like a goodbye than an I'll see you again.
She gives Lilly and Timothée a wave before leaving the apartment the door shutting after her making an unbearable silence move into the apartment that none of us three dare to break.