This chapter is 4 days after the last whattttttt
Okay so it's a bit on the racy side idk it gets a little intense (don't read this and expect smut though. It doesn't get that far) but Louis is 18 and Jess is 17 and they can do what they want.
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I arrived home on Friday, slightly knackered from my English presentation. I collapsed onto the couch with a packet of Jammy Dodgers, the remote in my hand ready to switch to whatever afternoon soaps were running. Then I remembered what I had planned for tonight and froze.
I was supposed to go over to Louis’.
Ever since the discussion we had at the picnic table we hadn’t seen much of each other. Sure, we had Physics and Grease rehearsals together, but we both tended to avoid the other person. During our duets and scenes together we acted and sung like any other cast members. No more secretive glances.
I only purposely caught sight of him once. It was after rehearsals on Thursday, when everyone was packing up and filing out the back doors. Louis and Ella had stayed behind, just like we had on Tuesday. Ella had her arms around him and was whispering something into his ear. She leaned in to kiss him, but he diverted it from lip to lip contact to lip to cheek.
I didn’t know of the exact story behind it, but I suspected it had some relation to me.
I caught sight of the time. It was almost four, and he told me to be there at seven. I scoffed four biscuits into my mouth, not caring about the health consequences to come. I filled up a glass of tap water and skulled, slamming it back onto the counter.
I took a shower and tried to engulf myself in the aforementioned soap, but the love triangle between Britany, Jason and Ashleigh couldn’t distract me. In fact, it only made it worse; it reminded me of the real life love triangle I was experiencing.
Maybe I liked to watch scripted drama on a TV screen, but in real life I did the best I could to stay clear of it. I searched for anything that would take my mind away from it all. In the end I pulled my maths textbook out of my school bag. I opened up to the chapter we were on and started solving problems. But in the time that I would be thinking of a solution and tapping my pencil on the dining room table, my mind would always uncontrollably drift off into unwanted topics.
Mum came home at five. She turned the TV back on and crunched through some almonds while the evening news aired. I half tuned in while I continued my homework, but the nerves for tonight still remained.
We had pesto pasta for dinner. I shovelled the penne covered in basil and pine nut sauce into my mouth at an alarming speed.
“Slow down. You’re eating way too fast.” Mum commented. To satisfy her, I attempted to lessen my pace. But I was still far too quick in her book. “Okay, you’re either starving, or there’s something up. Which is it?” she put her fork down, ready to listen. She was good like that; didn’t put me on hold or toss me aside. I was her first priority.
“I’m just hungry. I haven’t eaten anything since I got home from school.” I lied
“Oh really? Care to explain those missing Jammy Dodgers?”
There was no point keeping up the act now. I put my fork down too. I stared down at my almost empty bowl, trying to find the words. “I just,” I started, but then sighed “I’m just nervous about going over to Louis’ tonight for practice.” I explained, looking down. Two days earlier, when I’d informed mum that I would be going over to Louis’, I used the excuse that we were in need of some rehearsal time. I didn’t dare tell her about what happened outside the ice rink, or what I realised while I acted out the drive in scene on Tuesday.
“Jess, you don’t need to go, do you?” mum asked, evidently thinking of possible solutions to this dilemma.
“No, I must.” I said. But attendance wasn’t compulsory because we needed to go over our lines, more because I needed to know that things were going to be sorted out.
“It’s just that I hate seeing you like this. Just, try not to think about … it … too much.”
But the problem wasn’t that he didn’t have eyes for me, now that I knew very well that he did. No, the problem was much more serious. I had to tell her. Not now, but sometime in the future.
I wore the same white knitted jumper, beige skinny jeans and brown ankle boots as the first time I’d seen him. It made me wonder. If I hadn’t have gone to that New Year’s Eve party, would any of this ever of happened? No, it wouldn’t, because Louis said he started fancying me at the party. Where we were getting to know each other. If we had of merely passed each other in the hallway, of course I would’ve like him the second I saw him, but would he have liked me back?
As I picked up my script (which I obviously wasn’t going to use -- it was just a prop) I remembered him under the streetlight in the cold, telling me that I’m breathtaking and I don’t know it. I had to stop in my tracks completely and let the words fathom.
I didn’t apply a drop of make up to my skin. I just put my clothes on and announced that I was ready to go. I felt like I was five again, when all I had to do was slip on my shoes and hop out the door.
“Are you sure you’re right to go through with this.” Mum asked once we were in the car.
