Chapter 19 ~ The Roses

[Louis]

The second I got home that day, I noticed that something seemed a little off. The feeling made me confused, but it wasn't until I entered the kitchen that I noticed what was wrong. Lottie was sitting there, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at me pointedly.

"You have something to say, brother?"

Her question had me even more confused and the wrinkle between my eyebrows deepened. "What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why haven't you told me that Harry has tried to apologize to you?"

My eyes widened by her words. "How would you know that?" I hadn't told anyone except for Niall and as far as I knew, they wouldn't talk to each other like that.

"Well, it's quite obvious, you know? I go to the same school as you, and things go around pretty quickly. People are talking about the interview where he confessed that he still had feelings for you, and since his friend has left as well, whom I knew was his boyfriend, I took for granted that he'd tried to apologize. Now you just confirmed he did," she said with a smug look on her face.

I let out a sigh, sitting down at the kitchen table opposite her. "Alright, yes, he tried to apologize. Is that all you wanted to know?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. I want to know how you reacted, obviously. What did you say to him?"

Swallowing hard, I ran a hand through my fringe. "I told him it didn't change anything, that we both had moved on and that it was too late."

Her eyes widened. I was sure she hadn't expected that. "You actually said that?"

I nodded.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd ever be able to turn him down. I mean, I know how much you loved him... and still kind of do. I thought you'd give in to him, but obviously, you didn't."

I looked down at my hands that were fiddling om the surface of the table. "You say it like it's a bad thing. You think I made the wrong decision?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No! I didn't mean it like a bad thing. I'm just surprised, is all. I meant it when I said that he doesn't deserve you anymore, Lou. What he did was awful, and the way he acted when he came back didn't make things better. I think you made the right decision."

Cracking a small smile, I nodded my head. "I know I shouldn't think so much about it considering I should be over him by now, but I can't help it. I'm just not used to him being so... close to me anymore. It's hard not to think about him when he is around."

She let out a sigh. "I understand, but that's just something you'll have to handle until he's gone again." She sent me a sympathetic look while I just looked down at the table.

Why did things have to be so hard?

Before any of us could say something else, the front door opened and a second later mom walked into the kitchen. "Good afternoon, my lovely children."

Lottie greeted her back while I couldn't take my eyes off what she was holding in her right hand. "Mom, why is there a red rose in your hand?" I wondered.

She looked down at the flower as a smile formed on her lips. "To be honest, I don't really know. I found it right outside the door," she shrugged.

I looked to Lottie who looked just as confused as I felt. "Are you dating someone, mom?" Lottie asked suspiciously.

Mom let out a loud laugh, shaking her head. "Oh no, I'm definitely not. I've lost hope in that a long time ago," she explained, but neither of the two of us seemed to buy it.

She didn't say anything else though, so we had to drop it while she put the rose in a vase of water. The entire time, Lottie and I shared suspicious looks. When she came back, she placed the vase in the middle of the table and sat down next to me.

"So, I heard you were out having a coffee with Anne today," she said, raising her eyebrows at me pointedly.

"She told you that?" I laughed, shaking my head. Those two women probably knew everything about each other nowadays.

"Yeah. She called me just half an hour ago telling me that she'd had a great catching up with you. How was it?" She asked curiously.

I told her everything but the parts about Harry. I really didn't want to talk more about him, and thankfully, she didn't question anything about him either.

Later that evening, I was up in my room, lying on my bed with my phone in my hand. I had just been on the phone with Hannah for almost half an hour and was ready to fall asleep.

Today had been yet another eventful day. It seemed like every day since the curly haired lad came back had been eventful. It was a good thing that we'd just had Christmas break, otherwise, I'd be going crazy by now.

One good thing about things happening all the time though was that I could fall asleep at night considering my brain was exhausted. This was the case this night as well. It didn't take more than five minutes until I could feel myself fall into a deep sleep.

In the morning the next day, I walked down the stairs, my eyes only half opened after just having gotten out of bed. As I entered the kitchen, I rubbed them with both of my fists. I sat down in front of Lottie at the table who seemed in deep thought as she stared at the red rose.

