Change My Mind

STEFANIE

“Erin, it’s Stef…I just realized how late it was and I haven’t heard from you…Just wanted to make sure that everything is okay,” I said and then ended the call on me cell phone, putting my phone on vibrate before setting down in case she called back. I didn’t want her disturbing Louis.
“They’re not back yet?” Louis asked, pulling my attention over to the bed.
“You’re awake,” I pointed out as I watched Louis press down on the mattress and lift himself up on the bed, propping himself up against the headboard, “How long was I asleep?” he asked.
“Almost three hours.”
Louis sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, “And I didn’t get sick. That’s a good sign. Maybe I can have that drink now?”
He started to swing his legs over the side of the bed.
“No. Don’t get up, I’ll get it,” I said, walking over the mini-fridge and pouring some Gatorade into the glass for him. I took a moment to open up the Tylenol and grab two of those as well. Returning to the bed, I handed them to Louis and watched as he placed the pills on his tongue and then took a cautious sip of the Gatorade, “Thank you,” he relied before setting the glass on the nightstand, “You don’t have to stay anymore if you don’t want to.”
“It’s fine,” I answered sincerely, “Erin’s not back yet, so I’d just be sitting in my room alone anyway.”
Nodding, he eased up onto his feet, standing only a few inches away from me. I held my hand out to steady him and Louis gazed down at me and smiled. Moving my hand from his bicep, I moistened my dry lips, “What are you doing? You should stay in bed.”
Louis lifted his mouth to a half grin, “I’m going to take a shower, It’ll be okay, mum.”
I felt myself blush at his comment.
How embarrassing!
“Back in bed,” I ordered when Louis emerged from the shower. He stared at me solemnly, like he wasn’t quite sure how to take me. He paused, scrubbing a towel over his head, “You’re a little bossy tonight.”
“You have no idea,” I laughed, “Now get in bed.”
Louis did as he was told, looking up and meeting my eyes once he was settled, “Thank you,” he said quietly, “For being here.”
I nodded my head in acknowledgement, feeling myself blush slightly.
“Can you please turn off the light?” Louis asked, sighing as he laid back on the bed.
“You’re going sleep?”
“Yeah, I’m knackered,” he admitted, holding my gaze for a long moment before dropping his head back down onto the pillow. I moved to walk out of the bedroom when his voice stopped me.
“Stay with me.”
“Okay,” I whispered and kicked off my shoes before attempting to curl up in the oversized arm chair that was near the foot of the bed.
“Not there,” Louis replied and I looked over at him hovering, not really sure what he wanted me to do.
“Lay with me…please.”
Even though I knew it was wrong, the sound of desperation in Louis voice was enough to make me realize that in that moment…I didn’t care. Without a word, I moved over to the side of the bed that he was not occupying and pulled back the sheets, climbing in beside him.
“Come here,” Louis breathed and I began to ease towards him. His body radiated heat in the bed. Without warning, he reached back and grabbed my hand, pulling my arm so that it was draping over him.
With a deep breath, I relaxed, inching closer and burrowing the tip of my nose against his back. His voice rumbled through his back towards me, “Your nose is cold.”
I grinned against his skin, “How about my feet?” I asked, purposefully wedging both of my feet between his calves. He hissed and then chuckled, “Holy crap! Get on some socks, woman!”
“You have a fever,” I replied in a sarcastic tone, “Maybe it will help.”
Louis rolled over onto his side, facing me. His blue eyes stared into mine and I began to feel my temperature start to rise as well. His hand found my arm and he began to leisurely stroke his fingers up and down it, making me giggle quietly. Even sick, Louis was seducing me.
After countless moments Louis eyes drifted shut. Without opening them, he murmured, “I love the sound of your laugh. It’s real and genuine.”
“Thank you, I like your laugh too,” I sighed, as I flattened my palm over his chest, enjoying his firm muscles, even with as warm as they were. Louis sighed, like my cool hand offered him some relief.
I held him through the night and he held me back, tucking my head beneath his chin. His arms surrounded me and kept me close to his overly warm body. Almost like I was some kind of lifeline. I felt the moment his fever broke. It was around one in the morning. Confident that he was on the mend, I finally relaxed enough to fall asleep.

