disclaimer; yes we have skipped ahead six months, things needed to progress.
Harry and Lola have graduated high school, more details are revealed throughout this chapter and future chapters of what happened there.
If you're confused, let me know and I'll edit the chapter or answer your questions as best I can.
***
lola – six months later.
The sun of the first day of summer gleamed through the large, open window in my bedroom. The glossy lace curtains draped to the side causing the area to be pooled with light and love. The white sheets I laid upon softened against my skin, just like the movements of a boy next to me who had chestnut hair laying against his glowing skin.
With the weather warming up, his tone had been kissed to a sunlit tan and his arms had now formed more muscle as they tensed against the mattress below. The first day of summer dawned new comings and the flowers bloomed with our destiny.
A whole season had passed since we all lost Sean, a season filled with flowers and spring laughs under a warm sun, a whole spring missed with the presence of a bright smile with crooked teeth. We mourned–especially Harry–but kept optimistic to grow with the new season and remember him fondly rather than bitterly.
I blink my eyes heavily once, twice, and three times as I stared out the open window at the blue skies. I always thought back to the funeral of the brown eyed boy with kissed blond hair, and how his death had grown roots inside me that dug into the ground, but there sprouted a new emerald forest filled with love. Guilt always consumed me, in the shower or along the sidewalk near his home, but Harry kept the light inside me during those darkening moments.
"Good morning sleepy head," I mumbled to the snoring boy next to me, turning my body to gaze at him. "You have college today, gotta get up."
Nothing but an intent growl echoed from his lips. "Cmon, Harry." I chuckled.
"Five more minutes."
I ignore his protest for more sleep and slide my body from the bed, the edges of my toes curl against the carpet as I peer out my window and admire the warm morning upon us.
Although it seemed I was still wary of that figure lurking outside the shape of my home, no incidents had occurred since last autumn but I still bubbled with anxiety every time I left my curtains open or peered in the direction that had put fear inside me.
I turn to the boy in my bed and smile, a sense of security washing along with the image of his sleeping body. "Harry," I sigh. "You have to get up, you don't want to be late, that'll make your professor angry."
Harry rolls his head, tired green eyes peer at me in a nonchalant annoyance as I smiled sweetly at him. "I'm sorry, but my professor is dating my mother," I'd heard this before. "I hate the man, I'm not arriving early to his stupid class."
It seemed last winter Harry's mother had met a rather charming middle-aged man, a client of hers whom she was enchanted by straight away. After an awkward dinner, Harry instantly grew a distaste for the man and warned his mother of this. But she ignored her obnoxious son and began seeing–I believe his name was Paul? Yeah, Paul–she began seeing him quite regularly and later on after Harry was accepted into Chelsea College, it was revealed Paul was actually going to be one of Harry's professors there.
"He's not as bad as you have conjured up in your mind," I throw my robe around my shoulders as I watch Harry toss under the sheets, that childish pout on his lips. "You have mid-year exam preparation today, you need to stay focused on that instead."
Harry sighs. "Well, what're you going to do today?"
I sigh. "Work." Harry gives me a sympathetic look. "Now get up." As I walk from my bedroom I hear the same childish groan escape his lips, earning a light chuckle from myself.
I smell coffee brewing in the kitchen as I enter, my father and mother both standing by the machine with weary eyes. My father greets me good morning, my mother merely searches the entire kitchen for something to look at instead of me.
I ignore her distaste and grab two mugs for myself and Harry.
"Is he still here?" My mother questions as I cling to the mugs in my hands.
I nod. "He's going to college soon."
"Oh wonderful," my father interjects, sipping the fresh coffee he had just poured before seating himself at the table with wilful eyes. "Mid-year exam preparations are today, I'm assuming?"
"Yeah." I smile.
My mother scoffs. "Majoring in fine arts is hardly 'wonderful'." Her comment is laced with venom and I scowl at the bitter woman, my father's eyes dim and I'm left speechless as his head lowers and his voice is scattered in silence.
I choose to ignore her, igniting an argument was her way of saying good morning and today I wasn't going to let her childish antics dim my mood. As she moves away from the coffee machine, I push my way to the counter and begin brewing more coffee to fill the mugs with.
An eerie silence echoes and as soon as I hear the shower upstairs begin, my mother's body stiffens. I count down from five until that annoyed sentence leaves my mother's mouth for the sixth time this month. "Make sure he doesn't use all the water." She scoffs.
Not once had Harry ever used all the water, even when we showered together it never got used up.
I quickly pour the coffee into each mug and exit the kitchen with a stomp. Annoyance surfaced inside me and my face heated with rising crimson blood, I could feel the color rise into my cheeks as I sipped my coffee, trying to lower the anger surfacing inside my stomach that my mother so elegantly summoned every day.
***
Dusk dawned upon my day as the golden rays of a summer's sun cast against the clear skies, the flowers outside the window glimmered and welcomed the warmth with open petals and dripping nectar. I sat on the couch with a half full glass lazily held against my fingertips, eyeing the changing skies with wonder as music hummed in the background.
"Lola?"
"Hmm?"
"You ready?"
I turn in the seat, noticing the eagerness behind my best friend's brown eyes. Her familiar soft vanilla scent mixed with roses and alcohol, her lips red and her cheeks faded against the contrast of a dimly lit home.
