It has been about fifteen hours since that incredibly awkward moment and for some odd reason, I can't stop thinking about it. The picture just won't go away and I have to stay away from food in fear of gagging. Luckily, I haven't seen Louis or anyone from the Tomlinson family all day. Perhaps they all went out? God I hope so, if I see anything like what I saw yesterday I might need to move to Canada. My mom had left for work early this morning and would not be back for a few more hours, so I decided to hang out in her room since it had the best TV. I curled up under the covers and turned the TV on, searching for something interesting. I finally found a show called Doctor Who, which I had been hooked on for years. It was a rerun, but I still enjoyed watching it. It was getting to the final scene of the episode when a ringing sound interrupted me: the damn phone. Figuring it was one of my mother's friends, I sighed, paused the show, and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I asked. "Hey Loser." a familiar accent came from the other end of the line. Great, picture's back. "What's up?" I tried to sound the least bit interested in why he was calling. "Well, the girls are all out having some sort of a girl's day, do you want to come over and hang out with me?" Wait, Louis actually wanted to hang out with me? What was going on? Was I being punked? "Sure, I'd love to have a girl's day." I giggled. "Ha ha. Be over in 5, no more or the door is locked." he said before hanging up.I threw the phone on the bed and tossed the covers over so I could get out of the comfy bed. I ran across the hall to my room and checked to make sure I looked okay in the mirror. Why? Because I'm a hot mess, always. I jumped the last few stairs and skipped out the door until I finally reached Louis' doorstep. The fact that he actually wanted to hang out with me made me feel like we could be best friends again. And if not, I could at least give him a chance to apologize.
"Louis, I'm here!" I yelled as I walked right in the house. Yeah, I practically live here. Seconds later he came from around the corner and smiled at me as we stood about a foot away from each other in the hallway. "Hi." he said while rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what do you want to do? I'm sure you have something in mind." Louis always came up with the craziest things for us to do when we were younger, I just hope that he hasn't changed so much that he can no longer be as fun and creative as he used to be, because I liked that; I liked it a lot. "Well, it's a nice day. Want to go hang out in the backyard? We could play a little football, if you're up for it." he challenged.
Every Saturday during the summer of 2009, we would go to the park down the street and play football for hours. We always made ridiculous bets and most of the time Louis would win, but once in a blue moon he would have to run around the neighborhood in only his underwear. That was right before he left, and I'm surprised that he even managed to remember it. "Sure, got a ball?" I said and he chuckled, leading me out to the large backyard set against the sunset in the sky. Since Louis and I were always playing football, Jay decided to get Louis two small goals for the backyard. They worked well most of the time, unless you wanted to take a soaring shot as they only reached three feet tall.
"So, got any crazy bets you want to make today?" Louis came from behind me with a ball in his hand. He set it on the ground directly between the two goals and looked back up at me. "Nah, let's just have some kick ass fun." I said and he smiled. Being the gentlemen he was, he let me start with the ball. One thing I've realized is that I have not improved much with this sport over the past few years. About five minutes in, Louis had already scored on me once. The only reason it wasn't five to zero was because I was fast enough to chase him and strong enough to knock him over. Yeah, don't mess with the blonde bitch. At one point I was able to trip him, grab the ball, and run the entire length of the backyard to the other goal. Of course after that Louis had to tackle me. But we were both laughing so hard neither bothered to chase after the ball. Suddenly, it felt like we were seventeen again, like nothing had ever happened. One Direction, Eleanor, Stanford? None of that was even thought of in our lives.
"Alright, let's say last goal wins." Louis finally stood up and held out a hand. I grabbed it and he helped me up. "Sure, but you better look out, I think I'm almost as good as Messi." I said, quickly running over to the ball. He laughed at me and waited for me to make a move. I tried to get around him, but he was just too damn good. Why couldn't I have joined the school football team like he wanted me to? He took the ball from under my feet and in a flash, he was on the other side of the grass, kicking the ball into the net. He started doing some victory dance and bragging, which he knew I hated. Luckily, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that could quickly put a stop to it.
I grabbed the hose and turned it on. Louis was in his own little world and didn't even notice the sound of the water spewing out. Seconds later, the water was hurdling towards him. "Hey!" he shouted when he felt the first splash on his back. He turned around and I got him directly in the face. I laughed as he came closer, trying to pry the hose out of my fingers. Of course, he couldn't get it completely out of my grasp, but he did manage to turn it and soak my shirt, pants, and neck. Almost as wet as he was, I slipped out of his arms and dropped the hose, trying to find a place to hide, knowing I wouldn't have long before he came after me. Problem with us is that Louis and I knew everything about each other, so revenge was always sweet; that is for the person getting the revenge. Soon enough, I felt water splash the bush in front of me and I tried to make a run for it, but Louis caught me and once again, we wrestled for control of the hose. By now we were both soaked from head to toe, but neither seemed to care; we were laughing our heads off anyway.
"Louis! What are you doing?" someone shouted. Louis put the hose down and we both turned towards the deck that was connected to the house. There stood Eleanor and behind her was the rest of the Tomlinson family. Eleanor stared at us, her arms crossed and her left foot tapping on the wooden floorboards. The only should that could be heard was the trickling water coming from the hose which Eleanor had just turned off. Awkwardly, Louis and I got up from the ground and took a few steps closer so we stood only a few feet away from Eleanor. "We got into a water fight." he said, casually, like it was in everyday thing. If Eleanor really knew the two of us, she might have believed it actually was an everyday thing. But she knew absolutely nothing about us. Just that I was the girl Louis used to hang out with before her. "Did you completely forget about dinner? We have reservations in half an hour!" she yelled at him. "Oh, I forgot. Sorry babe, I'll go shower up and get ready." he jumped up on the deck and ran inside, Eleanor quickly chasing after him.