HARRY

After standing in the bus stop for another ten minutes rubbing Erin’s arms in a failing attempt to keep her warm and waiting for either a cab or the rain to let up I finally gave up.
“Come here,” I sighed, holding open my coat so that she could climb inside of it with me. As she tightened her arms around my waist I felt a shiver go through my body but I could guarantee that my shiver was completely different from the ones she’d been having. Holding her this close to me was the sweetest torture I’d even endured. I loved being able to feel her soft body against mine and take in the sweet smell of her hair every time I drew a breath but not being able to do anything more than that was killing me.
“Look!” Erin said excited, pulling away from me, when I turned to face the direction she’d been pointing a bright yellow cab pulled along the sidewalk.
“You guys need a ride?” the driver asked rolling down the window, “This weather is miserable.”
“Yes!” Erin said excitedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the cab. I opened the door for her and let her jump in before me. As I pulled the door shut, I couldn’t help but notice she was still clutching my hand. Her hand was so tiny and it fit perfectly with mine. She glanced down at our interlocked fingers and then her eyes met mine. There was something so alluring in the way she was looking at me. I don’t even know how to describe there was just something in her eyes, something that hadn’t been there before. This was it, this was my chance. I leaned towards her, not enough to a force a kiss on her but enough that if she wanted to kiss me all she had to do was lean in. After a moment of watching her eyes dart back and forth between my eyes and my mouth I started to think that I’d gotten it all wrong. That surely I must’ve imagined what I had thought I’d saw in her eyes. But just as I was about to pull back, she moved towards me ever so slightly.
“So, where am I taking you to?” the driver asked, ruining the moment. Erin pulled away from me instantly, sitting back in her seat as she gave the driver the address to the hotel. Disappointment flooded through me and then I realized something that kept my head above water. She was still holding my hand.
We reached the hotel in a few short minutes and as I leaned forward to pay the cab driver, Erin hopped out of the cab, running until she reached the awning in the front. Once I’d finally caught up to her I could see that even though she’d run all the way there, she was soaked.
“Now you really must be cold,” I chuckled, reaching up and tucking a stray piece of her beautiful hair behind her ear. She tilted her head ever so slightly, and I found myself cupping the side of her face.
“I was a second ago,” she whispered, so softly that I almost didn’t catch what she was saying. As she looked up in my eyes I felt the familiar shiver from earlier return. What was this girl doing to me?
“I had a great time tonight,” she said with a warm smile, “Seeing this side of you, well let’s just say it was eye opening.”
“What do you mean, love?”
She bit on her bottom lip, clearly thinking about how she wanted to answer me. “You were real with me tonight. I felt like for the first time that I really got to see the real you. Not the cheeky, trying to get into my pants, flirty guy that I’ve known you to be since the first day I met you.”
Even though she was complimenting me, the words weren’t exactly what I wanted to hear. She was giving me credit for not flirting with her and all I wanted to do in that moment was kiss her. It was one of those situations where her mouth was saying one thing but her body language was saying something entirely different. It was driving me crazy. The way she was leaning towards me and tilting her head was something I’d come to know as a signal from a girl who wanted to be kissed. But I was terrified that I was reading her wrong and that if I kissed her that it would ruin the magical night we’d shared so far.
Damnit, this was so confusing!
Just as I was about to drive myself mad with wondering what I should do, she reached forward and ever so gently placed her hand on my chest. Looking up at me through her ridiculously long lashes and I knew in that moment there was no going back I couldn’t have stopped what happened next if I wanted to. Not that I did.
I moved my thumb on the hand that was still cupping her cheek and gently ran the tip of it over her bottom lip, before lowering my head and gently pressing my lips to hers. It was a chaste kiss, but the feeling that exploded throughout my body was something that I’d never felt before. I forced myself to pull away, not wanting to push anything too far with her and as I studied her face I knew that I must’ve hit my mark. She was smiling up at me and the faint blush on her cheeks was completely captivating.
“You ready to call it a night?” I asked, holding my hand out to her as I pulled open the door for her with my other hand. The sadness in her eyes, like she wasn’t ready for this night to end either made my heart swell. She sighed and then took my hand following me inside. We must have looked like fools to anyone around us because as we walked neither one of us could seem to take our eyes off the other.
“Erin!” a vaguely familiar voice called out and as I turned to see who was calling her I was shocked to see Corrine standing in the middle of the lobby with two guys I didn’t know by her side.
What the heck was she doing here?

