The Summer Begins in which AJ's school lets out, summer begins, and Sienna and AJ join us on tour.
DADDY
"Here's the main problem with your plan, Louis," Harry said, unfolding his napkin and placing it in his lap. "You and Sienna have been on, what, eight or nine dates?"
"What's your point?" Louis said, frowning at his steak. He pushed the plate away slightly. Opposite of me, Louis can't eat a thing when he's nervous.
"That's a pretty short time to be asking her on tour! Maybe you should just fly her and AJ out for a few dates," Zayn offered, taking a bite of his steak. He made a face at it, however, and took a swig of water.
"She's been talking non-stop about how much she wants to do something this summer! She and AJ have no work, no school, for the next three months, and you're telling me that we shouldn't invite them on tour?" Louis said, raising his eyebrow at us. "Come on! Don't be silly. They'd love it. It's not a relationship thing, not really. You guys want them on tour as much as I do."
"Yeah," Harry said, "but I'm just scared that the tour might put a strain on your relationship, it being so early in your relationship and all. I'm just looking out for you, as your Fairy Companion."
"I think I can handle it. I promise, Haz, it'll be fine," Louis said. "I'm going to ask, okay?"
"Okay," Zayn agreed. "It'll be fun having AJ on tour."
"Yeah, I think it'll be fun! Emma came on the European leg of the first tour, and things turned out great for us," I agreed. "I say you go for it."
"Yeah," Harry said, after a moment. "I think it'll be fun."
"What's taking Niall so long in the toilet?" I mumbled, swatting a fly away from his steak. Unfortunately, we were at an event, so we didn't exactly have a choice as to what we were eating. Everybody got steak and potatoes, and Niall's was getting cold.
"Maybe he's shaving his legs," Zayn offered.
"Yes, Zayn," Harry said, nodding. "Shaving his legs. Of course. Why didn't Liam think of that?"
"Hey, it's a possibility," Zayn said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Or maybe he's on his phone again. He got re-addicted to Doodle Jump over the weekend."
"Shit," Louis moaned. "Not again. Last time, he nearly had a nervous breakdown."
"Lou, is that your phone?" Zayn asked, leaning closer. He reached across the table and picked up Louis' mobile. A mischievous grin came over his face, and he answered the call. "Hello? Oh, hey Sienna."
"Give me the phone!" Louis whined, attempting to reach over and snatch it from Zayn's hands.
"Oh, you're on your way? That's great! Yeah, we'll be there soon. We're just finishing up over here." Louis shot him a death glare, but Zayn continued. "Oh, by the way, Louis has a very important question to ask, when he sees you."
"Zayn," Louis whined, making child-like grabby-hands at the phone.
"Where is he? Oh, he's in the bathroom, just helping Niall with his Doodle Jump addiction. I promised I'd play secretary in his absence."
"Liar!" Louis said. Zayn handed the phone over, and he clutched it as if for dear life. "Babe? Hey, hey. Yeah. Of course. No, I didn't forget. What? No. Well, not exactly an addiction. I'll explain when I see you, okay? See you soon. Bye."
"You're not saying 'I love you,' yet?" Harry asked. "You're the too-hard-too-fast type, Lou. What gives?"
"Don't want to scare her away," Louis sighed. "This is different. I have to take things slow with Sienna. She hasn't exactly had the best time with men in the past, if you hadn't noticed."
"Yeah," I said. "I'm proud of you. You're taking the right route with things."
"If Niall doesn't come out of the bathroom soon, we're going to have to leave him behind. He can catch a cab to the beach," Zayn said. "Hey, Li, Emma's still coming, right? I found the name of the song we heard on the pier the other day."
"Oh, yeah, she texted me earlier, said she's on her way. She'll probably beat us there," I said.
"At this rate, everyone will beat us there," Harry said, motioning at Niall's empty seat.
"Jesus Christ, I'm going in after him," Zayn announced.
"Don't die!" Louis called after him.
"I won't, babe. Love you!" Zayn called back.
We had a round of "Love you too, Zayn," which only faded when he disappeared into the bathroom.
