I Won't Let Go

5th January 2012

It had been four days since the drunken kiss I had shared with Louis at the New Years party, four days and I hadn’t seen him since. When the first day past I just assumed it was because he was hung over but as the days passed I came to the conclusion that maybe he didn’t remember it, any of it, or if he did he regretted it and that was the reason he hadn’t come to see me.
Sighing I looked up at the clock and saw that I only had five minutes before the end of my shift. Lazily I wiped over the empty tables my thoughts miles away. I was a little pissed at the whole Louis situation but I should have guessed that even if we did kiss nothing was going to come out of it. Snatching the cloth up from the table I spun and went to walk back to the counter when I saw him. He was dressed in a red coloured pair of skinnies rolled up at the bottom, a white and blue striped shirt and bright coloured braces. Swallowing hard I walked toward the counter.

“Hey,” I greeted trying to be as professional as I could, considering the butterflies that were zooming around in my stomach.

“Hey,” his famous smile lit up his face and my heart rate rose beating rapidly against my ribcage.

“We’re closing in five so if you want something you had better make it quick,” I smiled grabbing a pad and pen ready to jot down his order.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Do you think after your shift we could grab a drink somewhere?”

“Uh…” I stammered, “Sure,” I smiled lightly when his grin widened.

“Alright meet you out the front when you finish,” before I knew what was happening he had grabbed my upper arm and pressed a gentle kiss on my cheek. A light peck but my cheeks flushed instantly at the contact. He chuckled before hurrying out leaving me standing behind the counter the colour of a tomato and clasping a blank pad in my hand.

“What was that all about?” Rita spoke in my ear causing me to jump out of my skin. I spun quickly and wacked her over the shoulder with my notepad. She laughed musically before Alice appeared at the entrance to the back.

“He’s a strapping young lad,” she smiled, her aged face crinkling with laugh lines. “Who is he?” she asked walking over to the counter and opening the till beginning to count the notes.”

“He’s just a friend,” I muttered embarrassed.

“Yeah a friend she was caught sucking face with.”

“Rita!” I yelped smacking her again causing her to laugh harder.

“Ah so he’s the one I have been hearing so much about out the back…”

“What do you mean?” I asked turning to look at the elder woman who had her back to me, slowly I inched closer to her and saw the wide grin that was set across her face.

“Oh, just the girls out the back have been gossiping about you and some famous pop-star for several days now.”

“Oh no,” I groaned bowing my head and burring my face in my hands.

“Yes, you’re quite the talk of the café.”

“Shoot me.” I grumbled as I felt my face flush with heat.

“Now there’s no need for that, if I said that every time I was caught doing something as embarrassing as ‘sucking face’ with a boy when I was younger I can assure you someone would have done it.”

“Alice,” Rita gasped. “I never took you for a slut.”

“Now that’s just uncalled for,” she began but I heard the laughter in her tone, “I was never a tart, just a bit of a flirt.”

“What’s the difference?” at this I lifted my head from my hands and looked at the woman whose smile widened into a full-blown smile.

“A flirt teases a guy, never locks lips or indulges in other physical activities, while a slut does it all.”

“Well that was enlightening, weird considering who it came from but enlightening.” The three of us laughed, I went to wipe down the last few tables but Alice stopped me.

“Go.”

“What?”

“Go,” she nodded her head in the direction of the front doors, I saw Louis standing out the front hands tucked into the pocket of his jeans. I went to speak but she cut me off. “Go don’t want to leave Prince Charming waiting.” I smiled placed my spray bottle and cloth on the counter before ducking out the back grabbing my bag and hurrying out.

“Bye girls.”

“Bye,” the chorused together.

“Oh Avery,” I turned as my hand touched the lever on the door.
“Tell him to unroll his jeans, he looks like a fool.” I giggled before nodding my head and walking out the door and slowly up to the brown haired male who was waiting for me.

“Hey,” I greeted walking up to him. He smiled and turned his head to look at me.

“Hi there.”

“So where are we going?”

“There’s a pub just up the road a bit, come on,” he jerked his head before grabbing my hand. I felt heat creep into my cheeks as we walked down the street hand in hand. There no words exchanged between us but it was comfortable and I felt content walking down the street, which was weird.



We walked into the pub, there was low chatter among people. Men were seated at the bar watching one of the televisions that hung from the ceiling betting on a race of some sort, there were several women scattered around the place sitting with friends as they talked animatedly and enjoyed a glass of wine. I looked at Louis who turned and smiled at me before pulling me toward an empty table for two sitting me down.

“Wanna drink?” he asked.

“Sure I’ll just get a beer… I’ll come get it with you,” I began to get up before he stopped me.

“No I got it Love, you just stay there don’t want our table taken now do we?” he asked playfully before winking and turning around and walking over to the bar. I smiled sitting back in my seat and that was when it hit me. I was sitting with Louis Tomlinson, the Louis had kissed me four days ago and then vanished. I watched him at the bar carefully before he turned to large glasses of golden liquid in his hands.

“Anyone would think you’re trying to get me drunk,” I began as he set the glass down in front of me before he took a seat in front of me a cheshire cat grin spreading across his face.

“Maybe I am,” he teased grabbing his glass and placing it took his lips before taking a swig. I shook my head and reached out for my glass taking a long swig the bitter liquid trailing down the back of my throat easing my nerves. “Easy on.”

“I thought you were trying to get me drunk,” I joked as I pulled the glass away from my lips running my tongue around my lips to get rid of the froth. “Or are you just jealous of how quickly I can skull a drink?” he scoffed before playfully rolling his eyes. “So why did you bring me here?” I asked trying to remain casual even though I was a little nervous.

“I… uhm…” he stuttered over his words as he pulled his eyes away from me and found a sudden interest in the bottom of his glass twirling the liquid around inside it. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face at his nervousness; he was adorable when he was anxious. “It’s about the other night… I…” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“It’s cool you were pretty drunk, don’t worry about it.” I shrugged my shoulders trying to shrug off the pang of pain that went through my chest. Quickly I took another long swig of my drink finishing of the beverage. A smile returned to Louis face and he grabbed his glass finishing off his drink before he jumped to his feet.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home,” I laughed and nodded my head as I got to my feet grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

“That was a quick drink.”

“Sure was, drinks shouldn’t take an hour,” I sighed and shook my head at him before walking out of the pub and onto the street. The two of us walked together talking about how everything had been going.

“So, how’s you’re new album coming along?” Rita had filled me in on the whole new album so I had something to talk about with him.

“Good actually, really good, we haven’t got much on it yet still discussing but it should be pretty good.”

“I’m sure it will be, you guys are talented.”

“Thanks, so… what is it you do, besides work at the café?” he asked turning to look at me.

“Photography actually, at the moment I am just taking photos whenever I can, I haven’t set a studio or anything up yet but hopefully I can soon.”

“So what kind of photos do you like to take mostly?”

“Portraits, they’re my favourite you can capture so much about a person and their personality.”

“You’ll have to show me your photographs sometime yeah?”

“Yeah, for sure, their probably not as good as the ones you’ve seen but I can show you,” I smiled before stopping and turning into the path that lead toward my apartment. “Well this is me.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” He smiled looking up at the door before looking back at me.

“Thanks for walking me and thanks for the drink. It was nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming, it was good seeing you too.” I looked at him smiling before walking toward him and wrapping my arms around him in a friendly hug before gently pulling away and smiling at him as I fished my key out of my pocket.

“See you around?”

“Of course,” he smiled as I pressed my key into the lock unlocking the door before pushing it open and stepping, “bye,” I waved gently before closing the door a smile etched across my face.