Codie’s POV
I walked through the front door of the house. My house. Well, after I went to my Baby Blue and hugged it for about a few hours. Even it had memories in it. When I realised that I stopped hugging my car and walked to the house, wondering if my house was still intact. It was on the outside, but the inside could be a different story. A very different story.
Anyway, I was walking through the front door of my house wasn’t I? Yes, I was. I looked at the couch, and found Jamie standing in front of it. She walked towards me, with open arms, ready to hug the shit out of me. I dropped my bag on the couch and hugged her, my tears flowing like Niagra Falls.
“Baby.” She had taken position of my mother, that had been empty for months, and was stroking my hair slowly, trying to calm me down.
“How… could… he… do… that?” I asked through my crying and shuddering breaths.
“I don't know babes, but he is such an idiot for doing it.” She told me.
“How… did… you… know?” I asked next.
“It’s all over the news.” She answered. I took my head away from her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
“What?” I wiped away my tears and tried to get my breathing under control.
“There was apparently paparazzi at the airport. They saw you without your ring, then they took photos of Eleanor leaving Louis’ house.” She explained.
“Great. What's the bet I’ll be forgotten soon, until I start racing again?” I said.
“You’re not going to be forgotten, I promise you that. Your album is coming out tomorrow, you have signings to get to.” she told me.
“After that.” I reminded her.
“After that you have your book.” She looked forward.
“That’s not gonna be for ages.” I told her. I wasn’t even halfway through it.
“Well, surely there's something you could do.” Jamie said to me.
“I’m gonna try and pick up dance again.” I told her my secret.
“Well, auditions for So You Think You Can Dance are soon.” She helped me along with it.
“That’s not enough time. I need to get super flexi again and get my control back and practice and I need a dance so I could actually audition.” I counted everything on my fingers, I was surprised when I only counted four things.
“Getting flexible isn’t gonna take long for you, since you always stretch every day. You just need to do more intense stretches. You can do the bloody side splits and hold your leg next to your head and jump around in a circle. That’s all you need to do for flexibility.” She explained.
“What about the rest?” I asked.
“Well, you have a lot of control, to get better at that you need to be able to defy gravity by floating for ten seconds in mid-air.” She said, saying I needed to do the impossible to get better.
“Yeah, how am I supposed to get a full two minutes of dance routine from? Huh?”
“Let’s get you back to your mentor.” Jamie said grabbing her keys and getting into her car. I jumped in with her.
“Does she still live at the same place anymore?” I asked.
“No, she’s moved to a house that has its own dance studio.”
***
“ALEX!!!” I screamed when I saw her familiar face and dark hair.
“CODIE!!!” she screamed back, coming to me and sweeping me into a bone-crunching hug, not unlike Louis’. UGH, stop thinking of him!
“Hey. Can’t breathe here.” I told her.
“Sorry, I just haven’t seen you in ages.” She told me. “Why are you here?”
“Um, I need help, dance wise.” I said. “I’m going to audition for SYTYCD.” I told her using the abbreviation for the show’s name.
“What? Of course I’ll bloody well help!” she shouted. “What do you need help for?”
“I need a routine.” I said, knowing I was already asking too much.
“Of course, what song?” she asked, getting excited.
“Uh…” I looked at Jamie.
“I don't know.” Jamie shrugged her shoulders with her line.
“You don't know what song to do, and yet you ask me choreograph?” Alex said in a near pissed off tone.
“Yeah.” I knew that was fairly stupid, wondering if she could choreograph to a none existent song.
“Well, I thought you knew better than that Codie.” She sighed at me. “What’s been going on in your life, we can pick a song that suits you using that.”
“Well…” I trailed off and looked at Jamie. I didn’t want to say it, if I did then maybe it would be real.
“Her and Louis.” Was all Jamie said for Alex to understand.
“Well, a break up song would probably suit, because your heart would be in it as well as your head.” She offered. I sighed a sad sigh.
“Okay.” I agreed half-heartedly.
“Alright, well you have a fair amount to choose from…” I zoned out as she listed the first few that came to her mind. I thought about songs I had always wanted to dance to, then I heard the song. The one I needed to do my audition with.
*flashback*
I twirled around in the backyard, my music playing as loud as it could from my portable speaker. I leaped, I kicked, I turned, I back flipped, front flipped, somersaulted. The words of the song moving me without any control. Then came the instrumental part.
The music moved my body, I closed my eyes, trusting myself. I opened my eyes when I heard someone clearing their throat. “Why are you being a creep and watching me?” I asked him as he stood there looking smug.
“Well, you are my girlfriend. I should be able to watch you be amazing at dancing.” He said, still standing still.
“Well, quit watching and join in.” I pulled his arm and dragged him to the grass. “Dance god dammit.” I told him.
“I can’t dance.” He explained.
“Fine, stand there and I’ll make you look good.” I walked up to him, turning and putting an arm around his neck. I moved my head closer to his, as he moved to me for the kiss, I dropped, doing a high side splits. My arm still around his neck I used his weight to pull me up. I twirled around him, before he grabbed me and started slow dancing to a fast song. “You know this doesn’t actually work, right?” he went to turn me out with his arm, but I used it instead to turn and lye on the ground.
The grass was soft under my head, and I pulled him down next to me. He landed with a thump, but turned to face me. I kissed him while we lye on the ground. Listening to the song playing, we kept together, breaking apart and reconnecting again.
“CODIE! CAN YOU HELP ME?!” I heard Zayn scream from the house. I sighed, my eyes still closed.
“Do you have to go?” he asked me.
“Yes.” I answered, opening my eyes into his ocean blue ones. “Yes I do Louis.” The last song we listened to was ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay.
*End of flashback*
“‘Fix You’.” I said.
“What?” the other two said at the same time.