ERIN

Holy crap.
Holy crap!
I knew my jaw must’ve been on the floor as I stared at not only Corrine, but her two travel companions.
Chris and Luke.
This had to be some kind of sick joke. Why would Corrine bring them here? And why did Harry have to be here and see them?
“I’ve missed you!” Corrine yelled, running up to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, while harshly whispering in her ear, “What the hell is going on?”
I knew that Corrine and Chris were friends they had been for years which explained why they were here together but it certainly did not explain why Luke was with them. Last time I had checked Corrine despised Luke.
“I was talking with Niall the other night and he told me he missed me and said I should come out here and when I told Chris about it, he wanted to come and then he told Luke, which I had no control over. And since Luke is apparently recently divorced he decided to come here to see Stef. I tried to stop him, trust me but anyway, here we are! Isn’t it great!” she said excitedly and I continued to stare at her blankly. I mean how could she possibly think this was a good idea?
“Yeah, this is soooo not great,” I whispered back, “And your sister is going to fucking kill you.”
“Hello beautiful,” Chris whispered and before I could stop him, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek, I felt myself blush, not because I felt anything when he kissed me but because I was completely mortified that he kissed me in front of Harry.
“Excuse me, mate, can I help you with something?” Harry asked, not exactly shoving Chris, but pushing his way in between us. I watched as Chris looked Harry up and down appraising him.
“Sure, you can take my bags over there, up to this beautiful lady’s suite,” he began, reaching in his back pocket as he turned to face me, “What room are we staying in gorgeous?”
I couldn’t even bring myself to speak as I watched Chris pull a twenty out of his wallet and attempt to hand it to Harry.
“No,” I said quietly and after realizing no one had heard me I spoke up a little louder, “No.”
Both Harry and Chris turned and looked at me with complete confusion.
“Just no,” I repeated and the expression of both of their faces lead me to believe that I was most certainly not getting my point across, “Chris, this is Harry as in Harry Styles, member on One Direction not a freaking bellhop. How do you not know that? Actually I’m pretty sure you do know that which means you’re purposefully just being a jerk right now! And on top of that why are you even here?”
Chris looked completely taken aback by my words, “What do you mean why am I here? Obviously I’m here for you, babe. I missed you.”
Immediately my eyes darted to Harry who was now staring down at the ground, shaking his head.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but it clearly doesn’t involve me,” Harry said, turning to walk away.
“Harry,” I yelled, running after him, “Wait!”
He spun around to face me and the hurt in his eyes was evident, “I don’t even know where to begin right now. But I’m going up to my room and you can handle whatever this is. I just don’t even know what to say right now.”
I tried to say something reassuring to him but I soon realized that nothing I could say in that moment would make any of this okay. I was well aware of what this looked like and I knew I couldn’t fix any of this with Harry without dealing with Chris first. He needed to leave and I was going to make sure that that happened.
As I turned back to face everyone else, I noticed Liam walking through the lobby from the corner of my eye, “Liam!” I yelled, probably a little louder than necessary and immediately he came jogging over to where I was standing
“Is everything okay?” he asked his face a mask of concern.
“No,” I commented shortly, “No, no, no, nothing is okay right now.”
“Hey, is that Corrine?” he asked, peering over my shoulder, “And who’s the guys with her?”
“Yes that’s Corrine and the guys she’s with are the problem,” I said in a mediocre attempt at explaining the situation, “The tall guy with the brown hair and southern accent is Luke and the other guy is my ex Chris?”
“Wait, Luke….as in like Luke Luke? Like Stef’s Luke?” Liam asked shocked and Corrine, Luke and Chris chose that exact moment to walk over to us. Liam’s reaction was not to say hello but to start laughing hysterically.
“Does Stef know?” he asked, between ragged breaths and I shook my head ‘no’, “I’m going to call her now.”
“Good luck with that,” Liam replied sarcastically and then took a seat in the sitting area of the lobby.
“What are you doing?” I asked and Liam just laughed, “Oh, I need front row seats for this.”
I rolled my eyes at him and walked away from all of them to call Stefanie.

