Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 39

Louis’ POV

“C’mon babe, I’m bored,” I complain for what had to be the 10th time. When I’d awoken and come downstairs at 11, I’d found her at the table, text books sprawled everywhere as she worked. Now, it was almost 4 and she was still at it.

“I have to finish this tonight. It’s due at midnight” she repeats. I can tell she’s getting frustrated with me because her tone has gotten edgier and edgier.

“But it’s not due at midnight our time…” I say. She flashes me a look of annoyance.

“Well I don’t want to stay up all night finishing this.

“But we are supposed to meet the lads for dinner then there’s another Halloween party. I need my Wendy bird there.” I whine. Her jaw clenches and she doesn’t respond.  I let out another loud sigh and she snaps her book shut loudly. I look over hopefully, thinking she might be done, to see her shoving her books into her bag angrily.

“Go have fun with the boys, I’m going to Ed’s” she announces as she slings her backpack over her shoulder.

“Wait, what?” I ask confused.

“I need to do this and Ed told me his house was always open if I needed a place to crash. You can go have fun and I can get this done, I’ll see you tomorrow” she snaps, heading for the door. I stand there in a mixture of shock and confusion, not sure what I’d done to cause this kind of reaction. I let her go though; knowing if I did anything to stop her, it’d just result in a massive fight.

At dinner, I text her a couple times, to see if she’s alright but she doesn’t respond. The boys finally forcibly take my phone from me, telling me to stop moping and have some fun.

“Look mate, when you find a girl like that” Harry slurs, leaning against me a couple hours later when we’d moved from dinner to the party. “You gotta hold on. Don’t let…” he hiccups. “Don’t let your best mate steal your girlfriend. It sucks” I wince slightly, remembering the stories he’d told us from back before X Factor about his girlfriend and best friend. That was one of my biggest fears with Lauren. That some guy would come along who’d always be around and she’d move on to him, leaving me behind. “You’ve got to keep a close eye on them, fickle things they are. No matter how much they make you laugh or smell like bread…” he rambles on, deeply lost in his own memories. That was the thing with Haz. He was either a bunch of fun when he was drunk, or he was lonely, lost in the past. Whoever that girl had been, must have really messed him up. He’d never seemed to fully get over her. And right now, hearing him talk about her just made me miss Lauren.

“I think I’m going to go” I tell Harry, half slipping out from under his arm, half stumbling out. He nods but I’m not sure he fully heard me, his eyes saying he was miles away. I carefully walk outside, hailing a cab.

By the time I get to Ed’s house, it’s just about midnight.

“Lauren” I yell, pounding on the door. “Lauren!”

“Shhh” she shushes me, opening the door. “Ed’s sleeping.”

“My Tweety Bird” I say pulling her into a hug, not really listening as she tries to quiet me. “I missed you.”

“I’m right here, I haven’t gone anywhere,” she says logically.

“Did you finish your thing?” I ask as I struggle to remember why she’d come here in the first place.

“About an hour ago” she says with a nod. “I’ve been sleeping on the couch”

“Come back home with me. Don’t stay here,” I say, sticking my bottom lip out in a pout. She lets out a quiet laugh, nodding her head.