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Scene Queen and Drama King

drop you to drink it, won't let you go

"I can't believe I skived off work because of this," Shea exclaimed. "You owe me big time, Tomlinson."

They were seated at the dining area of Louis' bachelor pad, drinking tea and having a chat. Shea had to admit that for a twenty-year-old lad, Louis was pretty wealthy, judging from his swanking, posh home.

"You wanted to have a feel of living in London. That's why I brought you to my flat. It's not much of a difference, 'cept Donny's much quieter," Louis remarked.

It was a windy Thursday afternoon and Louis had grabbed Shea from work an hour before she was officially released and drove her to his place in London. He had come up with some ludicrous story about how Shea's father had fallen in the bathroom and the first person he had contacted to ask for help was Louis. Shea was baffled as to why Louis was at her house and how in the world did he manage to get in as she knew her father was out at work. Only when she perceived the mischievous twinkle in his eye and the little wink which Louis gave her behind her manager's back, did she decide to play along with him.

"How the bloody hell did you know I'm staying with my ol' man instead of my mam? You might’ve had a slip of the tongue and everything would have backfired. All of my colleagues know about my family background."

"You're not going to like this, but Fat Jensen spilled the beans on you. We were out for a drink a few nights ago and he was so rat-arsed that he blabbed about you." Louis looked at Shea sheepishly, a hand scratching the back of his neck. "Mate still couldn't hold his liquour, ha!"

Shea groaned and buried her face in her hands. The problem with the town she was living in was that everyone knew everybody's secrets. But then what would you expect from a small town?

Her friendship with Louis had been blossoming for the past week, more so after that awkward episode with the eyelash. Shea had no idea what had overcome her to be so brazen with a boy whom she barely knew. Yes, it was true that they had been in drama club together, but they hadn't been the best of friends. Heck, Louis had a girlfriend back then by the name of Hannah and they had been inseparable. And come to think of it, Shea had to remind herself to pop that question to Louis.

"Louis? Can I ask you something?" Shea inquired tentatively. Louis brought his head up from the teacup he was sipping from.

"Hmm?"

She took that as a yes and mustered all her courage into asking the next question.

"Are you and Hannah still together?"

Louis quirked his eyebrow and gave Shea a grin. He placed his cup on the table slowly.

"Nope. I had another bird after her, but we broke off as well, so I'm currently single," Louis replied nonchalantly.

The only word which passed through her lips was a whispery, "oh", and the both of them sat in awkward silence. Suddenly, she realised it wasn't such a great idea to pry into Louis' love life and wanted to kick herself for asking such a personal question.

She noticed Louis staring at her from the corner of her eye, so she brought her gaze up to him. Their eyes locked and Shea finally comprehended that Louis was indeed, fit. Not that she didn't notice it the first time they met in Starbucks, but after getting to know the tanned lad a lot better, Shea had a feeling that she might have a crush on him.

Louis knew he should stop ogling at Shea since she caught him staring at her, but he could not bring himself to do it. He had realised earlier that her presence brought a calm, relaxing effect on him and he was at ease whenever she was around him. It was a tad strange seeing that he only met the girl two weeks ago and he was already feeling this way, like how he felt when Eleanor was around. He would be in denial if he said that he didn't have any romantic feelings towards Shea, because at that very moment, Louis was indeed mesmerised by her clear eyes and petite frame. All sense of awkwardness was lost and instead, the look they shared was meaningful. They both definitely felt something with the desire to initiate it, but both were unsure on how to start.

A shrill ringtone coming from Louis' iPhone broke their trance. He fumbled with his trouser pockets to find it.

"H-Hello?" Louis croaked into the mouthpiece. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be coming over now." He ended the call and looked back at Shea. She was sipping her tea slowly, eyes avoiding his.

"I didn't bring you to London just to laze around in my flat and drink tea," Louis admitted. "I'm bringing you out for dinner and to meet my four best mates."

-----

"There's an upcoming rave on the last weekend of October at Ivanhoe Park. It's Halloween-themed, so costumes are compulsory. I was wondering whether you chaps would be interested in it?" Shea asked the five lads seated around the booth.

Louis had brought her out to a nearby pub and introduced her to the rest of his bandmates. When the four lads met Shea, she was greeted with cheerful hi's and hello's, but that did not stop her from noticing a few peculiar looks thrown her way from some of them. She was not surprised that they would judge her, seeing she wasn't dressed up for the evening. Blame it on Louis for dragging her all the way to London without informing her first. She could have dressed better instead of her usual skinnies, jumper and trainers. Her hair was messy as always and she couldn't do some re-touches to her makeup as she didn't bring her makeup kit. She knew she was a disaster among the five preppily-dressed lads and to make matters worse, all of Louis' mates were bloody fit. Shea had never felt more abashed, yet delighted to be surrounded by not one, but five sex gods.

