Ronan: To the Moon and Back

Three days later, Louis inconspicuously enters a small coffee shop which sits between a thrift store and a vacant store that once used to be an old book shop. He was given the location to the place from Harry, who of course found it by shopping at the thrift store. He swore they sold Yorkshire tea and prepares it in a way no one else does, so here Louis is, after borrowing Harry's car in the process. The door to the shop is almost invisible from the opposite side of the street, with only a small lit up sign advertising it's coffee.

Paranoia becomes part of Louis' persona when his job is singing to sold out arenas, and he looks over his shoulder for any possible fans, before entering the shop. His nose is immediately hit with the strong aroma of roasting coffee beans, underlined with a hint baked pastries, and though he doesn't prefer coffee much, it smells delicious. Louis steps in line, adjusting the beanie atop his head out of nervous habit, and from the corner of his eye, notices a brunette sitting on one of the provided armchairs. Maybe its something like fate, running into her again, or just the pang of guilt because he still has a withering brown camera bag he kind of, somewhat stole, sitting safely on the kitchen counter in his flat.

Louis stares for a few moments, having to make sure it's really her, otherwise he'd make a fool of himself for calling out the wrong person. It's a logical reason and better than just blatantly staring at her, because he thinks her eyes are the colour of mosaic sea glass. He deems himself correct, because yes, it is that Raelyn girl from the hospital. Louis takes the sight of her in; her legs are crossed on the chair, clothed in black leggings, with a long billowy white t-shirt over her torso. Her blue TOMS are pushed under the table in front of her, her feet bare beneath her knees. Her hair is pulled messily up and out of her face, where she rests her chin in the palm of her hand. She's staring off into the distance, looking but not seeing and ignoring the laptop on the table in front of her. It's then Louis decides he wants to know the reason for her stoic expression.

Louis feels a tap on his shoulder. "Line's moved up." The person behind him states, rather impatiently.

Louis apologises, moving up and ordering a cup of tea. When he's received his order, he turns and makes his way over to the sitting area. He stands in front of Raelyn, who has yet to acknowledge any form of life in the shop.

"Looks like your trying to figure out the complicated answer to the rubix cube." Louis speaks up. His voice seems to startle Raelyn out of her thoughts, staring up at him with those eyes like she just remembered other people exist.

"Easy." Rae states after she recovered. "Just take the stickers off and put the correct colors together, and viola."

Louis chuckles and plops his bum down on the chair to the left of hers. He watches her tap the mouse pad of her laptop, bringing it out of sleep mode; which tells Louis she was out of it for a while.

"That's cheating, innit?" Louis asks, popping the top off the steaming cup of tea. He tears open one sugar packet he grabbed on the way over, but pauses when Rae makes a small noise.

"Why are you putting sugar in your tea?" She asks.

Surprised, Louis looks up at her. He raises his eyebrows at her, as if she just asked him if the sky was blue. "Because I don't want to put salt in?" Louis answers confusingly, tilting his head.

Rae bites back a smile. "I meant," she begins after releasing her lip, "if its a good enough cup, why the sugar?" She leans forward, inhaling deeply. "Yorkshire, yeah?"

Louis nods, still confused. Abruptly, Rae sits back, blinking twice. She picks up her drink, hiding her mouth and dropping her gaze.

"Sorry." She mumbles before taking a sip and scrunching her face.

Maybe Louis should be a bit weirded out by that, she did just sniff his tea, but he can't look past the cute wrinkling of her nose and the offended look she's giving her cup. He assumes her drink had turned cold from sitting idly for so long; it's rather amusing.

"S'fine." Louis smiles, "strange, but fine. I prefer it to be a little sweeter, sometimes. Today is that day, and some people under brew it."

"You haven't even tried it yet. To each their own then." Rae mutters, then sends a teasing smile his way.

Before he can return it, her eyes drop to the screen of her laptop, coffee cup still in her hand hovering in the air. He figures it's a good time as any to ask, and uses her funny little act against her.

"Well," He clears his throat, "since you so kindly sniffed my tea, and I won't report you to the officials for that heinous criminal act-" Rae throws him a look, rolling her eyes. "I'll forgive your actions if you answer me one question."

Rae pursues her lips, considering him. "Okay."

All joking aside, Louis voices his concerns. "Are you alright? You looked a bit out of it for a while. How's Ronan? Or were you just drifting off into daydreams?"

"That's three question, sir." Rae smiles, finally placing her cup back down. "I'm good though, yeah. Ronan is better. I've been there the past two days."

"More photos?"

"No." She answers with a shake of her head, and grabs the attention of one of the workers passing by. After asking for a new cup of hazelnut coffee, she turns back to Louis. "I was looking for something I thought I forgotten there."

