Before the story A/N: In previous chapters, a lot of you have commented that Louis could have unlocked Victoria's phone and called Chet, Jon or her mom.. or that he could have gotten the numbers out of her phone. To clear things up, Louis doesn't know Victoria's passcode. Since I have never mentioned it in any chapters, he couldn't have magically unlocked her phone without knowing the password. Hope it makes sense now!
Caution: This chapter is short, merely a filler chapter. I promise, it won't always be this slow like this chapter.
Chapter Ten
"Diapers?"
"Check."
"Formula?"
"Check."
I squinted at Louis' handwriting, scrawled on a small piece of paper he had obtained from my kitchen drawer this morning.
"Did you seriously write condoms?" I asked, glaring at Louis.
Louis smiled, letting Henry take his index finger in his small hand from his seat in the trolley. "You never know when I might need them love," Louis said, reaching into the trolley and producing a box of condoms.
My face flushed with embarrassment and I just shook my head, moving down the list. "Did you pick up my shampoo?" I asked, checking the word condoms, extra large off the shopping list.
Louis replaced the condoms with a bottom of green apple shampoo, giving me a confident smile. "Double check. It was next to the aisle with the condoms." He said, before putting the shampoo back in the trolley.
I sighed, rubbing my right have over my face. "Let's move on." I suggested, and Louis started to push the trolley forward, making Henry bubble up some spit. I reached over, grabbed his bib from the spot on his chest and wiped his mouth while Louis slowed up his pace.
"I need to get some paper towels and baby wipes before we leave." I told Louis, and he directed the trolley towards the aisle that contained paper products.
I picked up two packages of paper towels, throwing them into the cart as I grabbed them. Then, before we checked out I made sure to grab a package of baby wipes and sprint back to the cashier before we held up one of the lines.
~*~
"Well, that pretty much broke me." I muttered, slamming the car door of my mum's Challenger. The car no longer smelt of her designer perfume like it had a year ago. When we first bought this car, I swore she wanted to spray the whole car with it just to get rid of the new car smell.
Louis stuck the key in the ignition, his lips pursed. "I told you I could pay for it. I'm not exactly broke anymore after being in a boy band."
"A little money made from the X Factor and from guest starring on radio shows is not a lot of money Louis. I want you to save your money - not spend it on me and Henry." I explained, turning on the heat full blast so it could warm up the slightly frosted car.
As if on cue and Henry knew we were talking about him, he lifted his arms up and down, a gurgle rising from his throat. I leaned my head back against the headrest, closing my eyes and letting the heat coming from the car vents blow at my frigid face.
"Vic, you know I want to help as much as I can."
I opened one eye, glancing at Louis who was focused on the rear-view mirror as he backed out of the parking spot. He had his front teeth biting down on his bottom lip, while his eyebrows furrowed together in frustration. I reached my arm out, touching his forearm and he glanced at me.
"You are helping. Without you here, I'd probably be handing Henry over to the adoption agency right about now." I pointed out to Louis, who still didn't look convinced. I know he felt like he wasn't doing anything, but to me he was doing everything and more.
Before Louis could answer, my phone started to vibrate in my lap, which made me put up my index finger indicating Louis to hold on a minute. I unlocked my phone and answered the call from a blocked number.
"Hello?"
"Is this Victoria Green?" A male's voice on the other end that sounded all too familiar.
"Um, who is asking?" I asked, careful to not confirm that I was indeed, Victoria Green.
"I'm calling on behalf of-"
The line went dead, and all that was left was static. I pulled the phone away from my ear, looking at the screen that said CALL ENDED and pursed my lips together in a straight line. Whoever was on the other end never got a chance to say who they were and why they were calling. Since it was a blocked number, I couldn't call them back.
"Who was it?" Louis asked, flicking on his left turn signal.
I shrugged. "A telemarketer. It was one of those automatic machines." I lied, trying to avoid any questions that Louis would have about the strange phone call I had just received.
Louis nodded, turning down the street that my house was on. Once we pulled into the driveway, I opened the passenger door and pushed the seat back so I could get to Henry who was cramped in the small space the car dealership called a 'comfortable backseat'. I shook my head, grasping the handle of Henry's infant car seat and pulling him out of the backseat.
"Louis." I said, once I reached the front door where Louis was fiddling with the mess of keys on the key ring, trying to find the house key.
"Yes, love?" Louis responded, pawning through the twenty-some keys. I didn't even know where most of the belonged too.
"I think we need to get a different car - or at least trade that one in. I can't be taking Henry around in a Challenger. There's hardly any room for him, and it's not the safest car around.