A second later, she turned her gaze to me, her eyes widening. "Oh my God," was all she said, making me frown.

"What?" I asked, reaching out to pour cereal in the empty bowl that was placed in front of me.

She opened her mouth but closed it again. She repeated the same thing at least five times until something finally came out of it. "I... I think I know who the rose is from."

I squinted my eyes, flicking my gaze between her and the rose on the table. "Who?"

She reached up to place her hand against her cheek, looking thoughtful. "Remember how you always got a red rose from Harry when he made you upset? Like, when you'd been together for like a month and you got jealous when he talked to a girl at school?"

My eyebrows stayed furrowed as I thought of her words. It was still very early in the morning and I found it pretty hard to think when I just woke up. However, I could remember it, now that I thought about it. Though, it didn't happen very often considering we almost never fought. Roses had always been my favorite flower though.

"You're right... but do you really think it was him? I mean, do you even think he remembers it?"

She rolled her eyes, pulling out her phone. "First off, I recall him saying that he gave you a red rose whenever you were upset because he knew it was your favorite. You would always be happy when he got you one."

To be honest, I was a little surprised by what she said. I had never really told him that it was my favorite flower, but I guess it was something he had picked up on. Well, my smile whenever he gave me one probably gave it all away, though.

"Second off..." she trailed off, showing me her phone. "He has a fucking tattoo of a rose on his forearm. Obviously, it must mean something to him too."

My eyes widened at the picture on her phone. There he was, with his arm on display, and just like she just said, there was a big rose tattooed on his forearm. Could it be possible that it symbolized me?

I shook my head, not believing my eyes. "This can't be true. Something... I mean, the rose could be from anyone and his tattoo... He probably likes roses too!" I let out desperately, making Lottie roll her eyes again.

"Believe whatever you want, brother, but I'm pretty sure we both know the truth."

I didn't answer her. Instead, I continued eating until I was finished and got ready for school. Lottie left before me, wishing me good luck. I did the same and walked to Hannah's house to meet up with her. During the entire way, I tried my best not to think about me and Lottie's conversation at breakfast, but it was hard not to, especially when I knew I had to face the curly haired boy in just a matter of minutes.

"I think Harry is going back on tour pretty soon," Hannah informed me as we had started walking.

My head snapped to her at the mention of his name. "Really?" I asked. To be honest, I had no idea when he was going back. I just remembered Eleanor saying when he took a break from tour that he wouldn't be able to sing until February, but I hadn't heard anything since.

"Yeah. I heard on the news this morning that his voice has gotten better, so he'll be back in about two weeks."

I nodded but didn't say anything. She noticed this and turned to me. "How do you feel about that?"

Shrugging, I looked ahead of me. "I think it's great, to be honest. Life has just been upside down ever since he came back. I look forward to things going back to normal," I said truthfully. Well, it was what I wanted to be the truth, but I knew my heart didn't agree with it.

"You really sure about that, Louis? I mean, I know how you behave around him and how you really feel. Are you sure you want him to leave?"

I nodded but didn't say anything this time either. Why couldn't my heart just agree with my brain? Things would be so much easier then.

She dropped the topic after that, probably realizing that she wouldn't get anything else out of me. A few minutes later, we entered the school building and went our separate ways considering we were running a little late. We departed with a kiss on the cheek.

The bell rang just when I walked into the classroom, making me let out a sigh of relief. I plopped down in my seat and dropped my books on my desk. It didn't take more than a minute until Mr. Waltz started the lesson. While he talked, I let my gaze wander in the classroom, and it didn't take long until it stopped at the seat I knew was Harry's.

He was there, his brown curls sprawled around his face as he looked down at his notebook. He had his known sunglasses on top of his head, making his curls not fall in his face. His tongue was poking out at one side of his mouth in concentration, making him look like an innocent puppy. I hated that he could still look so innocent when he was so far from it.

Two years ago, he would have turned his face and given me either a cheeky wink or blown me a kiss. Now though, all he did was turn his head and give me a pale smile. It was weird how things could change like that.

