Ladybird.

”I missed you.”

And then Mackenzie promptly fainted.

“Mackenzie!” The blue eyed wonder yelped as he quickly moved to catch her falling body before it reached the hardwood. He scooped her up into his arms, deciding he should take her to her bed. There was one bedroom right off the living room, but upon taking one step through the door he knew this was not his Ladybird’s room. This room had far too bright colors and was rather disorganized. Surely his Ladybird didn’t sleep there. So he continued down a small hallway, passing a minuscule laundry room before reaching the other bedroom in the apartment. Yes, this was it, he assured himself. The walls were a calming mint green, there was hardly any clutter, and my god, the bookcase. This had to be Mackenzie’s room.

So he quickly crossed over to the bed, placing her body as gently as he could onto the sheets. Goodness, he felt horrible. This was not at all how he had planned for this afternoon to go. In his version, perhaps she might have kissed him back. Perhaps she would have yelled at him. In fact, he would have much rather been yelled at than have her faint.

She didn’t seem like she was going to die or anything, so Louis pulled the blankets up around her, placed a featherlight kiss to her forehead, and headed back to the living room.

And there he waited.

--

Mackenzie jolted awake at the sound of the front door slamming shut. What on earth had happened? Surely she wasn’t waking up for the first time that day. Why, she’d already done that. She was still in the same clothes that she had slept in, but. Right, she had been in the middle of making brownies and then- oh, the brownies. She hoped they hadn’t gotten burnt. Though it didn’t smell like anything was burning and her apartment wasn’t on fire -- that she knew of -- so she assumed someone had taken them out of the oven. And then she heard the voices.

“Louis? What’re you doing here, love?” Mackenzie heard Noelle call. The apartment wasn’t that big, really, so it wasn’t like she had to strain.

“Oh, I uhm-”

“You’re here to see Mac, aren’t you?” The smile was evident in Elle’s tone.

“I take it she told you about the coffee shop, then.” The blush was evident in the White Rabbit’s tone.

“Finally got it out of her, yeah. Have you been here long? She’s probably in her room-”

“Yeah, uhm, she is. I...I put her there.” Mackenzie could just imagine Louis rubbing at the back of his neck then, that sheepish look on his face.

“You put her there? What exactly does that mean, Tomlinson?” The olive skinned girl’s tone had quickly gotten a bite to it as she rounded on the boy.

“Well, I- Mackenzie, she- she fainted.”

“What did you do to her?” Noelle practically screamed, and Louis jumped up from the couch, his hands held up in surrender.

“I didn’t do a damn thing to her!” Well, Louis certainly knew how to yell as well.

“Really, because she doesn’t just faint for no bloody reason! Listen, you little shit-”

“Whoa, uncalled for!”

“Lou, shut up! Mackenzie is very important to me, and I get it, you fancy her, but she is fragile. So what have you done?”

“I kissed her.”

Suddenly Noelle’s face softened and her eyes became all wide and dreamy.

“You did? Oh, Lou, that’s so sweet,” she gushed, pulling Louis into a hug that rather confused him. Just a second ago she was ready to castrate him and now? “You should really go check on her, though. Make sure she’s alright. But I swear to god, if you make her faint again, we’re going to have problems.” Then she gave him a good pat on the back and shoved him toward Mackenzie’s bedroom.

Hearing his approaching footsteps, Mackenzie quickly snapped her eyes shut, feigning sleep. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to face him just yet. The door creaked open and Louis took in the sleeping girl before him. Sometimes he thought he had never seen someone so beautiful in his life. Very quietly, he made his way across the room and placed himself on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry, Ladybird,” he suddenly whispered, his hand coming down to brush some hair out of her face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Maybe I shouldn’t have come over. I just- god, I’m talking to myself.” He let out a sigh, pulling his hand away from her body. Mackenzie wanted to smile, really. The White Rabbit could just be so cute sometimes. So she took that as her cue to make a big deal out of stretching, releasing a loud yawn as her eyes fluttered open and she feigned shock. Louis’ eyes quickly darted to her and he scooted back, not wanting to overwhelm her again.

“Hi. I uhm, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to- I shouldn’t have- sorry. I’m sorry.” The girl could tell her was inwardly groaning and cursing himself as his gaze fell to his lap. So she pulled one of her hands out from under the covers and gently placed it atop his own, giving it a light squeeze. His eyes slowly rose to meet hers, and before she could stop herself, Mackenzie was nodding to the space next to her. Louis needed no more prompting. He quickly kicked his shoes off and threw himself onto the bed, his head hitting the other pillow on her queen sized bed. He let out a long sigh, his gaze trained on the ceiling and her gaze trained on his face. “I didn’t mean to make you faint,” the White Rabbit muttered pathetically. The girl’s hand shot out to his again, squeezing tightly. He sent a barely there smile her way, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was beating himself up over this. Possibly more so than he should have been, but god, he should have known better. The girl wouldn’t even speak to him, why would kissing her be a good idea? What part of that sounded okay?

But he had done it. And he couldn’t take it back. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he would have done anything differently if he was given the chance. He wanted to kiss her. He really, desperately did. And he had. And it was incredible.

Yet they still laid in silence.

