Love In Lights

I had half-expected the next morning to make everything better. For some reason I had made myself believe that Felicity would only need some more rest before she would forgive me. Or at least be nicer to me.

“You don’t know how to cook?” She asked, her tone of voice indicating that she clearly found me lacking in all areas of being a decent human being. “Can you do anything?”

“Felicity,” Charlotte snapped, her eyes burning holes into the eggs she had started to fry.

“You know what, I’m gonna head out.” I sighed, tired of having Felicity constantly sending remarks my way at every chance she got. Doubling her efforts when Louis wasn’t around. And even when he was he had trouble stepping in. I didn’t want to force Louis to choose between us.

“What about our double lunch date?” Charlotte frowned.

“I’ll meet you guys there,” I had already grabbed my bag and was shutting the door. I could hear Louis calling my name as he headed down the stairs, finished with the shower.

I hurried to my rental car and climbed in. Taking deep breaths and slowly backing out of the driveway. The further away I could get from all that the easier it would be to breathe.

I drove straight to Lucinda’s, I craved the comfort I knew I could fine there. The comfort that was Lucinda still curled up in bed.

“Aaron let me in,” I murmured crawling onto the bed and snuggling under the blankets.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her arms circling around my waist. Despite the warmth and suffocation of the blankets mixed with her arms, it felt easier to breathe in this small space.

“Felicity is on my case constantly. She accused me last night of adding alcohol to my hot chocolate and this morning she nagged at me for not being able to cook as well as walking around half naked. I was wearing a shirt and underwear.”

I pushed myself further into Lucinda. Frowning into the darkness that remained under the blanket. I wondered how long I could stay there, hiding from everything. Of course I had promised Charlotte to be at the lunch date.

“You need to stand up to her.”

“She’s Louis’ sister.”

Lucinda pulled my head up, her eyes stern. “She is being harsh and rude. She doesn’t know you and if Louis loved you like he said he does he would be sticking up for you.”

I stayed quiet, I didn’t necessarily agree with her.

“This isn’t healthy for you Bella, I know you and I know that you think that you deserve this. That Felicity should be mean to you but we’ve all apologised hundreds of times and we made up for our mistakes.” She sounded angry and I was sure there was more to his than just my predicament.

“Look Louis forgave you and it’s not up to his sister to be the one to punish you. You don’t need to be punished anymore.”

“So what’s your issue?” I asked instead of responding. I understood what Lucinda said but it didn’t make me feel any less deserving of punishment.

“Aaron asked his mother for his grandmothers ring to propose to me. She, however, suggested he make sure that I was serious about this relationship and that I wouldn’t go out partying no more. She never did like me singing professionally either.”

I gaped at Lucinda, before pushing out of her arms so I could grasp the situation better. “Woah, woah, woah, hold on a second. Aaron wants to propose to you and he told you that? Or did he propose without the ring. When did all this happen? How long was I gone for?”

“Calm down it was only last night. And he doesn’t know I know.”

I eyed Lucinda suspiciously until she deflated in front of my eyes and threw an arm over her eyes.

“You read his texts didn’t you.” I accused.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“What the phone just fell into your hands with the message open?” I smirked down at the blushing girl. I couldn’t believe she read Aaron’s messages.

“Look I know his Mum doesn’t like me after everything that has happened and I was worried she would talk him out of being with me and then I made have read a little too much.”

I gaped at her, fully aware that Aaron was just down stairs, cooking breakfast for the both of us.

“You have to tell him.”

“No I do not.”

“You do and you have to stand up to his Mum. You have to take your own advice and stand up to his Mum and I’ll stand up to Felicity.” I held my pinky finger out to her; I was doing this for her. Because Lucinda deserved this and if all I had to do was tell a young girl to stop picking on me to ensure that Lucinda gets her happily ever after, well I would risk Louis for that. I would risk losing Louis a hundred times over if it would gives any of the girls happiness.

“Are you girls coming down any time soon?” Aaron called up the stairs, breaking our staring contest.

“Come on Lucinda,” I shook my pinky and cheered triumphantly when she took it. Wrapping her pinky finger around mine and shaking both of our hands three times in quick succession.

“Should I be worried that you guys just made a pinky promise?” Aaron appeared in the bedroom doorway, eyeing the both of us.

“You should know by now,” Lucinda said, pulling herself out of bed, “you should always be worried when it comes to us.” She patted his cheek and moved past him and out the door. He turned back to me.

