www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrOQC-z...

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"Violet, don't you look ravishing this evening." Frank smiled devilishly pulling Violet into a tight hug, allowing her to smell the strong mixed scent of cinnamon and alcohol that littered the blue and white flannel he was wearing. As he continued to embrace her, it took quite a bit of control to not gag at the strong smell as the cinnamon was killing her and even more restraint to not stab him as his hands traveled dangerously close to her ass, a place that if touched she'd be happy to make this man sterile at 29.

"Why thank you, Franklin, but my date looks even more stunning. Wouldn't you agree?" She retorted, pointing towards Zayn, who was standing close with his arms crossed tightly across his broad and tattooed chest. His eyebrows were raised and he honestly wasn't particularly happy that Frank always hit on her, he found it undermining and rude, she wasn't an object nor would she ever be. He could see how close his hands were to her bum and the anger was boiling over in his head, but subsided when she grabbed them forcefully and put them at his sides. That-a-girl.

"You two still together then, eh?"

"Have been for quite some time, Frank." Zayn answered for her, giving it away that he was getting quite ticked at Frank for being so perverted to his girl.

"If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me. Well.." He paused after pulling away from her ear, knowing he had probably gone too close given the look on Zayn's face. He acted as if he had paused for a cough before continuing on. "Louis is here too, he wanted me to send you his direction when you arrived."

"I'll find him."

She waved a goodbye to Frank, walking back to Zayn and happily re-twining their fingers together, a little irritated that Frank still was trying to bone her. She had been with RCA for some time now and she hoped that he'd eventually give up, but he seemed to lack the part of his brain that differentiated right from wrong.

"He's such a pig." Zayn muttered, squeezing Violet's hand tightly as they continued to walk through the large masses of people crowding the room.

"It's okay darling, really, but I must find Louis. He's here." She said, hoping he wouldn't be too upset about her leaving him so early, but Louis never tended to stay around till the end of parties anymore and she knew that if she intended on talking to him, she needed to do so no.

"If you must, Aaron seems to be waving me over anyways, be careful." Aaron was Violet's brother, who just so happened to live in the apartment that she often left, to stay with Zayn, so much so that she couldn't even really call the apartment hers anymore. He and Zayn had hit off quite well when she introduced him to Zayn and the One Direction boys two years ago when he was beginning his career as a professional photographer for different prestigious magazines, he honestly preferred his sister with Louis, but he would never admit that to either Zayn nor Violet he loved them both too much to come between their happiness.

"I will." She kissed his cheek lovingly before leaving him by the stairs after she waved to Aaron as well. She then started to head towards the bar where she figured Louis would more than likely be and as she turned the corner she saw that her intuition was indeed, correct.

There he was.

He was sitting on one of the tall chairs with a clear glass in his hands which more than likely contained the ingredients of a roman coke floating around the cubed ice. It was hard to know what drink it was from where Violet was standing, but she made the effort to guess anyways, she never had the opportunity to learn his favorite alcoholic beverage, he just seemed like a rum kind of guy. But, she did know that his favorite drink in general was Yorkshire Tea for Louis was the stereotypical Englishman and never started his day without a cup of tea. Herself as well, but she wasn't English. She could honestly count on her fingers the things she didn't know about Louis and it was less than one handful and when she thought about it, she came to the conclusion about four.

His knees were bent, resting on the stepping bars of the stool (typically used to assist short people like herself to the seat) and one of his elbows was against the bar, supporting his head. She smiled as she noticed that, as always, he had vans on his feet, extremely tight black trousers hugging the lower half of his body, a thin white t-shirt and a cardigan hanging on his thin frame to shield him from the cold that was to come later in the evening.

He grew out his facial hair, she thought, he looks more handsome than I remember. Damn

"Hey, there stranger." She said, touching his shoulder gently as to get his attention with one of her small hands as she approached him accordingly. She approached him from behind so there was no way he could've seen her, she wanted to surprise him.

He didn't respond to her, well not with words anyways. He set his glass down recklessly, almost spilling it as he jumped from the stool to the marble floor where he pulled her into his arms, not even hesitating to leave a kiss in her hair in lovingly manner.

"I've missed you too Lou." Violet laughed, hugging him back as he began to sway side to side with her in his arms.

"To say I've just missed you would be an understatement." He chuckled, referring to the year we hadn't see one another, due to One Direction's touring and their hiatus had officially started in March which put some limits on what dates he was here in America.

"It's always refreshing to see your face dear, I think someone hit puberty finally while they were away." She joked, running her knuckles down his cheek to the facial hair on his jawline where they lingered for quite a bit of time allowing Louis to rub his face upon it as a cat would. He is very lovely looking tonight, dear God, this is temptation. Stoppit. She was mentally scolding herself.

"It does make me look older, doesn't it?"

"They grow up so fast." She laughed at her own joke, before remembering that she had heard through the grape vine that Louis now had a child, but she wasn't entirely sure. A lot had changed in a year, she supposed and she wasn't much for stalking others' social media and listening to gossip.

"You're two years younger than me, love."

"Physically."

"You are awfully cocky today, aren't ya?."

"Pretty much a whole year without my best friend can do that to a woman, Lou." She playfully punched his arm, but he pulled her back into his arms before she could sneak another blow in, trapping her.

"So are you and Za-?"

"Zayn still together?"

Awkward, good job Lou.

"Umm...I suppose that might have been what I was trying to say."

"Yeah, he's just with Aaron right now."