“Please talk to me,” he whispered, pleading with the small girl next to him. She left him then, crossing the room to her purse, where her moleskin notebook was tucked away. Then she returned to the bed, sitting Indian style at his side and opening the book, balancing it on her knee as she wrote.

stop worrying.

“But you won’t talk to me!” the boy cried exasperatedly as he shoved the book back at her. Her face dropped at his rough actions, but she took the book anyway and wrote again.

I never talk to you.

“Yeah, but...I thought this was different.” A pathetic puff of air left the boy’s lips as he stared helplessly up at her. All he wanted, all he ever dreamed about, was hearing that pretty voice of hers again. He had locked away those few words she’d ever spoken to him, kept them safe for when he was absolutely desperate. But they weren’t good enough anymore. He found himself constantly wanting more. Christ, he was going insane while they were away.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Louis leapt into a sitting position, startling Mackenzie like you wouldn’t believe as he matched her Indian style. Her entire body jumped before his hands clamped over hers, pulling her eyes up to meet his.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” he croaked, his voice coming out slightly strained. “I- you talk to Noelle and Niall all the time, I know you do. What am I doing wrong? I’ve been trying so, so hard to get through to you and it feels like I can’t and I’m absolutely losing my mind over you, Ladybird. I- I try to let it go, really, I do! I don’t know what it is about you. I could have moved on, I should have moved on! And here I am, sitting in your room begging you to talk to me. So what is it? Why can’t I do it?”

The pretty blues before her looked as if they were glazing over, and soon Mackenzie felt her own eyes doing the same. Why did he have to care so much? Why couldn’t he have just left her like all the others? The girl swallowed the large lump in her throat before writing again.

you scare me.

Louis’ entire face fell hard as he read the words scrawled out before him. He scared her?

“I- I what? Ladybird, please- I. What have I done? I would never do anything to- why?” His eyes were most definitely filled with tears as he stared at her, trying to get anything from her. She slowly reached for the book again, but he violently ripped it away, tossing it far away from the bed. “Mackenzie, no! Please, I- I need you to speak to me. Please.” His voice was trembling as he grabbed her hands again, holding them tightly in his. The girl’s mouth opened, as if she were going to speak. And she wanted to, she really wanted to. But she couldn’t. Her mouth fell closed again, prompting a deep sigh from the beautiful boy holding her hands.

An idea sparked in her head, though. Mackenzie quickly turned the boy’s hand over, prepared to write on it with the pen that Louis had yet to take. But he pulled his hand away, his eyebrows furrowing.

“No,” he whispered, his eyes locking onto hers. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you write this.”

So what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t write, she couldn’t speak, all she could do was show him. So hesitantly, very, very hesitantly, she started to lean toward him. The boy refused to move, not wanting to startle her. She almost was a bird sometimes, wasn’t she? Louis kept his eyes trained on the girl, whose own eyes were fluttering shut as she neared him. He knew what was coming next. And the suspense was killing him.

But then finally, there it was. The softness of her lips had melded with his for just a few seconds before she pulled away. It was like he could still feel her though after she had left. His entire body felt like it was on fire, and he would never know that she was feeling exactly the same. She was still there, her breath hovering over his lips, and it took everything in him to not kiss her. He couldn’t force this, though. This had to be her doing.

“Ladybird,” he accidentally breathed out, not being able to stop himself. She silenced him though, her lips placing just a few more pecks to his. And then she was gone, leaning back into her own space. Louis sat in a daze for a few long moments. That had happened. He wasn’t imagining that. His Ladybird had actually kissed him.

“You kissed me.” The words were very quiet and Mackenzie felt a deep blush settling on her cheeks as she nodded gently, her eyes trained to the bedspread in between them. “Could I try kissing you again? Hopefully I won’t make you faint this time?” It was meant to be a small joke, but Mackenzie was terrified. He would be in control this time. But she found herself nodding anyway, and almost as slowly as she had, he leaned over to her. One of his hands found the back of her neck, while the other came to rest on the bed just past her knee. His lips met hers very softly at first, almost as if they were getting acquainted. Once they had found a small sort of rhythm though, he leant a little harder into her. Mackenzie soon found her own hands coming up though, grabbing onto his shirt at either of his sides.

They didn’t kiss for an obscene amount of time, and soon Louis was pulling away, laying back into his original position. His hand found hers again as he pulled her into his side, her head falling onto his chest. And there they lay silently for somewhere close to five minutes.

“Does this mean you fancy me as well?” Louis finally asked ever so quietly. Mackenzie nodded into his shirt. “And that scares you.” Another nod. “I would never hurt you, Ladybird.” The ginger shook her head then, letting him know that that wasn’t exactly the problem. He sighed gently, wishing she could just tell him the problem. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to talk to me?” His words were barely a whisper, as he was kind of afraid to ask them. A bit more afraid of the answer, but still afraid to ask. She sat up a little then, twisting her body to face him as her eyes glazed over once more. She wanted to. She so desperately wanted to talk to him. Her mouth hung open as she tried to form words, but finally all she could manage was a strangled “I-”.

Louis quickly pulled her back into his chest, stroking her hair lightly as he shushed her.

“You don’t have to force anything, Ladybird. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

God, that just about broke her heart. How could someone as perfect as the White Rabbit even exist? How could someone so patient, so thoughtful, so caring ever find his way to her? What had she done to deserve someone like him?