I shrugged innocently. “You’re so lucky that I let you have her.” I teased.

He scoffed. “I had her first,” he crossed his arms across his chest and tried to make himself look manly in the bedroom door. The effect was ruined by the boxer shorts he was wearing that were printed with boxing kangaroos. It was a present from me for Christmas last year.

“And yet she will always love me more.”

“Would you two stop fighting and get down here otherwise I’ll eat all the pancakes.” Lucinda yelled.

Aaron and I raced each other down the stairs, shoving and hollering at each other the whole way. I squealed when he picked me up and my whole world tipped as I ended up over his shoulder.

“I swear you two are worse than actual siblings.”

“We are actual siblings.” Aaron and I responded together, our voices deadpan as I still hung upside down. Lucinda rolled her eyed and pushed two plates towards us.

“You better let her eat so she can go get ready for her lunch date later. She’s going to need all the help she can get after running out on Louis this morning.”

I groaned, remembering I had left my phone at Louis’ and that he was probably pissed that I didn’t tell him why I had left in a hurry.

“Why did you leave?” Aaron asked.

“Sister from hell.” I explained, shoveling pancakes caked with chocolate sauce into my mouth. I would pay for this later when our personal trainer found out. But for now, I enjoyed the sticky sweetness.

“I know the feeling, I had to deal with all of Lucinda’s.”

“Hey, they weren’t that bad.” Lucinda defended.

“That bad!” Aaron squeaked out. “They threatened to cut off my balls while holding a knife to them at my first Christmas dinner with you guys. And then there was the time that Lola and Lidia tried to drown me at the beach. Then there was the time that Laura threatened to announce to the airport in Dubai that I was holding a gun when I wouldn’t give her the last of my chocolates.”

I gaped as the pain washed over Aaron’s face at every story that came up.

“They were all jokes.” Lucinda defended her sisters, but there was a mischievous grin on her face.

“Jokes that almost got me killed numerous times. They still do it sometimes.” Aaron winced, seeming to remember something worse than what he had already told.

“How do you get them to back off?” I asked him.

“Show them that you won’t take it. I refused to give Laura my chocolate and informed her that if she accused me of having a gun I would take her down with me and claim that she had explosives wrapped around her arse.”

“Aaron,” I gasped, “I never knew you had it in ya.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just stand up to her and she’ll back off. I promise.”

I sighed, accepting that if two people tell me to do the same thing, then maybe it’s a good idea.

-

Louis was silent in the car. He had called Lucinda’s house and insisted that he would be picking me up from her house instead of me meeting there but refused to talk to me on the phone.

My own phone had been given to me by Charlotte while Louis sat in the drivers seat, blank faced as he passive-aggressively waited for me to lock my seat belt in.

“Want to tell me why you’re angry?” I asked, stiff in the leather heated seats.

“Want to tell me why you stormed out of the house this morning like a child?”

“I didn’t storm.” I winced at how childish that made me sound. “I had to see Lucinda about something.”

Louis shot me a look clearly pointing that he didn’t believe my shit.

“I’m sorry, I just had to get out and breathe for a bit.” I mumbled, aware that Charlotte sat back in the car, quiet but definitely listening.

Louis’ shoulders slumped, his hands loosening around the steering wheel.

“I’ve told you before if it gets too much just tell me and I’ll back off, if you need a couple of days’ space that that’s fine.”

I was quick to deny Louis’ thoughts. “It wasn’t you Lou,” I reached out with one hand and squeezed the bicep that was closest to me. “I’m not sick of you, you are in no was suffocating me. I promise.”

We stopped at a red light and Louis shot me a small smile. “You sure?”

“A hundred percent sure. I’m never going to get sick of you again.” I paused, “Well not permanently.”

“Okay, but you have to tell me later why you skipped out this morning.” He bargained as the light went green and we continued on our way.

“Okay,” I agreed, relaxing in the warm chair and allowed Louis to intertwine our fingers over the gear stick.

“Oh thank fuck, I was worried you guys would be fighting while at lunch.” Charlotte sighed, slumping down on the back seat.

“Language,” Louis warned while Charlotte and I both shared a scornful look.

“Says the king of cussing.” I teased.

Louis proceeded to ignore the constant teasing banter that rolled between Charlotte and I until we arrived at the café we were meeting Garrett at.

I climbed out of the car and realised that Charlotte’s laughter had stopped. She stood nervously beside the car, wringing her hands together.

“Hey what’s wrong?” I asked, reaching for her shaking hands.

