Pride

The minute she walks into the dining hall, Melissa’s eyes go straight to where Louis is sitting at a table with his friends. He’s sitting in the back of the room, facing the rest of the tables and engrossed in a conversation with Zayn and Liam.

“What you stop for?” Niall asks from behind her. He tries to peek past her to find out what had made her freeze in her steps.

Melissa hasn’t told Niall about the accidental kiss she and Louis shared. She doesn’t want anyone to ever know about it. It’s embarrassing and so not how she wanted to have had her first kiss. She wants to erase the memory from her mind, pretend it never happened.

“Nothing,” Melissa murmurs. She takes a deep breath and forces her feet to move.

She can do this, she can ignore Louis. Just keep her head low, eat her breakfast and then avoid him all day. That won’t be so hard on such a huge ship. Unfortunately, it would also mean she’s going to need to avoid Suzanne, as there’s a bigger chance of Melissa having to face Louis if she’s around. However, it’s a scarify she’s willing to grant.

“Let’s sit here,” Melissa proposes. She grabs the chair closest to her and sits down. The table is far away from the F4, on the other side of the room.

Niall doesn’t protests, just sits down on the chair next to Melissa. He grabs the menu and starts reading.

Some of the people are staring at Melissa and Niall. None of them avert their eyes when Melissa looks straight at them. There’s no shame in their eyes as they judge her and her friend while she observes them.

Melissa can’t be like them when her eyes meet Louis’s by accident. There’s no stopping the shame from coloring her cheeks pink as he smirks at her.

How dare he look at her like that! The nerve of that boy.

Melissa’s face morphs into a scowl, eyes narrowed and her lips forming an angry pout. She would really like to punch that satisfied look off of his face. He probably wouldn’t look as happy if she embarrassed him the way he did by kissing her, in front of everybody.

But despite her hostility, Louis doesn’t drop the smirk. It even grows bigger as he leans to his right, towards where Zayn is sipping his tea.

There’s no doubt what Louis is going to tell Zayn. Melissa knows Louis well enough now to know he’ll do anything to make her miserable. He probably thinks telling his friends about the kiss will help him achieve that end.

Melissa has to stop him.

She drops the menu, jumps up from her chair and hastily makes her way to the F4 table, everyone’s eyes on her and Niall’s exclamation of surprise following her.

“Hello,” Louis greets Melissa when she’s made her way to his table. The corners of his mouth are turned upwards. “You have perfect timing, I was about to tell Zayn about you tricking me into kissing you yesterday.”

Collective gasps sound throughout the room. Great, now they think she’s desperate. They’re probably assuming she did it either for the money or for the fame.

The embarrassment she can feel heating her cheeks once again is ten times worse than what she’d felt when her and Louis’s eyes had met. She feels exposed now, naked, on a stage for all to see. But more importantly, Zayn is sitting right there, next to Louis and probably now thinking she’s interested in Louis.

“That’s not how it happened,” Melissa protests. She finds herself turning to Zayn, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Zayn has put his cup of tea down, his focus having transferred to Melissa. His face is perfectly blank as he looks at her.

“You have to believe me.”

One eyebrow makes its way in the direction of his quiff. “Why should I care about who you kiss?”

That’s right, he doesn’t. Melissa is nothing to him, just someone he spends time on the stairwell with. Didn’t she learn anything yesterday? His rejection had been clear.

A hand is laid on Melissa’s shoulder and Niall’s soft voice shimmers through the thick mist in Melissa’s head. “Let’s go.”

Melissa allows her friend to lead her away, back to their table. Her ears catch the sound of people whispering as they walk past, but she couldn’t say what they were telling each other.
Niall sets her down on her chair when they’ve finally made their way across the room before sitting down on his.

For a few minutes, Niall doesn’t say anything, just stares at Melissa as he looks at her with watchful eyes.

As soon as she can think clearly again, she grabs the menu. She knows what Niall is going to ask her. She can feel his eyes burn the side of her face as she scans the food options.
She tries to concentrate, to actually read them, but she fails miserably. All the French words seem to have no meaning as her eyes observe them.

“Did you really kiss him?”

Niall sounds fragile like he’s afraid of the answer. Why that should be, Melissa doesn’t have a clue. She’s not in a state to think right now.

“I would rather not talk about it,” Melissa mumbles, face still buried in the menu.

“Oh. Okay.”

Now that Niall has asked and has allowed her a way out, Melissa finds she’s able to breathe again. With all of the oxygen returning in her body, Melissa finds her heart rate has slowed down and her brain starts to recognize the words on the menu. Her hold on the paper loosens a little.