"Oh."

She could hear the disappointment in his voice as he processed what she had told him, feeling bad for ever hurting him in the first place. He deserved better, realistically.

"I don't want to talk about Zayn right now Louis, it's just you and I, no 1D pun intended." She whispered, receiving a small chuckle from him as she took his hand and led him towards the back of the bar where there were enclosed cubicles with a lounge usually reserved for private parties, where they could talk without being interrupted and she wouldn't have to struggle to hear him once the party got too loud. She wasn't worried about getting caught or getting into any trouble, after all, it was an RCA party and her and Zayn both were signed to the label.

"You're right, my apologies, love."

"No apologies either. Now sit." She hissed, pulling the curtain of one of the cubicles back, allowing Louis to step inside before she did so herself. He did as she said and sat in the middle of the black leather sectional couch that filled the back portion of the cubicle and as usual, he left space for her to sit beside him.

"Literally adorable, you are. Oh, and feisty." Louis smiled, patting Violet's head gently as she sat next to him, before speaking once more. "So the boys and I are hosting a small get together Friday afternoon at my house, care to join us?"

"I'd enjoy catching up. I'll bring Candace too, she's dying to see Harry." She replied, referring to her best girl friend and fellow artist, Candace McCullin who had the hots for Harry, yes Styles, for as long as they had known each other. It was cute, but very agonizing to watch.

"Brilliant! Oi, it's great to back in America." He yelled, showing off his most prominent trait, being loud. He always had been so hyperactive and exciting, at least as long as Violet had known him, which had been since they were both in primary school. Violet's mom, although from America, had spent quite a bit of time in Doncaster before she married - then divorced Violet's father. There, she ran into Johannah Poulston, Louis's mum, they quickly became good friends and even stayed in touch when she moved to Sheffield when she married. Her mom now resided in Doncaster, not to far from Louis's own mom. It was no secret to the public that Louis and Violet had such history together, but the giant mess of their relationship growing past friendship was what always drove the fans insane even post breakup, even more so now that she was with Zayn an ex 1D member and Louis's old male best friend. They simply weren't interested in how long they'd been best friends, but whether they were fucking or not.

She laughed at his sudden burst of excitement, his hand landing on top of hers as he jumped up and down giddily on the couch, they were awfully close, but neither of them minded nor thought anything of it. After all, not only had they seen one another naked, but also slept together multiple times when they were still together. No matter how hard they tried to put distance between themselves, they were just too comfortable with one another to realize that sometimes they were indeed, too close.

Louis soon found himself intertwining their fingers which he was glad Violet didn't object too, even though he knew he was deep in the friend zone at this point in time with her, it didn't stop how deeply in love he still truly was with her and he was beginning to think that sometimes she felt the same way, but he also knew she had fallen quite steep for Zayn. He knew that, in reality, he was better for her, but some parts of him couldn't bear to let her go.

He still had difficulties refraining from kissing her, burying his nose into her hair that always smelled like strawberries, touching the exposed skin of her neck that he remembered vividly as feeling like silk and even just resisting the urge to trace his fingers over all her exposed ink that her body was now littered in. And sometimes, he hated himself for how much he loved her, for not only was it a waste of his time, but he knew that at some points it kept her from being happy and that was all he wanted for her, to be happy. He knew Zayn made her happy and hoped that he never hurt her, but even if he did, Louis would be there for her...to sweep her off her feet again like all those years ago.

It was no secret that he wrote 'Love You Goodbye' about her, at least to his fans anyways, he wasn't sure she had even listened to Made in the A.M. Given her relationship status with Zayn, she honestly probably hadn't, but he knew many had told her that the song was indeed about her.

"It's good to see you happy." She smiled, not bothering to tear their fingers apart and she was hoping that he couldn't sense that she did still have feelings for him. She kept thinking about Zayn, wondering if he was alright, she hated leaving him for such elongated periods of time, but she had to come see Louis.

"You too Vi." He returned the smile, his teeth almost sparkling under the artificial lighting. Violet had to admit, his smile was absolutely gorgeous, of course it was, it was Louis Tomlinson.

"You know James right? Of course you know James Corden, I'm going completely mental. Well, I was on his show not too long ago and he said next time he wants you to come with me. He shot me a message yesterday asking if this Friday night was alright since I told him you'd be in town, you up for it?." She giggled as Louis intertwined their remaining hand's fingers, swinging them about as a child would.

"I s'pose, it's always good fun with James."


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After a couple of hours of talking, Louis finally departed from the party after saying his goodbyes to Violet, who was now wrapped around Zayn, walking to their vehicle.

"I kind of want to kick around a bit tomorrow, I haven't played in quite some time." Violet said, looking up at Zayn with her big brown eyes hoping to entice him into going with her.

"I have to help Aaron with a shoot he has with Gigi tomorrow." He replied, clenching his cheeks as he spoke, his cheekbones jutting out quite a bit before speaking again. "I already agreed to it, or trust me, I'd go with you."

"That's okay, I'll just ask Louis. He's always up for a game of football."

He patted her head lovingly, smiling at her to let her know he understood. She loved that about him, how often he really did understand all the things she went through. She never really did question her choice with Zayn, he was the most perfect man she had ever laid eyes on inside and out. She could say that despite the love she still had for Louis, that she knew Zayn was the one.

Wasn't he?

He had to be.

Notes

“I know you loved both he and I, the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for loving more than they ought, only for loving not enough.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless