Rumored Nights

Liam and I joined back into the group’s conversation at just the right time. They were changing subjects.

“Hey, do you guys want to do something fun?” Louis asked the guys, excitedly. Oh God, Louis! Not again! I thought to myself, but let him go on because of the sparkle of excitement in his beautiful eyes.

“Sure…” Niall answered for everyone. Hesitation rose in each of the guys, wondering what it could possibly be.

“Great! Well, we’re…Alex and me…we’re going on a road trip!” Louis announced, more excitement floating from him. “You guys want to go?!”

“Um…sure. I guess? When?” Harry asked blankly, not sure how to react to Louis’ idea.

“Never,” I spoke up, quietly. As far as I knew at that moment, the road trip was not happening.

I looked back over at Louis, whose eyes were now saddened since I had just crushed his dream of going on this road trip. And he knew at that moment that I had doubted he would ever find a reason for us to go. Louis finally realized I was looking at him and his beautiful blue eyes begged for my support.

Everyone was kind of silent, which made me feel even meaner about this.

“Sorry. I just…I just don’t think we could really do it. We don’t really have a reason to go,” I tried to explain my reasoning to everyone. Harry nodded, as if he understood what I was saying. But Louis wasn’t going to take that. He was determined and if Louis is determined you better watch out.

“Well, when I find a good enough reason we’re going! Alex promised!” Louis assured everyone.

“Have you found a place yet?” Zayn asked, trying to peel Lola off of him so he could take a sip of his drink.

“No, not yet, but I’m looking. And when I find a place it’s going to be so good that everyone is going to be BEGGING to come!” Louis promised, getting a little too excited about his plan again.

“Oh…can’t wait to see what it is!” Zayn tried to sound hopeful because he didn’t want to bring Louis down more than he already was.

“I’m taking suggestions,” Louis offered, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. He looked so adorable. Why couldn’t I control this crush on him? It was insane. I doubt he knew that I had a crush on him. It also felt wrong, because here I was with Liam, cool and sweet Liam, holding his hand. And then there was Zayn; the one thing I always wanted and almost had but who was taken away from me. And as all of this was going on I still had this little crush on Louis. How pathetic and wrong was that?

“I have no idea, dude…” Niall shook his head at Louis, breaking my train of thought. I looked at them.

“I don’t know either, but it definitely has to be something cool. No, not even just cool, but something past cool. Like something sort of wild…” Harry thought out loud.

“Hah, yeah…yeah, wild and cool. That’s exactly what we need to do…” Louis’ eyes lit up with more excitement. Oh Harry…why’d you have to go and fuel his idea? It was already extreme enough, but now Louis would most likely blow it over the top. Oh man, we’d better fasten our seatbelts and fasten them tight. This was sure going to get out of control.

“Hey! That kind of gave me an idea…thanks, guys!” Louis got up quickly and grabbed his jacket. “I have to go work on this.” He was almost out of breath from his excitement.

“Alright, later dude,” Niall waved. We all said ‘bye’ because we knew it was no use to try and stop Louis’ silly little dream and ideas. We would let him go ahead and do whatever he wanted and get it out of his system. Then he would find something better to do and get over it. Or so we all thought…

“Bye, Alex. You going to be okay getting home?” Louis asked, sweetly, since he’s the one that had walked me here in the first place. Gosh he’s so sweet.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I smiled back at him.

“You sure?” He looked into my eyes to see if I really wanted him to go or not. And honestly…I really didn’t want him to go, but I didn’t want to admit that to him either.

“I’m sure! You go have fun planning your trip!” I smiled, reassuring him and also trying to make him feel better about me not liking his road trip idea. And that made him smile.

“Okay, cool. See you guys later!” He called. He ran out the door to go home and search the internet, magazines, or whatever for a reason. And a good one at that, for everyone to come on his infamous road trip.

“Bye…” Harry called after Louis was already long gone down the hallway. We all chuckled a little bit.

“Alex, is he really serious?” Niall asked me, also doubting Louis’ ridiculous suggestion of ‘fun’.

“Unfortunately, yeah I think so. I thought it was just one of those Louis things when he first said it, but he’s been talking about it all day. He really wants to go…” I sighed, sort of feeling bad for him for not wanting to go. But I couldn’t deny it; his plan was crazy.