"Where is Ivanhoe Park?" the other taller, brown-haired lad whom Shea made out to be Liam, asked.

"It's back in my hometown, which means, all of you aren't able to make it," Louis answered curtly. He had a grim expression on his face.

"God Louis, let your mates answer for themselves." Shea rolled her eyes and took a swig of her beer.

"Uh, Lou is right, Shea. W-we have other priorties to attend to. Such as homework," the curly-haired Harry remarked.

Louis had made an arrangement with his mates earlier to not disclose their identities to Shea. They were surprised at first, but gave in to Louis' demands seeing their friend was serious in the matter. When asked why, Louis simply shrugged his shoulders and told them to mind their own business. They knew better than to step on the older boy's nerves because Louis definitely had a temper.

"How come he could go home for study break while all of you have to stay in school?" Shea queried inqusitively while pointing at Louis.

"Because Lou is in a different Year than the rest of us. Last Year students are having their study break at the moment," Liam lied. The four boys looked at him, astounded by his blatant lie.

Shea seemed satisfied with Liam's answer. "Then it'll just be me and Louis then. If you wanna come, that is," she quickly added, shooting a glance at him.

Harry and Niall gave each other knowing smirks, while Zayn excused himself to go out for a smoke. Liam complained of a stomach upset and rushed off to the washroom. They continued stuffing themselves with their meal when Harry popped a personal question for Shea.

"You're a pretty babe. I was wondering whether you are seeing anyone right now?"

Louis choked on his pasta, while Niall gave a loud chuckle. Shea was amused by Harry's bluntness, but she reminded herself that she did the exact same thing not too long ago at Louis' pad.

"Thanks for the compliment, Harry. You're quite the stunner yourself. As for your question, no, I'm not seeing anyone at the moment." Shea gave him a huge grin.

Harry wriggled his brows to Louis, who could only roll his eyes and shake his head. Niall had to bury his face in his food to keep himself from bursting into another fit of giggles. Shea was suspicious of the boys' behaviour, but she let it slide.

When Liam and Zayn returned back to their table, Shea excused herself to go to the washroom. As she was relieving herself, she heard a couple of girls entering the cubicles beside her. They were loud and Shea could only assume they were tipsy.

"Flippin' hell, One Direction's in here! In this bloody place!"

"Shut up, Jane! We're in the loo!"

Shea shook her head. Bunch of drunks. She was about to unlock the door when the next sentence said by the girl named Jane, made her frozen on the spot.

"I'd guess Louis found himself a rebound girl. Never crossed my mind he would go for a moose like that. I thought his tastes were classy."

"You're stalking them? Are you serious?" Jane's companion asked.

Shea heard the loud flushes of the lavatory and the unlocking of doors, yet she remained in her cubicle. The girls walked out, still chatting and Shea could make out that they were now at the sink, washing their hands.

"Don't be silly, Martha. Their love lives are plastered everywhere in the news. Louis Tomlinson broke up with his girl around a month ago while they were doing recording for their second album. His management told the press he had some family emergency. And what do we know? He's actually still in London, with the rest of the band!"

"Honestly Jane, why are you even bothered with these boys?" the one called Martha, inquired.

"Can't help it. The girls in my dorm are mental about the boys and I was dragged in their conversations. The curly-haired one? I think his name's Harry. He's the charmer in the group and a real lady-killer. The little blondie's Irish. Pretty cute. The semi-Asian fittie is full of controversy and the last one, Liam, is the serious one. I'd bet my dosh on him that he'd be the first to call it quits and settle down with a family."

"You really know a lot about them."

"Martha, it's One Direction. They're the talk of the world right now. And I still can't believe Louis would go for a girl like that. Did you see her hair?" Both girls burst out laughing hysterically. "I'm surprised the boys put up with her all night."

Shea felt her eyes became blurry with tears that were pooling in her bottom eyelids. She broke out in hushed sobs and frantically wiped the warm cascade of tears rolling down her cheeks with the sleeve of her jumper.

Louis had been feeding her with nothing, but lies. Not only that, but his mates were in this as well and it made Shea sick to the stomach, thinking she was fancying Louis not too long ago.

She regained her composure and walked out of the cubicle. An elderly woman was making her way out of the washroom while there was no sign of the two gossipers. Good riddance, she thought.