LOUIS

“What time is it?” Stefanie asked groggily as I grabbed the tray from the bellboy, before tipping him and closing the door.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I said quietly and Stefanie shook her head, “You didn’t I think my phone was vibrating. So technically whoever just tried to call me woke me up, not you.”
Her voice was still thick with sleep, which admittedly was adorable. She smiled up at me and then repeated, “What time is it? And whatcha got there?”
I looked down at the silver platter that the bellhop had just delivered before replying, “It’s 4:30 in the morning and this,” I paused, holding the platter out in front of her, “Is a thank you.”
Stefanie’s eyebrow arched, “What kind of a thank you?”
“Well,” I began, smiling down at her, “It was supposed to be a surprise for when you woke up, but I guess I’ll just give it to you now.”
“It’s cheesecake,” I replied, smiling sheepishly, “I remember you telling me that it was your favorite.”
Stefanie sat up on the bed and lifted the lid, “Oh my God. This looks so good!”
Lifting the fork from the side of the plate, she cut into it and moaned as she took a bite and I found myself sitting down next to her before I embarrassed myself.
“That good?” I asked, biting down on my bottom lip, trying to fight back what her little moan had ignited in me.
“Mmmhmm…want some?”
I glanced back and forth between Stefanie and the cheesecake and then shook my head, “No, I’m good.”
She angled her head at me, “Seriously? This thing is huge. Share it with me.”
She took another forkful from the plate and held the fork out to me. I didn’t know whether she had wanted me to take the fork from her or just take the bite, but I decided to go with the later. Her eyes widened as I cleaned the fork from cheesecake.
“That was a big bite.”
I chewed, leaning forward and wiping a small piece of cheesecake from her lip, “You asked me to take a bite. I’m a guy. I can’t help it if I take big bites. The rest is yours.”
“Hmm,” Stefanie gave me a look of mock reprimand and took another bite—dainty compared to mine.
“I meant what I said.”
I watched her swallow before asking, “What?”
“Thank you,” I repeated, “For staying here and taking care of me.”
“Oh,” Stefanie said, shrugging as she took another bite, “Anyone would have—“
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Don’t make light of what you did. The truth is I can’t think of any other person who would have stayed with me like that, other than my mum,” I met her eyes, wanting her to feel how sincere my words were and said, “You’re amazing, Stefanie.”
“Come lay with me,” she said, placing the platter down on the bedside table and rolling onto her side, leaving her back towards me. I didn’t hesitate to curl up behind her, tangling my leg with hers. Holding her felt so right, she fit perfectly against me. Like her perfect little body was made just for me. All of the chaos of my life faded away as I held her, she made me forget about everyone and everything else and at some point I must have drifted back to sleep with her in my arms because the next thing I remembered was waking up and the beautiful girl who had starred in my dream was looking up at me smiling.
“Good morning,” she whispered and I felt the corner of my mouth lift as I grinned. I couldn’t stop staring at her, she was incredible and right now in this moment she was all mine.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked and as the words left her mouth a blush formed on her cheeks.
“It’s incredible,” I replied, my voice coming out ragged and soft.
“What is?”
“You are even more beautiful when you first wake up,” I replied honestly. She leaned towards me, ever so slightly with her eyes focused on my lips and that was all that I had been waiting for. My hands were on her face, my palms cupping her cheeks and my fingers burrowing into her hair. I forced her face up and I met her eyes right before I pressed my lips to hers. My tongue stroked her bottom lip and a breath shuddered from her lips. As she rose up onto her knees and straddled me our kiss began to deepen. My hands fell on her hips, gripping them gently as I continued to taste her. She tasted like cheesecake, she was delicious. I broke the kiss just long enough to pull my shirt over my head and then my hands flew to the hem of her shirt. She lifted her arms, helping me to remove her shirt completely and I watched in amazement as she reached behind her back and undid the clasp of her bra and then slid the straps down her arms, revealing every beautiful inch of her chest. I sat up beneath her and pulled the hair tie from her hair, allowing it to fall in rich waves over her shoulders. She was breathtaking.
Holding her head, I ran my fingers through her hair, pulling her lips back to mine and as she moaned against my mouth I slide my tongue inside, tasting her once again. My hands wandered down the length of her spine resting them on her delectable ass and pushing her against me, against the rock hard length she was single handedly responsible for.
And the piercing sound of my cell phone ringing broke through the moment, it wasn’t just the fact that the phone was ringing, it was the ringtone that was playing.
It was Eleanor’s and I recognized it immediately and from the way Stefanie jumped off of me, I knew she did too.
“You should answer that,” Stefanie whispered and as I looked over at her, I saw the tear run down her cheek.
“It’s a text message,” I said, not entirely sure why that mattered, “I can ignore it.”
Stefanie grabbed her phone and headed for the bathroom, “Yeah, you could. But we both know you shouldn’t,” and with that she shut the door in my face.