“Oh no!” Harry moaned, because he knew he really didn’t want to go, but he also didn’t want to let Louis down.

“Are you going?” Liam asked, but I couldn’t tell what emotion he was using. He could be hard to read at some times.

“No. I wish I could say yes to make him happy, but…I just don’t know. I don’t really think it’s such a good idea. So I don’t think I’m going to go with him.” I didn’t want to hurt Louis, but I still didn’t want to go either. I hoped they would understand. “It’s just too much to risk, you know? Someone would notice that we’re gone and you guys know we’re not supposed to leave the campus unless it’s the weekend.” I shrugged and took a sip of my soda. That’s what sucked the most about going to this private college. You’re stuck here unless you want to drop out.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I was thinking the same thing when he was talking about it. I mean, why? Why would we all go on a road trip; to nowhere apparently? Do you know how much we could screw up if we got caught or if something bad happened to us?” Harry sighed.

“I get what you’re saying…” Niall agreed. “Sure, it would be fun, but it’s not really…worth it.” Niall made a face and it seemed like he didn’t like the words he was saying. He knew that we all sounded wimpy and babyish for thinking these things, but they were all true.

“So are we going?” Zayn asked, doubtfully, because he already knew the answer to his question. He wanted to please Louis, just like everybody else, but we all seriously had no reason to go. At least…not yet.

We all nodded ‘no’ sadly, remembering how pumped Louis was about it and his enthusiasm towards the subject. But we all knew no was the right answer and that we were never going to go, no matter how much Louis tried to make it happy. ‘Poor guy’ we all thought at that moment, but we shouldn’t have. Because sooner than later we would be thinking ‘poor me’ instead.

Well, everyone nodded no except for Lola. But then again she wasn’t technically invited…was she?

“Maybe we can find something cooler to do. Something less risky? I don’t know…” Harry suggested, wanting to make Louis a little happy.

“Who knows? We can do something.” Niall said, giving up on the subject and putting it to rest. We knew we would worry when the time came for us to worry about it. Which would be sooner than we thought…



“I think I’m going to head home now,” I announced. Other than the fact that it was getting late, Lola was making me nauseous and I just wanted to leave.

“See you, Alex.” Harry and Niall both waved.

Zayn got up to say goodbye or something to me, but Lola pulled him back so he couldn’t get to me. So he just looked up at me with a sorry face and smiled sadly.

“Bye.”

“Bye, Zayn…” I said, completely ignoring Lola’s existence at that point.

As I began to get closer to the door, Liam spoke up. “Hey, Alex?”

“Yeah?” I asked as I pushed my arms through the sleeves of my jacket and noticed Liam walking towards me.

“Can I walk you home?” He nodded his head in the direction of my place.

“Sure, I’d like that,” I smiled and so did he.

I saw out of the corner of my eye Harry elbow Niall and nod to Liam and I. Then Harry and Niall shared the same ‘OoOh…what do we have here’ look.

It was a little chilly out so Liam sweetly wrapped his arm around me to keep me warm as we walked to my place together.

I wondered as we walked past Louis’ place if he had found a reason or not and if he even ever would…



“Well, we’re here.” Liam informed me as we came upon my place. We both stood there, awkwardly, wondering if we wanted to take the chance of going up there together.

“Yeah,” I nodded, nervously.

“Well, I guess I’ll get going then…” Liam turned and started to leave and something in me made myself want him to stay.

“No, wait…” He turned around. “Come in…”

Liam wasn’t really sure about this before, but now the thought of it made him smile. We walked the way up to my place. I unlocked the door and headed inside, Liam following close behind. Everything felt so weird and embarrassing almost. What were we doing here…alone in my place? Were we really going to be a couple or what? What was going on? I had no time to answer my own thoughts because at that very moment Liam’s lips touched mine gently.

After the initial shock, I realized we were kissing. Yes, Liam and I were actually kissing. It was so sweet that I didn’t want to question it, like I always question everything. I just let it happen and I’m glad that I did, because…because it was really nice.

Liam pulled his body from mine and we stared into each other’s eyes. We were both astonished and amazed at what had just happened. It was a beautiful moment. And, like always, I had to ruin it.