Louis frowns, feeling guilty again. He notices the way her fingers dance over her exposed collar bones, and how her eyes dart to the screen of her laptop. "Lost something?"

"My camera bag." She says, voice a little tight. "I didn't notice it was gone until I got home that day. Honestly thought I had it with me, but I guess not. Those pictures needed to be in by midnight tonight."

Major guilt. Louis did technically steal it. Why didn't he just leave it at the front desk like any good natured, human being would. "Need help finding it?"

"I put an ad up." Rae turns her laptop to face him, showing the designed ad with a picture of the bag and camera. "Printed it and hung it in the hospital and the streets around here too." She points to the large bulletin board by the door.

"It means a lot to you." Louis states. He's going to hell.

"It's just- well, I mean it's an old bag. It's ripping and falling apart, and the camera's not too much to brag about, but yeah. My cousin gave it me." Rae's hand is now at her chest, rubbing slow circles through her shirt. "I just. I need it back. Would like it back."

Louis nods. "Raelyn-" He starts to confess, but is cut off by her phone ringing.

She checks the ID, then gives him an apologetic smile, and answers the call. Louis doesn't know what got into him. He took Rae's bag, bringing it home rather than turning it in. Then he proceeds to lie to her, well, withhold the truth, pretending he knows nothing about it. Then he offers to help when he damn well knows exactly where it is. What the hell is wrong with him? This is not a good way to start off a new friendship. If they're even friends, at that. Louis hardly knows her. They're still in small talk stage, but after Friday, spending that time together and laughing while she snapped pictures, he was hoping it would turn into a friendship.

"Sorry, Louis." Rae's voice pulls him out of his thoughts. "I've got to run. Me mum's car died. Something about the battery?" She begins to pack away her computer, placing it carefully in its bag. "I can make the 1:30 bus if I leave now."

"You took a bus here?" Louis inquires, already making up his mind and silently repaying her for stealing her camera bag.

"Yeah. M'house's isn't too near here. That and my car's got no gas. I've got to go though. It was lovely running into you again."

"Rae, you think I'm going to let you take the bus by yourself to aid your mother who's probably sitting on the side of the road?" Louis stands and leads the way out of the shop.

"What's that suppose to- Louis!" Rae runs out after him, both leaving hot drinks on the table. "God, Louis. Warn me when you offer a ride and leave me behind."

Louis laughs, amused by how quick she picked up on it. He walks through the car park, Rae following, and stops at the second row. After unlocking the car, he opens the door for Rae. Before he can hop in the drivers side, Rae abruptly remembers her coffee and makes Louis go back in to get it, mumbling about giving her a ride and fetching her coffee.

"You offered!" She yells after him, a laugh evident in her voice.

When Louis returns, with both his cup and Raelyn's in his hand, he tries to ignore the smile she's hiding behind her cup.
***


"So where's your mum?" Louis questions after he pulls out to the main road.

"A12. She said about five miles north." Rae tells him, glancing at her phone. "She was on her way to Cambridge."

"Cambridge? That's an hour out. What's she going there for?"

"She's a secretary for a small insurance law firm, and they have a meeting there. She wishes it paid more to be calling her out of town, but she says its decent. She works surveillance at night as her second job, at a convenient store."

Louis glances over at Rae once he comes to a red stoplight, and is instantly amused. She seems to have found the sleeve of CDs above the visor, pulling out the discs halfway before moving on to the next. She's already found the stacks of CD cases that are in the door pocket, now sitting in her lap. Louis chuckle and she freezes.

"Sorry. Got nosy." Rae smiles sheepishly.

"By all means." Louis holds his hands up, allowing her to continue. "This is Harry's car. Figured a Range Rover was less conspicuous than a Porsche."

"Harry's car?" Rae meets Louis' eyes. "Figures. I wouldn't peg you as someone who listens to Between the Trees, Skinny Lister, A Fine Frenzy, Young Empires, or Strays Don't Sleep." She lists, filing through the CDs on her laps.

"And why not?" Louis asks, jokingly offended, eyes back on the road as the light turns green.

"An assumption. Skinny Lister is a bit folky. I quite like A Fine Frenzy and Strays. Fleetwood Mac, goodness this boy's got a massive collection. Lovely taste though."

Louis laughs again, allowing her assumption to slide and opting not to tell her she'd be corrected anyway, well almost. "He likes music."

"I'd hope. Be a shame if he didn't, singing in a band and all. Oh, Sandi Thom is great."