"Are you nervous about the timing of your question here, Lou?" I asked. "I mean, it's okay if you are. This isn't exactly the fun part of you and Sienna's relationship."
"No, it's fine, Li, I'll just... Uh, I'll ask before he shows up or something."
"I have a feeling that everything's going to be just fine, Lou," Harry assured him. "And I have a really good feeling about you and Sienna."
"Me too," Louis grinned. "I don't know, things are different now. Better."
"I can tell," I said. "Just don't let today get you down. Obviously Sienna and AJ have a different relationship dynamic with this guy than they do with you. Don't read too much into it."
When we finally got to the beach, AJ, Sienna, Emma, and Shannon were already waiting for us. Shannon and AJ were already playing in the ocean, and Niall wasted no time in joining them. Harry announced that he was going attempt to get rid of the pasty complexion he'd obtained over the winter, and set up his towel in direct sunlight, next to what I could only assume was Shannon's.
"Hey, babe," I said, grinning at Emma. I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She was leaning back on her elbows, staring at the sea.
"Hey," she said back. "Did you bring me anything? I'm absolutely starved."
"Yeah," I replied, "There's a whole picnic in the beach bag, I think. Unless Niall and Zayn ate it all on the way over."
"They better not have," she laughed. "How was the meeting?"
"Ended sooner than expected. It was Niall that made us late. He was playing Doodle Jump in the toilets... I'm afraid he's hooked again," I smiled fondly in his direction, which he noticed. He waved and grinned widely at me, so I smiled and waved back. "Poor thing."
"Wow," Emma said. "How tragic. Did you seriously wear a jumper to the beach?"
"Uh... yes?" I said, tugging awkwardly at the knit fabric. "I'm going to take it off, though."
"Good. I don't want you fainting on me. Who's going to save us from drowning?"
"Lifeguard Liam," Sienna said. "Has a nice ring to it. I can see it now."
"I agree," Louis said. "I reckon you could be anything that involves being brave. You've got no shortage of hero in you, Payno."
"Thanks," I said. I took it as a compliment, although I could tell by his tone that he was mocking me a bit.
"Of course," Louis said. "Oh, uh, baby?"
Sienna looked at him. "Hmm?"
"I have something kinda serious to ask," he said. He began rubbing his palms on his trousers in nervousness, so I caught his gaze and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Okay," Sienna said, smiling.
"Uh, I suppose you know that we're going back on tour soon, and I could never ask you to drop your life for us or take on our lifestyle, but I just thought that it could be fun for you and AJ to maybe join us on a bit of the tour? It wouldn't have to be the whole tour or anything, maybe just the Australian part, I mean, AJ told me she's always wanted to go to Australia and I know that-"
"Lou, that would be lovely. I'm sure AJ will be massively excited to go," she smiled.
"Really? So that's a yes?" Louis asked. He seemed surprised that it was that easy, and I don't blame. Things are never easy with Sienna. We spent the longest time just trying to get her to trust us. He fancied her from the first time he met her... well, outside of prison, that is, and yet it took him as long as it did to ask her out? She's a difficult person, but very well worth it, if Louis' mood around her is anything to go by. They've only been dating for a couple months, now, but I can feel things getting serious pretty quickly. Since it's Louis, I can tell that he already wants her to move in with him and all that.
"Oh, hey, uh, Seth just called, said he's parking!" Shannon called out.
Louis' face fell, and he awkwardly turned away, probably trying to hide how much he didn't want to meet Seth. I didn't blame him; I didn't exactly want to meet AJ's biological father either. I refuse to call him anything else, because what else was he to any of us, other than what Sienna described as a mistake.
"Thanks, Shannon," Sienna called back. She took in a shaky deep breath, and when Louis heard it, he took his own deep breath and turned back around, placing a comforting hand on her back.
"Babe, I've tried desperately to find starfish earrings, but it's as if the world has suddenly decided to stop making them," Emma said.