“Liam…?” I asked him and he just stared into my eyes in response. “What’s happening? I mean…between us?” I looked at him with urgency in my eyes. Liam let out a big sigh and backed away a little bit, still holding my hand loosely.

“Why do you have to question everything, Alex?” Liam asked me and I could sense some sort of disappointment in his voice.

“I…I don’t…” I was going to say ‘I don’t question everything’ but I realized I did. “I don’t know…” I sighed.

“Why can’t you just enjoy it and stop trying to find reasons?” Liam asked. “Why couldn’t you just let it go and see where it ended up?”

“I guess I just…I just need to know that everything will be okay…” I sighed, a little unsure of what I was really trying to say.

“It will be! You don’t have to worry so much, Alex! It’s the same with this road trip idea, too! Why do you need a reason? Why can’t you just be spontaneous?” I could tell he was getting a little annoyed and upset with me and all of the things I was unsure of.

“I thought we were talking about what we had between US? And also, so what if I’m not acting spontaneous over this road trip? I just don’t think it’s such a great idea; that’s all. And I only asked you about us because I’m confused about what’s going on! I just don’t think I could really enjoy it until I know what to do…” I confessed to Liam as he listened intently like he always did.

“Well…I think that if you really want this, whatever it is, you’ll figure it out…” He admitted in his special way of saying things. And with his words of wisdom (I guess), he kissed me softly on the cheek and headed for the door. “Bye, Alex…” He nodded and all in that nod and the look in his eyes I knew exactly what he meant.

“B-Bye…” I stumbled over my words, trying to figure out what all of this meant.



My alarm clock buzzed about four times before I slammed my hand on it and got out of bed. I readied myself as if nothing had ever happened and I figured that today would be just like any other day. I got dressed and left quickly to make it to my first class of the day.

I got to class a little early so I took a seat in my regular spot and took out a book to read. As I was reading, a piece of partially crinkled paper flashed in front of my eyes. It had big bold letters, but I couldn’t read it. I looked up to see who was dangling it in my face and I found Louis to be the one swinging the piece of paper back and forth. I looked at him and his huge adorable smile spread crossed his cute face and I knew that this harmless piece of paper only meant trouble.

“What’s this…?” I asked, not even bothering to look at the words the paper held, but looking at Louis for the answer that I wasn’t completely sure if I wanted to hear in the first place.

“My reason,” He smiled, confidently, and his smile spread even wider than before and it wasn’t so adorable anymore. It was mischievous and rebellious, but I had to admit…still pretty sexy.

I stared at him blankly. I don’t really know why, but I was kind of surprised that he had actually found a reason and I was scared to know if it was a good one or not.

“Read it!” Louis demanded since he could see the scared feeling on my face. It only made him smile even more.

I looked down to the piece of dreaded paper. I was so shaken up that I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to be able to read it or not. I managed though.

TALENT WANTED!

ARE YOU A MUSICIAN WHO WANTS TO MAKE IT BIG?! THEN HERE’S YOUR CHANCE!

CONTEST FOR BEST ARTIST WITH AN ORIGINAL SONG!

WE ARE LOOKING FOR AMAZING RAW TALENT FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!!

SO YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES?!

COME TO THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL IN BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA ON FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH, TO SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!

WINNER WILL RECEIVE A RECORD DEAL WITH STARR RECORDS AND SOME OTHER COOL STUFF…

SEE YOU THERE!

I read the bold letters of the paper, trying to make sense of it all. When I got done reading the letter or announcement or whatever it was my stomach flipped nervously. This was a good reason. No, this was a great reason; a PERFECT reason to go on this road trip, and it kind of made me nervous.

When I had taken it all in I looked up at Louis who stood looking over my shoulder, anxiously, awaiting my reaction.

“So…” He asked excitedly.

“So.” I said taking in a deep breath. How did he find something so perfect? Such a good reason to go? How is it possible?

Louis had always been fond of music, just as Zayn and Harry and Liam and Niall had too. They were all really great singers too; they were a good bet at winning this contest. It was such a great opportunity for them and everyone really. I didn’t know what to say to Louis.

