Louis’ POV
“Alright, that’s it, I’m going over there!!” I practically yelled, causing Harry and Zayn to nearly jump out of their skin. “Sorry,” I mumbled. We hadn’t seen Hailey or Melissa in three days, and i was in a really bad mood because of it. We usually spent all day, together, everyday, and we hadn’t seen them since Hailey and Melissa left, the night Hailey was sick. I texted Hailey about every hour, but she always had an excuse to not come over, or for me to not go over there.
“Lou,” Harry said softly, “Melissa said she’s just sick. She doesn’t want us to see her right now.”
“Well I’ll bring her soup or something,” I mumbled, not really listening to him. I hated not seeing Hailey. She had become such a big part of my life, and she held my heart in her hands, even though she didn’t know it. I decided to just show up at their beach house. I knocked, and Melissa opened the door, and her eyes got bigger when she saw me.
“Louis, what are you doing here? Hailey’s sick, she really doesn’t want you to see her right now. She, um, said she’s still getting over the flu, but she’ll be feeling better soon. “ Melissa said to me.
“Mel, please, can I just see her, really quickly? Please?” I practically begged her. She looked like she didn’t know what to do, so before she could say anything, I walked in, straight back to Hailey’s room. I knocked softly on the door without saying anything.
“Come in,” she croaked. She really did sound sick.
I opened the door, and walked in, to find her in her bed, under blankets, with her back facing me. “Hey, Hailey,” I said softly and smiled. She turned around quickly in her bed.
“Louis? What are you doing here?” She asked, a little mad at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I know you told me not to come, but I was really worried about you. I haven’t seen you in three days, and I missed you. I just wanted to see you.”
“That’s really sweet of you. But I’m really tired and-“ she didn’t finish, but she bolted out of her bed, with her hand covering her mouth as she ran to the bathroom. Without thinking, I ran right after her. Usually, when people were sick, it really grossed me out. But it wasn’t so bad with Hailey. I kneeled down behind her and held her hair back as she threw up in the toilet. When she was done, she started shaking. I pulled her back against me and wrapped my arms around her. I pulled the towel down and she wiped her mouth. Melissa came in a minute later with a glass of water, so I helped Hailey up, reluctant to let her out of my arms. She brushed her teeth, and went back into her bedroom.
“That was really gross,” she said, looking at me apologetically. “I’m so sorry you had to see that. Really.”
“It’s okay, love,” I said, and it really was. I wanted nothing more than to take care of her, and make her feel better. I spent the next few days with her, watching movies, eating soup and crackers, and she was starting to look better. Her face wasn’t so pale, and her eyes weren’t hollow anymore.
“Okay, I’m ready to get out of this house,” she said. I was still a little worried about her walking so much, but she really was looking better. She looked at me with so much hope in her eyes, I couldn’t say no. She had me wrapped around her finger.
“Fine,” I gave in, “but if you start to feel sick, tell me and we’ll come back!”
“Yes, sir!” she said, mocking me.
It was early in the evening and the sun was just starting to go down. I held her hand, it had become a natural thing for us now. Our hands fit perfectly together. Its like they were two puzzle pieces, made for each other. Every time I touched her, though, it sent electric sparks throughout my whole body. I felt alive, like I was full of life. The affect she had on me was amazing.
“Hailey,” I decided I needed to be honest with her, about everything, my feelings and the band. They boys and I had decided it was time to tell her and Melissa, but we just weren’t sure when the moment was, but I knew I needed to do it, now. One thing at a time. I’ll tell her about the band first, then another time, I would tell her how I felt. “Hailey,” I said again, “I think I’m falling in love with you.” Wait. Dammit, I just said the wrong thing. How could you do that, Lou. Stupid! We both froze when I said it, and she just looked at me.
“What?” she asked.
Well, I had already said it… “I think I’m falling in love with you,” I said again, more confidently, this time. “Since the first day we met, I saw you on the beach that morning, and I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. When I’m not with you, I want to be. And I’m so happy again. It’s been so long since I’ve been genuinely happy, but I feel like myself again, and you’ve done that to me. And I know you don’t feel the same way, but I just wanted to get it out there.” I finished, then blushed at how much I had just told her.
She just stood there for a minute, before she finally said just above a whisper, “we should go back to the house.”
And that did it. “Okay,” I said, dropping her hand. I knew she didn’t feel the same way about me, why would she? I’m nobody, compared to her. But still, there was part of me that hoped. I dropped her off at the house and said, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Can we please forget about this, and be best friends again? Please?”
She smiled at me. “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow? Mel and I will come to the house.”
“Okay,” I said, and smiled her as warmly as I could, but inside, my heart had been shattered.
I walked back to our house, trying to tell myself I knew she didn’t feel the same way, but I was still hurt. However, I wasn’t going to let our friendship be messed up. When she came over, I would exact the same way I always did. Nothing would be different.
“How’s Hailey?” Liam asked when I walked in.
“Good. She’s definitely getting better. We went for a little walk on the beach today, and she felt fine after that, so yeah.” I said. “I’m going to go to bed early. Didn’t sleep well last night.”
I went downstairs to my room, and closed the door. I got in my basketball shorts, and t-shirt, and laid down, trying to calm my thoughts. A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on my door, and Zayn’s head popped in.
“Louis?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, Zayn?” I asked as I sat up.
“You want to talk, bud?”
I didn’t answer right away, so he just came in, and sat down on the bed next to me. Zayn and I were always close. He knew when something was wrong, he could just see past things that most other people couldn’t.