“The song, ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay. It works doesn’t it?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah.” Jamie said.
“Actually…” Alex started. “It’s perfect.”
“Now what?” I asked.
“We choreograph!” Alex said like we were going on a first time ever exploration.
***
“Well, we got half your dance. We got the rest of the day, wadayawannado?” Jamie asked in one word. It was supposed to turn into ‘what do you want to do?’, but we’re Australian.
“I don't know. How do you normally get over being with someone for almost two years and finding them in bed with someone else, I mean their ex, and walking out of the house with them still asleep and flying out of the country before they probably wake up and not talking to them since then and knowing that they were the one and you feel like you’re only half of yourself because you left them and-” Jamie stopped me before I talked any more.
“Shut up Codie, you talk too much. Do you want to see a movie?” she asked.
“Sure.” I answered.
“Do you want to eat chocolate while watching the movie?” she asked next.
“Well, Louis was trying to stop me from eating a lot of chocolate…” I trailed off not realising what I said.
“Excuse me?”
“What?”
“Did I just hear that you won’t eat chocolate because your ex told you not to?”
“Well…”
“‘Eat chocolate as revenge’. A new quote by Jamie Grey.” She told me.
“What?”
“Well, if he told you not to eat chocolate, spoil his efforts by doing the complete opposite.” She explained.
“Okay. Let’s get some chocolate.”
***
Man I missed racing. Dance, chocolate and movies could never replace the feeling of adrenaline for an hour or more straight. I opened my eyes in bed, fighting off sleep. I needed to stay awake for today, I may not have wanted to, but I had too. Today was important. Today my album was released.
I was supposed to be going to a signing somewhere, but at the moment I wouldn’t care if I had Louis next to me. Well, I probably would care if I woke up with him in bed with me. I would care a lot. I would probably forgive him for what he did and pick up right where we left off last time we were together. I would completely forget about that morning.
I could almost hear him talking to me, feel him touching my face. Feel him kissing me, on the lips, cheek, nose and neck. I missed him, too much. Then I remembered how angry I was with him. How much I wanted to stab him, but I wanted him back. I jumped out of bed, remembering his jumper still being in my bag. I ripped the bag open and pulled the jumper out, holding it to my face, breathing in his scent. I whispered my line, not wanting Jamie to hear me.
“Louis.”
Louis’ POV
I walked through the store, seeing what albums were out. Seeing what our competition was. I saw the familiar blonde hair on a cover and instantly picked it up, ready to buy it. I walked around aimlessly for another five minutes before going to the check out and buying the CD, knowing I would be listening to it on the way back to my lonely house.
“This is a great CD, she is an amazing singer.” The checkout chick told me.
“I know, I was there when she recorded it.” I paid the money and walked out, going to my car. I put the CD in and started listening. The first track wasn’t a song. It was her thanks and dedications and stuff.
“So, hi I suppose. If you're listening to me ramble on then you probably bought my album huh?” she sighed. “You have no idea how much it means to me, you buying this. It makes me feel wanted, unlike many people who dislike me being with Louis.” She had obviously recorded this before our falling out and hadn’t changed it. “I want to thank you all for your support. It means the world really, and it’s not me saying it because everyone says it on their CD’s and stuff, I’m saying it because I mean it. Also, thank you to SyCo and Sony Music for giving me this chance to get myself out there with my singing. Thanks to One Direction for pestering me enough to do this, and to my friends Jamie, Amelie, Elysse and Clarisse, and my family as well, you know who you are!” I thought she finished, but she hadn’t.
“And Louis, thank you for everything and teaching me what love really is. You made me whole instead of the half I was. You stood by me with everything, even when my parents didn’t. We were together even though so many people thought we shouldn't have been. Hopefully you’ll be by my side until we’re old and frail, until we are both beyond the grave and forever more. I love you.” I listened to it on repeat, and when I got back to my house I grabbed the CD and took it inside, looking at the lyrics and pictures in the booklet.
The cover of the CD was with her facing away from the camera, in one of her short dresses with a skin tight bodice and flaring skirt that came to a few inches above her knees. Her hand was on a brick wall, Christmas lights along it, shining into her hair. I wanted to see her eyes and how they sparkled. The title was across the other side from her, vertically written. ‘Codie Badress: Invincible’. That was the name of one of her originals. She had about ten originals, but 7 covers. 17 tracks without her thing on the front.
The other pictures included her squatting down, like a catcher in softball. There was two of her sitting like that, with the camera on her side. One was her staring at the ground, looking like she was going to cry. The next she was staring at the camera, a beaming smile on. In those pictures she was wearing skinny jeans and a baggy tank top.
The next one was her facing a wall. The camera on her side again. Her forehead and her nose touched the wall. Her eyes were closed, her hands gently against the wall about her shoulder height. It was like how she stood against me, her forehead against mine, nose against mine, hands against my chest. I smiled, remembering every time we had stood like that. It must have been her idea.
Another photo was of her being like a little kid, looking through a telescope made of her hands. Difference between her and little kid’s, hers was in the shape of a heart, not a clunky circle. The camera was aimed straight through her ‘telescope’. Her other eye was closed, but the one the camera was aimed at is wide open. The blue of her eye may have looked photo shopped, but it wasn’t. They just had the perfect angle of light, I know because I’ve seen her eyes in real life that deep of a blue. Her smile was small, but cheeky, her hair all around the place, like it was caught in a massive gust of wind.
The last photo that caught my eye was one of just her face, hair down and waved, over her shoulders. She was smiling the second biggest smile I had ever seen from her, the first being when she found out Liam was scared of spoons, but I’m not sure if that counts because it ended with laughter.
I listened to the entire thing, closing my eyes and losing myself in her voice, thinking she was here, next to me.

Notes