"Aha!" Louis said, grasping the house key that he finally found before sticking it into the front door knob. Louis then turned to me, nodding his head. "I was thinking about that too when we left the grocery store. It was kind of cramped back there."
Once inside the house, Louis set Henry down on the living room floor still fastened in his car seat fast asleep. We tip-toed around the kitchen, putting the groceries away quietly, trying not to disturb Henry - who was a really light sleeper. I stuck the last grocery item - a bag of lettuce we bought - in the fridge, sighing with relief that we had put everything away without waking Henry up.
"I should probably put him in his crib." Louis mumbled, leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen.
I nodded in agreement, handing him the baby wipes. "Could you put these on the changing table, please?"
Louis nodded and then disappeared into the living room to go get Henry. I smoothed my hair down, looking at the last bag that was left on the island. I didn't need to look inside to know what was in there. It was one innocent, harmless item and the other made me blush furiously.
I quickly grabbed my shampoo out of the plastic bag, leaving the condoms to rot away in the bag. I clutched the shampoo against my chest, as if it would protect me from the harmful doings of the condoms. I shook my head, walking out of the kitchen and as far as I could from the box. I know I shouldn't have been freaking about small things like condoms, but that led to bigger things like sex which - even at nineteen - I wasn't ready for.
~*~
"You'll never guess what happened today." Ava's cheerful voice sounded through the speaker on my cell phone.
I laughed lightly. "I doubt I'd ever guess - but I'll give it a shot. Hm, did you maybe make out with Liam?"
"No, I wish though! Anyways, we were chilling at the hotel pool earlier today and this guy came over. Victoria, let me tell you. American boys - they're perf. I'm not even kidding. I mean, you remember Gabe right? Wasn't he perf?" She sighed in bliss, and I could imagine the content smile on her face. "Back to the story, he came up to me at the towel bar and asked my name, and where I was from. Of course, I gave it to him and then he was all like 'I think I know you from somewhere' which totally freaked me out and..-"
Ava's story went on for at least fifteen minutes. She told me about how they had a conversation, trying to figure out if they knew each other. In the end - I could have guessed this - the American boy was just trying to flirt with Ava. She ended up giving him her cell phone number, and they've been texting ever since this afternoon.
I leaned back against the plush cushioning of the couch, smiling. "That's great Ava! Maybe you guys hit it off."
Ava laughed. "Of course we hit it off. If we didn't, I wouldn't have gave him my number Vic."
I nodded, rolling my eyes. "Right, right. You play hard to get - how could I forget?"
I could practically hear Ava rolling her eyes. "You think I'm that desperate for a guy?"
Our phone conversation went on for at least twenty minutes, before I had to go since it was getting close to midnight here. Ava had apologized for forgetting that it was a lot earlier there than it was in the United Kingdom before we hung up. I flung my phone onto the cushion beside me and stretched out on the couch.
"Vic."
I looked over at the threshold, where Louis was leaning against the door frame. He had his hands stuffed in the pockets' of his navy blue sweatpants, and a gray long sleeved shirt hugging his upper body and the light amber glow from the lamp beside the couch made his hair look light brown.
"Yeah?" I asked, sitting up on the couch and running a hand through my tangled mess of hair.
"You coming to bed, babe?"
I looked over at the clock above the television, swinging my legs over the side of the couch. It was a little after midnight, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I nodded, and Louis came to my side and offered me his hand.
I gratefully took it, intertwining his fingers with mine and pulled myself up. He kept his hand firmly wrapped with mine as we walked the flight of stairs up to our bedroom. We passed Henry's room, and made a turn into ours. Louis let go of my hand, only so that we could get in the separate sides of our beds.
Once we were both under the covers, trying to avoid the late September weather that invaded the house, I turned on my side so Louis and I were face-to-face. Louis smiled, slinging his arm over my waist and pulling me closer. I placed my hands on his chest, looking up at him. His face was dimly showcased by the small nightlight that was plugged into the wall so we could see where we were going at night in case we had to get rescue Henry from a wail of cries.
"Louis." I whispered, directing his attention from my hands on his chest up to my face.
"Hm?"
"I'm so glad you were a jerk online."
~*~
Well, this chapter officially sucks.
I know it's not the greatest chapter, but to be honest it's just a filler. I needed something to break up the heavy news of Victoria's mother passing and all the responsibility passed on to Louis and Vic. I tried to shy away from Henry a little in this chapter since you all said they spent a little too much time with him in the last one.
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Video: Radio - Hot Chelle Rae (Remember them? I used to love them when their album Whatever came out in 2011. Shoutout to HCR even though this song has nothing to do with chapter .. lalala)
MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 7 DAYS(ITS OCTOBER 26TH HINT HINT)