“I told her how I felt tonight.” I said after we sat there for a minute. “I didn’t mean to, we were walking along the beach, and I was thinking about the two things I really wanted to tell her: how I felt, and about the band. I was going to tell her about us, but then before I could stop it, I told her I was falling in love with her,” I groaned, “I’m so stupid! Why would I do that? Why would I risk our friendship?”
“And I guess she didn’t take it like you had hoped?” He asked.
I shook my head. “She asked me to take her home. I did, then I asked her if we could forget about it and still be best friends, and she said yes, but still, I feel so stupid.”
“Its alright, mate,” Zayn said, “Honestly, I’m really surprised she didn’t say anything. I was sure she liked you. They way she looks at you when you’re not looking, and how she blushes when you sit right next to her… Give it some time. Maybe things will change. But still be her friend.”
I nodded. “Thanks, mate.”
“Goodnight. I love you, Louis. I’m glad we have you back,” he smiled as he walked out of my room.
I slept better than I thought I would, and I was looking forward to Hailey and Melissa coming over, as were the rest of the boys. We decided we were going to tell them about the band today.
The girls knocked, before they walked in the house.
“Harry, are you dressed??” Melissa asked dramatically, covering her eyes as she walked in the living room
“Ha-ha, you’re funny. Of course I am!” His face lit up, when she took her hand down and smiled at him. The girls hugged all of the boys, and we all sat on the couch.
“So,” Niall started, “we have something we want to tell you girls…”
“Have you ever heard of a band called One Direction?” Zayn asked.
“They looked at each other, and Melissa answered, “Um, I’ve heard of them. I don’t think I know any of their songs, but I hear about them every now and then.”
“Why?” Hailey asked curiously.
“Well, there are five members,” Liam said.
“And…. Well… um…” Harry tried to talk. Geeze, they were bad at this.
I decided to tell them. “And you girls just happen to be sitting in the room with them!” We all smiled nervously at them.
“Wait, what?” Hailey asked, like she really didn’t hear us.
I sighed and explained. “We’re the band, One Direction. We’ve been really busy the last couple of years, working on albums and tours and stuff, so Management wanted to give us a break. So they paid for this house for the summer, and basically gave us the whole time off. No concerts, no interviews, nothing. We’re really sorry we didn’t tell you…”I trailed off, feeling really bad for lying to them.
Harry continued for me, “but, you see, it was so nice actually meeting people who liked us for us. It really doesn’t happen often. Everywhere we go, people mob us. And its great, meeting fans, but when we met you guys, it was really exciting to actually get to be friends with someone who wanted to get to know us.” Harry was looking nervously at Melissa.
“We love you girls,” Liam said, “like sisters. And it was so cool to have that relationship. I’m really sorry. We all are.”
The girls both sat there for a minute before Hailey finally spoke. “Its okay.” She said with a real smile.
I looked at her. “Really? You’re not mad?”
“No,” she sounded really sincere. “It actually makes sense. That must be hard, not really getting to meet new people, who want to get to know you. I’m not mad. However…” she said with a smirk that made me nervous. “Now, you have to sing for us!” We all laughed, and relaxed. Niall went to get his guitar, and we all sat across from the girls so we could see their faces. We decided to sing What Makes You Beautiful.
“So,” I said. “This one was our first single, so it’s really special to us. It’s called What Makes You Beautiful.”
Niall started playing guitar, and immediately, the girls smiled.
“You’re insecure, don’t know what for.
You’re turning heads when you walk through the door,
Don’t need make-up, to cover up,
Being the way that you are is enough,” Liam sang, and I chuckled as their mouths dropped, and their eyes got huge, and they started smiling.
Harry looked right at Melissa and held her gaze as he sang,
“Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you,”
I couldn’t take my eyes off Hailey the whole song. After all, this was the one song I always dedicated to her. She really didn’t know how gorgeous she was. She was perfect to me. By the time we got to the last chorus, Harry had been looking at Melissa the whole time, and Hailey and I were staring at each other.
“Baby, you light up my world like nobody else,
the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
but when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell
you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful.” I was so caught up in the song, I didn’t realize it was just Harry and I singing to Melissa and Hailey by then end. I looked around as Niall played guitar, and he Zayn and Liam were sharing a smirk. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot.
Suddenly, Hailey got up and ran out of the room, down the stairs and out of the front door. We all looked at each other, shocked.
"Um, we were that bad, huh?” Harry asked.
Melissa shook her head, just as surprised as us. “No, you were amazing. I don’t know what happened…”
I ran out after Hailey. I saw her running across the street to the beach, and I could hear her crying. I caught up to her and grabbed her arm and turned her around to face me. She struggled for a minute, but I held her tightly, and finally she gave up, and she let me hold her. I was so confused.
“Shh, Hay, its okay. What’s wrong, love?” I tried to sooth her. “We were that bad, huh?” I asked laughing, trying to lighten her mood.
She just looked at me. “Louis, I can’t do this,” she whispered.
Well that didn’t clear anything up. “Can’t do what, love?”
“I can’t lie to you anymore.” She took a deep breath, and I wiped the tears off her face, as she looked me deep in the eyes. “Louis, I have cancer.” And with those four words, my world crumbled around me.
Okay... well?? Please comment, seriously. What do you think of the twist at the end? Poor Louis did NOT see that one coming... Love you all!! xx ~Kristin