Can You Keep A Secret?

Louis had convinced me to give him my number. It really didn't take much, I was incredibly willing to give it to him. But, the point is, he had my number and he most definitely didn't let it go to waste. 

Once we parted ways after dinner, he shot me a text asking if I got home safe. While the idea can kind of be sweet, we had literally just left the guys' presence. I had told him that yes, we were in and all the windows and doors were locked, so he had nothing to fret about. And his reply made his first text make a whole lot of more sense, because he had actually just wanted to see if I'd given him a fake number. 

From that point on, we fell into a long and easy flirtation. We chatted as Roxy and I made plans to have a housewarming party (which I obviously invited him to) and continued well into the night. We were even texting when I was laying in bed, ready to go to sleep. He had cheekily asked to see a picture of my pajamas, so I sent him a snapshot of my drawer full of them. He loved it, and my sassiness. It was amazing how quickly I fell for his charm, and he apparently seemed to fall for mine as well. 

We eventually bid each other goodnight, me telling him to have sweet dreams and him saying they'd be of me with a kiss on the end. I was dying!

When I woke up, I wasn't sure if I should send a good morning text, and I debated about it for a good ten minutes before figuring what did I have to lose?

And wouldn't you know it, he was up! Huzzah! He asked if I wanted to grab breakfast together and I immediately agreed.

After a quick shower, brushing my teeth, and checking to see if Roxy was awake (she wasn't), I made my way down the flight of stairs and followed the halls to where my room would be if I lived on his floor. 

I knocked gently on the door, afraid that Harry might still be sleeping. It opened very quickly, and I figured that meant Louis must have been waiting. I smiled at the thought and also in greeting to him.

"Good morning," Louis said in a sing-songy voice. He placed his hand on my waist and pressed a kiss to my cheek. I could literally feel the blush from where his lips had been. 

"Morning," I said shyly, my voice too weak to sound confident in the slightest. I couldn't even look him in the eyes until my blush receded. 

I backed away to let Louis out of the door and to lock up. Once he turned around, he shoved his gray beanie on his head again and offered me his arm. I took it, despite it hindering my blush evacuation process. I did manage to look at him again though. Progress was being made!

I thought about all that he had shared with me the night before, all of the random questions he'd answered and the bounty of jokes he made. Now that I could see his face, I imagined how his eyes would squint in laughter and light up with amusement. I pictured how he would swish his hair easily out of his eyes. I could practically feel the tingles between my fingers at the thought of having our hands clasped together. Looking at him, I got the feeling that I would have déjà vu to the visions I'd imagined, or to the sight before my eyes. I would hold his hand one day, and I would see him laugh like that. I knew exactly what it was going to look like and it hadn't even happened yet. 

I don't know if that was the moment I fell in love with him. It's one of the many possibilities. 

Louis ended up taking me to a little bakery that apparently had the closest thing to a French croissant this island could offer, according to him. I must say, it was quite delicious. He promised to take me out to cream tea sometime soon as well, which made me very happy. First off because I have a bit of a ridiculous obsession with tea, but secondly because it told me he wanted to spend more time together. It gave me the nerve to invite him back to my flat after we finished up. 

His eyes got really bright when I suggested that. His eyes are beautiful when they do that. They're beautiful when they don't, but it's striking when they shine. It may or may not have taken my breath for a second. 

I tried to navigate the way back to the complex, but it was a good thing Louis was there because I apparently would have sent us walking towards the more dodgy end of town on three separate occasions. We laughed a lot, due to my lacking sense of direction, and our hands brushed against each others a few times. I can't lie, I got little tingles and hoped he'd grab my hand, but he never did. That was alright though, because we were about to spend even more time together. Maybe he just didn't want to jinx it. 

When I unlocked the door to my apartment, I turned to Louis and placed a finger over my lips to silence him. He gave me a questioning glance and I pointed towards Roxy's door. He nodded and I tip-toed my way over to see if she was awake. I didn't need to open the door to hear her mumbling to herself about her characters. 

That made me incredibly relieved. It meant she would be in her own world and Louis and I could be in one of our own as well. 

I padded my way back to where he was sitting on the couch, pulled a leg up, and tucked the ankle under my other knee. Louis turned to face me as I explained what Roxy was up to. 

I told him we had to keep our voices down because she tends to get in a zone and he totally understood. Not gonna lie, that made my heart melt a little. He was just a genuinely good guy who actually seemed to care about people. He told me all about his sisters and how he would do anything in the world for them. Lottie was apparently also into writing, so he knew that sometimes they had to get to a really focused point. 

We talked about our families, me saying how much I missed mine, but I was overly thrilled to be here. Louis felt the same way due to his new job. We shared a lot, but we also teased and joked around with each other. It was after one of Louis's jabs at my accent that I decided to take a course of action. 

I pulled Louis's beanie off his head and kept it hostage. His face contorted into a shocked look, because apparently no one had ever stolen his hat before. I merely stuck my tongue out at him and moved out of arm's length. 

