Chapter 73
The breath rushed out of me as Spencer, Bo and Rose, my 3 best friends, ran full speed into me and wrapped their arms around me, my ear drums also burst as they screamed with excitement.
'You're getting married!' Spencer yelled over and over again whilst skipping around in circles. Bo and Rose were jumping up and down and hugging me.
I looked over at Louis who was sitting on the couch watching with a bemused expression. He winked at me as the girls squealed again when they saw my ring. 'Louis! That is huge!' Spencer gasped. I looked back when I felt her slipping it off my finger, I quickly clenched my fist so she couldn't get it off.
'Nu-uh.' I shook my head. 'It hasn't come off since he asked and it certainly isn't now.' I grinned.
Bo raised an eye brow and Spencer scowled at me before pulling my fist up to her face so she could see it closer. 'It's beautiful' She sighed as she stared at it as though it were hypnotising her.
'It is. But tell me about Europe!' I dragged Spencer, Bo and Rose over to the sofa and I flopped down to Louis. His arm immediately went around my shoulders as he carried on texting on his phone. I noticed him taking a photo of my ring, where my hand was resting on his leg.
'Well...' Rose started. I got comfy as I knew these girls would talk for ages. 'Paris was...'
...
I leant against the door after I'd closed it. The girl had finally left after 3 hours of Europe and wedding talk. I'd asked Spencer to be my maid of honour because I'd known her longest. To my surprise, she cried instead of screamed, before thanking me over and over.
'Babe, come here.' Louis called from the kitchen. 10 minutes before the girls left his phone had rang which he got up to answer in the kitchen. I took my jumped off the back of the sofa and slipped it on as I made my way into the other room. He was sitting at the long, wooden table looking out the window.
'Yeah?' I sat opposite his and wrapped my bare foot around his ankle which caused him to smile.
'How would you feel about doing an interview with OK! Magazine?'
I gasped. 'What?'
'They were just on the phone, they want to do an interview on our engagement with a photo shoot and everything.' His face was expressionless as he waited to see my reaction.
'Woah... What did you tell them?'
'I said I'd ask my fiancée and get back to them.'
I mirrored his smiled, it was hard not to. 'Do you want to do it?'
'It's up to you babe, only if you want to.' He squeezed my hand before spinning my engagement ring around.
'I suppose it would be fun.' I laughed.
'So that's a yes?' He asked, making sure I was certain.
'It definitely is.' I slapped the hand he put in the air for a high five as he redialled the number on his phone with his other hand.
'Hey Natalie, it's Louis... we'll do it.' He told her while looking me in the eye.
...
I sat in the mirror as the lady did my makeup. My lips were a glossy, pink colour, my eyes had a slight amount of dark eye shadow that made my eyes pop and plenty of mascara. I was wearing a simple black dress that sucked me in and made me look two sizes smaller than I really was and I was left bare footed, like Louis was.
Louis looked like a god. He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt that was unbuttoned a bit at the top with the sleeved rolled up, showing his tanned fore arms and chest. His hair was flicked perfectly and his very subtle makeup he was forced to wear was hardly noticeable. He smiled a perfect smiled, white smiled when he was my headed out towards his.
'You look amazing.' He whispered into my ear.
'Thanks.' I smiled, blushing but forcing my head not to turn to the ground.
When Louis saw my reaction his eyes lit up and a genuinely happy smile popped on his face as he pulled me into a hug and kissed my temple.
'You look flawless too, though.' I slipped in, meaning every word.
'Yeah yeah, but we already knew that.' He laughed and I hit his chest lightly.
We were in a large, modern apartment that had views of right across London as the sun was rising. The room was full of white furniture that emphasised the modern feel of the room. I was directed to sit next to Louis on the couch and to 'act natural' as they took photos. I was nervous at first, totally aware of the camera in my face, but once Louis told me to keep looking into his eyes everyone else in the room disappeared and it was just us.
'Can we have a close up of the ring please?' The photographer asked, in reply I placed my hand on Louis' knee and the man came right up close to take a photo of it. 'Perfect.' He called, his strong London accent filled the room. 'I'm done, you looked great guys. Congratulations.' And before I could say goodbye, he was gone, followed by his minions who hadn't said anything the entire time.
A tall woman in jeans, a white t-shirt and a cardigan came over to us carrying a clipboard and a Dictaphone. 'Hey' She smile kindly. 'I'm Kat, I'll be interviewing you today.' She indicated to the sofa we'd just been sitting on. 'Take a seat.' She pulled up a chair opposite us, flicked the Dictaphone on and placed it onto the table between us. 'So, first off, congratulations. How are you both?'
'Thank you. We're very good.' Louis smiled. He must have realised I suddenly felt shy as he automatically answered for me, which I was grateful for.
'So' Kat began. I got the feeling she was going to be saying 'so' an awful lot. 'How did you two meet? Aria, can you tell us?' She looked at me, making me freeze like a rabbit in headlights. Louis' hand softly landed on my knee and squeezed it, giving me encouragement. I looked at him and smiled before speaking. 'I was going to Ibiza Rocks with my friends about a year ago and... um... I happened to be sitting by Louis on the plane on the way there and back. We got chatting, realised we lived quite close to each other and things went from there.' I started to gain some confidence while I was talking.
'So I take it you're both quite the party animals?' She asked, raising an eyebrow.
I laughed. 'I'm not, I was dragged out by my friends, but Louis likes to go out every so often.' I nudged him in the ribs; everyone knew he loved a good party.
'Interesting.' She mumbles. 'How did you find it getting to know the rest of One Direction?'
'It was fine.' I smiled. 'They are the greatest guys in the world. So welcoming. We met and just hit it off from there, they're like my best friends. More like older brothers, really.' I said honestly.
'Okay, and Louis, tell us about the all-important ring shopping.; She leant forward to slide the Dictaphone closer to him.
'Well, I was in Paris on tour last month and it was our day off. I'd already been away from a month without Aria and I realised how much I missed her...' He squeezed my knee again and smiled. 'So I thought I would ask her to be my wife so she'll always be mine. I asked Liam for advice, as he'd proposed to Rose and he said to get a ring first. I dragged the boys through Paris with me until we found a ring we all agreed on, which was in Tiffany's. The boys' opinion was very important to me as we're like brothers. I would never do something if they didn't think it was a good idea.'
I listened to Louis, mesmerized as I heard this story for the first time. I forgot Kat was in the room and was about to get Louis to tell me more when she interrupted.
'Wonderful, and Aria, how did he propose?'
'Well...' I started, looking at Louis and smiling, before carrying on to tell her the rest of the story.
She asked plenty more questions, such as 'do you want children?' to which Louis quickly replied, 'Maybe one day, we're going one step at a time.' He knew it was the right answer and what she wanted to hear, even though we discussed it in the car on the way there this morning. We definitely wanted children. She finished up the interview before thanking us and telling us the magazine would be out next week. She shook our hands, and left in a flurry of perfume and clicking heel, her large handbag spilling paper out the top.
Louis and I changed into the clothes we'd arrived in and quickly left to go home and relax. It was Sunday after all.