Shea looked at herself in the clouded mirror and was disgusted at what she saw. She had sprayed her hair to achieve that certain height, but apparently, her hair had deflated throughout the day. Her lips were a pale pink as most of the crimson lather had worn off and her water-proof mascara was the only thing that had been intact on her face. The only saving grace she had, were her eyes and that appeared to be insubstantial as she had been crying. The usual sparkle in them had diminished, replaced by dull, red-rimmed irises.

"Shea? Shea! Are you still in there?" Louis' voice was heard from outside of the washroom.

"Y-yeah," Shea croaked back. "Could we go back now? I'm not feeling well. Bad stomach pain."

"Are you really alright in there? You want me to come in and help you out?"

Liar.

"No, don't! I'm fine. I'll be out soon."

"You sure about that? I'll ask for permission to enter," Louis insisted.

Liar!

"Get lost, Louis! I said I'm fine!" Shea screamed.

A heavy silence hung in the air, followed by the thudding of footsteps walking away. Shea took deep breaths to calm herself.

It was going to be one hell of a long ride back home.

-----

Shea rummaged through her knapsack for her pack of cigarettes. She finally found it, along with her trusty silver Zippo. She stole a glance at Louis driving beside her, his eyes focused on the road, expression unreadable. The top buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned and his braces were left hanging on the waistline of his trousers.

"You mind if I smoke?" she asked, but proceeded to press the 'down' button and watch the window roll open without bothering to wait for Louis' acknowledgement. "I need the windows down."

Shea was still pretty pissed about the lies Louis had been telling her. She found it challenging to differentiate between which were the truths and which were the lies. For all she knew, Louis could have fabricated his whole life story. Her heart was torn and her mind in shambles and she wanted nothing but answers from him.

Louis was clearly astonished and puzzled as to why there was a drastic change in Shea's behaviour within a short period of time. She was such an amazing girl and had gotten along with the others just fine, until she went off into the washroom and had come out, a totally different person. Shea had immediately rushed to Louis' car without returning to the booth, giving the lads a hurried excuse that she was having a terrible stomach cramp. Louis ran after her, leaving the pub and his bandmates behind, all of whom were befuddled with the sudden departure.

Shea was nonchalantly smoking, cigarette casually placed between her slim middlefinger and forefinger, her elbow hooked over the window's ledge for support while she slouched back in the car seat. Her eyes scanned the black sky which was unfortunately starless that night, inhaling fume from her ciggie now and then. She was desperate to reach home, but she knew she had an hour more to go before they arrived in Doncaster.

"Didn't know you smoke," Louis commented. He gave Shea a fleeting look before concentrating on the road again.

"You don't know shit about me, Louis," she spat.

Louis was taken aback by Shea's harsh reply. "What's the matter with you? You're delirious!"

Shea glared at Louis, flicking her cigarette out from the open window. "So I'm delirious? What about you, huh?"

"I don't storm out of a pub, leaving my mates behind without any explanation and immediately sleep in the car even before we start our journey home!" Louis answered, voice raising.

"I told you all that I had a stomach cramp and I wasn't feeling well. Which part was it that you didn't get?"

"Oh come on, Shea, I'm not an idiot. Stop giving excuses. What exactly happened in the loo?"

Shea was fuming with anger, but she managed to choke out her question. "Who are you exactly?" She stared at Louis, who had his eyes fixed on the road in front of him. "Tell me honestly."

"What do you mean by that?" Louis turned his head to stare at Shea, brows furrowed and a look of utter confusion etched on his face.

"Eyes on the road, Tomlinson. Don't wanna end up being roadkill," Shea warned.

The young lad let out an exasperated groan and decided to stop the car by the side of Cleveland Street. He knew he couldn't concentrate on driving with Shea behaving like a total bitch.

"Why are we stopping here? It's just a few more miles 'til we reach home."

"Stop changing the subject, Shea! It's ridiculous and I want to know what's wrong with you!" Louis yelled, barely containing his anger. "What do you mean by who am I?"

"You're a heartless user, Louis! What you did was total pants, that is. You're a liar and I'm nothing but a rebound girl who was stupid enough to not know you're a famous star!"

Louis opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. His mouth suddenly went dry and he licked his lips to moisten them.

"Cat got your tongue?" Shea asked sarcastically. She was trying her hardest not to let her tears spill over. She hated people seeing her cry. It made her feel small and fragile and the last thing she wanted was pity.

"W-where did you hear that? You're not a rebound girl. What makes you say that?" Louis asked softly, his anger subsiding.

"I overheard a bunch of girls gossiping in the washroom at the pub just now. I wouldn't have believed them, until I heard one of them rattling off some facts about not only you, but the rest of your mates as well. It didn't take me long to figure you must be some kind of superstar that even strangers knew a whole lot of bollocks about you."