“So, what do you want to eat?” Melissa asks before turning her head to face Niall with a smile on her face.

—- “Hey, you.”

The hot sun is beating down on Niall’s pale neck as he stalks towards Louis, hands balled into fists and a scowl on his face.

Louis is sitting on a chair, feet perched on the railing. The only things he’s wearing are swimming trunks and a hat. He’s holding a fishing pole with two hands. There is a bucket next to the chair. Louis doesn’t turn around at Niall’s cry of outrage.

“Hey, Tomlinson. I’m talking to you.”

Niall has spent the last half hour looking for Louis all over the boat. He hadn’t dared to ask any of his fellow students if they’ve seen him because he knew he would only get a nasty reply.

And now he’s found Louis and he’s all on his own. There is no one to stop him from giving the wealthier guy a piece of his mind.

“Why are you bothering me?” Louis asks, irritated. He doesn’t spare the fuming guy a glance. His eyes remain on the blue expanse of the ocean. “Don’t you see I’m busy?”

“Why do you think you had the right to kiss Melissa? You don’t deserve her!”

“And I suppose you do?” Louis scoffs.

“Yes.”

Louis throws his head back and laughs, quite loudly. The whole ship can probably hear him.
The sound fuels Niall’s rage, throws wood on the fire he can feel burning inside of him. Nails bite into the palm of his hand as fury courses through his veins.

How dare Louis laugh at him!

When Louis is finally done with laughing, he turns to Niall and smirks at him
condescendingly. “So, you’re in love with her, then?”

This is going to be the first time Niall’s going to admit to someone else besides himself that his feelings for Melissa have gone past the realm of friendship. And it’s going to be to someone he hates, not a friend who could give him advice.

“Yeah.” Cheeks flaming red, Niall tilts his head defiantly.

“And you think you deserve her and I don’t?” Louis snickers as he raises an eyebrow. “You really think you’re better than me?”

“Yes. You’re a bully, you don’t deserve someone as amazing as Melissa.”

“Who says I want her?” Louis demands to know. His eyes wander to focus on the ocean. “What made you think I want a poor girl like her?”

“Uhm, I don’t know. The fact that you kissed her,” Niall spits at Louis, the words leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Melissa may not have admitted to doing so, but the fact that she didn’t want to talk about it was enough for Niall to know the truth.

“I didn’t kiss her, she kissed me,” Louis corrects Niall, pointing a finger in the air. “She threw herself at me. Not that I can blame her, of course. I mean, look at me. Every girl wants me.”

“Not Melissa,” Niall hisses.

How dare Louis insinuate Melissa started the kiss. She would never kiss someone as foul as Louis. She can see past a pretty wrapping, it’s one of the reasons why Niall has loved Melissa ever since they were kids. She was amazing, even when she was little and Niall has always known since kindergarten he would marry her one day.

“Don’t lie. You took advantage of her.”

“I did not,” Louis barks and turns his head towards Niall with an angry scowl on his face. “I don’t take advantages of girls. Only losers have to force a girl to like them.”

“Why did you kiss her, then?”

“For the last time, she kissed me. Now go away, don’t bother me.” Louis waves Niall of and returns to his fishing. He wants to catch a couple more before handing them over to the chefs on the ship.

Niall stalks off, anger still thrumming in his veins. People stare at him as he makes his way back to where he left Melissa on the launch chairs.

But Niall isn’t going to find his friend there because she’s started to roam the ship, in search of him. He’d slipped away when she’d fallen asleep while they were tanning.

Melissa is at the front of the boat at the moment and she’s hunched over, inspecting her big toe, where a splinter has embed itself into her skin because she can’t seem to catch a break. With her full concentration on finding the painful irritant, she doesn’t see she’s no longer alone.

“My dad still wants me to join his firm,” Suzanne’s voice suddenly sounds not too far away.
The splinter suddenly is forgotten. Melissa’s head shoots up, her eyes big with surprise as she sees the older woman leaning against the railing of the boat, Zayn standing next to her. Even though Suzanne’s face is turned towards Melissa, all she seems to see is Zayn.

Melissa can’t blame her.

Having a feeling she’s intruding on a personal moment, Melissa turns around and goes around the corner, back the way she came. But she doesn’t walk away, instead, she leans against the wall and closes her eyes.

With a rapidly beating heart, she strains her ears to hear Zayn and Suzanne talk.

“So, Zayn. Are there any girls you like?” Suzanne asks, her voice teasing.

Melissa’s heart aches for Zayn’s benefit.

“That Melissa bird seems nice. Do you like her?”

