Knowing that I had a single lecture in an entire day put my mind at ease yet also managed to completely freak me out because finals were around the corner. Thanks to my tendency of always getting things done early, no assignments or tasks were left undone on my table. My alarm clock wakes me up again at 08:30 but waking up early today isn't really necessary, however I have to go down to the studio today for the quick photo shoot the crew wants to get done and I have a lecture at three.
Voices and laughter coming from downstairs intrigue me as I walk downstairs after my shower. My hair was still slightly wet and a t-shirt with sweatpants are my clothing.

"Nana?" I call when I'm at the bottom step

"In here, Sam!" She calls back

Laughter ensues in the kitchen and my curiosity grows as I try to figure out who she could be talking to so early in the morning. I turn around the corner and walk into the kitchen but pause at the entryway when I see someone sitting with their back to me on a stool by the counter. Its definitely a male and he's wearing black trainers and matching gym pants and a jacket.

"Mornin' darling", Nana greets me from behind the counter with a wide smile but it falls when she looks at me, "Why is your hair still wet? Aren't you going to be late?"

Her reprimanding caused the man in the stool to turn and face me. My breath gets caught in my throat when I see his face. The untidy hair and ice-blue eyes belonged to none other than Louis. His face lit up with a huge grin when he saw me, his left eyelid dropping into a wink. I look from him to Nana and back while my mind tries to understand what is happening.

"I-I only have to go in at three. Am I missing something?" I say as I walk into the kitchen and to Nana's counter to see if she made breakfast.
A plate with a single waffle was infront of Louis accompanied by a glass of orange juice. There is still some in the blender so I fetch a glass and pour a little in with two ice cubes. Louis' disapproving look is prominent in his face but I ignore him.

"Louis popped by this morning to see if you would like a ride to school. You always walked to school so I thought if he took you it was fine" Nana explains ending with a slight shrug.

Nana continues to place refrigerated waffles into the toaster to make them warm as I make my way around the counter and hoist myself onto the stool next to Louis'.

"You shouldn't drink that with wet hair" Louis scolds softly

"Sorry" I had forgotten that my hair was wet and catching a cold was not on my to-do list. I place the tumbler onto the countertop with a soft clink.

"Here you go" Nana smiles as she hands me a plate with a warm waffle.

"You gonna eat that?" I ask Louis eyeing his waffle with a smirk. He bumps my arm with his and laughs.

"Sam, the studio called and said they needed you down by 09:15" Nana informs me. A glance at the clock tells me its 08:45 so I better get going.

"Ok. I'll take the waffle to-go" I say as I spin and jump down from the stool. My legs run two steps at a time up the staircase and into my room. Roughly drying my hair with a blowdryer and my fingers causes my indomitable hair to fall in wild curls down my shoulders, stopping in the middle of my chest. I gather a bunch and tie it up in a hairband. I swap my pants for jeans and bare feet for socks and sneakers. My bag is always ready for me to grab it and go, doing just that I make my way back downstairs to the passageway where Nana is handing Louis a brown bag with a big smile, always so hospitable. When she sees me she hands me a lunchbag, my amazing Smurfs lunchbag that managed to hold all my food and a separate water bottle. Normal girls would be embarrassed to have their granny's hand them a Smurf's lunchbag infront of a boy and even yell at them later but I loved my Nana and I knew whatever she did, she did it because she loved me. Besides, I love Brainy Smurf; as a teenager that was a nickname all through high school and I didn't mind in the least.
I kiss Nana on the cheek and take the bags from her while Louis holds the door open.

"What are you going to the studio for?" Louis asks me as we climb into his car.

"We're doing a photoshoot to support the new animal farm that Nana's club opened across town. The official opening is this weekend and you're welcome to come" I reply with a smile when he gets into the drivers' seat.

"I can't this weekend, sorry" he fidgets nervously with his car keys showing that he is obviously uncomfortable so I decide not to ask anymore questions.

The drive to the studio was short and quiet with the exception of the soft music emitted from the radio. When we pull up outside the studio the entire dance crew is standing outside leaning against the wall or texting on their phones. Why aren't they inside?