“This is…this is perfect…” I admitted to him as I read over the paper once more to see if what I was looking at was really true…it was.

“I know,” He smiled his signature smile.

“Where did you even find this?” I asked, still looking over it in astonishment.

“I found it at the coffee place on campus,” He began.

“But wait…you NEVER go there. You said you didn’t like their stuff.” I reminded him, trying to find a reason not to believe him or this flyer.

“I know!” Louis exclaimed and I knew there was no way he could make up something like this, because he looked just as shocked as I was.

“Then why…”

“I don’t know, really. I just…something made me go in there and on the way out I saw that on their bulletin board and I just knew it was perfect…” Louis said in awe about the whole thing and how perfect it was.

“Really?”

“Yeah! I think it’s a sign…” He told me and giggled uncontrollably.

“Sure,” I rolled my eyes as I dreaded his words to come, knowing that they would be the words that asked me about the trip.

“Oh Alex! I HAVE to go!! No, WE HAVE to GO!!!!!!” Louis broke down and pleaded to me. He was sitting on his knees next to my desk, begging for me to go with him on this trip. And I could see how bad he really wanted this…but I still didn’t know if I could bring myself to go. Because honestly…I didn’t ACTUALLY think Louis would find a reason, at least not like this, to go.

“Louis, I…” I stopped, because I didn’t know what to say and I felt so horrible for still not being sure if I should go or not.

“Will you PLEASE come? Please?!” He continued to beg, his blue eyes filled with sadness and a pout forming on his perfect face. My stomach began to drop.

“Oh, Lou…I-I don’t know…” I sighed, sadly, not wanting to let Louis down, but also not sure what to do.

“COME ON ALEX!! YOU PROMISED!!” Louis cried as he was getting more than upset with me. I could feel the stares from fellow classmates on us.

“Louis! I know I did, but…but can we really pull this off?” I felt extremely guilty. All I wanted to do was make Louis happy and it wasn’t working by being my questionable self.

“We can TOTALLY pull this off!!” Louis assured me and his eyes pleaded for me to give in, but the truth was…I was scared. I was scared to death.

“I don’t know, Lou…California??? That’s a long ways away…” I reasoned.

“I know! But if I win it’ll be worth it!!” Louis tried harder and harder to convince me into it.

“Are the guys going?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t ask them yet, because…because I don’t want to go unless you’re coming with me. So I wanted to ask you first…” Louis admitted and it made my heart sink. I was such a horrible person. Why couldn’t I stop being such a freak and just go?!

“Oh…” I sighed.

“Will you please go, Alex? Please…for me?” Louis asked me in his sad voice that made me just want to kiss him all over. When he said ‘for me’ that was all I needed and I was in. I couldn’t help it. No matter how insane I thought this idea was…I couldn’t resist Louis when he was being so sweet and cute.

“Well, I…I…uh, um…”I just let out a big sigh. “Yes. Yes, Louis, I’ll go with you…” I agreed against my better judgment, but it was Louis and there was no way I could say no again.

“YOU WILL?!” He screamed and the sadness in his eyes disappeared and turned to excitement and happiness; just the way I liked it.

“Mhmm…” I forced a smile for him.

“OH ALEX!!!” Louis screamed with joy, disturbing all of the other students who were casually chatting in the classroom. “THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU SO MUCH, BABY!” He screamed as he jumped with the same joy. “I promise you that you won’t regret it!” He assured me. And all I could do was smile.

Louis came over and wrapped his muscular arms around me and hugged me so tightly and so lovingly. It was so worth it.

“AH! THANK YOU!” He screamed, again, while still holding onto me. I hugged him back and I enjoyed Louis’ gentle and sweet scent as he still kept me in his embrace.

“You’re welcome!” I laughed as Louis planted cute little kisses all over my face to say thank you once more. If it were possible for your heart to pump out of your chest, mine would have done so at that moment while Louis was smothering me with delightful and sweet kisses.

Maybe this road trip wasn’t going to be so bad after all…I mean a whole trip with Louis and his cuteness? I could handle that. And maybe if I went I could finally get up the guts to tell Louis how I really felt about him. Maybe. Or maybe not…

I couldn’t wait to see if the other guys were coming with us. And I couldn’t wait to leave Lola in the dust…