Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 31

Lauren’s POV

The days flew by way to fast. Louis seemed keen to keep us as busy as possible. He took me to see Sherlock’s house, to the London Eye, to some wax museum, Madame T-something. That trip had turned into an adventure. The other boys all wanted to come also. Apparently they had statues there. So of course, they’d been messing around with their statues. Seeing them standing side by side had been weird to say the least. The figurines were so lifelike. If the boys had stopped moving, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. It made me think of all those twin pictures I’d seen via Peyton when that phase had been around. Those had been disconcerting, seeing them in real life… The fans we saw there seemed to like it though, posing for pictures in between the boy and their statue.

Then every night, Louis would drag me to some club or party or something. I didn’t really want to go because the places were always crawling with cameras, but he’d give me that puppy dogface and I’d cave. I couldn’t help it. And besides, once we were inside and away from the cameras, it wasn’t that bad. Then when we left, Louis was always there, creating a buffer between the blinding lights and me.

As our time ran out, I couldn’t help think about where this would leave us. Sure we went on a handful of dates. Sure I loved to spend time with him, but we lived on separate continents. He was always busy with the band; I was going to be busy with school. This was all going to boil down to a summer fling, albeit a really good one. Yet this didn’t make me feel any better. I was going to miss this goofy boy. I hoped we’d still be able to keep in touch even if we weren’t together.

The bed squeaks and I look back to see him roll onto his stomach while he watches me continue packing. I was leaving the next morning and the sinking feeling in my stomach had turned into a giant black hole.

“I’m going to miss this,” I say, going back to folding the clothes and setting them in the suitcase.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I dunno, just hanging out. It’s not like I’ll get to see you after this” I shrug. I glance back in time to see a frown across his face. It seemed like every time I mentioned going home, he had that expression. I turn back to packing and the silence returns.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the airport?” he asks after a couple minutes. I nod my head as I close the lid of my suitcase and begin to try to zipper it. I didn’t want the craziness that resulted from being seen at the airport with him. And besides, I’d like our goodbyes to be private.

“I’ve kept you away from the boys enough, go hang out with them,” I grunt as I try to yank on the zipper. Dang. My suitcase seems to have shrunk. I try to press the suitcase down but it doesn’t help. I hear Louis laugh and the next thing I know, he’s nudging me aside as he takes my place to zipper it.

“Sit on it,” he instructs, nodding his head towards the overflowing case. I sit cross-legged on top while he finally manages to force it closed. “Jeez do you have enough stuff?” he says sitting back on his heels, looking at me with a grin.

“Says the person with two walk in closets,” I retort, crossing my arms and sticking out my tongue. He chuckles, shrugging his shoulders slightly as I climb off the suitcase.

“You’re just jealous,” he chuckles, standing up. When he looks down at me, the smile slowly fades from his face. “Are you sure you have to go home tomorrow?” he asks quietly, taking my hands in his, running his thumb lightly over the back of my hand.

“Yea” I nod reluctantly. “Classes start on Monday and I have to move in all my stuff and get my books and everything.” I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. I still hadn’t talked with Peyton and Stephanie. It would make living together extremely awkward.