Shea exhaled and continued. "They called me a moose, Louis," her voice cracking. "They said your tastes are classy and I'm nothing but just a rebound girl. I know we've just met again, but we were once schoolmates, aite? Aren't we friends from back then?"

Shea couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She broke down in muffled sobs and desperately tried to wipe her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper.

Louis was speechless; his heart was a swirling emotion of guilt, sadness and a tad bit of anger for those girls who dared to call Shea unruly names.

"But what hurts me the most is, why did you lie to me? What am I to you, Louis?"

Louis stared at the sobbing girl slouched in the passenger seat. How in the world did everything turned out to be horrifyingly wrong? What he thought to be a harmless secret hurt the person who did nothing, and had been making him happy after his breakup with Eleanor. He was remorseful for what he had done and he knew he had to fix it.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. "It wasn't my intention to lie to you about who I really am. It's just... complicated."

He gave out a loud sigh and ran a hand through his tousled hair. Louis made a notion to hug Shea, but the girl cringed and slouched herself even further away from him. He immediately withdrew himself and settled back into his seat.

Louis turned his attention to the road, staring straight ahead. "To answer your question, I'm a member of the famous boyband called One Direction. My mates whom you met a while ago are all my bandmates and the five of us make up the whole group."

"I didn't reveal my status to you because I was enjoying my holiday in being a normal bloke. Normal meaning, no drama and glitz which, unfortunately, comes with the fame I've achieved."

Shea brought her gaze to Louis so she was facing his left cheek. Her eyes roamed Louis' sharp features and, even in the dimness of the moonlight, Shea could make out his high cheekbones and tightly clenched jaw.

"Fame isn't all that glamourous, Shea. Yes, we're living the dream and we're pretty well-off, but there are drawbacks to it as well. With fame, there's no more privacy. We're being followed by the media 24-7. We're constantly under the scrutiny of the public and to make matters worse, there will be the haters who would stop at nothing to go out of their way to say mean things to myself and my loved ones."

"What does fame have got to do with me?" Shea sniffled.

Louis finally turned to look at her. His eyes lacked their usual mischievous twinkle. "I know it was selfish of me to not tell you the truth just because I wanted some quiet time to myself. Frankly speaking, I was surprised that you called me 'Danny' when we first met, but I was also relieved to know that someone didn’t recognise me for being a superstar." He paused. "I enjoyed your company and your bluntness but I was afraid you'd start treating me differently if you knew I was a celebrity. I had my fair share of so-called friends who hung out with me just 'cause I'm famous."

"So you assume that I'll dig into your riches?" Shea questioned softly. "What do you take me for? A gold digger?"

"No, of course not!" Louis was appalled by Shea's remark. "I didn't mean that way! Can you please stop making assumptions and let me finish?"

Shea snorted and crossed her arms. Her tears had stopped by now, but she was still seething.

Louis let out an exasperated groan and shook his head. "I admit that I made a terrible mistake of keeping the truth from you. I let myself be blinded by my uncertainty to trust people. But you're different, Shea. I see you as the kind of girl who's not nervous to be herself around people and I kind of like girls who aren't fake."

Shea felt herself deflate after hearing Louis' explanation. Her eyes softened when she stared at his sincere face. However, she was still hurt by his actions and she wouldn't let his puppy-eyed look cloud her judgment. She unfolded her arms and pursed her lips.

"I don't know what else is there to be said, Louis," Shea said. "Can we please go home now?"

Louis nodded and started up the car to continue the rest of their journey back to Doncaster.

-----

Louis was packing his luggage for his return to London in three days time. He had difficulty in making up his mind on what choice of clothes he wanted to bring back, and which were to be left behind. It wasn't usually like this. He was a fast packer and he knew exactly what he wanted, but his mind was filled with thoughts of Shea that he could not think properly. Also, his sister's loud music did not help with his thinking and he was getting tetchy.

"Lottie! Would you please turn that down?" Louis yelled from his bedroom. He doubted his younger sister could hear him with the music blaring from her room, two doors down away from his.

Louis sighed. He threw his luggage on the floor and plopped himself on his bed, the back of his arm covering his eyes. The rest of his family was getting ready to either go trick-or-treating, or, in Lottie's case, a Halloween party at her best friend's house. He wasn't in the mood to go to the rave or even to celebrate Halloween, so he had volunteered to stay at home and open doors to give away candies and sweets to young trick-or-treaters.

Shea had "vanished" from his life ever since they had the argument in the car a few days ago. After dropping her off in front of her house, she had told Louis that she needed some time to think and it would be best if they did not see each other again. He was gutted, to say the least, but he did leave countless apology messages on her mobile, all of which were never replied. Louis knew it was entirely his fault and he wanted to make amends with her before he went back to London to his career.

