~ 8 years later ~ I woke to the familiar sensation of being crushed; I wriggled, pushing my shoulder backwards. Louis shifted his weight off of me slightly. He was spooning me from behind, breathing deeply into the back of my hair. His heavy arm was draped over me, pinning my arms to my chest as he held my hand tightly. Where his leg was casually slung over mine, I could feel the usual ‘morning glory’ pushing against the small of my back.
I quickly silenced my phone alarm and elbowed him in the stomach. “Six o’clock,” I mumbled sleepily, closing my eyes again.
He grunted, tightening his hold on me. “Ten more minutes, Angel. I’m still tired.”
“Nope, no ten more minutes. Last time it turned into another hour, and Liam nearly caught you in here,” I mumbled, elbowing him in the stomach again.
He moved his arm and pinned my hands down to the bed near my head, in a praying position.
“Just ten more minutes,” he whined. I sighed and closed my eyes again. There was no arguing with him when he was like this; I didn’t have the energy this time of the morning to get into a fight with him. We both drifted back to sleep, instantly.
“Amber, you had better already be up!” my brother shouted, banging on the door. I jerked up and so did Louis. It was almost half past seven.
“Er… yeah I’m up already, Liam,” I lied, frowning over my shoulder at Louis who was rubbing his face, looking a bit dazed.
“Good. I’m going to have breakfast. Hurry up. Lou's driving today so be ready to leave in thirty minutes,” Liam called through the door, before stomping off down the hall.
“Jeez, Angel, why didn’t you wake me up?” Louis accused, yawning and stretching his arms above his head.
I raised one eyebrow incredulously. “I did, you jerk! You said ‘ten more minutes’ then pinned me to the bed to stop me from elbowing you!” I growled sarcastically, doing a terrible impression of his voice.
He chuckled wickedly and dived for me, pushing me back down onto the bed and pinning my hands above my head as he rolled on top of me. “Pinned you to the bed? Were you dreaming about me again? I could make that dream come true for you,” he mocked. His face was inches from mine and his blue eyes glittered with mischief.
I scoffed and clenched my hands into fists, not giving him the satisfaction of watching me attempt to fight him off. I wasn’t in a playful mood today. “Yeah, you wish!” I retorted sarcastically. “Now get the hell off me, and go get ready. You’re driving today, apparently,” I hissed, nodding to the window in a clear signal that he should leave.
He sighed heavily and pushed himself off me, pulling on his jeans and T-shirt without speaking to me again. We rarely had anything pleasant to say to each other, so the silent treatment was nothing unusual. I sat up, watching as he climbed out of the window before sliding it back down after himself. I huffed and scowled down at my alarm clock wondering if I had time to have a quick shower before school.
Exactly twenty-six minutes later, I trudged into the kitchen. I scowled as I spotted Louis leaning casually against the counter. His brown hair was messy in his usual ‘just got out of bed’ look, which, to be honest, he did get out of bed and it looked just like that. All he ever did was run his hands through it a few times and add a bit of styling wax. He looked the same as he did every morning, like a freaking supermodel. Low slung ripped jeans covered his legs, revealing the waistband of his boxers – that usually made the girls swoon. Today he paired his jeans with a white T-shirt that showed off his perfect sculpted body, and an orange and grey checked short sleeve shirt over it, which he wore completely unbuttoned. His blue eyes were glittering with amusement as he looked at me, and raised a spoonful of the only cereal I liked to his lips.
“Running late this morning, Angel?” he asked, smirking.
I scowled harder, which just made him chuckle. “Shut up, Louis! And why the hell are you eating my cereal again? Don’t you have any food at home?” I snapped, snatching the bowl from his hands and eating the contents before he could protest. Louis smiled, shrugging and kicked his shoe against the floor.
Liam threw a juice box in my direction which I only just managed to catch before it tumbled to the floor. “You do look a little harassed this morning, Ambs. Everything OK?” he asked, looking at me a little concerned.
“Slept in,” I muttered with a defeated sigh.
I gritted my teeth as Louis laughed wickedly behind me. Of course I look harassed, I had half an hour to get showered and dressed all because of Lou! But I couldn’t tell Lou that though. Liam had no idea that Lou slept in my room with me every night, if he did he would go crazy. Liam was extremely protective of me, he always had been, but he had gotten worse since my dad had left when I was thirteen. Well, left wasn’t the right word. My brother and Lou had beaten the sorry excuse for a man to a pulp and thrown him out of the house when I was thirteen because they came home early and had caught my drunken father trying to force himself on me. Liam had finally snapped, and he and Louis had beaten him senseless, almost killing him in the process. After they’d thrown him out of the house and warned him not to come back, we hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him for three years.