ERIN

I paced the length of the lobby, staring at the screen of my phone, attempting to will it with my mind to ring. Stefanie needed to return my text, she needed to get down here and deal with this with me.
“So, I flew across the globe to see you and you haven’t so much as said two words to me since I got here. Can we talk about that?” Chris said, walking directly in my path so I couldn’t avoid him. I opened my mouth several times, but just couldn’t seem to find the words.
“The last time I saw you,” he paused, raising his eyebrow, “You know before you disappeared without so much as a phone call. You told me that you wanted more. So I knew that coming out here and showing you that I cared would be exactly what you wanted. Honestly, I’m not sure why we are still standing here in the lobby and not up in your room.”
For the second time this night, I felt my jaw hit the ground. How could I have ever been attracted to this guy? He was a complete tool. I continued to stare at him, trying to figure out what the hell had been going through my mind when I slept with him. I mean, I don’t know if it was the lighting in the hotel or what but standing in front of me was most definitely not an attractive man. Personality wise and otherwise.
“Let me just start by saying that you definitely wasted your time and your money coming here,” I began, placing my hand on my hip as I looked him up and down, “You should have called me or something, Chris. I mean what were you thinking?”
The look on his face, told me that my reaction was definitely not the one he’d been expecting.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, y’all but I was just wondering if you’d gotten Stefanie on the phone,” Luke said in his thick Southern accent and I couldn’t have been more grateful for the distraction.
“I texted her but got no answer,” I answered honestly and then I couldn’t help but ask, “Did Stefanie know that you were coming out here, Luke?”
He looked down at his feet and began shuffling back and forth, “I left her a message when we landed but I didn’t actually get to talk to her. I figured I would surprise her. When I talked to her a few weeks back she said that she was lonely out here, but I rekon that was before you came out with her.”
“Wait, you talked to Stef? Since when do you and Stef talk?” I blurted out unable to help myself. As far as I knew Stefanie hadn’t talked to Luke since she had broken things off with him, years ago.
That girl had some serious explaining to do.
“You know what, you two stay right here and I’m going to go try Stefanie again. Um….by the way where did Corrine go?”
“In a word, Niall,” Liam called from his seat in the lobby, making it clear he had no shame in eavesdropping on our conversation.

