It Never Ends

*ilianna’s POV*

The next day, the boys had to drive up to the school for some important meeting with the head soccer coach.

I was left alone at my house while Ariana had some family outing to go to and the rest of the girls had to work. Monse was the only straggler, so I figured I’d invite her over.

The boys took a while to come back which led Monse and I to watch a lot of movies and bond more than what we usually have.

“Let’s take some pictures together,” Monse insisted, holding her cell phone out in front of us, the screen showing our faces.

“Why?” I groaned with a slight laugh. “I look like hell. I haven’t even brushed my hair today.”

Monse rolled her eyes and positioned herself beside me, waiting for me to pose for the picture like she was. I agreed, hesitantly smiling for the picture and occasionally doing some funny faces as well.

We took an assortment of pictures until I just couldn’t contain it anymore – taking pictures was fun and I was so overwhelmed with the happiness and fun that I burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

My eyes were dripping tears from laughing so hard and my laughs were barely even audible; they were mostly just choking sounds as I tried to catch my breath.

It took a minute or two before Monse joined in on the laughter, her eyes just as watery as mine. We made eye contact and continued to laugh.

Something changed in Monse’s eyes for a brief moment. It looked like she was wincing at something and I wondered if I had smudged my makeup across my face during my laughing fit.

“What?” I asked once my laughing died down.

Monse’s eyes flicked from mine over to the wall and then back over to me, her eyes back to joyful and fun. “What?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.

“You looked at me like there’s something on my face,” I said with a slight chuckle. “Did I smudge my eyebrow or something?”

Monse chuckled a bit, but it seemed forced and fake. “No, no,” she said, her eyes moving away.

She stared down at the phone sitting in her lap, a somewhat blurry picture of us displayed on the screen. It was a picture she had taken during our laughing fit – my head was cocked to the side, my hair blurred from movement and my eyes closed as I laughed.

You could see the happiness and joy on my face, as if the tears didn’t give that way already.

Monse didn’t look the same though, she was smiling, but it didn’t seem as if she was really laughing.

She was staring at me with that look in her eyes.

Her eyes squinted in that wincing way, but the expression that was readable through her eyes didn’t look like disgust or shock like I had originally thought.

It looked like something else. Something that I recognized when Louis looked at me sometimes. Admiration. But why admiration?

“I like this picture,” Monse admitted quietly. “You look beautiful.”

I didn’t want to be rude, but for some reason, he compliment put me off.

“Happiness is beautiful,” I said.

I hoped that she couldn’t see that I was trying to put her compliment down and change the subject.

“On you, maybe,” she said with a scoff.

She cast her eyes away from the picture as if she was ashamed. Was she self-conscious of herself in the picture?

I looked down at the picture again. She didn’t look bad, though, so I didn’t understand.

“I don’t think anything could look beautiful on me,” she added.

I scooted over a bit on the couch, slightly away from Monse. Monserret was never lacking in confidence. She was one of the most beautiful girls on the soccer team.

And Niall never mentioned anything on the way she looked.

“That’s crazy talk,” I said. “Where is this coming from?”

She looked up at me so her eyes were locked on mine. I narrowed mine a bit and turned my head slightly, her gaze was making me feel uneasy. “You’re just so beautiful. I feel like I’m nothing…”

“Monse…you’re not-“

“I feel like nothing when I’m not around you. You make me feel beautiful, illianna. There’s just something about you that is infectious.” She admitted.

“Um, thank you?” I said, trying to add a slight chuckle to lighten the mood.

I breathed in and before I could let go, Monse quickly moved in.

I didn’t even know that she was kissing me at first because I was frozen. It wasn’t until she moved her lips a bit that I realized what was happening. I pushed her off of me, but she was hard to budge.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Louis shouted. He was standing in the doorway, staring at Monse with rage.

I was afraid that he may try to hit her.

Monse jumped off of the couch, holding her hands up in defense.

Her eyes were wide and I could see that she was distraught.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, panic in her voice.

“I…I should go,” she stuttered out after a moment of silence.

“Oh really, you fucking think so?” Louis spat, his words harsh and bold. “Get the fuck out!” he shouted after she remained still.

Her feet were skittish and she nearly fell four times as she grabbed her purse and walked past Louis by the front door.

“What the fuck,” I breathed out in a whisper. “Did that seriously just happen?”

“Yeah, it did,” he said through a rough breath.

“I think we should tell Niall…” I said, getting up from the floor.

Monse made it clear that she was attracted to me, and with the way that she was saying how I made her feel beautiful, it sounded like she was also trying to tell me that she had feelings for me.

Louis nodded in response to my statement. “I’ll drive.”

Notes