A little while after that, my mom got a job with a large electronics firm, she was the PA to the director, and so she travelled a lot. In this last year, she’d been gone twice as much as she was home. We only saw her for about one week a month, if that. Liam was my only supervision, although, at times, it was more like I was the one taking care of him.
Louis was also extremely protective of me, but we still didn’t get along - even though he had literally spent every single night wrapped around me in my bed for the last eight years. He had snuck back into my room the following night after seeing me crying again and we had ended up falling asleep again. After two weeks it had just became a regular thing. It wasn’t something that we ever talked about, I just left my window unlocked so he could let himself in once his parents had checked in on him and made sure he was asleep. We had never once been caught in eight years. We’d come close a couple of times though. A couple of years ago, Lou mom had found his bed empty, but he took the hit and lied, saying he’d snuck out to a party and stayed at a friend’s. No one suspected he was next door with me.
He still teased me like crazy and annoyed the life out of me just as much as he did when we were kids, but I always knew he would be there for me if I needed him. It was as if he had a split personality. By day he would annoy me, making me crazy and angry all the time, and by night he would be the sweetest boy in the world and would cuddle me, making me feel safe and secure.
“You’re looking hot today, Angel,” Louis stated, looking me up and down slowly with his trademark smirk plastered on his face.
I scoffed and placed my bowl into the sink. I knew he was teasing me again to get a reaction. I did not look ‘hot’ today. My brown hair was still damp because I didn’t have time to dry it because of his stupid ‘ten more minutes’ so I’d elected to pull it back into a messy bun. I had added the bare minimum make up, as usual, just a little mascara to make my grey-green eyes stand out, and some clear lip gloss. My jeans and hoodie combo did not make me look hot in the slightest. I waited until Liam wasn’t looking then I flipped Louis the finger and strutted out to his car, leaning against it and waiting for them to grace me with their presence.
The drive to school was the same as usual. The boys sat in the front talking about football and parties, and I sat in the back listening to my iPod, trying to ignore Louis smirking at me in the mirror. When we pulled in to the school parking lot, the car was immediately swamped by people, the same as every morning. Louis and Liam were considered ‘hot players’ at our school. They were seniors and every girl’s dream, the boys wanted to be friends with them, and the girls wanted to sleep with them. It was sickening.
Louis laughed as I cringed getting out of the car, trying to avoid the horde of skanks that banged into me because they were trying to throw themselves at him. One girl elbowed me on purpose. I looked at her in her tiny skirt that looked more like a belt and her top that showed her stomach, and grimaced. Jeez, she is such a ho!
“Jessica, did you know you left your skirt at home?” I asked with mock horror.
She scowled at me and I heard Louis and Liam laugh. “Whatev’s. You do know that the emo look doesn’t work for you, right?” she retorted spitefully.
I chuckled to myself and walked off without answering. It was usual for us to have these type of comments for each other. Jessica had dated Louis for a little while, well, if by dating you meant having sex a few times, and then getting dropped. She still wasn’t over it and wanted him back, much to his disgust. For some reason she had never liked me.
As I got half way across the parking lot, a heavy arm slung around my shoulder. I jumped and looked up at Louis. “That wasn’t nice, Angel,” he chastised playfully. He bent his head close to mine. “Sorry about this morning,” he breathed in my ear. I elbowed him in the ribs making him chuckle and pull back. “And ignore Jessica, I think you rock the emo look,” he flirted, winking at me.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Liam slapped Lou on the back of the head. “Dude, that’s my little sister!” he scolded, gripping Lou's shirt and pulling him away from me. Louis just laughed and winked at me again, making me roll my eyes. As if on cue, a group of girls from his year called his name. He didn’t even say goodbye as he left us and walked straight up to the one at the front that had called for him. He smiled at her seductively causing her to blush as he immediately started flirting with her.
“Ew,” I muttered, shaking my head and leaving before I witnessed him making his moves on her. I headed into the building, finding my friends leaning against the lockers chatting. “Hey, Kate, Sean, Sarah,” I chirped as I walked up to them.
“Hey, Amber, did you ride in with hot piece of ass one and two again today?” Kate asked, staring dreamily at my brother as he stopped to talk to a friend from the hockey team.
I laughed and shook my head. “Nope, just plain old Liam and Louis same as usual.”
Kate sighed. “How the hell can you be unaffected by how freaking hot they are? I mean, you’re so lucky to live with Liam! I would love to watch his hot ass walk around all day,” she purred, fanning her face dramatically.