STEFANIE

I couldn’t believe that I had been so stupid. What was I thinking? I had no doubt in my mind that if Eleanor hadn’t texted Louis that we would be naked right now. This was bad. So undeniably bad.
My phone vibrated in my hand, distracting me from my thoughts. Looking down at the screen, I saw that I now had two missed text messages from Erin. Using my finger to unlock the screen I read the new messages:
OMG! You need to get down to the lobby now! 2328! 2328! –Erin
What the hell?
I’m not playing with you, I don’t know what you’re doing and why you’re not answering me but I’m starting to get worried and on top of that I am literally standing in the middle of humongous shit storm right now. GET DOWN HERE! -Erin
I didn’t hesitate to run out of the bathroom momentarily forgetting that Louis was still waiting for me on the other side of it.
“Stefanie, listen—“ Louis began the second I walked out and I cut him off mid-sentence when I saw what he was doing, “Why are you putting your shoes on?”
He smiled at me uncomfortably, “Eleanor’s text. Well, she um…”
“Just spit it out, Louis!”
“She told me to come down to the lobby and I didn’t know how to explain why I couldn’t. I know how fucked up I am for leaving you h—“
“Oh my god!” I yelled as pieces of the puzzle started to come together in my mind.
“I’m sorry, Stefanie. I just—“
“Shut up!” I said in a panic, “Just shut up for a second. What exactly did she say in the text?”
Louis looked at me bewildered, “Are you serious?”
“Please Louis, this isn’t some stupid me being jealous thing I just need to know what exactly was said.”
Louis pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen a couple times before reading aloud to me, “I’m down stairs in the lobby. Come down here ASAP. I’ll be waiting.”
“Holy shit! Louis, this is bad!”
He continued to look at me completely confused and I figured I should explain my erratic behavior. “Erin just texted me that some shit was going down in the lobby and that I needed to come down there.”
Louis stared at me blankly.
“How are you not getting this? She texts me that all hell is breaking loose at the same time that Eleanor texts you demanding you to come down to the lobby. She knows, Louis! She fucking knows!”
Louis eyes widened as he took in my words, “No, no. That can’t be it. It’s just some weird coincidence, Stef. It can’t be that.”
I couldn’t tell whether he was trying to convince me or convince himself.
“You go down first. I’ll wait like five minutes and then come down. Just to be safe,” I added the last part to make him feel better but I knew in my gut that we were busted. This was about to blow up in both of our faces.

LOUIS

As I rode down in the elevator I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I tried to downplay my fear in front of Stefanie but I had a horrible feeling that she was right. When I first read Eleanor’s text, I didn’t really think too much about the tone of it I was too worried about trying to figure out how I was going to tell Stefanie that I had to leave her to go to Eleanor but when Stefanie had me read it aloud to her I identified the underlying tension in her words. She usually would at least send me a little emoji at the end of her text and almost always she would write ‘love you’ but she didn’t do any of that.
The elevator doors opened and my heart began to race even more as I looked around the lobby. Strangely I didn’t see Eleanor anywhere. What I did see was Liam, Erin and two other guys sitting in the lounge, strain clear on all of their faces. Well, except for Liam, he looked slightly amused.
“Louis!” Erin yelled, waving me over to them. As soon as I reached them she asked, “Please tell me you know where Stefanie is?”
I tried to restrain the guilt I was feeling from showing on my face, “No, I have no idea. Why would I know?” I laughed uncomfortably and Erin looked at me like I was crazy.
“Oooooookay,” she sighed and then turned to the other guys, “Louis, this is Chris and Luke,” she explained and I stuck out my hand to shake theirs, “Nice to meet you guys.”
I glanced over at Liam, who was staring at me expectantly.
I was so confused.
“Did you hear her?” he asked when I stayed silent.
“Um, yeah.”
“This is Chris,” he paused, raising his eyebrows, “And Luke. Erin and Stefanie’s, well…friends from back home.”
No fucking way. This wasn’t just any random guy, this was Stefanie’s guy, ex-guy. The nervous energy I had riding down the elevator instantly transformed into something different. If I had to give it a label I would say it was a mix between jealousy and rage but regardless of what it was I had the sudden urge to hit this guy.
“I’ve heard all about you from, Stefanie,” I seethed, meeting Luke’s eyes dead on. He smiled, the asshole was smiling at me.
“It’s good to know I’ve been talked about,” he said and even his accent annoyed me.
“It was nothing good, trust me,” I nearly growled and just as Luke stood up to get in my face, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, baby,” Eleanor cooed, leaning forward and kissing my cheek, “I’ve been waiting down here, for-ever.”
The sound of her voice was like ice water being thrown in my face. I’d almost attacked this guy over Stefanie with my girlfriend standing in the same room. The only thing that could make this worse would if Stefanie had seen it and as I turned to kiss Eleanor back I realized that she’d been standing there the whole time, but she wasn’t looking at me, she was looking at Luke and that scared me more than anything.