“I really like him.” She whispered, eyes scared. I smiled sweetly recognizing the look in her eye to the one I’m sure I wore around Louis all the time.

“Don’t worry, how could he not be in love with you?”

I watched in pleasure as she grinned brightly before I encourage her to head inside and find him. I held Louis back from following.

“Be nice.” I warned.

He rolled his eyes and squared his jaw. “That’s my little sister.”

“Yes, I know Lou. But this isn’t just some boy, she really likes him and if you go in there as an over protective brother you might scare him off or make her embarrassed and neither of them need that.”

He sighed loudly, pouting at me. “You’re taking the fun out of being an older brother.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled Louis towards the café. “Don’t be a douche.” I warned him, allowing him to wrap an arm around my waist and tried to ignore the photos that were snapped by a group of people that were leaving the café.

Charlotte was sitting with a young blonde man, his muscles evident beneath the maroon sweater that strained around his biceps. He smiled winningly at Charlotte and I watched her blush, delighted.

“He’s cute,” I commented, earning a pinch in my side from Louis. I met his glaring eyes and laughed. “Not as much as you honey buns.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek and watched the small smirk that spread across his handsome face. I shook my head and focused back on the two lovebirds before us.

The boy, Garrett was looking much more nervous that he was a minute ago. His hands were now very far away from Charlotte’s direction and his eyes were focused on Louis.

He held a hand out to Louis the moment we reached the table, “It’s nice to meet you,” he offered politely.

Louis hesitated before taking his hand, shaking it firmly, his grip probably stronger than was actually necessary but Garrett didn’t flinch or make a noise in return. He shook my hand next, a blush rising up his neck and I recalled our first meeting when he rushed half-naked out of Charlotte’s room.

“I suppose we don’t need these formalities since I’ve already caught you in bed with my sister.” Louis snarked as we took a seat across from the pair.

I sighed and took a deep breath knowing that Louis couldn’t exactly stop from being sarcastic but he could definitely try harder than he was.

Charlotte was almost chewing through her lip and Garrett seemed to practically deflate in his chair, the blush darkening his cheeks even further.

“So Garrett, Lottie says that your brother lives in London? What does he do here?” I asked, trying to start a proper conversation.

Garrett took to the change of topic and turned to focus on me. “Ah yes, well he’s currently being a stay at home Dad. His wife, my sister in law, runs a small fashion business with three boutiques spread around London and a few outlying areas. Nothing big or flashy but they get by.”

I was intrigued. “Oh really? You have to give me the name. A friend of mine loves sourcing out new fashion sources.” I offered sweetly knowing that Lucinda would generally like to check out a small fashion boutique.

“Thank you so much, I’m sure they would really appreciate that.” Garrett responded brightly.

“You should see his nieces and nephews they are literally so adorable and Garrett is so good with them.” Charlotte found her voice and entered the conversation.

“So you like kids?” I asked, curious.

“Definitely, I love coming to London to help my brother look after them whenever I can get time to.”

“So do you work, apart from school?” Louis pressed himself into the conversation.

I dropped my hand on his knee and squeezed trying to get him to gentle his voice, as this was not a police interrogation.

The moment Garrett mentioned he was apprenticing as a mechanic, Louis easily fell into a conversation with the boys. I smiled warmly at Charlotte and excused ourselves so we could grab some drinks.

“Do you think it’s going well?” Charlotte asked as we lined up, her eyes anxiously watching the two chatting boys. Both seemed to be slowly relaxing in their chairs as each word passed their lips.

“I think it’s going to go extremely well. He’s a really nice boy and very cute.” I shot her a wink and smiled at her blush.

I ordered four drinks and a couple of cupcakes, ignoring the way the cashier stared dumbstruck until I signed a napkin and handed it over. She squealed in excitement when we moved to the waiting area.

“How do you do that?” Charlotte asked frowning, nodding at the cashier. “How do you handle them freaking out on you?”

“I don’t, remember? I suck at handling all of this. Hence the year of alcohol abuse and all my other mistakes.” I said with a false smile plastered across my face.

“But you’re better at it now, aren’t you?” She asked, a frown falling across her soft pink lips.

I sighed and finally paid attention to the café around us and all the eyes that bore holes into my back. I wasn’t sure if I was good at this or just good at ignoring it all. I was worried that one day I wouldn’t be able to ignore it and I would end crash and burning all over again.

“I guess,” I frowned, shivering as I tried to ignore everything I had just let in.

Notes