I faked gagged. “Kate, that’s my brother and his idiot friend! How on earth can you get past their man-whore behaviour? Both of them are jerks.” I shrugged. I didn’t understand why, but every single girl in the school was in love with them both. Liam was a great person, but he treated girls like objects, and Louis, well Louis was just an all-round jerk.
Kate grinned wickedly. “They’re the two best players on the hockey team and look like sex gods, and I wish I could get past it,” she said suggestively, waggling her eyebrows with a grin. I chuckled at her crudity, and she looped her arm through mine, tugging me to my first class of the day.
School was good, as usual; I was quite popular due to the fact that my brother and his best friend were the most wanted boys there. They looked after me of sorts, which essentially meant that they warned all the guys to stay away from me, which actually suited me perfectly because I didn’t want to date. Also, most of the girls wanted to be my friends just so that they could get closer to my brother. The girlfriend wannabes were pretty easy to see through though, mostly you could tell if they wanted an introduction by what kind of clothes they were wearing - if they weren’t wearing much then they were after my brother or Louis.
I loved my classes. I was quite popular amongst the teachers too because my grades never went below a B. I always did my homework, and was never tardy; I prided myself on it, though I wasn’t a nerd.
At lunchtime I was sat with my friends when I heard the usual whispers and giggles start up. Girls started checking their hair and fixing their make-up, so I knew that my brother and his friends were arriving in the lunchroom. I sighed as Kate and Sarah stared off over my shoulder with the doe eyes again.
Suddenly Sarah straightened in her chair and her eyes widened with excitement. “Oh yay, hot piece of ass number one is coming over!” She giggled, elbowing Kate in the ribs.
I rolled my eyes as a hand shot out from behind me stealing a handful of my fries. “Hey, Angel,” Lou breathed down my neck as his other hand headed towards my plate again.
I slapped his hand before he could steal any more of my food. “Lou, for goodness sake, go buy your own food, you tight ass,” I ranted, scowling at him.
He laughed. “Oh you know you want to share with me,” he replied, plopping down next to me on the bench and shoving me over with his hip.
I sighed and moved my plate further away from him so he couldn’t take my entire lunch. “What do you want?” I asked, defeated.
His arm slipped around my shoulders. “Aww, I just wanted to visit with my girl. I know you’ve been missing me not seeing me all morning and all,” he replied cockily.
My friends were no help at all as they stared at him with smiles and fluttery eyelashes. I groaned and shrugged his arm off of me. “Will you get your man-whore arm off me, for goodness sake; I don’t want to catch anything!” I scolded.
He chuckled again. “Don’t be like that, Angel,” he cooed. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I’ll be driving you home today. Your brother has a date, so…” he trailed off, smirking at me.
Great, just great! He’s driving me home. Fantastic. He always made the drive home as long as possible just to annoy the life out of me. Then, he insisted on waiting at my house until my brother came home, which meant that I had to cook for him too.
“That’s great, Lou. Run along now, I’m sure you have some more STDs to spread around,” I grunted, waving my hand in a buzz off gesture.
He laughed and kissed me on the cheek as he stood up. “Pretend all you want, Angel, we both know you’ll be wanting me to sleep with you tonight.” He winked at me slyly, giving what he said a double meaning, and I prayed no one else picked up on it.
“Of course I will, because I’m so in love with you.” I sighed, rolling my eyes and rubbing my cheek where he kissed me.
“I love you, too.” He smirked at me as he walked off to the same girl from this morning. He slipped his arm around her shoulder, and his dirty, slutty lips lowered onto hers. I frowned and looked away back to my friends when he started making out with her in the middle of the lunchroom.
Kate and Sarah and half the girls in the room were staring after him lustfully. “Jeez, that guy is so freaking annoying! Why couldn’t my brother choose a nice best friend, someone who isn’t an arrogant, self-obsessed, asshole?” I ranted, throwing my hands up in exasperation.
Sarah propped her head up and sighed. “Stop whining! Louis Tomlinson just had his arm around you and kissed you on the cheek, I would give anything for those sweet lips to be on me,” she said wistfully.
I chuckled and shook my head at how he had everyone under his spell. “Whatever. Come on, let’s get to our next class,” I suggested as we picked up our trays and headed out.
After school I reluctantly made my way to the parking lot, where a smirking Louis was leaning against his car waiting for me. “Hey, beautiful,” he greeted, winking and opening the passenger door for me.
“Hi.” I climbed into his car, already annoyed with his flirtatious attitude. If Liam was here he would have slapped him for that remark.