"We can go looking later, if you'd like," I offered. "Oh, and we can buy some more of those pillows you like." Emma and I have just recently officially moved in together, and we've fought about every aspect of living together-- but I've given up on protesting to Emma's decorative ideas. She's wanted to paint the living room every colour in the rainbow, but we've finally settled on a blue we both like, and she just went with what she calls a "cool colour scheme" for the entire flat. I'm just going to let it happen, as long as she's not going to paint our room neon pink or day-glow yellow.
"Great idea! I bought a nice new duvet for our bed. It's black. Hope that's okay," she said. She seemed generally cautious about anything she chose to buy without me lately, like I was going to start a fight about it, ever since we had a screaming match about the toaster I bought.
"Black is perfect," I assured her. It was true, too. You couldn't go wrong with black, not really. "Decide what colour our room is going to be?"
"I was thinking sea foam," she said. I gave her a confused smile, so she explained. "It's like a pale gray-green, sort of."
"Oh, okay. Sounds fine," I said.
"Hey, Sea Bird!" A loud, heavy voice called out. He sounded like your typical frat boy, and when I looked over at where he stood, I wasn't disappointed. He stood tall, looked like he'd tower over me, which will probably annoy Louis to no end, and was built like a bulldozer, as my dad would say.
"Seth," Sienna said with a tight smile.
"I'm Louis," Lou said, trying to sound bored. He got to his feet and stood a ways back, probably so that he wouldn't have to look too far up at Seth, who gave him a huge, toothy grin.
"I'm Seth," Seth said, holding out his hand for a shake. Louis shook his hand quickly, looking uneasy. He probably felt intimated. I felt it, even just sitting over here, and I wasn't even the one that should feel threatened by his presence. I mean, I surely wasn't losing Emma to him. "Where's the little goober?"
"AJ's in the water, with Shannon," Sienna said.
According to her, Seth's only met AJ twice, the first time being at her birth, and the second at her fourth birthday, where she refused to call him Dad, but instead called him Seth, and still does to this day, whenever he calls to check in. Seth, only recently, has voiced his desire for a real relationship with his daughter. Sienna isn't too happy about it; she and Seth have had a rough past, and I can only imagine how unhappy she is that he's planning on being around more.
"Brilliant," Seth grinned. He waved dismissively at Zayn, Emma, and I and left without truly acknowledging that we were even there. He trotted off to the water and crouched, calling out to AJ, who strolled casually over, holding visibly tightly to Niall's hand.
"Brilliant," Louis mocked, sounding annoyed. "He's a tool," he grumbled, plopping back down on his towel next to Sienna.
"I don't like him," Zayn agreed. "How well does AJ know him?"
"A call every few months, and on every major holiday? Well enough. Not as well as she knows you lot, but he's not a stranger."
"Hmm," Emma said. "Well, I'm going to go take a dip. Care to join me, Li?"
"Sure, babe," I said. I had a habit of going along with what Emma said, but that was mainly because she's usually right. "An excuse to take off the jumper."
As we approached, I noticed the uneasy look on both Niall and AJ's faces as Seth spoke animatedly to them about who-knows what.
"I wouldn't worry too much about him, Liam," Emma said, taking hold of my hand. "I think Seth's harmless. And, even if he isn't, who wouldn't choose Louis over him?"
"You're right," I agreed.
Just then, I heard AJ say, "Niall, I don't think that Seth can look for monsters under my bed."
And Niall replied, "What? Why not?" I looked over and grinned when I saw AJ smiling up fondly at him.
"Because he is not like you, and I think that he doesn't believe in monsters. How could he see what he doesn't think could possibly be there?"
"That's very wise," Niall said.
"Yes, and I don't think that Seth loves me enough to even pretend to believe monsters are real."
"Well, I know that I love you enough to pretend anything is real," Niall smiled.
"I love you too."
A/N:
Yes, you are correct if you're thinking that this is the last chapter of TLS! OMG. But, don't fear! There's a sequel :) look for it soon! It's called "When Things Get Complicated" and it's going to be fun fun fun fun :) yayayayayay :) I'm so excited for it. Are you guys?