"Thanks for the um-ride. I will head straight to campus after I'm done here" I mutter

"Okay, you can come to the gym after your lecture and I will take you home"

"You don't have to" I press the button to release my seatbelt and open the door to jump out.

"Sam" I turn to look at Louis. His eyes are smouldering and my insides melt under his gaze. He reaches out and tilts my chin up with his finger. He leans in slowly and plants a gentle kiss on my lips. He breaks the kiss with a smile and I can't help but join him.

"Have fun" he says softly, almost seductively and I feel numb everywhere.

"Okay" is all I can get out while I grab my bag and jump down from the SUV.

"SAMMY!" A voice calls me and I turn around to find the source. I catch Danny from the crew waving me over.

I make my way over to him and hoist my bag over my head so it slings across my stomach. Danny's dark floppy hair covers most of his forehead and his white t-shirt hangs halfway to his knee against a pair of blue jeans.

"Hey, why are you guys waiting outside?" I ask him

"They told us we can't go in until everything was set up. Who was that?" He glances in the direction that Louis' car just drove away in.

I don't answer him and just stand next to him against the wall waiting to be called in. A loud girly voice calls my name and my rotates in the direction that the sound came from. Sandra is walking up to me. Sandra holds a similar position to mine in the crew, and she is the life of our crew.

"Hey, Sandy" I hug her when she reaches me

"Hey, who was that in the car?" Well, she doesn't beat around the bush.

"Nice to see you too"

"Oh shut up, who was that?"

A young man in a plaid shirt and jeans with a mike attached from his ear to his mouth comes out and waves to get our attention.

"Okay, you guys can come in now. Please be careful not to trip over any of the cords" he yells to us

We file in and when we enter the studio, it has been transformed into a room of white back-drops and bright lights.

"Guys, over here" a middle-aged woman waves us over.

We are divided into girls and boys and further divided into which shots we are going to be in. I honestly never thought that a photoshoot took so much work. Each one of us were assigned to a stylist who would be taking care of us and making sure our shots were perfect. My stylist, Tony, was slightly pissed at the state of my hair but easily remedied it by straightening and re-curling it. All kinds of make-up were applied to my face and my natural nails were painted white with buff before I had to change into the required clothing.
The first shoot was of the entire crew dressed in gowns and tuxedos. I thought that I would freeze up in front of the camera not knowing what to do but standing next to the other crew members made it a lot easier. There was a lot of laughing and nutty poses throughout the next shoots where we did single shots and a few crew shots with several different themes.
At the end of it all the time was 14:23 and I had hurried to get to campus in time. I was seated in class at 14:54 and had enough time to eat my lunch while we all waited for the professor to come in.

The lecture was over in no more than an hour and I was walking towards the X Gym after I hopped down the college steps. The gym was a block away and I had covered the distance in no time. Cool air whips around me, jostling my neatly curled hair. All I wanted was to get home and wash the hundred tons of treatment and yank out every painfully unecessary clipping from my hair. My sneakers sqeek against the polished tiled floor as I make my way up to the receptionist's desk with a steel front and the gym's logo engraved into it.
The woman behind it is in a fitted grey suit, attire I would think is completely unsuited for a gym.

"Excuse me?" I tap my knuckles on the surface of the desk to get her attention.

She peers up from her computer screen and pulls her spectacles down her nose to see me clearly.

"Hi. Can I help you?" She flashes me a full on grin that's all tooth.

"I'm um, looking for Louis"

She looks back down letting out a subtle sigh that I'm guessing I'm not supposed to hear and giving in to my better-side, I decide to ignore it.

"Come with me" she stands and starts walking to the far side of the room.

I follow suit and we end up at the far-side of the vast hall with glass doors from floor to ceiling looking out into a soccer field. Loud cheers and thunderous laughs could be heard very clearly from where I am standing.

"May I ask why you are here to see Louis?" I turn my attention back to the woman infront of me, her stature is short and skinny with neatly trimmed shoulder-length hair.

"Sorry?"

"Why do you want to see him?" She repeats

"You bring me all the way here and then ask me the question?"

"Just want you to be careful. You know, he doesn't have the best reputation around here"

"Around here?"