He climbed in next to me. “So, I just need to stop by the store on the way back.” He put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Great,” I mumbled. I decided to look out of my window and ignore him; I was still annoyed with him for the whole ‘ten more minutes’ thing this morning.
He pulled into the parking lot of the store a few minutes later. “Come on, Angel,” he instructed, swinging his long legs out of the car. I folded my arms over my chest and shook my head. He didn’t say anything, just slammed his door and walked slowly around to my side, opening the door for me. “Come on, Angel,” he repeated, holding his hand out for me.
I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t take two of us to go in. I’ll wait here,” I countered. He reached into the car and picked me up easily, slinging me over his shoulder, laughing. He kicked the door shut and started walking towards the store. “Put me the hell down, asshole!” I shouted, slapping on his back.
He laughed at my meagre attempts to get down, and continued walking. Once we were in the store he finally set me on my feet. I looked around, embarrassed, checking to see if anyone saw that, but it appeared that they didn’t. He reached out his hand and tucked some of my loose hair behind my ear, his finger lingering on my cheek.
I slapped his hand away from my face and looked at him angrily. “That was so embarrassing!” I hissed.
“What’s the problem? Most girls would love for me to do that to them,” he replied, shrugging and walking off towards the magazines.
I stomped my foot, then instantly blushed because I had just stomped like a child; thankfully Louis wasn’t watching otherwise I would never hear the end of it. He grabbed a sports magazine and a bar of chocolate and stalked off towards the counter to pay.
I was happily flicking through Teen Vogue when two boys walked over to me. I stiffened. “Well hello there,” one of them purred. I nodded in acknowledgement and put the magazine back, walking off quickly to find Lou.
“Hey, where you going?” the other guy asked, grabbing my hand before I could make my escape.
My heart started to race as I looked around, frantically. “I’m looking for my boyfriend,” I lied, trying to sound confident.
“Boyfriend? I don’t see a boyfriend,” the other guy replied, raising one eyebrow. “How about we go somewhere and get to know each other better?” the boy who was holding my hand offered, pulling me towards him slightly.
I felt sick. Oh God, Louis, help me, please! Deep down I knew I was pathetic but I just hated confrontation, and I hated people touching me, especially people I didn’t know.
“Hey, Angel,” Louis said, stepping to my side, narrowing his eyes at the two guys that stood there. The one that was holding my wrist, immediately dropped it and stepped back. I moved closer to Louis's side and pressed into him so hard that it actually hurt. “I hope you guys weren’t hitting on my girl,” he said casually, but I could hear the anger in the tone. Louis has always been protective of me; one time a boy pushed me over into a puddle when I was seven, and Louis went straight round to the boy’s house and punched him in the face.
“No way, man. We were just talking, that’s all,” the guy replied, holding up his hands innocently.
Liam nodded, looping his arm around my waist. “That’s good. Come on then, Angel, let’s get you home.” He guided me to the door, looking over his shoulder as his jaw tightened. Once we were outside, he turned to look at me. “You OK?” he asked, cupping my face in his hands.
I nodded and smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks,” I muttered. I was actually alright now that he was at my side; my heart had stopped trying to break out of my chest as soon as I heard his voice. He smiled and stepped to his car, opening my door and waiting until I was in before he closed it and strutted to the driver’s side. While I was fastening my seatbelt, he tossed something into my lap. I couldn’t help but smile when I looked down to see my favourite type of chocolate sitting on my thigh. “Thank you.” He was always doing sweet things like buying me candy, it was just a shame he was such a man-whore jerk; otherwise he would probably be a nice guy.
When I got to my house, I went straight to work making a lasagne for dinner. Louis hovered around the kitchen behind me, making me feel violated as he stared at my body. “For goodness sake, my eyes are up here!” I snapped angrily, pointing to my face.
He chuckled wickedly, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Whoa, you really are in a bad mood with me today, huh?” he teased.
“Yeah I am. I can’t believe you this morning. I hate rushing around; I’ve looked and felt like shit all day,” I replied acidly.
He shrugged, picking up a pinch of grated cheese that was left on the plate I was using. “I think you’ve looked hot all day,” he countered, popping it into his mouth.
“Ugh, can you just stop talking to me? I’m not in the mood.” I threw the food in the oven and started to chop up some salad.
“Fine, whatever.” He shrugged again and came to stand next to me, helping me chop up the salad stuff. He was standing so close to me that I could feel the heat radiating from his body to mine. It was strangely calming.