As soon as I noticed I had been caught, I looked away and got back to listening to Mr. Waltz. I did this for the rest of the lesson, not daring to turn my head again. My heart couldn't handle the curly haired boy.

Once the bell rang, I was quick to leave the classroom and head to my locker. On my way there, I crossed paths with a certain blonde haired boy who seemed just as happy as he usually was.

"Morning, Niall," I greeted.

"Hi there, Louis."

We made it to my locker, talking about school stuff and things like that. I was so caught up with it that I almost missed the red rose that was hooked in my lock, but considering I had to put my combination in to open my locker, it was pretty hard to actually do so.

"What is that?" Niall asked, reaching out to take the rose in his hand before I could.

His eyes narrowed as he took a closer look at it. "Who gave you this?"

Ever since I saw the red flower, I had frozen in my place, staring at the blue locker in front of me, unable to make a move. This could only mean one thing. The rose was to me and someone at this school had given it to me. Did that mean that it was from... No, it couldn't be.

My head snapped to his locker across the hallway, seeing him talk to a bunch of girls, one leaning against the wall of lockers while twirling a string of her hair around her finger, assumingly in an attempt to be flirtatious. I rolled my eyes at the scene, turning back to the blonde haired boy who looked as confused as ever beside me.

"I... I don't know," was all I could say.

He lifted his eyebrows. "You don't know?"

His eyes then wandered to the boy I had just been looking at before he turned back to me. "You don't think...?"

I shrugged, letting out a deep sigh. "I don't know, Niall. I... Lottie reminded me this morning that he used to give me a red rose whenever he made me upset. I don't know if this has something to do with it, or if someone else is giving me these roses..." I trailed off, biting my bottom lip.

"Roses? You mean you've received more than one?" He asked incredulously.

I nodded. "There was one outside our front door yesterday. I assume it was for me now that there's another one here today."

"Wow," he let out. "Well, it must be from him then. I mean, he tried to apologize to you, and if you say that he used to give you a rose whenever he made you upset, then this is definitely the right situation for that."

I let out another sigh. "I just didn't think he would've remembered. I mean, we barely even fought back in the days," I admitted.

Niall gave me a small smile. "If you love someone, you know, remember and pick up everything about the person. Don't disagree with me because I know you know it's the truth," he winked.

I couldn't disagree with him because he was right. I probably knew every single thing about Harry when we were together. Like, what toothpaste he used, what his favorite candy was, what he would always choose to drink at restaurants and what condiments he used to different foods. It would probably be considered scary to some people.

Before any of us could say something else, another person was suddenly standing with us. I looked up, only to almost get a heart attack at the sight in front of me. He was too close yet again.

Harry was looking at me with those kind, green eyes that were sparkling from the lights in the ceiling. The sight made my breath hitch in my throat and I probably looked like a white ghost to him.

"Could I possibly talk to you after school?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. It wasn't until I could feel someone punching me in the shoulder that I got back to reality. It was Niall.

"I uh... I guess..." I trailed off. Damn, I hated when I stuttered like a shy ten-year-old.

A smile formed on Harry's plump lips as he nodded his head. "Great. Meet you outside then, yeah?"

I nodded my head, still dumbfounded.

With that, Harry left the two of us, making me slowly get back to reality again. When I did, I noticed that Niall was staring at me incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me, Louis."

"What?"

"You're so fucking whipped, you know that?"

I snorted, shaking my head. "You know I'm not. You've seen me around him before."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, but he knows what he's doing," he warned me.

"I'm not stupid, Niall. You know that I won't forgive him, " I grumbled.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, but I'm not sure how long it'll be until you won't be able to stand up to him anymore."

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Helloooo guys! I hope you liked this chapter! I probably rewrote it three times, which is the reason it took me a while to update a few weeks ago... I'm always three chapters ahead if you didn't know hahaha

Anyway, I saw Shawn Mendes live yesterday, and let me tell you this; Man, he can really sing. I'm so so overwhelmed. He's really a true talent.

Pauline .xx