"Give it back Jacqui," Louis warned ominously. 

I schooched a little further away again, hat in my left hand. "Or what?" I said, my tone playfully rebellious. Our hushed voices made my nerves that much more on edge. It felt more intimate and intense, not to mention Louis was about to have to pop my bubble of privacy in order to steal back his beanie. I was more anxious than I probably should have been, but I blame that on Louis's shockingly good looks. 

Louis looked down at his hands and then up at me through his fringe. My heart was racing and I was starting to feel an adrenaline rush. "I'm quite adept at getting what I want," he told me with his raspy whisper. My heart leapt at his insinuation and I watched him warily, trying to figure out what he was going to do.
 
He started to stand up a little to move closer to me on the couch. I instinctively moved my hand further away to keep the hat in my possession longer. His eyes followed it and I watched his arms as they started to move towards me. 

I moved quickly to the left again and tucked the hat beneath my arms and against my side. Louis leaned around me to get towards my left side, but I used the couch to my advantage and twisted so he couldn't get to it. In twisting, I started to roll my body into the couch, and the more Louis moved around me, the closer to laying flat down I got. He had to partially stand to move above me, and by this point I was giggling at my victory. 

Louis placed his knee on the couch to gain a bit of space on me, but I pushed myself up the cushions with my legs. He adopted a look of amused annoyance and planted his other foot on the ground beside me. I recognized that he was partially straddling me, but I gulped quickly and didn't let it hinder my battle strategy.

I brought the beanie behind my back with both of my hands covering it and stared daringly into Louis's eyes. They screamed competition and excitement and I knew that he was enjoying this just as much as I was. 

Then I saw something click for him and a smile tugged at his lips a second before he started tickling my sides. I involuntarily jolted up at his touch and had to fight to keep my laughter to a minimum. I clenched the hat tighter between my hands and squished my arms against my sides to prevent him from getting to my even more ticklish armpits. My hips moved side-to-side in an attempt to avoid Louis's fingers, but I knew he'd get the hat eventually if he kept this up. 

So I took the opportunity to shove his beanie into the couch cushions. He wasn't expecting my sudden movement, so it worked without a hitch. I moved my torso over a little bit to block where I'd just stuffed his prized possession. Louis looked at me for a second before starting to dig in behind me. 

I grabbed for his arms, trying to prevent him from getting any closer. We were both laughing and he was much stronger than I. He was also still straddling me, and moving quite a lot to get into the cushions. My attraction to him was painfully evident by the sound of my pounding heart that I literally could hear mixed with our laughs and throaty sounds when exerting any force against each other. 

"Just...give, me, my, damn, hat, back," Louis said between me pushing his arms away. He grabbed my hands then and pulled upwards to get me out of the way. 

I let out a big laugh and struggled against his hold. I wriggled out of his grasp and flopped back down onto the cushions with a giggle, my hair fanning out behind me, but a piece falling into my eyes. 

Louis looked down at me then, and kept his gaze steady. The smile on his face was mostly on the right side, and it was the sexiest thing I'd ever laid eyes on. My laugh slowly subsided and my lower lip subconsciously landed in between my teeth. He let go of my hands and started to lean down to my level. My eyes flew between both of his, but his gaze flickered between the strand of hair on my forehead and my lips. I could see that he was thinking about kissing me. I felt his hand rest on my side. His other hand brushed my hair delicately into place and gently traced my cheek. 

I looked him in the eyes then, and I connected our lips with no hesitation. 

His lips were warm and soft. I kissed him securely at first, but then I made it feather light, wanting to make sure he actually wanted this. He slid his hand behind my neck and lifted my head so he would be in control of the kiss. My hands moved up and gently rested upon his strong chest. I breathed in his scent and let it fill me to the brim as our kiss slowly broke apart. 

I blinked twice after we separated and with my breath exhaling, I said "Let's take this into my room." Louis nodded and got up without a word. He offered me his hand to pull me up and I let him, keeping our hands together as I led us to my bed, hearing him close the door quietly behind us. 

I sat down and kicked my shoes off and he did the same. I had placed my hand on the bed and when Louis sat back up, his fingers landed on mine. Our eyes shot together at that and he cradled my face between his hands as he brought his lips to mine once more. I hummed into it and I somehow ended up straddling him as we made out for forty minutes. 

As we laid on top of my rumpled sheets afterwards, I drew circles and strange patterns onto Louis's chest. He lazily played with the ends of my hair and we talked about the upcoming party. I was really excited about it, but I was too relaxed in his warmth to be bothered to go up and get Roxy ready to leave. I honestly didn't want to ever leave our position. 

Louis was the one who eventually got us up. "I can't wait to see you in your party dress," he told me running his fingers through my straight strands. 

"I can't wait to get it," I said with a little laugh. He pulled back to look me in the eyes at that. 

"You haven't got that yet?" he asked. "The party is tonight. You have so much to do still. Have you even got the food yet?"