"Yes," I gesture to my body, her eyes scan my outfit. "I've been ready for an hour."
"Oh," she said in a low tone. "Well let's go." I noticed her eager smile fade when I nod a no, slumping on the spot.
"We have to wait for Sam," I replied with a certain knowing inside my tone.
Mona grumbles. "Fine, I'm going to get a drink then. Want another one?"
"M'fine thanks," I reply, placing the whiskey I had held onto for an hour now, down on the table in front of me.
Alcohol and I didn't get along very well anymore so I took to it with caution, it had been months now since I'd been drunk.
Mona exits the living room and my attention diverts to the dead flowers placed in a clear vase next to me, the once vibrant colors had crumbled and dimmed and laid there lifeless in the foggy water.
A somehow ironic representation of my life these past few months.
On cue my phone vibrates against my lap, a text message lights up the screen and I already feel that horrible guilt burning up my throat as I read his name.
Harry: have fun tonight! stay safe too. -H
A sigh escapes my lips, reaching for the device to send a quick message back to the boy I adored. I quickly hit send and as the message delivered, a car pulls up out the front of Mona's home and Sam's wide grin displays through the open windows of his black Jeep. I roll my eyes but still linger a smile at his presence, calling to Mona he was here before quickly gathering my belongings and exiting the house.
"Miss Davenport, you're looking very sexy this evening," Sam calls as I enter the backseat, I laugh before my eyes notice Luna had dibs on the front seat, with her eyes glowing under the interior lighting of the car.
I chuckle. "Hi, Luna. Keeping this one out of trouble for me huh?" I lean over to pet the apricot coat of the dog, watching her eyes light up as I hit a soft spot under her neck.
"Why is Luna in the front seat?" Mona enters the car with a loud tone, her dress crinkling as she sits next to me with her drink half empty. "Luna, are you designated driver tonight?"
"Sure is," Sam winks. "She's the responsible one."
Sam starts the engine and soon we're on the road.
I adjust in my seat a few times, staring out the window to occupy my thoughts with passing buildings and streets. The night lights illuminated the skies and the brightness and vibrancy of the stars kissed the edges of town, all beauty and dreams inside the floating clouds of a summer's night. My eyes fall to my lap and I let my phone unlock as I stare at the screen below, a photo of Harry and I glows against the screen and I can't help but feel a tug in my stomach as I stare at his beauty.
The sun was in his hair and the smile on his lips reminded me of heaven on earth, a masterpiece inside a soul so beautiful I felt I didn't deserve his love at all.
"We're here," Sam announces and my attention is taken away from my green eyed boy, Sam pulls into the busy parking lot and I already notice the large sign above the building with large black letters. My stomach drops, igniting a burning sensation inside my throat as I read that familiar name over and over again in my mind.
HEADLINING ACT: LOUIS TOMLINSON.
Sam stops the car and lets the engine die, the known sound of Luna's heavy breaths is all I hear around us before the door to Mona's side opens. Her eagerness annoyed me, she exits the car with sweetness lacing her lips and star's against the brown of her eyes. I eyeball her as she adjusts her dress, smiling at me innocently before closing the door and walking towards the building.
I look to Sam who gives me a reassuring smile, I open my door and exit the car and instantly feel the cool breeze kiss my skin. I gulp as the door closes, slamming a little too loudly as I push against the metal exterior.
My bag is adjusted and my hair fixed as I leave the safety of the car and walk towards the building. My boots scrape against the gravel, my breath a little foggy and deep as it enters my lungs and exhales with a shaky sigh. My heart was loud, but it wasn't until those words and eyes became real to me again that it leaped against my ribs harshly, causing me to stop in my tracks.
"Lola, you made it."
Louis Tomlinson. His eyes were still as blue as the ocean on a soft morning, his hair was longer now though and combed back to reveal his face better. Of course, a cigarette still lingers on his lips and his stubble shadowed over his chin and jawline, and his smile was still beautiful even after all this time
"Hi," was all I managed to say.
Louis grabs my cold hands in his and the habitual feeling seemed to linger, his hands were always cold like mine and it was like ice-on-ice at this point, but I still burned with bubbling blood and the core of my body rattled with a bad anxious feeling.
"Your eyes still remind me of a cold winter's morning, that sky blue that lingers with the frost." He spoke so smoothly, his voice a little muffled as the cigarette hung between his lips but still his soul was all salt and sea and I was still infatuated with that part of him.
Louis claimed he was different, somehow, and I knew agreeing to come to his first gig was a bad idea but still, I told myself to believe his words when he asked me to come and support him.
It still all felt like a really bad idea, that's why I lied to Harry.
"I missed you."
A really bad idea.
***
authors note;
LOUIS YOU SLY DEVIL! He knows how to get under Lola's skin, that's for sure. ;)
I hope you guys liked this chapter, I'm sorry if it's confusing at any point as I tried to explain as much as I could without revealing too much, ya know? But if you have any question's, please ask away and I'll explain things to you.
Votes are really appreciated (yeah I'm talking to you ghost readers) and leave a comment if you're feeling extra beautiful!
Thank you for reading.
-A