"For God's sake, Lottie! Can you turn that down?!" Louis got up from his bed and threw the door open. He briskly walked towards Lottie's bedroom and was about to knock on the door when the lyrics of his band's music hit him.

So get out, get out, get out of my head
And fall into my arms instead
I don't, I don't, don't know what it is
But I need that one thing
And you've got that one thing


Louis stood stock still in front of his sister's bedroom, listening to the rest of the song. He usually avoided listening to his own music if he wasn't performing. As he was letting the words of the music sink in, the door swung open, making him jump a foot back and having Lottie stare at him oddly.

"What are you doing, Louis?"

"Er, I was-"

"Are you eavesdropping on me?"

"No! No, of course not. Your music's too loud, I wanted to tell you to turn it down."

His sister mumbled an apology and rushed to turn down the volume of her speakers. Louis was still standing at the doorway when he suddenly spoke up.

"Lottie, I need you to follow me to the mall. We're going shopping."

-----

Shea was bopping along to the steady rhythm of the bass beat. She took a swig of her beer but reminded herself not to drink too much as she was the designated driver for the night.

The rave was a way for her to ease her mind away from her thoughts of Louis. No matter how many times she told herself that Louis was nothing but a liar and a wanker, she still found herself being drawn to him. She received his numerous messages on her mobile and it took all of her willpower to not reply to any. She also had to admit that she could not concentrate at work and that her manager had reprimanded her for her carelessness.

Most of her friends were dead drunk, while others had scattered around the park. Shea and Fat Jensen were the only two sober, but he had left Shea alone, saying he needed to fetch his friend who got lost on his way there.

She sighed a sad sigh and looked around, wanting Jensen to come back and accompany her. She was growing bored and getting restless and hoped some random bloke would chat her up. Shea desperately needed to get laid so that she'd get Louis out of her mind. Or so she hoped.

The sight of a person clad in black from head to toe and heading her way caught her attention. Shea could make out that the person was male, judging from his posture and the way he walked. She tugged at the hem of her white dress and patted her hair to make sure her Elvira hairstyle was still in place. Shea wouldn't want to appear unsightly if the lad were to stop by her. As he walked closer, she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she recognised the boy. She cursed under her breath.

"Hey."

Shea gaped at the boy because she could not believe that it was him. His hoodie covered his hair, saved for his fringe which curtained a part of his right eye. His eyes were heavily lined with black kohl, enticing his baby blues further. And that lip ring. Shea knew it was fake, but it completed his look.

Jensen came out from nowhere and slapped her back. "Sorry I'm late! Louis is such a diva in getting ready!"

Shea let out a tiny shriek and out of reflex, punched him on the arm. "Why is he here?" she hissed, glaring at Jensen.

"Hey, hey, be nice," Jensen warned, his hands up in the universal gesture for 'I surrender'.

Louis cleared his throat and asked. "Shea? Can we go some place quiet to talk?"

Shea looked at the both of them, her eyes pleading with Jensen to not leave her and Louis alone. Jensen gave her a wink and waved goodbye to the both of them. "I'll catch ya later."

She reluctantly followed Louis to a quieter part of the park, away from the rave and drunken party-goers. "This way." Louis tugged at her arm and she knew he was bringing her to the lake.

They stood side by side awkwardly, both staring straight ahead at the calm water. The only source of light was from the moon, but it was enough to see each other in the dimness.

"I'm sorry." Louis broke the silence. "I know I shouldn't have done that and I'm to blame, but believe me when I say that I can't stop thinking about you."

Shea gave a soft sigh and nodded. "I did my homework."

"Don't believe everything you read or saw on the internet."

"Mm-hmm."

There was a long pause. The bass beats from the rave was faintly heard over the distance. "Do you even listen to dubstep?" Shea inquired. "I don't see you as the kind to listen to noisy, party music."

"I'm not really a fan of raves, to be honest," Louis replied, "But this is worth going to because of a certain bird."

Shea turned to face Louis, to find he was already staring at her. They shared that same look they once had, back at Louis' flat. Shea felt her cheeks getting warm and she tore her gaze away from him.

"What's your costume about?"

"It's not actually a costume. More of a fashion statement which screams, I'm in the scene," Louis admitted. "I quite fancy your mix of light and dark elements."

"Thank you. I like your, erm, new look?"

And Louis took the initiative to hold Shea's hand, brushing his fingers lightly over hers. Shea responded by grasping firmly and the both of them smiled towards the first few rays of the morning sun lightening up the horizon.

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