When I was done, I put the bowl of salad into the fridge. “I’m gonna go start my homework. That lasagne will be done in half an hour; I suppose you’re staying for dinner,” I stated. It wasn’t a question, I knew he would. I wasn’t not sure whether Liam asked him to stay with me when he was out, but Louis always did anyway.
“Sure, seeing as you asked me so nicely.” He smirked.
“I wasn’t asking,” I growled sarcastically as I turned to walk off.
Before I could get more than two steps away, his hand closed over my wrist and he pulled me to a stop. He stepped closer to me, blocking my path to the hallway. He was so close that my chest was touching his; I could feel his breath blowing across my face. “Angel, I’m sorry about this morning, really I am. Please stop being all bitchy to me, it doesn’t suit you,” he said quietly.
I took a deep breath because that was the nice nighttime voice he used, rather than the cocky one I was usually subjected to at this time of day. “OK, yeah, I’m sorry too. I guess I have been horrible to you today,” I admitted. I dropped my gaze to the floor, not wanting to meet his beautiful sky blue eyes.
He cocked his head to the side and let go of my wrist. “So, am I forgiven?”
An unwelcome smile crept on to my lips. I actually liked this Lou; he was the one that looked after me at night. He was different when we were on our own. He pouted playfully and I felt my will to hate him crumble.
“Yeah, you’re forgiven,” I agreed, rolling my eyes and stepping to the side to get some distance between us. “I’m going to do my homework before dinner.” For some reason it felt weird being close to him like that. Even a few seconds later, I could still feel the tingles of electricity flowing through my hand where he had held it; I could still smell his sweet breath that had blown across my face. I had no idea what had suddenly made me feel so awkward. Confused, I shook my head and walked away quickly, heading to my bedroom so I could make a start on my homework.
After we had eaten dinner in silence, I finished my homework. It was only eight thirty, so Louis decided to put on a movie. He put on The Final Destination and we sat on the couch watching it. The uncomfortable awkwardness was back, but I couldn’t work out why. I was just sitting next to him, the same as usual, but something felt off. Throughout the movie, I kept stealing little glances at him, trying to work out why there was a strange atmosphere around him tonight. He clearly didn’t feel it though. He just sat there, watching the TV screen with interest, one leg folded over the other, and his arm slung casually over the back of the sofa where I was sitting. Apparently it was just me that felt a little hot and nervous.
When the credits started to roll up, I stifled a yawn. “I think I’m gonna go to bed. I’m pretty tired,” I murmured, getting up and stretching like a cat. When I looked back to him, I noticed that he was watching me intently. His bottom lip was between his teeth and his eyes were narrowed as his gaze seemed to be firmly latched onto my chest.
I cleared my throat dramatically because he hadn’t moved.
He blinked a couple of times before his mouth popped open as if he was just coming out of a daze and had no idea where he was. “Oh right, yeah OK. I’ll just shoot home then and I’ll be back in like thirty minutes,” he finally agreed, standing up.
I nodded and followed him to the front door, closing it behind him and locking it. Once I was alone I headed to my room, changing into a tank top and shorts, before brushing my teeth and hair, and then slipping into my bed. Even though it was only a single bed, it felt too big for me, and I couldn’t get comfortable as I wriggled and tried to warm the cool sheets.
After about twenty minutes or so, the window to my room slid up and then down again. Clothes dropped to the floor carelessly and then the bed dipped behind me. The heat from Louis's body hit me in droves, and a contented smile slipped onto my lips.
“Hey, you asleep?” he whispered, scooting right up behind me.
“No, not yet,” I mumbled.
I lifted my head so he could put one of his arms under my neck. He pressed his chest right up against my back and wrapped his other arm around me, throwing his leg over mine. I wriggled backwards to get closer to him, feeling the skin of his bare stomach touch the small of my back where my top didn’t meet my shorts. I smiled happily and closed my eyes, finally ready for sleep. The bed never did feel right until Lou was in it with me.
I pulled his arms around me tighter and pressing my face into his arm. The smell of his skin was incredible, and my nightly ritual was to breathe him in until I fell into slumber.
He sighed deeply into the back of my hair. I frowned because he seemed a little tenser than usual. “Something wrong?” I inquired.
“No. I’m just tired, that’s all,” he mumbled against the back of my head.
“OK. Goodnight, Lou.” I turned my head to the side and kissed the skin at the inside of his elbow.
A soft kiss was planted on the back of my head making my scalp prickle with sensation. “Goodnight, Angel.”

Notes

Hope you liked this chapter from the awesome book by Kirsty Moseley!