“One hundred percent” I promised
The nerves resurfaced yet again when we pulled up in the Tomlinson’s driveway. I took all the time in the world to gather my script and open the car door. Mum watched me from the driver’s seat cautiously as I approached the front door. I squeezed my eyes shut as I pressed the doorbell.
I heard footsteps growing louder and louder, just like the beating of my heart. The door was pulled back, and Louis stood there in a T-shirt and football shorts. “Hey.” He said, but his greeting was a little rushed. He let me in and closed the door before peering through the window, waiting for my mum to back out. After agonising moments of silence, she finally did. Louis spun around and looked at my properly for the first time that night. Without any warning, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. His lips came crashing down hard, catching me off guard. It took me a while to adjust, but eventually I closed my eyes and tangled my fingers in his brown hair. It was far more passionate than the kiss we shared last week. I completely lost myself.
He pulled away to whisper in my ear “We have the whole place to ourselves.”
But I stopped, disallowing whatever we had going to continue “Didn’t you say we were going to talk things through?” I questioned, and the suggestive smile was wiped off his face.
“Yeah.” He said, now too regaining himself. He lifted his hand, looking as though he was ready to smack his forehead in stupidity, but decided not to. “Sorry babe. I just haven’t kissed you since Tuesday.”
He led me to the living room and sat on the couch, patting the seat next to him. I planted myself on the cushion with a fair space between us “I’ve done some thinking, and I’ve decided that I’m going to break-up with Ella.”
I nodded, quite pleased with his decision. I waited for something extra, but he just stared at me “Is that it?”
“Uh, yeah.” He fumbled with the hem of his shirt
“You bought me all the way over here just to tell me something you could’ve easily said over the phone?”
“Yeah well-“
“Oh, I know why you invited me. You just wanted to snog me. You couldn’t contain yourself when I first walked in the door.”
“You got me there.” He said, already leaning in.
It became heated quite suddenly. In a matter of minutes we’d gone from sitting up to lying down. Our bodies were closer that they’d ever been; pressed up against each other. I gripped the back of his t-shirt, still trying to pull him even closer because apparently it wasn’t enough. A soft moan escaped from his lips.
* * *
“So where are your family?” I asked. I was propped against the back of the couch, holding my knees together. Louis appeared from the kitchen, carrying a bowl of popcorn.
“Truthfully, I have no idea.” He admitted as he placed the bowl on the coffee table and opened the DVD cabinet. “My mum came in to tell me they were going but I was playing Fifa at the time, so naturally I wasn’t paying attention. And the fact that it was 2 all against Chelsea with only two minutes left didn’t help. Like, half an hour later I went to the kitchen for a snack and the whole house was empty. It did worry me a bit, but then I remembered.” He scanned the DVD spines, occasionally picking out one to study in more detail. “But I’m glad they’re gone for tonight.” He backed away from the cabinet and sat down next to me.
“Why?” I asked
“Because now,” he shuffled in closer “I get to be alone with you.” He planted a short kiss on my forehead. Ever since stepping foot into Louis’ house I’d regained that giddy feeling. When he kissed me as soon as my mum was out of sight, I was suddenly smitten again.
I suppose we should’ve been waiting until Louis and Ella were well and truly over to embark in such activities as snogging on the couch and snuggling up while watching a movie; but it was evident that neither of us could wait. I guess I was breaking one of the rules that mum had taught me: never cheat on somebody, never secretly see a guy who is already taken and never give a guy who’s cheated on you a second chance. But you have to be rebellious every now and then, right?I once strictly followed these rules, but Louis was like no other boy I’d ever met, and, well, he and Ella were basically finished anyway.
“In terms of movies, it’s either ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ or ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’.” He said. I considered the two options for a moment. “Bill and Ted is short, so if you want we could watch both.” I agreed to this.
Louis had his arm around me the entire time. I felt like we were on a date at the cinema. When he first put it there he even pulled that move where you pretend to be yawning. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure stars a young Keanu Reeves and some other guy. They’re two teenagers that desperately need to complete their history paper but would much rather be practicing guitar or drums for their amateur band. A guy comes from the future in a telephone box -- which I commented was totally a rip off of Doctor Who -- and warns them that they must finish their history paper or bad things would happen. The two go back in time and pick up famous historical figures to interview along the way.
We found ourselves laughing at it. It was one of those movies that are so bad that they’re good. We chuckled at the cheesiness of every time that Bill and Ted turned to each other, high fived and said “Excellent” while electric guitar chords played.