"Yeah, the gym, the area. He isn't just a pretty face"

She had no idea.

"Thanks for the advice" I give her a small smile

"He's out there, couching the team. His time was over an hour ago and I didn't know why he stayed, now I do" she runs her eyes down my body and I get the chills.

"Thanks again" I push the grand glass door open, I escape back into the cool British air.

Why would the receptionist have an opinion of Louis? Does she know? Is she and ex? The thought is disturbing and I push it away quickly.

There is a gravel path leading up to the field and it took me no less than 15 seconds to cover it. The field's left side only was being occupied by a soccer team doing some rather strange exercise routines. I don't know what to do so I walk to the edge of the path and lean against a solid wall waiting for Louis. A team of about a dozen boys form a semi-circle and Louis is in the middle giving instructions or pointing out people.
A strong breeze whips past me rustling through my hair making it pain just a little more than it should.

"Ow" I mumble.

When I look back up Louis is stll talking to his team but the strong gust of air just hit him and he pauses to look up. A wide grin sets in when he sees me and I give him a small wave.

"All right, that's it for today guys. Hit the showers" he shouted to the team as they rose simultaneously and turned around.

A few were laughing and high-fiving, others jumping onto the backs of other players - often to their dismay - and ruffling up their hair. One approached me while running his fingers through his sweaty hair. He is about my height with shiny blonde hair a pale complexion.

"Are you lost?" He looks at me while speaking loudly.

"Nope, I'm good" I give him a faint smile in an attempt to not appear rude.

"You sure -" he is cut off by a loud voice coming from across the field.

"Brad! That's thirty laps tomorrow!!" Its Louis' voice and I can't help but giggle.

"Aw, but couch, she was lost!!" He yells back

"Go!" I can see Louis walking up behind Brad and I take pity on the boy.

"I'll see if I can get him down to fifteen" I whisper as Brad walks around me giving me a broad smile for my comment.

Louis walks up to me with a white towel around his shoulders and a water bottle in his left hand.

"I'm not lowering to fifteen laps" he warns me when he's close enough.

"How did you-" I begin to voice but the realization sinks in quickly, "Oh"

He winks at me before heading back to the bench beside the soccer field to fetch his bag. Everything is dumped into his duffel bag and it is slung over his shoulder, his jacket is put on - to retain body heat, I guess.

"Don't you need to shower too?" I say coming off a bit rude

"I don't sweat" he says simply

"Lucky" I mutter while we walk back into the large gym building and pass the receptionist table. It takes everything in me not to glance at her.

"Your grandma wants to join this gym, you know" Louis says to me after he dumps his bag in the back and gets in.

"W-what?" The statement comes as a shock to me, why would she want to join the gym?

"She does, she told me this morning and I agreed to help her out"

"Ugh"

"What? You wanted to join first?"

"No I just don't like having her........." I struggle to find the right words and eventually relent.

"I see. If you want, I can convince her not to or something"

"No, no. Its fine, she'll be near me anyway so"

My fingers fumble with the seatbelt trying to put it into place but its as if it is fighting me. Why would she want to join a gym? I understand she wants something to do but after her operation last year, she'll be putting herself at risk and I can't afford to lose her. Last year Nana's heart failed, not completely as the doctors were able to save her but she was warned not to strain herself in any way.
A cool hand was placed on top of mine taking the mechanism from me and locking it into place. Louis took my hand and held it with both of his before bringing it up to his mouth and placing a gentle kiss on each hand.

"Don't worry about her" he whispers to me. His free hand reaches out and brushes a strand of hair away from my eyes, "I like your hair like this", he praises the soft curls that lay on my shoulder.

"Thanks. Its a real pain, though"

"How so?" He says when he gives me back my hands and starts the engine

"You really wanna know why my head is paining?" A mocking laugh nearly excapes my mouth

"If you tell me, I can make it go away" ten words held a promise that was much deeper, it offered a sense of security even though it was just words it came from someone who would keep his word.

"Its pins and treatment basically. At least twenty-six layers of it though"

"Ouch. Did you walk the runway or something?"

"The stylist couldn't keep her hands of my hair, it was kinda creepy"

"I can imagine"