STEFANIE

I couldn’t believe my eyes.
It had been years since I had seen him, but Luke looked just like a remembered. His hair was a little shorter and he had a light beard framing his face now but there was no denying it was Luke.
He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me from the ground. His touch still felt so familiar to me after all these years.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I said with a warm smile and as I looked up at his big brown eyes and perfect smile for the first time since I’d met him I didn’t feet butterflies in my stomach.
“My god darlin’, you are a sight for sore eyes,” he said and just hearing his familiar southern twang made me smile even bigger. As he set me back down on my feet I finally looked around the room at all of the other familiar faces. Erin’s was the first one that I focused on. I’d never told her that Luke and I had started talking again a year ago and I knew she wasn’t going to be very happy with me, but the reason he and I started talking had nothing to do with him and I, it had to do with the fact that he was trying to break into the music business and I was the person who could help him do it. I know that most people would think I was a fool for helping him after everything he’d put me through but I was just as much to blame for our past as he was. I helped ruin his marriage and I felt like this was a way to redeem myself at least a little bit.
I halfheartedly smiled at Erin, begging her to forgive me with my eyes. I hoped she would give me a chance to explain myself later on. Someone moved beside her and as my eyes drifted in the direction I found myself looking at Chris.
“Oh hell no!” I seethed under my breath, heading towards him in a fit of rage, “You better have some great fucking explanation as to what the fuck you are doing here,” I threatened. Chris started backing away from me with his hands in the air.
“Erin, check you girl,” he called out, cowering away from where I was approaching him from but there was no stopping me. Louis had fueled the fire and seeing Chris just set it ablaze. Just as I was about to get my hands on Chris I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me.
“Okay, this is not Million Dollar Baby and you are not fighting for the title in the middle of a hotel lobby,” Liam said in my ear as he pulled me away from Chris.
“If I were you, I’d get the hell out of here,” Liam warned Chris from over my shoulder, “She may be tiny but…well have you ever heard the expression it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog? Yeah, I have a feeling that applies with this one.”
Chris glanced at Erin, before grabbing his bag, “I don’t need this shit. I’m out of here. Sorry bro,” he said looking from Erin to Luke before heading out the front door of the hotel. The second he was out of sight, my eyes met Erin and simultaneously the two of us broke into laughter, which Liam joined in on instantaneously.
“Did you see the look on his face?” Erin asked, struggling to breath in her fit of laughter which of course only made Liam and I laugh even harder.
“Louis, can we please go get something to eat? I’m like starving over here,” Eleanor called out and the sound of her voice suddenly cut my laughter short. On instinct my eyes darted in her and Louis direction and the second I looked at them I wished that I hadn’t. Just seeing him with his arm draped over her shoulders was enough to make me want to cry. It was like our time in his hotel room had never happened and I was just some dirty little secret that he didn’t want anyone to know about.
“I have to use the ladies room,” I said, quietly and headed towards the restrooms, “I’ll be right back,” I added looking at Erin and Luke to make it clear who I was speaking to before turning and walking away. Erin caught up with me a moment later, “I need to go fix this with Harry. I don’t want him thinking that there’s anything going on with Chris and I,” she said with a forlorn expression on her face. I couldn’t help but smile, if she wanted Harry to know there was no relationship with Chris It was because she wanted a relationship with Harry but I knew better than to say it aloud to her because she would just deny it. I swear I knew Erin better than I knew myself sometimes.
“Go, get your man,” I said quickly, purposefully turning and walking away before she could respond.
“He’s not my man!” she yelled down the corridor and as I walked in the bathroom I whispered under my breath, “Oh, but he will be.”

Notes

Only one more chapter left. What will happen with all your favorite characters? Let us know what you think, and look out for the sequel!