Nothing Without Love

Josephine's POV


“Why is this place so loud?” I shout to Ophelia who is dancing on her own against the bar. Her long blonde hair is flipping around, almost hitting me in the face a few times. I roll my eyes and continue to try to get the attention of the bar keep. Of course their busy, and I'm not a spring chicken anymore, the fresh twenty one year olds are all the rage at the end of the bar. My twenty four year old self is apparently yesterday's news.

I tap my fingers anxiously on the bar and pretend to be bored, well, it's not hard to pretend. Clubs aren't usually my scene, but Ophelia insisted as I'm freshly single. Freshly as in a month. This is the first time she's been able to get me out since Nick and I broke up. We were together for almost a year but I could never fully trust him. Maybe it's because he was constantly hiding his phone from me and taking it with him everywhere he went. It was annoying, if it went off he would snatch it up, smile and text the person back right away. I always felt like he was messing around on the side. But I stayed, for no reason other then having him around was convenient.

Why am I so hungry? Would it kill this clubs aesthetics to just have some chips you could buy? Hot Cheetos sound like they would hit the spot. I let out a sigh, Ophelia is totally ignoring me as she's apparently found her groove. And I'm still waiting for another drink.

“Can I buy you a drink?” A British voice from behind makes me turn. I'm sure he's not talking to me, probably trying to get Ophelia's attention. Not that I don't have a problem getting a guy's attention, but Ophelia is just loud and out there, she's usually always able to get a guy. I just came her tonight to have a few drinks with a friend, not anything else. “So, can I?” I turn, realizing that he is in fact talking to me and I've yet to respond.

Oh my. I know this guy. He's from that one band that was big a few years back. He's pretty. Like really pretty.

“Um, no thanks.” I tell him, did I really just reject a guy getting me a drink? What the hell.

“Oh, okay then.” You can tell he doesn't get rejected very often, if ever. I didn't really mean to have it come off like that.

“But I'll take a shot!” I all but yell after him, I didn't want to be rude. I enjoy shot nights. I smile as he does and returns to my side.

“I'm Louis.” He sticks his hand out to me and I shake it.

“Josephine.” Everyone calls me Josie but I'd rather just tell him my real name, my nickname is reserved for friends and family.

“That's a pretty name.” He smiles at me, he's trying hard.

“Thanks, I was born with it.” I laugh to myself, almost snorting. Ophelia always hates when I say that joke, say's it's really not that funny but I find myself hilarious. He raises his eyebrows and gets the attention of the keep. Of course it's super easy for him.

“Two shots of,” He lingers off and looks at me to order.

“Two kamikaze's!” I shout as the bartender nods and starts pulling out the ingredients. It's my favorite short, vodka, triple sec, and lime juice. You would think you can taste the lime juice but you don't even notice it.

“That will be ten.” He sets the shots in front of us as Louis informs him to put it on his tab. I'm sure it's not a small one. I watch as Louis passes me a shot and holds his up.

“Cheers!” He flashes his bright white smile at me as we clink glasses and take our shots. They're smooth, always a good sign of the quality liquor and a good bartender.

“Thank you!” I push my glass towards the interior of the bar as we're finished.

“You're welcome.” Once again he flashes that big smile at me.

“Josie!” Ophelia yells as if she's finally awoken from her slumber. “This is my favorite song, let's go!” She doesn't give me a chance to say anything to Louis as I just wave to him, Ophelia pulling me with all of her might.

---------------------------

“I need a water or something!” I tell Ophelia who doesn't look too thrilled I'm leaving. She rolls her eyes but lets me go anyway as I wait for some people to pass and I take my time to get to the bar. It doesn't really matter, it will take me an hour to probably get some water anyway.

I take the two steps to get to the bar, my feet are killing me. These high high heals were Ophelia's request. I pull slightly at he bottom of my dress, it literally just covers my bum, I'd prefer sweatpants but I guess every once in a while you need to dress up. I look around and realize I'm actually looking for Louis when I see him. Not him as in Louis. Him as in Nick, With his arm around two girls with plunging necklines and the shortest skirts I've ever seen. I'm sure my underwear has more fabric then what they've currently got on.

I try to avoid his eyes, the last thing I want to deal with is Nick. I make my way to the bar, trying to avoid him at all cost when I notice I've caught his eye and he's already starting to stand up from his seated position. I groan inwardly as I turn around to have my back face him. Please don't come over here, please don't come over here.

“Josie!” Nick yells and I close my eyes, purse my lips. Last thing I need to see is Nick. Shit! I still haven't turned to face him when he shouts my name again. What I do next is way out of my character, I quickly Louis walking by, just a few people in between us. I take a brave movement and grab his arm.

“So sorry.” I tell him before I grab his face and kiss him. It's all me at first but then soon I feel us melting together, his jaw relaxing and I can soon feel his arms slink around my waist as I move mine from his cheeks to behind his neck. Just this kiss is creating a pull in my stomach. Wow is all I can seem to say. I can't hear Nick anymore but to be honest and cliché I can't seem to hear anyone around me.

We pull away and I'm instantly embarrassed. This is really not what I do. I'm usually just one to avoid all issues or just pretend like nothing is bothering me. If Nick would have came over and chatted with me I would have pretended his entourage didn't bother me and that I was doing just fine without him. I really was though, it's funny when you remove something from your life and you don't care the slightest.

“I'm so sorry. My ex boyfriend is just over there.” I gesture with a head tilt, without turning my head towards Nick at all. “He kept calling my name so I just needed to get rid of him. I don't usually kiss random guys.” I ramble.

“It's all right.” He laughs. His voice is so smooth. It's a little hypnotizing. Louis Tomlinson, that's who he is! Finally put my finger on it. He roughs his hair up a little bit, it's odd this awkward situation we're both in. We both don't seem to know what to say. At least I don't really know what to say. I'm sure he doesn't feel as weird. “So, do you want another drink?” He asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. Watching him is kind of funny, he's not really looking at me, he keeps casting his eyes downward, he doesn't strike me as someone who's incredibly confident. I'm sure he is.

“Yeah.” I try to act cheerful after the fact that we've just spent time making out in the middle of this club.

“Josephine!” I turn to Ophelia's voice as she's coming off the dance floor. “I need a drink!” She proclaims. I'm side by side with Louis as I make eye gestures towards him. “What?” She's clueless.

“So three drinks?” Louis laughs and turns away.

“Who is that?” Phelia asks as she comes to my side. She keeps pushing her blonde hair off to her shoulder, I can see a thin layer of sweat on her skin. Of course it doesn't look bad.

“His name is Louis.” I tell her, she probably wont remember One Direction, she was always into country music during high school. She was a bit of a odd ball with an easy grace that everyone loved. One of those people. “He's cute.” She smiles at me.

“Nick is here.” I tell her. I don't really want to stay long.

“Even better reason to get to know Louis.” She takes my arm and guides me to the bar to join Louis.

Notes

So here we go again! This story is set in 2020, the Zayn from this story is the same as the Zayn in My Light, and Niall and Erica will play a big part in the story as they did in Just as Much and even the Harry and his Jeanne from Dreaming Of You // If I'm Still Dreaming but no hints from that last story will be given away as @Not_Any_Maryjane is still writing her masterpiece!

This story is a little different, I'll be uploading two more chapters before I call it a day and sadly my family and I are headed out for the weekend so I won't be updating until next Tuesday or so. Let me know what you think! :)

xoxxoox