"No! You've literally been with me or talking to me since we finished bringing all our boxes in. We haven't done proper food shopping yet. All we really have is tea!" I laughed at Roxy's and my ridiculousness and Louis shook his head good-naturedly. 

"Come on you, time to get up." Louis smiled down at me and started to pull our bodies apart. I instantly frowned, feeling his warmth escape me. He chortled at my childishness and puckered his lips once he was sitting so I'd be forced to get up to kiss him. 

"You're lucky you're so darned cute," I said with a mock glare after pecking his lips with my own. He winked cheekily and I smiled, resting my head on his shoulder. 

"No, no, no! Up! We're getting up, and you're getting Roxy, and then we'll see each other tonight. You can rest your head on me all night long, but first you've got to get prepped." 

I pouted my lips but did as told, grabbing my shoes and replacing my feet in them. As I stood up, Louis gently smacked my bum which made me laugh and look at him wildly. He shrugged and said with a side grin "made you smile, didn't it?" I couldn't deny that. 

Louis left, with me smacking his bum on the way out the door and I grabbed my brush, running it through my hair as I yelled “Yo, dreamer, stop talking to yourself and come help me!” 

Roxy put her writing utensils down with a harrumph before trudging after me into the living room. “What on earth could you possibly need my help with that can’t wait?” she whined, her slippered feet barely lifting off the floor. I really liked that sound!

“Our housewarming party. Duh!” I shot her an exasperated look and then walked over to toss my brush on my bed. I should probably straighten out the sheets again. I looked back at Roxy and noticed she had gotten properly comfortable on the sofa. If we were just gonna stay in, Louis wouldn't have left. “Come on then, get dressed!” I told her. Then I noticed Louis's hat in her hand. Crap!

Roxy didn't seem to notice my worried expression thankfully, but she wore one of her own. “Why?” 

I simply grinned at her before pulling my purse out. “Shopping?!” I said with a grin. I noticed how underwhelmed my flatmate was, so I elaborated. “Clothes shopping!” She groaned audibly and she didn't even know what I had in store of her and a Mister Harry Styles yet. Tee hee! “You’ve gotta look good for the guys! Never know what might happen!” I winked. If all went to plan, Roxy would be sporting a nice bruise on her neck caused by the pop singer's mouth. Now, if only it was a sure thing Harry liked her...

A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I calmly strode over to answer it as I saw Roxy make her way towards her bedroom to change. 

Wouldn't you know it, it was Louis! "Miss me that much already?" I asked with a coy smile. 

"Of course babe," he winked, a sultry look in his eyes. "Can't get enough of-"

“Louis! Save me!" Roxy interrupted unknowingly from her room. "Jacqui’s trying to take me shopping!” 

“Quick make your escape to mine, I’ll distract her!” Louis answered with a devilish grin on his lips and a mischievous glint in his eye.

A distraught Roxy came rushing by us as if the world was going to explode and the last space pod was waiting in Louis and Harry's flat. It was quite the sight to see, and Louis and I soaked it up until she was around the doorway to the stairwell. 

"Oh, you left this," I said, turning around to grab his beanie from the couch. When I turned back to face him, he startled me with his proximity. Our noses were practically touching. 

He grabbed it from me without saying a word, nor breaking his intense eye-contact. This boy! Seriously, he knows exactly what to do to send my heart racing and it's like he doesn't even try. 

"Thank you kindly," he said, placing his hand on my waist again. My hips moved forward on their own account until they were resting against his. 

I let my hands slide down his pecks a little as I quirked my head to the side and said "anytime sir." I looked at his lips and then back into his eyes to see his sensual look there again. Hot darn this boy was fine!

We kissed again for a fair amount of time before Louis pulled away again and reminded me that I had to get going. 

"You let Roxy slip away! I would have been out the door with her in tow. I blame you," I said with laughter shining in my eyes, sticking my tongue out playfully at him. 

He laughed once, before pulling at my hips so that he'd be walking behind me, directly in step. "Are you going to tell me you didn't like our little detour?" he asked quietly in my ear. I shot him a side glance as my arms crossed in front of me and I held onto his wrists. My lips pulled up on the side of my face that he couldn't see, which I was thankful for. "Because, I don't have to do that again. I have restraint," he continued, raising his eyebrows defensively. "I just figured it would be a prime opportunity to not have to worry about getting walked in on."

I laughed and placed my head against his chest as we walked through the hallways to his apartment. "No, anytime you want to rendezvous and clear the room for us is fine with me," I said with an easygoing smile. 

"Good," he said, kissing the back of my head. He let go of me with his right hand to fish in his pocket for his key. He placed it in the lock and turned it, but hesitated when he was about to turn the knob. "There was a reason I came back to your place just now," he started, letting go with his other hand so I could turn to face him. "Actually, it's the reason I invited you to breakfast, I just got completely distracted by your company." 

He smiled down at me and I returned the gesture. "And what, pray tell, is that?" I asked, putting my hands on his waist and playing with the hemline of his shirt. 

He never looked away from my eyes, but his took on a bit of a brightness and he asked "Will you be my plus one tonight?"