It's her responses that makes a spark of interest arise in Louis. He wants to get to know her more, wants to find out why she's suddenly more open to him now then when he first met her. Wants to know the reason why she falls into silence and stares off into the distance. Why her fingers tap her collarbones and why she presses her hand into her chest. Which he has caught her doing on several occasions at the hospital. He wants to know why her mother feels the need to work two jobs. Wants to find out what other music she likes, because she seems to love Harry's taste. Wants to know the meaning behind the little tattoos etched onto her skin; the words on her right wrist, and if the camera tattooed on her outer left wrist was painful. He would like to be her friend, hasn't had time to met anyone new lately. He figures offering her a ride to aid her mother is a good start; if you over look the camera bag thing. Louis stops at another light and finds Rae bent over, rummaging beneath the seat.

"Ok, gross." She straightens up and shows Louis a half rotten banana peel. "Isn't he suppose to be the clean one?" Rae smiles, mirth flashing quickly in her eyes.

Louis narrows his eyes playfully. "You have to a bit of a fan if you know that fact about him." The smile on Rae's lips widens and damn, this girl is seeming more like him with every second. Spots the spark of mischief she's been hiding.

"Never said I wasn't." She shrugs. "I just prefer to fan girl in silence and make famous pop stars drive me to my mum's broken down car all just to steal a rotten banana peel. Sell it on eBay."

"I knew it." Louis jokes. "Please just don't hide in any rubbish bins."

"I wo- oh! What's this!?" Rae is over again pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Is this a cupcake recipe? For red velvet? It looks different though. Oh, that's probably why mine never turns out how I want. I don't mix those together. And this looks like a better buttercream-"

While Rae is basically talking to herself, Louis just observes her. She seems like a different person now that she's away from the gloom of Hummingbird Hospice. In a strange, almost fond way, she kind of reminds him of Zayn. How he puts up the front of being reserved and quite, maybe even a little off putting, but does an 180 when he's pulled away from cameras. Different atmospheres, different personas.

Louis continues to drive and Rae continues to dig through Harry's stuff, only looking at things out in the open. Never once does she open the glove box or middle console. She ends up putting the Between the Trees CD, with permission, into the player, promising that Louis will like them. It's that, that makes her remind him of Harry; always playing him new artists that he's never listened to, and maybe he should stop comparing this girl her hardly knows to his best mates. It should be getting a little weird by now, but instead it warms him, because if she has any qualities as the four of them, they'd be friends in no time.

However, after arriving to her mother, and properly meeting her and helping jump start her car, he realizes something. Rae kisses her mother goodbye, tells her to call her when she gets to back safely and gets back into Harry's car. It's when Louis drives away, with Rae in the passenger seat once again, that it hits him. Like a sudden word vomit, not even meaning to say then out loud.

"I have a girlfriend." Is the brilliant sentence he blurts out. A bit surprised at himself for forgetting, and at Raelyn who not once reminded him of her.

"Umm...congratulations?" Rae says completely baffled.

Louis backtracks and feels his cheeks heat up. He didn't realize he said it aloud. "I mean, I just forgot."

"You forgot you have a girlfriend?" Rae now sounds skeptical; like she's looking at him like he's absolutely mental.

Louis keeps his eyes on the road and grips the wheel, not daring to look at her. He's starting to feel like an idiot in several way at the moment. Why was that even necessary to voice?

"Y'alright, Louis?" Concern is laced within her voice.

"Fine. Fine." He clears his throat. "Just thinking is all."

There's a short pause, then- "Please tell me she isn't one of those girlfriends who forbids their boyfriends to have any female friends. Because honestly, that's a bit unhealthy." Rae says softly, almost sadly; reserved again.

"No, no. Just thinking. Where do you live?"

Rae is silent for several moments. Worryingly, Louis glances over, which pans to be a mistake. She's still looking at him, trying to decipher his previous answers. She seemed to come to a conclusion, and shakes her head.

"Just to the hospital please." She tells him quietly instead, playing with an old beanie she found, one Harry had thought he lost.

*

Louis drops her off at Hummingbird Hospice with his phone ringing annoyingly loud. It's Liam reminding him he has to be back for the TV interview they have later that evening.

"Thank you so much, Louis." Rae smiles at him after hopping out, leaving the beanie in the seat. "Tell Harry I enjoy his CD collection."

Louis returns the smile. "Will do. Tell your brother I said hi. We'll probably be back next Friday."

"Really? They'll love that." Rae waves goodbye, turning to disappear through the doors of the building.

Louis bangs his head on the steering wheel several times, thinking, Stupid, stupid stupid, idiot mental shit brain, stupid. He stops, deeming a head injury wouldn't sit well with their team before an interview, nor would a big bruise on his forehead. He pulls out of the drive, leaving before he could possibly block any arriving ambulances.

***

Notes