Melissa freezes, her breath lodging itself in her throat. With bated breath, she waits for Zayn’s reply.

“She’s funny. Not a kind of girl I see myself fall in love with.” Zayn’s voice is irritated. Then, suddenly, there’s anger too. “Why are you asking me this? You know I’ve always been in love with you, right?”

So, it is true. Zayn is in love with Suzanne. The three monsters weren’t lying for once.
Melissa’s heart breaks, shatters into a million pieces and Zayn doesn’t know, doesn’t even care. He loves Suzanne and not Melissa.

Her legs tremble as she pushes herself away from the wall and walks away, taking one painful breath after another as tears stream down her face. She can barely see in front of her, but she keeps going.

Suzanne is going to say she loves Zayn too, because how could she not and they’re going to start dating and probably get married. And Melissa is going to have to see their happy faces plastered on the cover of magazines and she’s going to see Zayn every day, knowing she can’t have him. Melissa thought the past few weeks were hell, but it’s going to seem like a walk in the park in comparison with what it’s going to be from now on.

Because Melissa can barely see, she collides with someone, their chest firm as she stumbles into their arms.

“Can you please stop assaulting me?” Louis’s irritated voice asks.

Melissa doesn’t have the energy to fight him right now. With trembling lips and cheeks wet with tears, she takes a step back and moves to walks past the rich snob.

But then firm hands grab Melissa’s arms.

“Why are you crying?” The irritation has gone from Louis’s voice, instead, there is worry.
Melissa tilts her head in Louis’s direction and watches him with a confused look on her face. She wipes her eyes so she can Louis properly.

His eyebrows are pressed together in worry and his lips are for once not pulled into a smirk or a scowl.

He looks fit, and for a second Melissa forgets who he is.

“Why are you crying?” Louis asks. He lifts a hand and strokes one of Melissa’s cheeks with the pad of his finger. It leaves a trail of fire in its wake. “Did someone hurt you? I’ll kick their arse.”

“Nobody hurt me,” Melissa lies. She isn’t going to tell Louis she’s crying because his friend doesn’t love her back. “Is just that I had a splinter in my toe. I managed to get it out, but it still hurts.”

Louis’s eyes search her face for a few seconds before he nods his head. “You know what you need? You need a cup of tea. Apparently, it helps when you feel sad. Zayn swears by it.”

Zayn’s name is like a knife to her already bruised heart. It makes fresh tears well up in her eyes.

“Come on.”

Louis grabs Melissa by her wrist and starts dragging her towards the door that leads to the interior of the ship. Melissa can feel the eyes of everybody they pass on her.

Liam and Harry are sitting at a table in the dining area of the ship when Louis and Melissa arrive. They’re playing cards, screaming loudly at each other when they think the other is cheating. The table is littered with beer bottles.

The two friends don’t notice Louis and Melissa until Louis sits the girl down on a chair. They pause their game and look at Louis with identical looks of surprise on their faces.

“Can you keep an eye on Melissa while I get us something to drink?” Louis asks his friends.
Melissa can feel the two boy’s eyes on her for a moment before they return to Louis. They must have nodded their head because a moment later, Melissa hears Louis’s retreating steps.

There is silence at the table as Louis walks towards the bar and tells the bartender his order. The boys don’t continue their card game, they’re probably instead staring at Melissa, trying to figure out what the hell the poor girl is doing at their table. Melissa eyes the table top, unable to meet the eyes of the boys.

The awkward silence last until Louis finally returns to the table.

“Here you go.”

Louis puts the cup of tea in front of Melissa before sitting on the chair opposite her. He lifts the glass filled with a red liquid to his lips and takes a gulp. Melissa tries her hardest not to look at his Adam’s apple as he swallows.

“Why’d you pick up a stray?” Liam asks, confusion and humor twin emotions in his voice.

“Because she was crying,” Louis grumbles, a scowl once again on his face. “I could hardly leave her there. She was crying so hard she was bumping into people.”

“You keep telling yourself that. You just want to get into her pants,” Harry says, a smirk on his full lips.

Both Melissa and Louis flush at the accusation.

“That’s a lie. Shut up,” Louis exclaims. He dives for Harry and presses a hand against his friend’s mouth.

“You’re just embarrassed because it’s true,” Liam teases Louis. It seems his friends have decided to team up against him today.

Melissa doesn’t know why, but she can help but burst out laughing at how embarrassed Louis looks. She knows she should feel mortified that what Harry and Liam are suggesting might be true, but instead, all she can think about right now is how hilarious the look on Louis’s face is.

Liam and Harry laugh with her.

Notes