Anonymous

My head was resting on Louis’ chest in the living room part of the hotel suite he was sharing with Harry. He’d texted his roommate and warned the other boy to stay away, but he told me that there were no guarantees that Harry wouldn’t pop in to harass us.

“Are you thirsty?” Louis asked as the One Tree Hill rerun went to a commercial. Previously, I hadn’t been able to stand the ridiculous teen drama, but watching the marathon with Louis had actually changed my mind. I found myself getting engrossed in the pointless plotlines and getting attached to the moronic characters that made selfish, illogical decisions.

God, that was irritating.

“I’m alright, thanks,” I responded distractedly.

“Okay, well, I’m going to put on some tea. Let me up.”

Without taking my eyes off the screen, I leaned away from him, allowing him the room he needed to push himself off the couch and make his way toward the kitchen.

“It’s back!” I called to him as the now-familiar characters flashed onto the screen at the end of a particularly crazy tampon commercial.

“One minute,” he replied before opening and closing a couple cabinets. “Oh, I love people.”

“What?” Finally, I pulled my gaze away from the telly to see Louis returning to the couch, an unopened box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in his hand.

“I asked them to put some in the room for when I arrived, and they actually did it. I’m so excited about this.”

“Of course they did,” I snickered, shaking my head. “You’re Louis Tomlinson of One Direction. If you’d ordered a prostitute to be here when you arrived, they would have done it.”

Louis glared over at me, but he was unable to keep the smirk completely off his face. “Jess, that’s disgusting. I’m horrified that you would even suggest such a thing.”

“Oh, please. You’re a pop star. I’m sure they do it all the time.”

“Harry, maybe,” Louis teased as he leaned forward to open the box of cereal and handing it to me.

I took a handful and dropped a couple sweet pieces into my mouth as I turned back in the telly just in time to see it switch to a commercial. “Shit,” I mumbled through the bit of food still left in my mouth. “I missed that whole bit.”

“It’s okay. I’ve seen this one a hundred times. Do you want a recap?”

But before I could give an answer in the affirmative, the door swung open, admitting Harry into the suite. A huge grin colored his face, and his curls were an absolutely disaster, probably a result of the strong winds outside.

“Hello,” he greeted cheekily before flipping and fixing his hair in that way of his. “So you’re the Jess I’ve been hearing about, right?”

I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“It’s so weird. You look just like your pictures on writersunite. Most people edit their stuff.”

I flushed a little and shook my head. “I’m not good at editing things. Nor would I know how to go about it. So I just hope that picture comes out well, and then I post that.”

“Harry, what are you doing here?” Louis asked in a cordial tone, though I could tell the statement had come through clenched teeth. “I told you to hang out with the other boys until Jess left.”

“But I was curious about Jess,” Harry retorted before sitting on the couch next to me. “So what have you two been doing? Did I interrupt something?”

“One Tree Hill, if that’s what you mean,” Louis sighed. “Look, Harry, come on.”

“You guys will have plenty of time to have sex before we leave,” Harry argued, his eyebrows drawing together in irritation.

I felt my cheeks flood with even more color as I cleared my throat softly and suggested, “Maybe I should just leave now.”

“No,” Louis and Harry snapped at the same time. A stare-down ensued, both of them waiting for the other to declare surrender. Yet, neither did.

“Fine,” Louis muttered eventually, sitting back in his seat. “Harry, you can stay. But don’t say anything. We’re going to act like you’re not here.”

“Oh, Louis, that’s not nice,” I scolded. “It’s fine.”

There was a short silence before the kettle started screaming from the stove, steam shooting out of the spout like the smoke from an old locomotive. Louis jumped to his feet and raced into the kitchen to quiet the noise, while Harry teased him from the couch.

“Aw, Lou! How thoughtful of you to put on some tea for me. It’s almost like you were expecting me.”

“Trust me, I wasn’t,” it sounded like Louis muttered. “Who wants a cup?”

I stayed quiet, while Harry yelled out that he wanted one.

I let out a long sigh and got to my feet. “Actually, I should probably leave now, just to make sure I get home before my curfew.”

“But it’s only ten,” Harry argued. “How early is your curfew?”

“Eleven. But I live in one of the suburbs, and with London traffic, it could take almost an hour to get home.”

I got to my feet and headed into the kitchen to tell Louis the news. He sighed and looked up at me with sad eyes. “I’m so sorry about him,” he whispered, shaking his head. “He’s a wanker, I know. But we’ll spend more time together again soon, yeah? Like maybe in a couple days?”

“That sounds good to me,” I agreed with a nod.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? Just to make sure you get there safely?”

“How would you get back?” I laughed. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. If it makes you feel better, I’ll ring you when I get in.”

He nodded and pulled me close, his arms locked around my middle. After a minute, he pulled away a little and pressed his lips to mine.

Although I was very aware of the possibility that Harry was watching, I couldn’t help but get lost in the feeling of Louis’ lips and tongue against mine, the way one of his hands caressed my face, the other resting romantically on my hip.

“Let me walk you out,” he insisted, taking a step forward so I had no choice but to do the same in the opposite direction. “Harry, make your own fucking tea.”

The curly-haired boy on the couch let out a loud groan, but Louis and I were already in the hallway, the door shut behind us.

“I really am sorry about that,” Louis apologized again as we got into the lift, shaking his head as I reached forward to press the button. “I should have known that I basically gave him an invitation to join us when I told him to stay away.”

“It’s fine,” I told him honestly. “We had the whole day, just the two of us. And we’ll have more. Harry didn’t ruin anything.”

“Maybe I was planning on making a move.” I glanced over at Louis to find that he was giving me a little playful smirk.

“Cute, but it wouldn’t have worked.” I shrugged like there was nothing I could do about it. “I don’t go all the way on the first date.”

“You’ve never gone all the way at all,” he reminded me, somehow retaining that small piece of information I’d given him what seemed like years ago.

“Yes. Thank you. I’d forgotten.” I rolled my eyes while I stepped into the lobby, Louis following closely behind me. I’d figured that he’d stay in the lobby, just so that he wouldn’t get chilly in the early spring air, but he continued to walk with me until I reached Elena’s car. Thankfully, it looked just as pristine as when I’d pulled it out of her driveway that morning.

“Goodnight,” Louis whispered as he leaned in to kiss me once again.

This time, it was short, soft, and sweet, which made me think he’d just been giving Harry a show earlier. Or, then again, maybe he was concerned about the possibility of paparazzi lurking around the hotel, and he didn’t want them to catch him in a compromising position.

“Goodnight,” I replied, running a hand over his face. “I promise to ring you when I get in.”

“Okay.” With that, he took a step back to allow me room to climb into the car.

I started up the ignition, turned on the heat, and pulled out of the parking space. As I pulled out of the driveway, I checked the rearview mirror to see that Louis was still waiting, watching, making sure that I was safe for as long as possible.