Once Ferris Bueller’s Day Off -- which was also a laugh -- was finished, we retreated to Louis’ room. It was the same as always; messy, disorganised, boyish. He sat on the bed and gestured for me to join him.
“I promise to break up with Ella as soon as I can.” He said seriously
“You already told me you would. No need to repeat it.” I joked
“It’s just that I’ve made a huge mess of everything. And I really want to fix it as soon as possible.” I nodded. I was getting lost in those blue eyes of his. I tried to look away but they were far too captivating. “I like you.” He said suddenly
“I like you too, Louis.” I said, a little confused of this sudden outburst. I furrowed my brow.
“No, I like you a lot.” He said it more to himself than to me, as if he was having some sort of epiphany or realisation “I like you heaps. I like you tons. I-“ Suddenly, he stopped. I was on the edge of my seat. I’d optimistically been expecting his next words to be ‘I think I love you’ by the direction he was heading in, but I guess I’d never know. Instead he gave me a gentle peck. “I’m so tired.” He said
I realised then that I too was about to fall asleep.
* * *
I woke up the following morning not knowing where I was. After a few moments it clicked that I was in Louis’ bedroom -- gathering from the football posters and the gaming console. It also clicked that I was lying in his bed. I turned to my side, where I saw a peaceful, sleeping Louis. I only had about three seconds to admire his serene state before I fell asleep again.
I woke up an hour later and reached out across the mattress. But the space next to me was empty. I shot up, wondering where Louis could’ve wondered off to. I walked around, surveying the scene. Only then did it occur to me that I was still wearing yesterday’s clothes and Louis and I had shared a single bed last night. We must’ve been so knackered that we fell asleep on the spot.
I heard the sound of the shower running and concluded that he was in there.
That means he’s probably naked I thought to myself Oh shut up. And what do you mean ‘probably’, of course he’s naked oh shut up shut up shut up what if he can read minds? What if from across the hall he knows that I’m currently imagining his dripping wet, naked body shut up shut up shut up.
Inward arguments with my brain weren’t a common occurrence, but occasionally they did pop up uninvited. I had nothing better to do while I waited for him to finish his shower, so I ended up staring at the walls.
When the dripping sound finally stopped I was bought back to life. I tried to rearrange myself to make it look like I’d just woken up. Seeming as if I’d been waiting for him to come out for a while seemed … too clingy. But the doorknob was turning, and I was still in the process of throwing around pillows and blankets.
I collapsed in what I would call a ‘sleeping position’; if that involved having your arms splayed out in unnatural stances. Louis emerged with a white towel covering his lower half. It wasn’t tied up or anything, merely held in place by his hands.
If he were to simply release his grip he would be-
“Morning, babe.” He said cheerfully
I wasn’t pretending to still be asleep; I mean, how could I when he was shirtless? And wet. So instead I pretended I was just waking up. An attractive choice. Not.
I sat up and yawned “Morning.”
“Did you sleep alright?” he asked as he approached his chest of drawers.
I started navigating my way out of bed, thinking that he would probably like some privacy for when he got dressed “I slept-“ I started, but then the unexpected happened. Louis dropped his towel to the ground. This wasn’t a stupid sentence that my mind would conjure up. He really was naked. “-fine.”
He had his back to me, so I didn’t see his frontal privates. But I was still jittering away. I had no idea where to look, so I just sort of looked everywhere at one point or another. He slipped on a pair of black boxers and turned back around, which destroyed yet created another problem.
The sight of Louis in only his boxers was one my eyes could not tear away from. “Are you hungry, babe?” he asked.
He was looking at me Oh god oh god is he trying to kill me or something?
“Babe?” he repeated, and only then did I realise that I was gawking at him.
“Oh um yeah, I’m starving.” I said quickly. He laughed to himself before slipping on a t-shirt (shame, really), giving me a quick kiss and heading back out. He so knew.
He came back a few minutes later with a tray containing two bowls of Coco Pops and a few slices of toast. He placed it on the bed and helped himself to one of the bowls. He lifted a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and started to crunch.
Oh god. He even looks cute while he’s eating
I was in too deep.
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yeah that chapter was a little different from the others. (for anyone in future who reads this, this chapter was writtne while I was on holidays so I was a bit carefree and didn't really contemplate about whether something should be inculded or not. basically i was just like ah well fuck it the entire time, so that might explain things)
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