I slowly walked up the steps and stood, fiddling with my wet tee shirt. "Here's a towel Em, go dry off. You can stay for dinner while you wait for your mum." Jay said, wrapping a towel around me. "No, I'm alright. She'll be home in like two hours. I can wait and I don't want to intrude." I said as I attempted to dry my hair. "Intrude? Love you are family, you're always welcome. Plus, we're having guests in a little and I'm sure they would be happy to meet you. Please, stay." she said. After thinking about it, I nodded my head and followed the family inside.
Just so that I was somewhat presentable, I ran home and grabbed another pair of pants and a plain white tank top. I quickly changed and by the time I returned, Louis and Eleanor were gone. It had been two days and I had gotten to hang out with Louis for a total of two hours, so much for best friends. I guess even when he isn't working he has no time for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~A little while later~~~~~~~~~~~
"So what do you guys think of Eleanor?" I asked Lottie and Fizzy, since their opinions were probably more worthy than the nine year olds. "She's nice..." Lottie started. "But she always has to be with Louis alone." Fizzy finished. "Yeah, we barely get to talk to him anymore without being interrupted." Lottie added; hmm... just what I was thinking. "I just don't really know if she's a good match for Louis, I mean, she's kind of limiting him from being as crazy as he usually is. I'm just not sure if she is what is best for him." I sighed. "Oh.. Is that so?" Lottie looked over at Fizzy and they both grinned wickedly. Okay, this is a bit creepy. If they were older I would slap them. "What?" I finally asked. "Well... we were just thinking that... maybe Louis' perfect match is right here, in this room." Fizzy said. "Oh My God, girls, I will move to Canada if you keep bringing that up. This is the last time I'm saying this: Louis and I will never be in a relationship like that! We are strictly friends, nothing more." But possibly something less, I thought to myself. "Alright. If by last time you mean the last time you have to deny you love him before you finally admit it, then alright." Lottie grinned and the girls fell into a giggling fit. Why is it that even people younger than me find ways to make fun of me? I swear if they were six inches taller I would slap them right now. "No, I mean last time as in the last time I say it before I slap you both, tell your mother about last month when you went to that party, and move to Canada." I said, crossing my arms. Yeah, that's how you do it Emma. I walked away from the girls, signaling that the conversation was over, and decided to go see if Jay needed any help in the kitchen.
Minutes later, I was putting a tray of rolls in the oven. A doorbell sound was heard and everyone stopped what they were doing. Jay went up to the door and I quickly followed behind. She opened it to reveal four guys whom I recognized as the rest of One Direction. They came in one by one and said hello to the girls. "Boys, this is Emma, Louis' friend. She lives across the street." Jay introduced me and I smiled at the boys. "I'm Liam." the boy with short brown hair and light brown eyes smiled at me. "Niall, it's nice to meet you." The blonde boy also smiled. "Zayn." The one with darker hair said quietly, I assumed he was shy so I didn't try to continue a conversation. "So you're the famous Emma? I'm Harry." the curly haired one smiled. I blushed when he said famous. "Famous, how so?" I asked him. "Well, Louis talks about you all the time, at least, he did before he started dating Eleanor." Wow, didn't expect that. (note the sarcasm) It seemed like Eleanor was just my replacement. "Speaking of Louis, where is he?" Niall asked, looking around the room. "Oh, he went out with Eleanor for dinner. They should be back later." Jay answered and the boys nodded, none of them saying anything. Instead, we all walked into the dining room and sat down at the table as Jay served dinner.
Dinner was actually really fun. More fun than I've had in a long time. Harry and Niall were really funny and kept everyone laughing for hours while Zayn and Liam had some really interesting stories to tell; some that could be used for blackmail later if needed. Once everyone finished, we all gathered in the living room and played some video games on the Wii. The girls were the best and Harry, well, he was Goddamn awful. But that kept everyone laughing. Currently, Harry and I were performing an exciting dance routine to "Time of My Life" on Just Dance 4. It was getting really intense and we were getting worse and worse. Near the end, I heard a sound coming from across the hall and I looked to see Eleanor emerging in a short black dress, Louis in a black suit. They smiled and then Eleanor whispered something into Louis' ear. He nodded and they both went upstairs. I shook it off and kept on dancing until we reached the final pose. After that disaster, we decided that video games were over. The girls went to bed and Jay went to go clean up the kitchen.
"So, how long are you boys here?" I asked them all as we took a seat on the large sectional couch. "Just a week. Jay invited us to come and spend time with Louis before going home to our own families. It was a good idea, until we realized that Eleanor would be here too." Zayn said. "So, I'm guessing that you don't like Eleanor?" I raised an eyebrow. "It's not that we don't like her, it's just that she is really well... needy. And she always needs Louis. We can never hang out anymore, like just us guys. It's always 'oh Eleanor and I are going out.' or 'Eleanor and I are going to be having a movie night alone'" Liam said. I nodded, knowing exactly how they felt. I was glad to know that I wasn't the only one. But for some reason, I seemed to be more worried about it than anyone else. Maybe because I have been relationship-deprived for three years, or because I'm just worried about Louis. It could be something else, but I'd have to evaluate that situation before blaming everything on it, even if that's what I have been doing for the past two years.
Louis leaving, Louis forgetting me, Eleanor, my dream school not accepting me, everything.; it was all because of one person: my father.
(A/N: So this was short, sorry about that. I have writer's block. I need some ideas for what happens next, so please comment! I'd love to hear your ideas and what you think of this chapter! Also let me know of what you think of Emma! I love how badass and independent she is. (: Thank you all for reading, if you could also please vote, that would be very much appreciated. Love you all! xoxo -Katie)